I've decided. You guys are absolutely right. It's time to take charge and stop letting things get to me. Tomorrow I am getting up early and walking. I'm not feeling all that great so I'm not going to say I'm going to run, bc I may not. But I'll walk!

Bobble- Border and Aussie?? Now that's a dog with some energy that needs something to do all day. And , yes, chihuahua and weiner dog. Sh'e a cutie alright. And a huge CONGRATS on that 15 pounds.

gary- Busting out crotches hanging drywall??? That story sounds pretty fishy and chips to me.

Super J. - excellent! It's ne good to Jeanette time.

MindyTiger - Way to go! You are winning the war of the scales. The gardening was the first time this year that I actually managed to get out there. If I had waited any longer I would have needed a machete. And garden is a large word, it is teensy, but in Amsterdam it is sheer luxury and I feel very lucky to have it. A dog is not on the cards for a long time yet, not with the hours I work.

Bobble - YOU ROCK!

Blond - OUCH! that sounds so painful. Hope it clears up soon. But the puppy, aaaww! You are going to have so much fun with him.

Gary - As alternative to pictures on the fridge we might talk to Angie to get her to consider investing in some chains and sturdy padlocks? You'll have to convice us that the demise of your pants was not due to pizza and beer!

Mandy - how are you doing?

I just realised that not only are we missing Mrsaugie, but we haven't heard from Iris for a while either. Hey girls, we miss you!

I have built 2 frames in the garden, going to try some square foot gardening. that might just be the thing for my little garden. I have some suitably sore muscles, so I know that I have done physical labour. The scale is still not budging, but I am not really surprised, I am starting to notice some hard muscles where there was only flab before and I am getting thinner according to my clothes.
Have a great day!

I woke up cheerfully enough. Kinda!

I already at my lunch....*sigh* At 10 am! LOL! I'm okay though. I think I'll get some starbucks later b/c I have been there 6 times in my life and now I love it. I limit it to twice a week though.

Dutch, you should post pics of your garden! I love gardens!

And speaking of missing chicks, where's Wee?

I will when there's something there worth looking at. just at the moment it looks like a bomb went off in it. But I am going to have an awesome crop of razzies though! And I love those.

I love Starbucks too, but mostly the really bad stuff like iced mocha. there isn't one in Amsterdam, but when I go see the BF (long distance relationship, he lives in another country) I often get some there at the airport.

By the way, I hit 110 lbs on the scale today. Finally a loss again.
On to the next 5 lbs!

Good Job Dutch!!!!

HI TEAM

First of all enough with the crotch jokes ....next you'll be teasing me because I have a crack in my butt

Second on the quilting....I have to say that about 10 years a go I saw in a magazine for track that someone would take old t-shirts and make a quilt out of them. Well my son had tons of t-shirts and so did I, most in very good condition, from all of his cross-country, basketball and track in high school and from all the invitationals. I told my ex about it, she took a class and learned how to quilt, made an outstanding...although rather large...keepsake for our son.

I am not speaking about my son in law's taco bar...or how much I ate. I will say that there was not any beer there (but I knew that before I went of course) but boy was the lay-out of fruit, salad and taco bar awesome...I guess the desserts were amazing too....but if you don't know by know I will remind you...cookies....cakes....etc....are nothing to me...but man oh man that guacamole and chip section wiped me out!

Watched my beer intake and portions over the week-end and didn't gain...but no lose either....dang.

SUPER J ~ I can't give you much advice on your family, not knowing the dynamics and all, but I will tell you from my own experience from going through an un-wanted divorce many years ago. Thank God I wasn't drinking at the time! Anyway, I got wiped out emotionally...won't go into all the details of the pain but it hurt and it hurt bad.....and I let it weigh me down (no pun intended there....I actually never had a weight problem until about 10 years later) Anyway, I had to fight off the desire to be miserable and give up on living...I fought hard....all I wanted to do many days was crawl up in a ball and roll far-far away! As hard as it was I kept trying to move forward...many days I didn't, but I woke up every morning saying "today is the day it will get better"...it took a long time, several years really...but it did...it did get better...much better! I was sandwiched between my ex-wife and Angie last night at the party....they saved my place while I went and got food...then they went up together....another lady at the table said..."I can't believe you are sitting between your ex and your wife...and you all get along!" We do...and I will tell you, I ended up with the much better deal!!

I guess my point is...life will get better....and truth...it may get worse...but you have to give yourself a chance! You have to continue to fight for your health and for your daughter to see a healthy mom! I have seen the roller-coaster ride you are on in your posts...I love the fact you are still fighting! I look forward to seeing the results of the training and effort you continue to put forth as you continue to move forward...one step/day at a time

DUTCHGIRL ~ It feels nice to have soreness sometimes! Better being sore from work than being sore from being lazy...boy I get that from time to time on the week-ends! Stiff bones from sitting watching games all day...that is why I push myself to get these dogs out for their miles each day. Great work on that loss How does that garden grow today

JULES ~ Cute grandson...as you know, I am still jealous I do remember those teething days....

BRAT ~ What kind of motorcycle did you get? I love black labs My high school girlfriend bought me a black lab puppy for my first Christmas away from home, we named him Benji...he never really grew! He looked like a miniature black lab his entire life. He was so cute but people always thought he was a puppy! Yep...my dogs Reba and Rylee used to go by the name....REBARYLEENO! ....sometimes they still do at 5 1/2 too!

