Hello everyone! I got back to the gym this morning! Felt really good after two weeks away but also kinda difficult! I was stiffer than I expected. Did the 30 min stretch class, walked 15 min on treadmill, did 15 min on stationery bike and then did 10-20 reps on three weight machines...figured I wouldn't do too many on my first day back as the weight machines are what can really make me sore.

Joe is fishing this afternoon so I'm alone and feeling lazy. Need to do my weekly cleaning, but so far nothing done except part of my daily work and some phone calls I needed to make. Tonight is leftover night so nothing to do for dinner..we will each get our own. I never know when he'll be home when he goes fishing anyway.

Marie - Well, see I LIKE the crust! That's the best part sometimes! My kids and most of my grandkids eat it too but with these two, their other grandma cuts it off so now they want it that way too. Sounds like you had a nice time with your dd and gs. I'd love to take a train ride like that. Once about 44 years ago I guess, my oldest dd and I (she was about 2) rode the train from KS to So CA. It ate in the dining car and it was quite the adventure! I remember I was a bit embarassed because there were some navy guys onboard and everytime we passed them in the aisle she would say "hi, daddy!" She was used to seeing her daddy in a uniform. I think it embarrassed them more than me though. Those pancakes sound SO good! That's the kind I usually get (before this diet). We've taken the Jelly Belly tour..it is interesting..but I DO like jelly beans...far too much! I've got such a sweet tooth! How do you like your new NYDJs? I've often thought of getting some. Six flags sounds like fun esp with children. Never been. Sounds like a great weekend but a lot to pack in one weekend! I'd be worn out for sure!
We were both using our Subway GCs about the same time!

Bobbi - I can see you as a sales person in a high-end clothing store! You are very elegant. I retired early too at 52. It's the best life!

Hi Nancy! It's always good to hear from you!

Hi Golden Girls, I posted my bio so thought I would step in here and just say hi.

I am doing the SB and am now in P2. Worried to death of adding foods back. Hoping to get some encouragement from reading the posts here. I am doing this alone, and changing habits is not that easy.

This time of my life, I am 55 is a challenge, all the changes the body is going through, sometimes it is like just get it over with. I am ready. But the weight is no fun, and I want to control it and maintain it. Feel good and enjoy life. So, yep, that means I would like to have a double chocolate brownie once in awhile. But I can wait for that day.

I enjoy reading the posts on here, but just to let you know I am a quiet person and I do work full time, but will always check in to see what you ladies are up to.

Take care,
Chickadeee

Hi everyone. not much going on here,im enjoying being alone. did some decluttering this am and cleaned out the pantry and rearranged things. i tried to pick up the dogs toys but as fast as i did they pulled them back out i gave up.I ordered some new protein snacks from amazon.they were recommended to me and i have to say they are good . they are made by Kays Naturals. I just had a 1 oz bag of Honey flavored almond filled cookie bites. 110 cal they make french toast pretzels,honey mustard pretzels and protein chips in diff flavors.all low cal lo fat protein based.thought id share.its nice to have atreat that i dont feel guilty about. hope your mondays awsome (((hugs))) rosie

Hi Everyone,

My sister and I had a REALLY nice time in NYC (Brooklyn). We did a LOT of things. I had a kind of bad fall - no serious damage, but a little bruised and sore - I tripped over a 3 inch high bar at the entrance of a glass blowing factory. I also came home with a crummy head cold.

I will give you more details about the trip tomorrow.

Lynn

Hi Chickadee,

Nice to "meet" you. Welcome to the Golden Girls!

About phase 2 - one step at a time. Add your new foods little by little & ENJOY!

Lynn

Good Morning,

I am doing so much better. I still have a stiff back and some aches, but I always have aches. I cannot believe how out of shape I have gotten. It doesn't take long. I have started walking again, and lifting weights. I'm amazed that the weights that were almost too light are hard to lift now. Spent yesterday evening making a Girl Scout project with DGD. We have to continue today. I could use you here Rosie.

Hi Chickadee, Welcome. Come join the fun. I think it's always hard to change something that's working. Just start slowly adding foods and keep a record.

Lynn, glad you had fun. Sorry it got spoiled somewhat by the fall. How are you feeling?

Mary, I like the crust too. It's the best part for me. bread crust, pizza crust, cornbread crust!

Rie, hope you had good luck. and enjoyed the wine. I doubt I could have resisted the lasagna. One of my favorite temptations.

