Goodmorning!! The sun is out and I'm looking forward to some baking (with SPF 40 of course!).

Jill - GREAT few weeks for you! Don't you love it when everything falls into place? Congrats on that weigh in, thats AWESOME! You will be out of those 290's in no time. Thats good news about Jeff as well, 1.25 makes such a huge difference eh? You wouldn't always think so, but I'd kill for that kinda raise!

Kimberley - unfortunately I have an allergy to wheat, it causes me to bloat up and have a sore tummy. And it's all kinds of wheat, I've tried whole wheat, spelt seems to be a little less, but I still get puffy tummy symptoms. After a while it's just not worth the sore tummy for me, I just can't function properly when I've got it in my system. I feel sluggish, very lazy, and can't go too far from home, because I'm always having to go to the bathroom. Eventually its just not worth it, especially on my vacation where I want to have fun and do lots of things.

Well my gang is swarming me and trying to convince me to go for a 10km hike, eek! I'm in vacation mode.. less hiking more beach time! Have a great one!

-Aimee

Jill, as I read your post, I went on a mental roller coaster; can't imagine what Jeff thought as he sat in his manager's office, or how you felt as he related the events to you! Glad it ended on an up note! And the weigh in...Wow!

Mine wasn't so good, but I expected that. I am up 2 pounds, back to 216. Dagnabbit blargh. Ah well, it'll come off again. We have the annual Jazz & Ribs Fest downtown this weekend, so we'll have to watch the calories at that!

Aimee, so you react to gluten? I have a friend who is allergic to gluten and she says she really has a time because it hides in so many foods.

Well, 6:45am rolled around way too early (way, way too early), but sharing Quin's adoption day with our friends was worth every bleary-eyed yawn. I for one am ready for a nap; I need to fortify myself before a visit with mom, because I'm a little grumpy right now and a grumpy Kimberley is not a friend o' the world.

Hey, y'all - it's been a long day (but a good one). I'm ready to snooze and am going to keep this short. Please keep Howie and me in your thoughts, will you? See this thread.

Oh, Kimberely, my thoughts are certainly with you. I have had scares in the past as well, so I know how it feels to be so uncertain at this point. I have had numerous ultrasounds on my breasts because I apparently have fibrous breasts, so they can never tell if something is a lump to be concerned about or if it's just a dense section of my breast. I've also had numerous ovarian cysts that luckily turned out to be merely benign cysts and not cancerous tumors. What a roller coaster--but oddly enough, I guess if it hurts, there's a better chance he's okay! Not that I'm happy he's in any pain, but you know what I mean

Well, TOPS scale was just about right on with mine--put me at an 8-pound loss for the week, which certainly made me the top loser in the group for last night's meeting Thank GOD all that water weight is gone--my ankles looked better, so I knew that's mostly what it was. Now the hard part is continuing to lose after such a huge loss, ya know? It's like there's this pressure or something. But, I'm babbling. Time for work. Have a GREAT start to the weekend, ladies (though I know it's a super-extended weekend for you, Aimee ), and good luck with Howie at the Dr's!

Kimberley - my thoughts are definitely with you and Howie, sounds like you two have things under control... so many people let things hurt without getting them checked out. It's that imagining all the possibilities which gets to me.

Jill - have you ever taken measurements? While at first it's COMPLETELY depressing, it's such a good thing to have. I've taken measurements of every possible place that I can think of, and was suprised when I had lost 1/2 an inch off my neck (which made normal necklaces fit again!), I also did my ankles and wrists, it's amazing where the weight comes off! I'd be curious to see where your inches are coming off, sounds like your ankles might be an interesting place to watch. Anywho, I'm just sorta weird!

Today is another lazy day, My mom, brother and his gf are outside talking to a neighbour while Josh and I are on mac laptops (both my brother and my mom have them). The sun isn't out, and it's HARD trying to figure out what to do when there are 5 people with VERY different ideas of fun. When my brother and I were growing up I was always the moody one, so it's weird dynamics having my brothers gf be the extremely moody one. It's slowly driving me insane. She doesn't like my mom I don't think, just from how she treats her, and her body language.. thats hard for me when I feel such a loyalty to my mom. She was the perfect mother for me, and is growing to be a really good friend. Last night we tried on her clothes, which is funny because I'm a size 18 and she's a 22, luckily our clothes have stretch! Well I guess it's my turn to babble.. Have a good weekend!! Kimberley, I just want to give you and Howie a hug.. because thats scarey stuff to hear in this day and age. Stay strong!

-Aimee

There was a cancellation in ultrasound, so they went ahead and did one today, too. The radiology tech (un)officially said she didn't see anything in the ultrasound. Good news on the H-Man front!

