The computer seems to be okay now...everytime I hit a key before, the screen would start scrolling down, or repeating the last letter I struck. I'd hit F2 (my daughter said that would fix it) and it would stop for half a minute...made posting a bit challenging!

Anyway, now it's fine, so here I am for a pop in before bed.

I've got my gym bag packed and we're set for another "date" tomorrow morning. I love "NO SCHOOL." That means no driving or nagging for me first thing in the morning. Very refreshing change.

Speaking of the boy, I think I'm going to sign him up for a session at the gym. He's too young to be a member, but they have this Sports Conditioning program for kids that they're running this summer. Two days a week, hour long sessions which can include weight training, cardio and flexibility exercises. He's going to be playing football this year, so this will be a good start before the grueling practices which start August 1. He's thrilled that he can use the weight machines. (I don't know how to spell the noises that Tim Allen makes to signify male appreciation, but I would insert that there if I did!)

Terri! I am thrilled for you and hubby and your horsies!! And so envious! I too, immediately pictured the two of you trotting off into the sunset.....*sigh* I love horses, but I'm VERY allergic. Even the carriage ride horse which I don't touch can reduce me to a sneezing, puffy eyed, blubbering mess. Lots of luck to you and dh and your "stable." **We were posting at the same time...what a great story about dh and his determination to "get back in the saddle." Good for him and for you! BTW...grizzlefart? I can picture exactly what he looks like by that name!!!


Lucky! Wow! Congratulations on the big raise!! Sorry about the extra work/CHANGES looming, but that's a considerable chunk o' money! Okay, I'm jealous of you too! I want a raise! and a new job.

Mary...how could we forget you?? Pop in more often...don't just lurk!

Scooter! Did I welcome you yet? If not...WELCOME to our corner of the world. This is a fantastic group of women, just jump right in!

Meliss...I was wondering where you had gotten off to! Great job on LOOSER clothes!

Thin! There you are! I was wondering about you too! The new gig sounds good.

Andria... Oh, how I relate to those words! I hope you found some time for winkies.

Barb,,,I am LOVING this weather! If it could only stay this way all summer! Yesterday was so nice and warm, my son and I took a ride down to the beach for a bit. The closest one to us is about a 20 minute ride, so we'll just pop down for an hour or two sometimes. We brought our books and our chairs, all set to enjoy the late afternoon sun and sea. WELL. First of all, they must have done some major beach replenishment at this particular beach because what used to be a quick walk to the water has become a trek that requires the use of beasts of burden to carry our stuff. puff puff pant pant...Good exercise anyway. We picked a spot and soon realized how strong the wind was and that the sand pelting our bodies HURT!! This will NOT work with contact lenses. So I just wrapped my shirt around my head, my towel around my shoulders and actually went to sleeo! My son read for about an hour and we decided that we had gotten enough of a "beach fix" and headed home. We should have stayed in the parking lot! It was warm, not too windy and the car is right there! live and learn.

Okay, I've got to get a little nap in before work...

Hi to everyone else, come on out and post! It's good to see more of us popping in...

love to all.....

Hello everyone, Hope everyone is having a great day, or night as the case may be.

Just plugging along as usual. BarbPA, did you get my email? Our trip is finally set. We will be in Training in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre ared on Monday the 26th and Tuesday the 27th of July. Did you say someone lives close to that ared? Kat? MIchelle? Lucky? I don't remember who you said. But whoever it is, if you would let me know of a good place to stay in the area I'd appreciate it. The actual town the company we are going to is Exeter PA.

Alvin went to the doctor today, and he's sending him to an orthopedic for his knee, and to a heart specialist, I'm not too happy about that.

Somewhow I need to get back to Dr Phil, I haven't given up on him, just can't get in the mood to read.

Well, my bed is calling me, so I'll check back in tomorrow night.

Hi all... new around here. You seem like a warm and supportive group. Hope everyone's Wednesday gets off to a good start.

Gee I don't know where to start.
Terri... Your story about your husband riding was sooooo touching. I could picture your fear and pride at the same time. I had both emotions too. I am sooooooo proud of him. My uncle was paralysised and he still did EVERYTHING under the sun. As they say... "where there is a will there is a way." Your husband is a role model for me. Willing to "work for" what he wants.

Lucky... I got a kick out of your post. LOL
I know all of those feelings and fears. "CHANGE" LOL
Don't put the cart before the horse... enjoy your fame.

