Thank you, Amy and Kathleen, so much.


He's gone. Monster died in my arms this morning, before the vet could put him down, he was gone. I was loving, kissing and talking to him when he passed. I hope he heard and felt my love. I pray he did.

Oh lisa i am so sorry!!!

I KNOW he did. and bless you for holding and loving him through that moment. I think the noblest thing a human can do for a beloved animal is be with them as they pass, so the last thing on earth they are aware of is your scent, your loving touch, to be with them for eternity

Lisa: Awww, I am so very sorry about Monster, but how wonderful that you were able to hold and soothe him during his last moments with you. I love what Holly said about that! I am sure that you are having a tough time right now, and I am keeping you close in my thoughts and prayers. I am sure that you gave him a wonderful life. Take comfort in that. I am sending you a BIG HUG right now!

AmyLynne: I hope you are getting busy on your homework! If you want to do well, you HAVE to put in the effort, girl! I am the queen of procrastination, however, so I do understand. Just want you to get a good grade on your paper this time! Good luck getting everything finished! I am sending you SELF-DISCIPLINE and to help get you headed in the right direction! You can do it! As Nike would say, "Just do it!" You will be happy to get it over with!

Holly: Thanks for your heartfelt comments to Lisa. I love how you worded that about "the noblest thing a human can do for a beloved animal..."! You are so right!


I am working on getting my eating under control. Mainly focusing on portion control, which is ALWAYS a challenge for me. I need to LEARN to be SATISFIED with LESS food. It really is a habit, I think. I will follow my own advice and strive for PROGRESS and NOT perfection... ONE meal at a time!

amylynnehicks: Thank you for the welcome, and thanks for the encouragement. Being stuck within 5-10 lbs is the worst, I can say that I'm stuck in 171-176 lbs myself right now. Keep pushing and eventually you'll break that plateau . I saw that you were a grad student too, I'm about to graduate college in a month myself and I think that keeping steady with the weight you've already lost is a huge accomplishment when you have school work to focus on, but this is my two cents. Also, sorry to hear about your co-worker, but congrats on getting more hours at work!

IBelieveInMe2: Thanks for the welcome and encouragement . When I started losing weight I went from 218 lbs down to 140 lbs, but shot back up to 195 lbs a few years afterwards. Right now I'm back down in the 171 - 176 lb range and been stuck in it for almost a year now.

VermontMom: Thanks for the welcome. I understand the bad eating....yesterday when I was left alone a square of fudge suffered for it. This was of course a day after going 4 miles in the park and sensible eating. Sounds like you have the exercise down, I wouldn't worry too much. Just change your eating habits one delicious piece of junk food at a time and eventually you'll avoid them all.

ohiofreespirit:

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Having seen the other side of this, you can tell if an animal feels comforted or not. When I was young, my family dog was treated poorly for a month before he passed. Later, when my budgie went, my husband was able to hold him until he was gone. Each situation was so different and you could see a difference in how my dog and budgie went. Animals can feel your love for them and it sounds like you cared for your kitty until the end. I'll keep you in my prayers for your loss.

I know I've only posted an initial "I'm joining the thread" post earlier but I have been lurking/reading. I hope this post isn't too forward??? Everyone here seems to be very accepting so I followed the format of the posts already in the thread. Thanks for having me.

I had a good evening with my great-niece Grace tonight: our regular Friday get-togethers have been interrupted by Bob's and my trip to the farm, and then by Hallowe'en, so it's nice to get back into the swing of them again. I showed her the odds & ends I'd assembled for a collage I'd just started on, to let her in on the process of creating one, and she ended up having a terrific idea about how I should put two of the pieces together. It's so much fun talking about art with her—whether it's my art, her art, or someone else's. And she's always so eager to learn new words, new facts, even just hear new stories from her great-aunt. She's truly a breath of fresh air.

But meanwhile—speaking of air!—the kittens can barely breathe, they're so congested. It's too early to tell if the antiviral medication is going to help them. I'm very very worried. I can't think about diet or exercise or barely even Qigong, when my babies are in such bad shape. It's all I can do to maintain what healthy habits I do have, take my own meds, and try not to break down under the stress.

Lisa— So sorry for the loss of your beloved Monster! Boy have I been there...several times, I'm sad to say. And yet all the wonderful hours I've had with my animal companions much, much more than compensate for the pain of having to say goodbye to them. Perhaps it's true, what they say, that we'll all be reunited on the other side. In any case, know that you are a brave, strong, good woman, to have opened your heart to that love.

hello! i know I've been absent, I'm having a rough time adjusting my mindset to goodbye summer and fun, hello gross cold dead winter for 6 months I can post that smiley devil face but the other day, I got up, had coffee, then went back to bed until the last possible second when I had to get ready for work Zilch caring about anything, so apathetic. And then I'll have a good day

Didn't work out for 3 days but I just did Gilad's Step and Tone and some ab work, 40 minutes.

Mossy! yes all the threads can be overwhelming. This one is nice though very low pressure! I hope you are doing OK today.

Hi MrUki, thanks for your encouragement..stupid delicious treats that tempt me

Hi Amylynne, I'm so glad for you that the troublesome co-worker will not be a pain to you anymore! how is your schoolwork going? i am not nagging, just being gentle prodding, lol

Lisa, how are you holding up after your dear Monster's passing thinking of you!!

Hi Fi, sorry the kitties are still sick

Kathleen for you and me!!!