Hi ladies... just catching up after a few days...

I'm so glad Howie's okay! And Jill, OMG!!!! way to go girl!

I'm just so busy at work, that I have little time to get online lately. Had a great day at the consignment shop I like to go to, pulled 4 items off the rack , tried them all on, each one fit wonderfully! So I got an Old Navy XXL top, a Tommy Hilfiger sz18 top, a Ralph Lauren denim skirt sz20, and Lane Bryant jeans sz20; all for $35!!! Great buys for me! Woo-hoo.

just about done with work for the day. I'm hoping that they will be interviewing me next week for the position I applied for. I don't think it's gonna be more money but the hours are WAY better than what I've got now.

I'll try to stop in more often... I promise!

Oooh, quiet over the weekend! But alas, here it is, 6:30am on Monday morning, and I am at work (obviously not working, but hey, I'm here ).

I had a nice lazy weekend--lots of napping and watching movies and watching Jeff play video games while I occasionally fell asleep and drooled on his pillow--I should be well-rested for my week We were supposed to go to a wedding for Jeff's friend on Saturday. The church's name and address were on the invitation, so we looked up the address on Mapquest. The address was simpley "5 Second Ave," but when we looked it up, apparently there is a 5 Second Ave North and a 5 Second Ave South. Well, we didn't know which one it was, so we Googled and found the church's website, which had a link to direction, so we clicked on that link and followed those directions (they were the "south" ones). So off we went, all nice and dressed up for a wedding, and we get to this address, and it's a house in the middle of a very residential area--definitely not a church. We drove up and down the entire street like 3 times thinking we'd missed something--after all, we had gotten the directions from the church's website! After looking like idiots driving back and forth for a while, I got out the cell phone and called Jeff's house, and we had his cousin give us the Mapquest directions to the other 5 Second Ave (the "north" one). So we headed there, and we found it--well, we found a house located at 5 Second Ave, but certainly, again, not a church. We drove back and forth between the 2 locations (now definitely past 1pm, the time of the ceremony), but we never found the church. We still don't know where the church is located! And when Jeff got the invitation, it only had the info for the ceremony, so until earlier that day, we though there was no reception. WRONG--Jeff talked to another friend who said the guy who was getting married had told him there was a reception at a hotel afterwards, but no one knew what hotel, since it wasn't in the invitation! What a mess...we ended up spending the day at Jeff's house doing our usual lazy routine of movies, naps, and video games. I even tried calling the church on the off chance that someone might be working in the office during a wedding, but no such luck--I got an answering machine. We tried, we really did! What a little mess

Well, enough about my pretty much uneventful weekend. How was everyone else's? I'm sure Aimee is vacationing it up having a great time, and it's great to see a post from Sara here And certainly glad to hear good news on the Howie front, Kimberley! I'm so glad they didn't find anything alarming

Hey! It was a pretty quiet weekend on here! I had a somewhat busy one with celebrating my mom's bday and spending some last minutes with my brother and his gf. They are gone now, and its VERY quiet! The sun isn't being too agreeable, and it's been raining on and off for 3 days now. ick! How is a girl supposed to get a tan and beach time with no sun!?!

On some scary news, Josh got worse, and so I finally convinced him to go to the doctor here, he sent in some samples to get tested and we'll likely find out forsure what it is on Wednesday or Thursday. For now it looks like its a bleeding ulcer. Not a nice way to spend your vacation! So now I'm busy taking care of him, making 90% of his meals, making sure he takes tons of different vitamins, and making sure he drinks enough water. It's like being a personal nurse but without the money. We figured this out on Saturday, and today he's feeling better... less blood in the stool. TMI eh?

Jill - sounds like quite the adventure finding that wedding! I went to a wedding of a friend of Josh's a few years ago, and due to the planning there was an 8 hour "break" between the ceremony and the reception, and since we had to drive there from out of town we just couldn't kill that many hours and ended up skipping the reception. But tell me, I'm going to a wedding on Saturday, what are people wearing these days? I honestly have NO idea!!

Sara - great bargain shopping! I love to find things on sale

Well I think the sun is showing itself, so I'm going to go sit in it before it disappears! Take care!

-Aimee

Looking for an address and not being able to find it is crazy-making material...And for their website to be wrong, too!

We went to the jazz and ribs fest at our town's courthouse square on Saturday. It was a great time of relaxing, grooving to some great jazz, and doing some people-watching. Sunday, we had no plans other than my having to water my folks' plants while they were out of town. Howie and I ended up driving back roads for several hours, stopping and taking pictures as scenes interested us. It was a nice, kicked back day in which we were beholden to no one's schedule but our own. Heavenly!