Donna, I guess where you work depends mostly on the people you work with. I've had bad managers and co-workers too. The manager we have now is pretty great. I know I could go to her with any problem and she would handle it. Especially the perfume one. some of my co-workers I could tell that I couldn't tollerate their perfume, some I couldn't, they wouldn't take it well. I'd let her handle it, since I have to work with those people. that's why she makes the big bucks.! ha!

Marie, Sounds like you had a great vacation. Did the doggies do well while you were gone?

Nancy, It's getting cold, so continue "swinging" as long as you can.

Carol Sue, I love stuffed peppers. I make them pretty often when fresh peppers are in. I wish I had a freezer, since they freeze peretty well.

Freda

Maryea - I liked your story about riding on the train with the sailors on it. My mother had the same experience. My brother was a baby during WWII. She was on the train with him going to visit her mother, and every serviceman who went by he said "Dadda". One of the servicemen made the comment "Even the kid doesn't know who his Dadda is". The conductor came along and told my mother he had a seat for her in another car and she moved.

At work, wishing I wasn’t, but c’est la vie, eh? Now that I’m actually counting down the months and weeks to go, they seem to be flying by. The weather has been chilly around here – in the 60’s mostly, with a few days in the 70’s, and pretty rainy. Another rainstorm – torrential rains – predicted for tomorrow, but it’s supposed to be 70 degrees. It’s that time of year in New England when you keep thinking you should switch your wardrobe into winter mode, and then you go outside with a fleece or something on and die from the heat.

Oh, PT, I’ll be heading up to Vermont on November 2 & 3 to meet with the principals and start doing some strategic planning. I’ll drive up to Nashua NH, meet my colleague there, and he and I will drive together up to Vermont – I understand that it’s 5 or 6 hours northwest of Nashua. We’ll spend the night up there and come back late on Thursday. I’m taking an additional vacation day on Friday in order to give myself a 5 day hiatus from my “regular” job. From that point, I’ll be doing 8 hours a week – probably a couple of hours on a few different weeknights, and 4 hours on Saturday or Sunday. Once we’ve had our initial meetings with them, I will mostly be working on needs assessments, surveys and proposals, and can do a majority of that right in the comfort of my cozy little home. (YAY).

I guess the GG gathering dates are still a bit up in the air. I think we’re probably looking at early August in order to accommodate everybody’s schedule. I’ll check out those cabin rentals, PT and report back.

Freda, I’m glad you’re doing better. BTW, I didn’t even NOTICE the capitals in your older post. I had to go back and look to see what you all were talking about. I guess that’s because I’m more focused on content than form – I read for information rather than for grammar or internet correctness. That’s why it’s a good thing that I have several editors who review my writing before it’s submitted anywhere. Here in our GG territory, I’m afraid I sometimes don’t even write in complete sentences.

Val, I would truly love to find myself under my calorie limit for the day – and enough to drink some wine – hah! I doubt that I’ll ever “save up” enough to do that! I’m working right now on cutting down. I haven’t even gotten down as low as I need to, but I’m trying to see if it’s less painful if I cut back gradually. After all, the next big event in my life is the GG gathering, and I’ve got a good 10 months at least to attend that looking all slim and svelte in my post-fatchicks bod.

Sorry to hear about your fall, Lynn. And the head cold. Yikes. Take care of yourself, chica!

I’m going to check out those protein snacks, Rosey. I certainly need SOMETHING to steer myself down the right track… oh, and that recipe for stuffed peppers is pretty similar to how I make them, except I like to use taco seasoning in the ground turkey. I serve them with salsa and FF sour cream, and they’re YUM-O! (Maybe your brother would like the ground turkey seasoned that way, Carol Sue.) Oh, and PS…your mother should’ve given that soldier a whack upside his head. What a boor!

Hi chickadee. Welcome to the GG’s.

Mary, I just read about Freda finding it challenging to start back with the exercising, and now you’re saying it as well. I’m thinking I’d better not start, because of how hard it is to get back if you miss a little time. I’d hate to lose any ground, don’t you know? As it is now, I’m good with walking to my car and back. I try to do that a couple of times a day. Oh, and walking around the grocery store…clothing stores…from the computer to the kitchen and kitchen to bedroom…man, I didn’t realize how much exercise I’ve been getting! I’m going to have to cut back a little so that I don’t push myself too hard.

