JULES
Of course!!!! Just dive in!


Okay, gang, I was going to stay away from the forums this weekend, but my BF has a busy weekend which means I'm feeling a little lonely. EZ - I get gypped out of date "day" too on Sunday (but money is money - got to work when you can) but I still get "date night". And I think I'm going to be tempted with pizza too! He's been craving it for weeks. He promised he'd come up with something with a whole grain thin crust and very very little cheese. I think he said something about shrimp, tomato, basil and mithra (spelling?) cheese. Yum, but OH BOY is this going to be a test of willpower for me. Something about pizza....

I think I need some...



DUTCHGIRL - You might try rinsing the saurkraut several times and then squeezing out the excess liquid. I never knew that trick...I thought you were SUPPOSED to eat it with all that vinegar. But it definitely makes it more palatable. If we make it with apples and onion we rinse a little less and leave some bite in.

MRSAUGIE - yes, we miss you! Did you get those last stumps out?

JEANETTE - mmm an evening in with Jane Austen - that sounded really nice and cozy. My trick when I'm feeling really bad lately (don't laugh) is to tuck myself into bed with a decaf coffee and a Woman's World. I read all the silly little stories - even the romance ones - and do the crosswords. It reminds me of my Oma - well all my grandparents - and a time when I didn't feel quite so alone and grown up in the world.


MTIGER - oh how frustrating! frustrating! frustrating! But dutchgirl is so right. This is just a maybe not so unexpected plateau. Look at how much you've lost!! I guess sometimes your body just has to catch its breath. You help me remember that when I get to mine, okay? I keep reading how upping the calories will help get you kickstarted again. So fingers crossed for you. I've also read about shaking up your exercise routine or changing foods (like if you tend to eat the same things). I read one person recommend giving up cardio for a week or two and just do strengthening. Can't remember where that was though, I'm afraid. CHEERING FOR YOU!


Everyone else hope you are having a fantastic weekend.
WILLOW - hope that your foot is getting better so you can get back on the road
BLONDE - again, Happy Anniversary!

Now I'm going to get a way from the computer for a bit and LIVE MY LIFE! Um, even if that just means vacuuming...

Hey Jules

Jump in and join the fun.

Bobble, thanks for the tip on the sauerkraut. Do you have Dutch grandparents? Oma is the Dutch word for grandma and I don't know of any other language that uses it.
Pizza sounds good...
No, not having any, I was already bad enough, made a homemade burger (extra lean beef, mind you)

Did some strength training this morning, then a HUGE shop for food and I put in 4 hours of hard graft in the garden, so I am pretty pleased with myself. I am very tired now though, so off to bed shortly.

Thanks Gary--need some motivation and you are an awesome Cheerleader you are always so supportive in your posts!!

Thanks to both Dutchgirl & bobblefrog too..seems like a fun group!!

Bobblefrog--Hubby's fave is pizza--he tempts me with it all the time. I usually try to get the thin crust cheese and eat lots of salad!!!

Ditto on missing MRSAUGIE

Again, glad to have you here JULES

DUTCHGIRL I hope the rains ease and you get out in the garden. Angie just finished watering her roses and I cleaned out the fountain which the birds think is their personal bathtub and toilet I guess!

BOBBLEFROG I already have my vacumming done! Did it after I walked the dogs while Angie went to church for bell choir practice. We love to make our own pizza...Angie usues a lot of tomatoes and basil...me..too...but way more cheese on mine....dang!

BRAT I hope the evening will be a lot of fun and many more years to you both!

How is the week-end going for you so far SUPER J? You can't solve all issues at once...keep moving forward every little chance you get!

MINDY I might have picked up one of those 1/2 pounds I lost last night over pizza and 4 beers...dang...but I was all alone and no one to block the fridge!

Going to the harbor to walk the dogs this afternoon....then probably fish and chips...there goes my other 1/2 pound down....dang...

the things you have to do to keep a marraige solid...of course Angie will have grilled fish and salad....but it is a fish and chips hole in the wall...tradition...wink

HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY TEAM!

The words wise guy....and worse do come up too, as you well know JULES!

Thanks everyone. I spent the past couple days focusing on eating and feeling full. And I went to bed earlyish. I quilted today and cooked and went grocery shopping and I felt pretty good. We had taco kits which are DISASTER for me but after a few I stopped and an hour later I had another one. And I was okay!

But then my sister out of NOWHERE texted me and told me that she was putting my mother in a homeless shelter on Tuesday. Apparently mother's dirtbag husband kicked her out and now she's staying with my sis who is very poor and my mother is ill and cannot work. So, now I'm feeling out of control again and I'm so upset.

This is why I dont talk to my family. I wish I could just forget about them.

Jeanette - life sometimes just seems unfair doesn't it? Just when you get it together something happens to knock you off balance again.
You speak of feeling out of control - sweetheart you cannot control what other people do. You have no influence there. The only thing you can control is your response. And not taking care of yourself is not the best response you can make. So stay on track with the taking care of Jeanette program.
That will make you stronger and better able to deal with the curveballs life throws at you.