Hi to all others who might be reading , I miss Worth and the others who used to be regulars!!

Hello friends,


Yay!!! I don't have Job #2 for a few days. I feel like I'm on vacation. Still have to get up at 5 am though and go to Job #1. It's not so bad, I enjoy my client.
I changed schools and degrees. I am now attending Kaplan University majoring in an Associates of Applied Science in Information Technology. It is a 2 year program. I'm excited. I will be learning how to:

Install and maintain computer and wireless networks
Troubleshoot hardware and software problems
Create software applications
Manage databases
Develop Web pages


My crocheting is coming along well. I am almost done with my hat. I start on Jennifer's next, it is going to be purple.


I miss Monster a lot. I have had some time to process what happened and I am so glad he died in my arms. It is sad but at the same time, I am glad I was holding him against me and loving on him and talking to him. He was so precious to me.

I am still down, it scares me. I don't feel like smiling. It is hard for me to go to work but I go. I don't know if I should let my nurse practitioner know that I am struggling badly? Perhaps this is normal, I did go through a lot, Monster did not pass quickly. It was painful to watch him waste away.

Much love to all.

FI and Holly, thank you for thinking of me. You are such dear dear friends. I hope I can pull myself out of this depression. Perhaps it will just take some time?

Mossy, Uki, welcome, welcome ladies to the thread. We are thrilled to have you here.

Mossy: to the group! Glad you posted! I, too, want to build a healthy relationship with food and exercise, as you said. It is a constant struggle for me right now. I have a thyroid issue which has made it difficult for me to lose ANY weight at all, no matter what I do. The only way the scale budges is UP for me if I'm not constantly vigilant. I see an endocrinologist next Wednesday and I am hoping and praying that she will be able to get my thyroid functioning at an OPTIMAL level. Anyway, you sound like you are doing great with your outdoor walking! Way to go! Is there any way you could JUST have a treadmill to use for indoor walking in the winter, now that you've made walking a good habit? Just a thought. Either purchase one or join a gym for the winter that would give you access to a treadmill? The winter sure does throw a kink into outdoor exercise, that's for sure! I guess we will have to be creative, like you were by getting your walking in at the grocery store! Oh, and just an FYI: Kathleen and IBelieveInMe2 are the SAME person..... ME!

MrUki: Your post was not "too forward" at all! You did a great job! It is fine to post "personals" to each person or just write a general post ~ whichever you prefer. No pressure here, as Holly (Vermont Mom) said. CONGRATS on all of your weight loss!!! I know you said you gained a lot back after your initial AWESOME loss, but good for you for losing a significant amount of weight AGAIN!!! That takes patience and determination and I admire you for it!

Fi: Glad to hear that you had a good evening with Grace! Sorry to hear that the kittens are so congested and sick! I hope they are doing a bit better by the time you read this! Sending you strength, hugs, and endurance to take care of both of them..... AND you!

Holly: Boy do I hear ya on adjusting our mindsets to winter!!! I am having an extra difficult time with that this year. Sending right back at ya! I know I sure need it! Let's hang in there together!!!

AmyLynne: I neglected to thank you in my last post for your kind words and prayers for my friend and her family. The funeral was today. It was a beautiful service, but it was so sad to see my friend as a widow. Hope I wasn't too hard on you about your school work! Just trying to get ya movin'! How is it going? Hope all is well.

Lisa: If you are reading, I hope you are doing okay. Thinking of you and sending you a BIG hug!!!

I feel like a big, fat whale today! I have been a little lax on my food intake lately and I think I am slowly gaining even more weight. Last I checked, I was back UP to my all-time high. It isn't like I am eating fries and desserts either. Just overeating in general.... even on the decent stuff. Trying to not judge myself based on the # on the scale, but it is very depressing and makes me want to give up. I won't give up on myself, but that is just how I am feeling today. My appointment with the endocrinologist is FINALLY next week and it just can't come soon enough. I need to get my thyroid functioning optimally and my metabolism moving faster, so that I can FINALLY lose some significant weight!!! I am extra down because I attended my friend's husband's funeral this morning. It was a beautiful service, but he was only 47 years old. I don't like it when life throws us curve balls like that!!! I just feel terrible for my friend and her kids. I am okay, though! I'm definitely a SURVIVOR!!! Just sad tonight..... and that's okay! I will FEEL my emotions rather than eat them!!!

Well, I crashed and burned. I got so distracted by the Qigong, the cats' illness, Bob leaving for the farm with his mother (who is so demented he's not sure she knows where she's going), plus collage, mail art, etc.... that I messed up my medications and ran out of a couple of them. Got into severe depression pain, especially this afternoon: minus five on my scale. But I gotta take care of myself before I can take care of the kitties, so I pulled it together enough to order some expensive refills, then really had to work to pull it together enough to drive to the COOP and pick up my meds. But I did it. Now I'm up to minus one. Maybe tomorrow will be better, now that I have my meds.

But in order not to be entirely downbeat, let me give you a link to my latest collage: "a man's reach should exceed his grasp.". As usual, if you want to see a larger version against black, just click on the collage image. =smile=

Fi, I am so sorry you were overcome, but very glad you were able to overcome that! very kewl collage,

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?"

Kathleen, gosh I certainly meant to comment before about your friend, my thoughts and prayers to that poor lady what a shock, he was too young very unfair! I don't know how to explain 'why bad things happen to good people'