Marie…”liking being hungry”???? Hmmm. That’s kind of like enjoying a broken leg or something, isn’t it? Since hypnotic suggestions are supposed to be positive rather than negative, I have tried to talk myself into really, really wanting healthy foods and being filled up quickly, since portion control has always been troublesome for me. Not great luck to date, but since we’ve been talking about it again, I’m thinking to give it another try. I know people have had some success in planting images in their minds of something totally nasty when they think about – or are faced with – the kinds of things that contributed to their weight gain. Lynn, I think, talked a bit about that. I don’t know how well that would work as a post-hypnotic suggestion, but I’m getting desperate enough to try it. It’s just that the idea of worms, for example, crawling through my chocolate bar is sooooooo disgusting that I can barely bring myself to think of it as a possibility. But, desperate situations call for desperate measures, so if I start turning green around the gills at the mention of chocolate, you’ll know why.

Bobbi, if we gather somewhere around Denver, would that be within driving distance for you?

CaddyK, both Gayle and I chuckled over the bird poop, but it was a supportive, commiserative chuckle, not a mean one. That happened to me when I was in the first grade – out on the playground during recess. I’ve never forgotten it to this day. That sort of thing can traumatize you for life, you know? Pretty soon you won’t be able to leave the house without an umbrella. OH, and isn’t it a good thing you got rid of that convertible?

Mary, I remember my father touching up his hair when he started to go gray with brown shoe polish! My mother had a fit because it was all over their pillow cases and she couldn’t get it out – had to buy all new ones.

What’s new with you, K3? Any more visits from “Mister Wonderful”???

Z

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]Chickadee, dee, dee...I hear our chickadees singing when I saw your name, Welcome.
Rosey…I ordered a cross stitch kit that's consuming more time then I have. It makes 20 little Christmas stockings and I do the stitching at night while watching tv. Then I sit in bed while listening to my nightly radio programs stitching some more and I can't quit. It's been after 12 every night before I reluctantly put my cross stitch away. I'm sooooooooo tired.

Freda...Pear butter in the crock post sounds really good. To be honest, I've never heard of it. We have two pears trees that have never produced any fruit. I finally googled pear trees and found out they take 6 to 7 years before they form fruit. That's about how old we've had them, maybe next year we'll get some pears and I can try the pear recipe.
Donna...Thanks for the article, I might just as well turn over and die. I was aware of the obvious migraine triggers but not all these! MSG monosodium glutamate is down right evil to me. I run far and fast with anything containing that, I can get a two day, two night migraine from that crap.

Quote:
Certain foods have been linked to more frequent migraines, including chocolate; ripened cheeses like cheddar, Stilton, Brie, and Camembert; fermented, pickled, or marinated foods; nuts; peanut butter; sourdough bread; sour cream; pickled or dried herring; citrus fruits; bananas; figs; raisins; papayas; red plums; pizza; aspartame (NutraSweet); chicken liver; sausage; bologna; hot dogs; salami; summer sausage; snow peas; broad beans; lima beans; fava beans; and foods containing monosodium glutamate, like soy sauce, meat tenderizer, and seasoned salt.

Rie...I put all our yard stuff away a couple of weeks ago, it's a sad time of year for me. Summer is my favorite time of year. I didn't freeze much this year since we had a very poor crop of tomatoes. We have squash coming out our ears, DH just harvested it all yesterday. I baked up about a dozen of the small acorn last night and will make some kind of dessert out of them today. That's about all I can do with them, too small to taste really good like the bigger squash. I might make mock pumpkin pie, crust-less of course.
Mary, thanks! I did work in a clothing shop for awhile but most of my career was selling collectibles. Lots of limited edition prints, (Terry Redlin is my favorite), high end collector dolls, Hummel figurines, De Grazia stuff, lots of collector plates and all kinds of limited edition things. Why did you retire early?

Quote:
Bobbi - I can see you as a sales person in a high-end clothing store! You are very elegant. I retired early too at 52. It's the best life!

/COLOR]
My grandson's here dropping off some birthday cake, he's 20 today and so handsome. He's on his way back to Rochester when he lives and goes to school.
Later Gators.

Looks like we posted the same time Zoe, grandson's here.........gotta run. I just wanted to comment on the Denver driving distance. I'd do it but I already have butterflies in my tummy thinking about it. The alternative is flying and I hate flying, I'll have to wait and see how brave I am by the time we actually get together.
Looks like I lost my trademark purple last post?

Good morning GG’s,

Yippee ~ day off. Have a dentist appointment later. Working on laundry now and grocery shopping list.