Jules - Who are the 2 cuties in your avatar?

7:30 on a rainy Sunday morning and I am off to do my run. I must be crazy
I am nicely sore in the arms and shoulders from the weights and the gardening yesterday - hope to get a few more hours in the garden today.
See you all later.
HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY, TEAM!!!

Jeanette--hugs to you--family issues are the hardest. I am 43 and I rarely talk to my Dad but he called a few weeks back and it wasn't a good conversation and it put me back to a very unhappy and insecure place so I understand. That's so awesome that you quilt. I have always wanted to try one. What pattern are you working on?

dutchgirl--that's my grandson Dominic who turned 1 in January and is cutting teeth and one of my dogs, Levi, The other is rust colored and named Cinnamin. They are always close to the grandson when he is here on the weekend.

I walked a little while Dominic napped yesterday--walked alot back and forth with him since his teeth are hurting so bad--my arm are tired too--he;s 28 lbs now.

Hope everyone has a great day!!

Thanks, dutch. What you said really makes sense. I'm a very emotional person, haha. And knowing that I GAINED TEN POUNDS since Feb kills me. Whatever. I wrote out a plan for the week and if it's written down, then I can do it.

Jules, I know what you mean about the phone calls. A couple years ago my mother started calling me every Sunday. When it was over I'd spend the rest of the day in bed sick as a dog. I really don't want to tell my sister not to talk about my mother but she has no one else to talk to about it.

This is my first quilt ever. I just put a bunch of squares together to make one big one, t hen I put a border around it. Then on the alternating rows I have one big square with a border around that. I really had no idea what I was doing, so all the seams are off and the actual quilting part is really crooked and not...straight. LOL Oh well. It's fun but it gets pretty frustrating sometimes. I have to bind it today which I am NOT looking forward to. I"m going to just do it on the machine. The next thing I'm working on a pattern for a cup cozy this week.

Thanks for all the well wishes for my anniversary. It's been postponed until next Sunday probably. We had to cancel our dinner reservation because of me yesterday. I was not and still am not feeling well. I have been having some really bad lower back and abdominal pain. Finally about 10:30pm last night I couldn't stand it anymore since I wanted to cry and was wishing I could throw up all at the same time. I was getting concerned about kidney stones since we have been surrounded by people in the past 6 months that have gotten them and have had to have surgery so we went to an emergency 24 hour clinic down the road from us and they just diagnosed me with a bad UTI infection. Whew.. I had heard UTIs can be painful but never had one where I was in pain before. We did manage to get some fun in before I finally just asked to go home. We did buy my husband his motorcycle he had been looking at and brought it home and then went to lunch with my mom and took her out to her fave mexican restaurant Uncle Julio's. I was proud of myself I didn't have too much chips or salsa or queso but that's also because my tummy was hurting so bad and I didn't think it was very good hehe. But regardless I had already given myself a talking to the day before about limiting myself on the chips. After that I just finally had to go home and lay down. I felt better after my husband went and got me a heating pad and I took some medicine better enough to where we actually went and got me a brand new black lab puppy LOL he was the last one and the woman was giving him away for free and I've named him Rowdy and he is certainly living up to his name. Then the medicine wore off and the pain was back worse than ever so I decided time to go to the doctor which I'm glad I did. I was going to wait until Monday but by then I probably wouldn't have been able to go to work which I can't miss work at all. But hopefully when Rowdy gets a bit bigger he'll be my walking companion around the neighborhood and give me a little motivation since he is going to require exercise. Right now his tummy is full and he is napping.

Jeannette-HUGS I am so sorry about your mother. But you can control how YOU respond and you can't control what other people do.

Jules-WELCOME!

EZMONEY-congrats on getting back down!

dutchgirl-WTG on the weights and gardening.. I need to pull weeds myself in my yard.

Bobblefrog-Sorry you are feeling lonely. It's no fun when your date plans get cancelled. Keep yourself busy!

have a great Sunday.. I'm catching up on laundry and trying to rest in between saying Rowdy come here whatcha doing or NO Rowdy.. haha.. He just might start thinking NO Rowdy is his name. But he's adorable and I wouldn't have it any other way.

When does a person just get time to themselves. What a crazy, busy weekend. Went to a free garage sale (people just bring things to give away), grocery shopping, ran 2 miles, made dinner, where did the day go??? Today I am postin early then need to go to benefit the ex-hubbie that lives me, is playing in. That will consume too much time today. I am jealous of Dutch who got out in the garden. I have tons to do and no time to do it.

Good news with the scale. I have been 198.4 two days in a row. I just hope that good movement keeps up. So much has been happening here, let me see if I can catch up.

Gary- i am about to send you a picture of my face to post on your "fridge". Maybe that would scare you away. Hey, i had pizza the other night and lost 2 pounds this weekend. Sorry for your luck!!!

Dutch- Glad to hear you had fun in your garden. I hope you get a dog. Mine are the loves of my life. Well, so are my children.

Bobble - I will be there for you. I am trying to start some HIIT training. I have been looking for something to put on my Ipod, no luck yet.