MINDY ~ I need to know how you lose 2 pounds eating pizza. Obviously you didn't eat all but 2 pieces of a large ...washed down by a few beers! How did the benefit go? Nice you can do things with your ex too.

BOBBLEFROG ~ I live 5 miles from the coast, I get the ocean breeze but not the smell...or the moisture, which is ok. It takes Angie and I less than 10 minutes to drive to the coast then we go both directions depending on what we want to do or go to eat. We actually ended up not getting fish and chips since we went the next morning...but the tomato/basil/egg and spinach/ham/cheese/egg croissants are awesome that we had for breakfast! outstanding on the 15!!!!

My mother situation is all taken care of! She went back to her husband's!

However, Cella is sick. I'm still going to try to get a little bit of workout time in today!

Edit: I posted right after you, EZ! Thanks for what you said. Things are really strange in my situation and it affects me a lot if I let it (and I let it do that to me, I guess). I know things will get better, but it seems this year that it's just one thing after another and I find that YET AGAIN, I am put on the backburner so that I can take care of stuff. I just want a little bit of normalcy!! LOL! *HUGS*

I see we posted at almost the same time kiddo...so I will add...I hope your kiddo gets better real soon! Hugs.

Real quickee for me...sorry....lots of places I need to hit before I spend some quality time with hubby....

I was proud at lunch today...you see...I have a real bad coke problem (not the bad kind that makes you hyper and skinny, but the bad kind that makes you hyper and keeps my weight on)....I switched to diet coke for awhile, but at lunch I really wanted the real thing...but I got water instead...not going to lose the first 5 lbs drinking it...

Dutch- I live on 2 acres. garden around the house, around the shed, around the dog kennel, need lots of work on the front and one side of the house. So many things to do. Oh yeah, one side of the garage has flowers, the other needs work. I just weed whacked for a while so have arms of jello. Cut some lilacs for the house. they smell so good.

Gary- SPeaking of crack!!! OMG!! One of my students pants fell down today and I saw more booty than I cared to. EEW!! i'm sure his butt is bigger than yours. Moral- Keep your pants up.

My scale is staying down. YIPPY!!! 189 even today. Need to workout yet today, so i better run.

So you know how earlier in this thread we were all talking about our dogs and how we love them but they're expensive? Well I guess some of you rubbed off on me!! I had to take my older dog to the vet today since he's got another infection/cyst in his anal gland which makes his butt swell and it blocks the ahem.. part where he uses the bathroom and it's very painful. I think I really like the new vet and her staff we found that's nearby the house. I felt so comfy there that I actually left him there for the night even though I wasn't really planning on that and now he's going to be having other things done as well that we've been putting off but my pocketbook is hurting now. $570... whooeee. But hopefully the stent they're going to place in him prevents the problems he's had in the future. That's not including me getting my puppy Rowdy started next week on shots as well. So yikes. It'll be dollar store shopping for me again for awhile for household products and etc. My husband was complaining last week about having too much chicken breast and all kinds of rice.. well that might be back on the menu again a lot. Anyways today was OK eating portion size wise despite some tension at work that I'm not quite sure about as to why and it's stressing me out so I was proud of myself for controlling my portions..now the things I ate on the other hand lol.. were good but bad for you nutrition wise.

EZ- He got a suzuki gladius bike. It is a new model that's out this year from what I understand. I had a black lab mix myself when I was a little girl and her personality was just great very active though. I used to make her dance with me all the time and make her get up on her back legs and she always tolerated it poor thing lol.. Labs are just great though I think plus I think he'll be a good family dog when we have kiddos in the future which is something that was discussed when we discussed what breed we wanted for our second dog. Lab won! :-)

Anyways have a great day!

Cool BRAT...my first real motorcycle was a '67 Suzuki Scrambler I got when I was 14, used for $250 from a friend of my dads. It was just too small for him but great for a me...until I lost use of it for the summer for getting caught smoking ...well, actually lying when pops asked me if I was...sold it!

Love labs myself...but then you don't have all that hair my golden retrievers leave me freakin' daily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on the floor...back yard....clothes....bed.....car....eyes!!

MINDY....good advice on the pants....wish someone had told me...ok...they did...wished I would have listened better when I was in my "youth"....would have saved a lot of heart ache!...stupid-stupid-stupid!!

I was a Dr. Pepper addict JULES!....trust me...switching to diet Coke or water...or crystal light....will become a new habit in no time!!! I cannot stand to drink a Dr. Pepper know because of all the sugar...I drink my coffee black now and have for about 8 years or so...prior to that 2 spoon fulls per cup...now..a hint of sugar just about makes me up-chuck my coffee....amazing what we can get used to in a short time!

Although Angie still hasn't got used to me...go figure!

Hey all, just a quick hello.
Aren't we all just doing great!

EZ, the British have a great name for butt-cracks, they call it builders cleavage.

Mindy- 2 acres, I would die for that. I have about 15 sq. meters... Oh well, I'll just have to find me a man of property and marry him. I can keep my BF as a toy-boy...
He will have a good laugh when I tell him that.

Catch up with you all later - just ran 20 minutes non-stop for the first time!!! (at 5 am. and it was lovely!) and have now rehydrated, so shower, breakfast and off to work.
See yous later

Love the wise "crack" DUTCHGIRL!

Great job on the run!!