Week's half over....

I've been SO tired this week - I haven't even exercised at all. I'm going to fix that this afternoon and hop on the elliptical for 20 minutes when I get home *before* I fall asleep in my chair!

Another exciting evening... no, no scorpions this time, but forest fires (plural, we have 2 burning by me). Close enough to drop ash on the house, make breathing interesting and create an apocalyptic sunset... President Bush is coming to town tomorrow to see the fire damage from last year's fires - which is almost exactly where the new fires are burning. Good luck Mr. B, bring some marshmallows!

Anagram, thank you for checking in - I'm sure you've got much, much more important things on your mind right now. I am so sorry about your mom and the diagnosis, weird that it just popped up suddenly. Good that they're keeping her comfortable - too bad they can't make it easier for you and your family... you're in my thoughts.

Good luck Zadie!!!! Report back asap!

Frogger, I don't know how the lo-carb is supposed to work! Are you supposed to get that hungry? IMO (which is unscientific and unproven) I always thought if you allow yourself to get too hungry your body's going to think it's being starved and saves up calories instead of burning them. I do know from experience that when *I* get too hungry I'm setting myself up for a binge... any way you can have more, smaller meals throughout the day?? I don't believe you have to be excruciatingly hungry to loose weight - that doesn't sound right...

Kaylets, good luck with your speech!

Arabella, I've been hearing a lot of complaints about odd feelings, behaviors, etc. Last weekend I was in a cleaning/straightening mood like I was nesting or something! Personally, I think we should all blame it on Mars... people go batty when it goes retrograde - what should we expect when it's close enough to Earth to almost reach out n' touch it??

Q o' the day ~
No, for me summer's not the best season. I'm a fall kinda girl. I like it cooler, love the rain and colors of the trees.

Time to get some work done...

Terri

Hi,
So, I have this teleconference and I am supposed to find out something about if I have a job come October. And it does not come up till the end when i actually have to bring it up. And then they schedule another teleconference (but not with me there of course) to decide. Next Monday.

Should I feel guilty for feeling like I am being jerked arround?

No, Zadie, you should not feel guilty for feeling like you were jerked around ... you were jerked around. That s***s! But you don't have a real option other than to go with the flow ... and give some consideration as to whether you really want them! You have a right to be mad, but there's no percentage in letting 'em know that! Good luck. Keep hanging in!

If no one minds, I'd like to vent yet again about the gas problem we're having here, which the national news has totally ignored but which is a big mess for us!! THE PIPELINE TEST FAILED! This means that no one knows how long this will last and when you travel for work, this is a BIG PAIN and I do not WANT to drive around looking for tankers and then sitting for an hour in a line just to get gas! :sigh: And then, there are the idiots who are filling up plastic cans with gas and driving around all day in the Arizona heat with those cans in their trunks. THIS PRACTICE IS DANGEROUS! If there's a fender bender or even it just gets too hot in the trunk (did I mention this is ARIZONA?) or if static electricity sparks in there, there's gonna be a disaster taking not only the life of the idiot who put the cans in there, but of innocent people who have the bad luck to be nearby.

Ok, thanks for listening!

And, Zadie, I don't feel at ALL guilty for feeling like Arizona is being jerked around!

Yo! Overposting again ... anyway, wanted to note for the WW's people that I got the newest issue of the mag today and the Flexipoints looks really interesting. They have an at-home kit, too, and a neat calculator for the Flexipoints, regular points and activity points, with keys that also mention "water," "milk," and "veg!"

A cell phone was ringing, making four or five people jump to attention to see if it was their own. A woman with black framed sunglasses held her phone aloft, saying "It's mine". She looked at the display for the incoming number, pressed a button and then spoke into the phone, "Hello.... hello???" and quickly pushed another button, turning the phone off. She smiled as she put the phone away and said, "Its a shame, couldnt hear a thing". Laughter poured from the elevator as the doors opened and............

A very tall police officer appeared in the doorway. "DON'T MOVE, folks," he said, fixing the group in the elevator with a stare from his piercing electric-blue eyes, stretching out his two long arms, flexed biceps visible in the short sleeves of his summer uniform. "There's an emergency in the building ..."