Trying to get the rest of the personals done now ~ before that sciatic pain starts acting up. On my work days, I look forward to a little time on the internet when I get home, but after sitting most of the day, that stupid sciatic pain makes it hard to enjoy that.

Bobbi ~ I hope you can get up your nerve in time for the GG's get together. Oh ~ the allegra ~ comes in generic (fexofenadine) ~ I got some at Sam's Club for a good price. They also sell it at Walmart.

Rosey ~ enjoy your alone time. Your stuffed pepper recipe sounds yummy

Lynn ~ your trip to NYC sounded really neat. Sorry you had a fall ~ hope you are doing ok now.

Freda ~ glad your back is feeling better. I guess I will just probably have to get back to the walking. It is just that I have read that it helps to find something you enjoy doing (for exercise), and you are more apt to do it.

I don’t know why, but walking ~ I have to make myself do it. I don’t get all excited about doing it ~ like ~ oh I can’t wait to wake up and go for a walk ~ or ~ yippee ~ I get to go for a walk. Maybe if I could walk when I was ready to (like I was doing before they changed my schedule) I would enjoy it more. Oh well ~ I’ve gotta work with what I have now. Can’t put it off just because things aren’t exactly like I would like them to be.

Marie ~ glad you had a fun time on your trip and with your grandson and daughter. About the bike ~ mine isn’t the usual bike you would think of. It is one of those three wheeled granny bikes (see picture below) and probably wasn’t designed for exercise, but just for pleasure riding. So, I am probably trying to use it for a purpose it wasn’t intended for. I tried the regular kind ~ wanted so badly to ride as we have these lovely bike and hike paths here in our town. But, I fell off of it before I even got out of the driveway and was afraid then of riding the regular kind.

Welcome Chikadeee55 ~ looking forward to getting to know you.

Mary ~ take it easy getting back into the exercise. You are doing awesome with your MF. Way to go

Donna ~ are you having a nice day? Enjoy your fall weather ~ hope it is a nice temp and not too chilly now.

Darcy ~ you sure keep busy. How are you doing?

Hello Koala.

Well, the dryer is buzzing ~ so I’d better get going.

Take care

Mary, I love the story about your daughter on the train. My DGS's mom commented this weekend when we were at the base and she was trying to pick out my DH, "Where is he? They all look alike." So I think your daughter's boo-boo at two was very understandable.

Hi Chickadee, welcome aboard. Join in and congrats on your loss thus far.

Rosey, picking up after doggies is an exercise in futility. But that description does have the word exercise in it....

Lynn, feel better. Falls are scary! And why can't someone cure the common cold?

Rie, hope you had a fine time at pool yesterday. I'd not have liked the lasagna and garlic bread torture.

Donna, my sister is an RN as well as a Nurse Practioner. She hates the medical caste system as well. Heck I hate it in my job. The licensed and the non-licensed staff. I am non-licensed although I could get my licensure. That said, I don't want to belong to the condescending group.

Freda, the doggies were fine while I was gone. DH stayed with them. But they were mighty happy when I returned. Especially with DGS. Kai Pixie believes DGS was put on earth just for her own personal joy. Her personal play toy.

Zoe, yes on the weather and trying to dress. It was 38 this morning and will be about 78 this afternoon. I will be hot laster but couldn't have taken freezing my buns off this morning. LOL at the enjoying walking with a broken leg. I think the idea was to make one believe being hungry is a pleasant thing. I suppose that's a pipe dream.

Bobbi, please send some squash my way!

Freda, the seat on the picture you posted of the bike reminds me of the recumbent exercycle I had. It killed my back. I can see it hurting yours. Perhaps a bike shop could work with you to find a better seat and position for riding the 3 wheeler.

Not much new in my world. I'm eating well, exercising and ignoring my son and his lesser half. DH is on days for a month and that makes eating like an much more difficult. But that is my problem, not his. Since the work blow up, I now keep my office door shut and it is amazing how much more work I get done. I love the quiet and privacy.
Marie

You ladies amaze me, such goings on. And here I sit.

Talk of Migraines, I know all to well about them, I have had them for over 15 years, and they are hormonal. No triggers, so not much you can do to prevent them. Hopefully they will disappear as I age more!

It is good to know that picking up after the dogs counts as exercise, because that is one area I lack in. I sit on my butt at work all day and my hobby, quilting is again sitting so over time that adds up. I know when I do take the dogs for a walk, it feels good. But it is that getting out there and doing it.

Enjoy reading everyones comments. So, much nicer than worrying about work.

Good evening to you all.

Chickadeee