The tree pollen's been outrageous and my eyes have felt like someone pumped 'em full of air, then glued sandpaper on the insides of my eyelids. Can I get a witness, anyone? LOL Howie got up and went to the YMCA today, but I didn't. I had a headache and was sore from several days' worth of working in the yard and squatting to get pictures from various angles at the rib fest and while out on our drive. Ouch!

Aimee, I would think any nice pants outfit, casual dress, or skirt would be fine for most weddings. I've given up on being too fashion-conscious.

Did buy a cute little skirt at Wal-Mart last night, though! It's the shortest one I've worn since I was a kid; this one hits just above the knee on me. The scandal!

Woohoo, people are alive on here! Glad to hear ya'll had a good weekend, Kimberley. Rock the skirt, girl--as they say on Ricki Lake and Jenny Jones, if ya got it, flaunt it

Aimee--I am SO glad Josh finally went to a doctor! Blood in the stool is no laughing matter--it can be a sign of one of many serious conditions. It can also be nothing major (like a hemorrhoid or something), but it's definitely better to have checked out. I hope the find out what's wrong, and he gets better soon!

I have been doing pretty well with my food lately, and yesterday at the gym, I did 20 minutes on the elliptical after doing a 5-minute warm-up on the recumbent bike and then used the weight machines to work my thighs (fronts, back, inner, and outer), glutes, abs, triceps, and calves. I need to find a machine for my biceps, too, but I think that machine is further down near the freeweights, which is where all the big intimidating men are all working out. I sure do miss my all-women's gym in Virginia Beach But hey, less than a year till my current gym membership runs out. Today and tomorrow I will do just my 30-40 minutes on the elliptical, and then I'll work the weight machines again on Thursday (I'll do them on the 2 days a week when I don't have to rush to get to job #2).

Like I said, I have been doing pretty well with my food--except for the cake! I stick to plan for everything--my 4 smaller meals every day--but when I get to work early in the morning, I always have cake! There's always cake inthe kitchen leftover from some office party, and this is the third work day in a row that I have had some. I think the reason I keep doing it even though I know it's bad for me is that when I peek at the scale in the morning, I'm still losing, so eating cake and still losing weight isn't much of a deterrent from eating the cake in the first place I know I need to stop, though, cuz I bet I could lose even more without it! I've just got to keep that picture of the roller coaster in my mind...

Cake -- any goodie like that -- is a big temptation for me. Howie's not particularly enamored with sweets, but I sure am. He tried the eliptical today at the YMCA and made it for 5 minutes. He really likes it!

It's clouding up here and a heavy breeze is kicking up; so far it's just spitting, no heavy rain. Looks like Dennis is making his way through our neck of the woods. We really need the rain badly, so bring it on, Dennis! I have the soaker hose going on one section of the flower beds, because I never know whether a rain will just pound through and run off or if we'll get a good soak. Better safe than sorry.

Well, that storm blew right through. Glad I had the soaker hose going!

I have good news--there's no cake in the kitchen this morning! The easiest way to avoid a temptation is not to have it around!

Still kickin' butt with my new diet--peeked at the scale and am down about 2 pounds for the week so far, so as long as I stay on-plan for today and tomorrow, I should have no trouble posting a loss for the week at TOPS tomorrow night (we're running a contest, so I need to lose every week to get more points!--can you tell I'm slightly competitive? ).

I had an entire post and it wouldn't let me post! So now it's disappeared into cyberspace. Thats annoying! Here is a much shorter version of that one..

Jill - Whats the new diet? Cake is evil...not usually my thing. I prefer to drink my calories away.. in the form of coffee and pop. Bad! I am going to Weigh myself on Saturday morning when I'm back, I'm scared to see what it's going to say, I suspect I've gained some weight, we'll see I guess. I've been pretty good with cutting out sugar drinks, and bread. We've had a few dinners out for my mom's bday which I suspect was my downfall. But you never know I guess!

Kimberley - those ellipticals are amazing, I have quite the knee issues and they don't seem to bother me on it. I'd love to get one for my house, but a good one can run you in the thousands! i think even a bike would be nice at home, something I can do when I'm watching cheesy tv shows! heh.

Well I'm feeling like my time here is running out, we have 2 full days left... wow that happened FAST! I better go get some beach time in before I have none left! It feels easier to be at the Beach here (partly because we go to a beach which doesnt have a lot of people), so I'm trying to pack in as much as I can. But I tell yah, a Glacier Fed lake is VERY VERY cold! Take care!

-Aimee