From the back of the elevator, a Mel Gibson look- a- like wearing a blue blazer answered first, " But officer, surely you can let us just use the rest room, we had a long ride to get here if you know what I mean."

The woman w/ the black sunglasses nodded furiously as they all waited for the officers response......

Ah, a few minutes before Ramon gets home to talk to my friends...

Keeping the smileys to a bare minimum this time, and I SWEAR that I'm gonna copy this whole message to the clipboard before I push any buttons!

Zadie, GEEZ!!! I officially declare that you are INDEED being jerked around. Are these really people you want to share 8 (or more) hours a day of your life with? Feeling much frustration on your behalf. Pooey on teleconferences. that the job gods get you what you need, be it full-time employment where you are or something faboo elsewhere. Uh, and I haven't been able to get those stripey, dyed-brown bibs out of my head. Send picture?

Punkin, I let out a yelp of laughter (at work!) when I read your BARF story. After that I indulged in a quieter but deeply felt snicker at your rant about gas. You're really good at that... I'm so very, VERY sorry that your mother's mouth is feeling foamy and tasting icky. And nothing tastes? Reading about it gives me that same horrible feeling as when I read about "anhedonia", a condition experienced by the severely depressed where you're actually unable to experience pleasure of any kind. Thank the gods that she only has one more treatment and then this stuff will stop! And you STUD!!! You've now lost 50 lbs and I think you're the Goddess of Corporal Improvement. I think you should have your own TV show.

Frogger, how's your DH? Any more blackouts, or have you found out what caused them? Uh, and your program sounds beyond miserable. If I couldn't have a piece of chocolate once in a while, I'd just opt to stay fat, and I mean that. I don't mean to rain on your parade, but are you going to be this hungry until you reach your goal weight?

Kaylets, let me get this straight. Do you really have friends and family who think you're being too harsh with widdle DS? Have they volunteered to keep him? Hmmmm. I'm glad you shared this with us so we could all agree wholeheartedly with your methods. QOD two days ago (lights on or off?): God, story of our marriage. I accidentally leave all the lights on and Ramon goes around and ostentatiously turns them off. QOD yesterday (favorite outfit looks good?): You betcha. I have these fatigue-green mid-calf pants from Lane Bryant that tie at the bottom. I wear them with no socks, tennis shoes, a beige shirt and a hemp necklace and I look KEWL. Or at least I think so. QOD today: I like summer because I NEED the sunlight, but the heat (especially walking to/from work in professional clothes) is oppresive to me. BTW, how did your speech go?

Aha, Arabella, so you still have a little of La Boheme in you? If only we could meet, you'd see that I'm no Stevie Nicks. Well, I don't know. I burn candles and incense, we move from time to time and I have some scarves, so...I'm sorry to hear about your fretful mood. Thanks for sharing about it, though. Man, I know what you mean - "what's WRONG with me?!?" is one of my favorite questions.

Anagram, much love and prayer is coming your way. Remember that we're sharing your sorrow and weariness and are thinking about you often. I wish for a strong support group to hold you up during these days.

Wildfire, waiting for the first postcard from ****. Uh, they tried to NOT pay you for overtime?!? Girl, I hope you got out the finger (not THAT one!) and said, "I don't THINK so!" Yeah, just wave it around...

Love to the rest of you...maybe I should talk about weight loss for a minute - I'm trying really hard to just eat when I'm hungry and make good food choices. And to eat only until I'm satisfied. Hopefully this will result in increased sensitivity to my body's needs. The walk home (up the hill) is getting easier - I was SO mad to find out that it's only a 1.6 mile walk both ways! It seemed so much longer than .8 mile! I'm going to have to get a gym membership soon and supplement my cardio.

OK, this is the longest post in the history of the world. It's NOT MY FAULT!! Blame the cyber-gods who shut me down last night!

Hitting Ctrl C....Lovies!

Punkin, can't you just declare Friday NOW?