Thin... You know I have to ask.... send me the name of this great work opportunity. I am sooo happy for you.... BUT don't go and STILL over work yourself. I KNOW YOU... you can be a workaholic ... and you need some YOU TIME. Take this opportunity to give yourself some free time.

Scooter... WELCOME !!!!
I have loved reading your posts and look forward to many more.

Anglea/Alice... WELCOME TO YOU TOO !!!
This is a very warm and friendly group and we would love to have you join in.

Barbg... good to hear from you again. I hope Alvin's doctor appointments go well. Keep us informed.

Kat... I LOVED your beach story. How cool you and your son going there together. I LOVE bonding stories like that.

Mary... we will never forget about you... but you need to post more often for the newbies to get to know you too.

Melissa Michelle and Barb.. It is so good hearing from each of you too.
I am just out of time for more replies. I hope you can forgive me.
Gotta go in a hurry now. bye bye

Good morning!

No bike riding this morning. I should have gotten up early and ridden on my own. But I didn't sleep well last night (again) and I need to do some work for a meeting today. Anyway, I got on the scale this AM and it show 250.6 so in spite of TOM taking its own sweet time to get here, my efforts are paying off. I'm still in that two week period where the scale usually doesn't move.

It occurred to me that its getting easier to eat a normal sized meal and get up and walk away. On Monday, we had KFC since it was so late. I got the chicken strip meal. I looked at it and I did feel a bit cheated because it looked so scrawny. But I ate it and didn't go looking for anything else. Then last night, we had chicken and a salad. I ate a piece of breast and my salad without feeling like I had to eat more. I have thrown away food at lunch because I told myself that I'd had enough food to sustain me so no need to eat more. Maybe that means, that Dr. Phil is getting through to me. (Lucky - I haven't started on Chap 7 yet with all the horse stuff going on).

I hope tonight we have some home time. I need to plant more flowers and watch some movies I have from the library.

Kat - I too loved your story of going to the beach with your son. Especially the part of you two reading together. So cool!

2Cute - Good to see you!!

Barb.G - I'll include your DH in my prayers.

Angela - Welcome to the group!! I liked your bio.

I better get busy.

Make this a wonderful, healthy, fabulous, fantastic, activity-filled, in control day!!!

Hey eveyone!

I weighed in last night! We had a great crowd...

I LOST 4 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't write much today. I have to get back to work. Today is my last day of work before my gallbladder surgery. So if I seem to fall off the face of the earth I am in bed with pain killers. But I had to tell you about my weigh-in!

Good Job Scooter!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery from your surgery - looking forward to seeing you back here soon!

Scooter, ditto what BarbPA said but I will use different smileys.

I wish you a speedy recovery!!!

And I HAVE to include

Hey everyone

I am frustrated! I went to meet with the advisor at my old university to see how things would shape up for finishing a degree. It was such an exercise in futility. I drove 43 miles to find out that I will need to make another 5 appointments with different departments to get them to sign off on general eds that were quarter credits instead of semester so they don't quite match up to the current credit standards. All I was after was an answer on if I will be able to finish a degree in two years or not. I came away with a ton of unanswered questions and no way to get answers at this time. The advisor's suggestion was to just get started and we would work it all out in time. Listen closely, you might be able to hear the primal scream all the way through to your computer screen.

On the positive side of things, I busted out a really solid workout this morning! I was actually a little stiff from the hula hoop the day before, but all the kinks worked their way out and I was pushing my limits and having a great time.

I'm going to go do something productive around the house instead of lashing out at anything that moves, which is what I'm really tempted to do.

Before I go, Congratulations to Scooter! Way to go!!! And we'll be praying for a speedy recovery from surgery as well.

Andria

Andria

Scooter, Good luck with the surgery... after I had my stony gall bladder out I felt better than I had in years... hadn't realized how generally bad I was feeling beforehand. Hope the surgery itself goes smoothly.

Andria, You don't really have to go to all those departments in person, do you? (I used to do this kind of work at a university, and now I'm a professor and I do some advising....) Surely you can send emails to request waivers and stuff, no? It shouldn't be so hard.....

Thanks to everybody for the welcomes. Had a so-so day today. My soon-to-be-ex or whatever you call him called me to say he's got a job interview in Chicago, and can he see me while he's in the same state as me (I'm 3 hours from Chicago). I can't believe I said yes. I feel so guilty in relationship to him that I never want to say no, even though everything in me tells me I SHOULD say no.

