My writing has become very garbled over the years. Belgian chocolate moulded in the shape of a duck - how's that? I think I even spelled the verb form of "mold" correctly yes?

Dagmar

Maybe Birchie was referring to the size? I assume this wasn't an eentsy teensy little duck...

Dagmar, I wasn't criticising. Not at all. Was just saying that I can manage Belgian chocolate but I don't like chocolate in the shape of things. Oh dear, the internet. Such a barrier to communication. Sorry if I wasn't very clear. Also that my attempt to be sort of funny was so pathetic.

[ETA Great spelling of mould! Let's stick together on this.]

There are quite a few Lindt bunny rabbits in supermarkets round here. Looking for a home, I think, but I'm not going to adopt them.

In other animal news, a cock pheasant has taken up residence in the field next door. He's a refugee from shooting on a nearby estate. Five cats live next door on the other side. I'm wondering whether the tom will see the cock pheasant as a personal challenge. I know from family experience that it is possible to drag a pheasant through a cat flap ...

I can't believe we're having more snow. The bad weather is really hurting my motivation to work out, because no indoor workout will ever be as much fun for me as getting outside. I'm planning to buy my kids bicycles for their upcoming birthday so hopefully some family bike rides are in our future . . . if it will stop snowing! I'm debating whether or not to go for a walk outside on my lunch break given that it's below 40F outside. I might do it anyway, if only so that my cold office will feel warmer. I have a cold lunch today too (turkey, cheese, green beans, and matzo), so I suspect I'll be freezing all afternoon.

My friend's wedding is in just over a month. Chances of fitting into my more formal dresses by then are slim, but I do have the dress I wore to my SIL's wedding last summer so at least I have something. It's not super formal because her wedding was casual, but I think I can dress it up with enough jewelry, high heels, and accessories. This past week has been a bust. Between Passover and Easter, I ate way too much and therefore am just now getting back to my weight from last week. Progress killer! But I requested a change of my coach in the weight loss app I'm using, and the new coach seems like she'll be far more engaged and motivating for me.

Lifesize - yowza! Just kidding! It was kind of small - about 2 1/2 inches high. I bought very modest chocolate offerings for DH and myself. The rabbits were equally petite. We had one each and that was it.

Dagmar

I've been focusing this week on getting back into balance after being at my mum's. It was a good visit but it always knocks me for six, what with the travel, and the small and large jobs to do and problems to solve.

My aim today is to make a food plan for the day. It won't take long and it will help. It's only a small thing to do so surely I can manage that, don't you think?

Keep warm, Jessica! It's good that you've got one dress to wear to the wedding. I seem to remember you lost weight to get into that one. By the way, which weight loss app are you using?

Silver, I'm using Noom. It's one you have to pay for, but it's been fairly effective so far. My motivation has waned recently but I think the coaching switch is going to help -- my last personal coach basically sent me one message a week and didn't answer questions (thus my request to change; if I'm paying money for this, they'd better be providing me a valuable service!). It's lacking some of the better tracking features of MyFitnessPal, but it's full of psychology-based tips about how to eat better and move more, and has a format that encourages participation more.

149.2 today, so I guess my weekend of damage wasn't so bad. In a perfect world I'd make it to 145 by the time of the wedding next month but it seems unlikely given my slow progress so far. I don't know if I can handle restricting calories down far enough to get a faster loss, though in some ways I'm tempted to do it and just get it over with.

Jessica I find the slow loss seems to stick with me better. I too am tempted to try to crash off these 8 "broken foot" lbs. before the end of the month but I suspect I'll end up putting most of them back on if I do.

I'm going to a wedding in August so that's a bit too far away to maintain enthusiasm for a loss. I'm settling for the realistic goal - being around 140 lbs. on the first weekend of kayaking season - May 19th weekend.

Dagmar :

My weight has reached a new high of 129. Yikes!! Too much time visiting the land of bread and chips. I haven't been sleeping enough this week, which makes it all the harder to stay motivated.

Pepper, the cat with inflammatory bowel disease, has not improved. We have decided to euthanize him next week, after DH returns from a golf weekend in Laughlin NV. Very sad around here, but life goes on. A new very cute orange cat, half-grown, showed up a few days ago. We had him neutered on Wednesday. I voted to name him Mango, while DH prefers Pumpkinhead.

I’m very sorry to hear about Pepper. What an amazing coincidence that a new kitty showed up. I like both names, but am partial to Mango. I love male orange kitties. They are the sweetest!

One last day of Spring Break for me. Getting back on track after my Vancouver trip and dh is already on a plane heading out to Asia. Again.

Alice, I'm so sorry to hear about Pepper, but at least you'll get to be with him at the end. I recently lost a cat, but in a whole different fashion. He was my formerly feral cat. He got out sometime in February during a dinner party and spent the night outside. It gave him that taste of freedom and from there he would go out most nights, sometimes only for an hour or two, but last week, he didn't come home and was later discovered by a neighbor--a victim of a coyote attack. I'm still heartbroken over that. He had more personality than my other three cats combined. I hope to find a new cat--not a replacement by any means--but a new cat to help fill the void.

If you want a cat with personality to spare Allison get a tortie. Natalie is our second (my avatar was our first one Mudpie) and they both are quite different but divas all the same.

Dagmar

Checking in briefly. I'm at 161.4 this morning, after weighing as high as 167 earlier in the week just after allowing myself pierogies, kielbasa and ham at Easter dinner. Two of those foodstuffs, I hadn't eaten in four or five years, and I was missing them because they were part of traditional family Easter dinners.

I had another difficult week. I took Monday off but of course ended up working for three hours during the day. But I also managed to apply for three jobs at other companies, which helped sustain me. Then, of course, since I had some momentum toward departure, I had a really good Friday meeting, and my presentation pleased the GVP of another unit. This appeared to surprise my bullying manager, who's been critical and corrective for many weeks now. She was kind of nice to me after that meeting.

But that won't last. It never does.

And I shouldn't have be perfect & overachieving just to be treated with fairly pleasant decency. I shouldn't have to earn or deserve that, for pete's sake. That should be the basic level of human interaction.

I have to be strong & not allow a moment of normalcy to change my plans to get out.

I have a sortie--Waffles. She has attitude, but not personality like Culley did. If ever anyone needed to pet a cat, Culley was your man. All three of my others, if you want to pet them, they duck and look at you like you're some strange space alien and run and hide. They only want petting on their terms.

Best of luck on your job hunt saef. I know it's hard to change but change is good especially with the toxic people you work with/for.

Sometimes my mind doesn't work in a logical fashion. I have been taking over-the-counter pain meds for about 5 weeks now to deal with the pain when walking dogs with a broken foot.

Somehow I "forgot" that there would be side effects from these meds.

Now the side effects are becoming less tolerable than the pain so I'll have to lay off the NSAID's.

I read about the effects for the main drug I'm taking - Aleve - and they include rapid weight gain and swelling. That would explain the rather astonishing number on my scale last week and the dents my socks are leaving in my now much bigger ankles.

Dagmar