Ok, I knew I had a bad few weeks but I wasn't sure it was that bad, I put on 7.6lbs in 3 weeks. That is scary to see how fast it comes back on. I did however get the new Fleipoints program at my meeting last night so I'm looking at it as a brand new start. After 18 months this is the only major slip I have had and I feel stronge and back in control this week. So onward and downward, i will stay strong and I will make my goal.

Have a great week everyone, I have to run I have to plan my meals for tomorrow.

Hello My Honeys!
Feeling better today, as a result of working HARD to feel better yesterday. Sometimes it takes more work than others. I do find that if I don't feel well physically I usually don't feel well mentally or spiritually either. Working on health! I think that stress is a major factor for me, and I really have to try to get rid of it! It really does a number on my immune system.

I PM'd wsw a while back and she responded yesterday. She said that her MS had been bad, but that she was feeling better now and would try to drop by the thread.

Zadie, keeping fingers crossed for you!

Cerise, I really empathize with you over your lost message! I've done that a number of times. My usual MO is to get a really good message going and then absent-mindedly hit the back button to look for something I wanted to respond to and POOF! Message gone

I hear ya, with that "what's WRONG with me?" thing. I guess my feeling is that there is something that we need to think about - if we're feeling low, there's some reason, even if hormones, or Mars, or whatever is at play too. I remember a bit in "Anagrams" by Lorrie Moore (loved that, too). The woman, who seemingly had nothing seriously wrong in her life, was musing that her life was hard, anyway, because it was hard for her. Know what I mean? I know that you've had terribly difficult things in your past, and might think since things are so good for you now that you should be on top of the world every day, but I guess that's not how it works...

Dollar, don't worry about those few pounds. In my unparalleled losing/gaining experience I've found that the really fast-on pounds usually come off reasonably quickly, too, because much of it is water, really.

Amarantha, I hope that gas thing works out. I hate to be harsh, but people can be such idiots! Imagine driving around in that heat with a container of gas in the trunk!

Punkinseed, I'm leaning the same way regarding Mars & odd behaviors. Seems like a lot of people feel a little bit off. I'm with you on the hunger thing, too. I think that we got in this state because we eat for reasons other than hunger, and that part of recovery is learning to respond to our needs appropriately. Which includes eating when we're hungry. I also think that our body systems are ready to receive food when we're hungry and that we can make the best use of it then.

Kaylets, I swear I'm going to steal a moment to add to the round-robin novel. Very intriguing start!

Eydie, I think there is some decompression going on, but to be honest, for a couple of weeks before she came I felt pretty end-of-my-ropish, and kept thinking "I can't do this." I know I need a holiday - the curse of the self-employed is that you don't get them. My new job, since it's on contract, will be more or less the same deal, but I SWEAR I'm going to be so efficient that I'll have time for vacations! Douglas (DH) and I are going on a 3 day hiking trip to Fundy Nat. Park http://www.bayoffundy.com/ over the Labor Day weekend, which will be nice. And then he's going on a 2-weeker business trip the weekend after I intend to make my time alone spa-ish and retreat-like, along with some hard-core socializing, of course. In short - like a vacation


Well, my dovies, I must be productive. Let's make this a good one! Love to all!

Hello all! In better spirits today. Down another lb. My method is not faulty after all! It was just the TOM coming to say hello!!! I haven't been quite that hungry in a while. Scary. But all better now back to a better portion size on my plate and not so much nibbling (even though my nibbles here lately have been veggies and no carb pork skins. Which are MARVELOUS by the way, in the BBQ flavor with some sour cream/ranch combo dip going on.)

I'll weigh in officially today since today in 'my' friday. I will be out enjoying Ozzfest tommorow so no work for me(yeah!) Weight: 207. Not much farther now! I can't believe I have lost so much weight. I weighed 240 when I first logged onto 3fc. I've had ups and downs since then and many eating plans. But I just wanted to take the time to thanks all of you lovely ladies who have supported me unconditionally through the trials and errors. If I can come this far, I KNOW all of you can too!

Have a wonderful day!

Zadie, count me in with everyone who thinks that you are indeed being jerked around. Clearly, they don't know who they're dealing with!