On the good side, I'm going to go hear some live music tonight, including this guy I'm totally crazy about. Also, I got an offer for a book contract! (Not the kind of book that makes any money, though, so don't get too excited.) So, it should be easy to be upbeat and happy, but my hands are still shaking from that phone conversation with the ex. Just thinking about spending time with him gives me a headache--I mean, a real, knife-stabbing-me-in-the-temple cluster headache--and panic attack. But I'll go out tonight, drink nothing but club soda, hear some good music, and stay on track with my eating by keeping myself busy. Yay for being in love with someone who goes out and does fun stuff that helps me keep busy!

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement!!! My next weigh in my be bad since I will probably be swollen and make me gain weight. But as long as I am feeling better I don't care. I can't eat after midnight and I have to be at the hospital at 10:30 and that is just for tests. But hey being this heavy at least I won't starve to death it might feel like it though.

Hi everyone! Well, today I ditched the evil trainer and strutted my stuff by myself. I did 4 jobs in 3.5 hours from the time I left my garage, til I pulled back in. Not bad since it was my first day and my first shop was a nightmare!

I'm seeing already that I'm going to have to ditch the attitude that you can't waste food though. My gosh, I had three bags of fast food yesterday and four bags today. This is NOT healthy fast food either!

Melissa: Glad to see you popping in. You've really been working alot of hours! I hope that it will lead you to the promotion you're looking for.

BarbPA: Hope your review went well. I think you said mountains when you spoke of how flexible your job is to your "at home" day and the medical appointments. It's hard to find good jobs these days that are tolerant of stuff like that.

Katrina: WOW, gym dates??? How cool is that??? How nice of you and your son to have a great day at the beach. I took #1 Son to lunch today and it was nice being able to have a nice conversation. I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful kid, actually 2 of them, that I can take SOME credit for.

Scooter: Congrats on the 4 pound loss! Way to Go!!! * Best wishes for a speedy recovery. I hope you won't be AWOL too long. * I'm the one saving the Healthy Choice UPC's. Thanks for saving them for me. I'll remind you when and where to send them. I really appreciate it.

Lucky: OMG, 20%!!! That's unheard of! At least they gave you a BIG raise to take over more responsibilities. Where my husband is they dish out the work and don't give out any money.

Mary, Mary, Mary: What can we do to interest you in posting more? We miss you not being here. How's the family? Is your son still staying out with the girlfriend and giving you and DH some free time? Hope all is well.

Terri: What a nice story about your hubby and his riding experience. What an inspiration. That "CAN DO" attitude! Can't beat it! It would be nice if we could all convert some of his enthusiasm into our weightloss efforts. Boy, listen to me, what's the deal with "it would be nice"? Thin, just DO IT!!!!

Barbg: Here's hoping that Alvin's doctor appointments go real well. [[[hugs]]]

Angela: Welcome! Glad you found your way down here. Jump in often. Before you know it, you'll feel like you've been here forever.

2cute: You're sooooo funny! You DO know me, all too well. This morning I got up and thought, "well gee, let's go see what kind of jobs we can find on the web this morning. Now that I have all of these that I don't have any paperwork for." Instead, I should have thought, "wow, look at all the money I'm gonna make and all the paperwork I'm NOT going to have to do, I may be able to take a day or two off." I'm thinking now I can do MORE, instead of it giving me a break. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?????

Andria: [[[HUGS]]], honey. My goodness, you sure didn't get any answers, did you? My BIL went back to try and finish his degree and they told him he would have to start all over from the beginning because it had been too long. Kinda the pitts that you have to drive so far and couldn't get it all taken care of at once. Of course I'm not sure where you're going to find time to go to school and do everything else you do. You're going to be on the go non-stop like Michelle.

Tomorrow is babysitting Doris. I talked to my friend this evening and she said that her mom (Doris) has taken a real turn for the worse this past week. Just getting more and more feable. She's about had it. Even though some of her siblings are coming for a couple of hours in the evening, I think she's waited too long. She's ready to hire full time help or seek out a nursing facility. I feel real bad for her.

Oh, BTW, Syn is visiting her daughter in Minnesota. So she'll be gone for about a week.

Well, my dears. I have downloaded my little laptop from today's jobs. Now I need to write up just one report from lunch...SIMPLE. Gotta run. See you all later. Love ya bunches.

Thin - is going slap that fast food right out of our hands and give you a swift kick in the buttinzki.



You don't want the scale going up again.

Scooter -

Get back on your feet soon. And a little prayer for a speedy recovery.

Oh look, time to start a new thread again.

STOP! DO NOT POST HERE! JOIN US ON THREAD #540