J- Sorry to hear about your family. My brother and family are always in some crisi. My mom tries to be the savior, but I just get tired of hearing about it. He has made the mess and needs to figure it out for himself. Kind of harsh, but true. you stay positive and do what is good for you. We can only do so much for the ones we love.

Wow, everyone has much to tell!

Super J - I am so so sorry to hear about your family troubles. Everyone is dead on right, though. The biggest part of the battle is really accepting that you are not in control of other people's choices. You can only do so much and your first priority must be to yourself. No one but you is going to put YOU first. My favorite phrase is "Let Go and Let God". Not meaning to be preachy at all. I just repeat it to myself a lot. It helps me remember my smallness in things. My BF's sister is an alcoholic and I finally started doing Al-Anon meetings online. They helped me a lot to learn that lesson - to both recognize my boundaries and limits, and then let go. It's horrible though, isn't it? For me it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion that never seems to end!



Okay, off my little soapbox!


Jules - your Levi looks a little like our Freyja - does he have little white paws too? EZ is a great coach! The team has really kept me going. I think Dominic could be your weight lifting routine????! I got lucky - having sashimi tonight instead- with buckweat noodles rather than rice it is pretty darn doable in my diet.

MTiger - OOOOH - what a GOOD IDEA. Maybe we should all send photos of our best school teacher faces and wagging fingers to Gary for him to print out and post on his fridge
And congrats on the scale! :

I'm a shelter dog girl myself - Freyja probably has some Aussie in her and most likely border collie. She's a doll. But stubborn!!! What the heck is a chiweenie? A chihuahua? I bet you have a HANDFUL with that pack!

Dutch - I envy your garden too! I have a house back in NC that mom is in by herself now. I can't wait to move back - we have a large yard space, a pesky groundhog, lots of beautiful flowers and trees - and I miss the gardening so much. I did a community plot here last year but it was hard to justify the daily drive and this year we'll be gone a month in July and I don't know anyone who'd keep it watered. I'm going to miss all the squash, fresh basil and eggplants and marigolds (those did the best). Ah well - I'll get a good dose in July! Have gates to fix, porches to paint and fences to build before that groundhog decimates EVERYTHING! He's voracious!

EZ - oooh - are you by the coast? mmmm - fish and chips - I think I'd have a hard time ignoring that myself. Watch too much Rumpole...although I think his thing is steak and kidney pud' - not sure THAT I'd like?!

Blonde - oh my - those can be painful. I'm glad you went to the doctor. You don't want to mess around with those. I've had good success with Cranberry supplements. I recommend them regularly to prevent them (after care, too). They say that they don't help cure them, but I've had luck with that too. AW NEW PUPPY!!!!!!!!!! AWWWWWW! And a black lab. I understand they make wonderful companions. My aunt has always had those. Sounds like despite being ill you all managed to make the best of it.

I've blabbed enough this morning, but will close by very quietly pointing to my avatar and ticker...it was a good start to the morning I must say!

OH HECK! WHY BE QUIET ABOUT IT??? I JUST MADE MY 15 POUND GOAL!!!! EZ I need another MAGIC PILL please????!!!!!!!!!



Thanks everyone for your support. Man it sucks being alone all day with this feeling of wanting to celebrate. GRIN! Thank goodness for a dog. Although she has no idea what the heck I'm going on about.

HI TEAM

Well Angie and I didn't make it to the harbor last night for dinner. We got busy in the yard, then the fog rolled in just a bit, so we decided to go to church and out to our fave Mexican joint for dinner. However, we did make the harbor this morning for a 3 mile or so walk. We didn't eat there though because there was a bazillion youth soccer kids there, for the annual beach soccer tournament, which meant the only place to grab coffee and something to eat at 7am was...well, let's just say FREAKIN' BUSY! Mom's and dad's needing their fix! We headed up the coast to the place we normally go to for croissants when we take the dogs for a walk along the beach wall in the morning.

We did have fun "remembering" our grown-up now youth and their beach soccer tournaments...and how, although we miss those days , we don't miss the loooooong days out in the sun!

Angie took off for a yoga class after we got home and I headed to the grocery store for a nice surprise! My daughter and her husband...aka kidnapper were there! They live about 45 minutes away but are up here for the kidnapper's mom's graduation from college nursing program. Angie and I will be attending the party after the ceremony...looking forward to it! It will be a taco bar The kids were in the store buying turkey for the tacos. I don't hate telling anyone that will listen what a looooser my son in law is (although everyone ignores me ) but I will tell you he is one outstanding cook! Of course I will tell you but never-ever him

Feeling a bit old today since my little sister turns 50 this week...ouch!

Well my LAKER game is coming on and I still need to load gear on my truck for tomorrow. I will catch up with all of you soon!

Angie will be home soon and then it's off to Kohl's....she has a 30% off coupon and I need new pants....ripped out the crotch in 2 pairs of pants this week! Stop laughing I caught one crotch on a tie wire climbing up scaffolding in an elevator shaft and ripped one climbing through some duct work to get to another shaft to work on...it's not because I ate too much pizza Friday night!...it's not