Punkin, 50 Pounds!!! Gone forever!

Dear Anagram, I'm thinking of you.

Arabella, I'm so glad you're feeling better. I agree, when I get in those moods I just have to find a way out of it--because it can be weirdly satisfying [for me] to wallow in it. May I suggest bellydancing? Thanks for the news on wsw!

Kaylets, how was Toastmasters? Can you post a copy of your speech for us?
About the questions of the day: I like Fall best and October is my favorite month. Everything seems to have a lovely 'golden' tint, and the weather's perfect. Also, Fall means that it's almost time when I can wear my favorite outfit which involves wearing my big chunky 'dominatrix' boots. I love those boots!!! They make me feel like a great stalking avenging goddess----which in real life is so far from the truth!

My big news today is it looks like I've lost 5 pounds--dare I say? So at least I'm down to my pre-annual exam weight. Now is the traditionally the time where it all falls apart for me--after I've had a little success. I have to stay really focused now.

Dollar, I'd say that if you've only had one slip in 18 months you're still ahead of the game! Let us know more about the Flexpoints plan.

Frogger, Wow, from 240 to 207! That's big news! By the way, what's Ozzfest? [I'm probably showing myself to be tragically unhip.]

Eydie-Ozzfest is a music concert. (ala Ozzy Osbourne) He headlines this music 'festival'. It used to be 3 stages. But this year it's only 2. First stage used to be a couple of local acts, unsigned bands. Second stage is the up and comings (bands just making it big, but not big enough for the main stage) Main stage are the big acts. This year it's Korn, Marilyn Manson, Chevelle, Disturbed and of course Ozzy. It's an all day thing. This year starts at 9:30am with Ozzy taking the stage at 9:00pm and playing for I think probebly a couple of hours.

Hello,
Just a fly by. Tired and grouchy today. There is also pretty much nobody here today which makes me very much want to go home and sleep. Aarrgg.

Ok must work.

Haaappy Friday-eve!

Today I swear I'm going to do nothing. I am SO tired, and on top of that, having a massive allergy attack because of the stinkin' fires!
Let me just take a second to ask a question - how much sense does it make to burn down a forest to protest thinning it?? How stoopid can the protesters be....? That's what they think started our B&B Complex fires - at a total of 6,000 acres now.

Zadie, oh indeedie you are being treated poorly in this. Jerked around to an impressive extent. I hope it turns out well for you and they just didn't want to discuss said business in your presence, but that YOU had to bring it up is a bit fishy.

Amarantha, you go right ahead and $@#% about the gas problem down there. I'm amazed at the lack of attention it's getting - if it weren't for you and my dad, I wouldn't have even heard about it - and I get a newspaper and watch TV news!

Cerise, Ooooooh how I wish I could declare it Friday!!!!! Soon, though, SOON! (oh and I would *love* my own tv show... )
Ya know, 1.6 miles isn't too shabby, especially since 1/2 of it is uphill! But yea, soon, when you're sprinting up the hills, you'll need more!

Arabella, thank you for checking up on WSW, I hope to see her soon. I couldn't agree more with you about how you feel physically affecting your emotional and spiritual sides also, hope you're feeling better all around today!

Frogger, TOM!?!? Weeeeellll, THAT explains a LOT! No wonder you were starving! It's a proven fact that you not only *feel* hungrier around that time, but you physically ARE hungrier! Whew! Problem solved...
Have fun at Ozzfest! I saw Ozzy in '85 (when Jake E. Lee was in the band... drooooool...) and one of my guilty pleasures is watching The Ozbournes. I have to admit to being something of a Marilyn Manson fan too, there's just something fascinating about him. Kinda in the Eminem vein - disturbing and brilliant all in one.

Dollar, I can't wait for next week's WW meeting to check out the new program! I'm Lifetime, but it'll be the first time ever that I'll have gone back after a long absence (2 years) and actually show a loss! New programs always feel like fresh starts...

Eydie, oh great looser of 5 pounds! Congrats you! Of course you'll stay on course! You will!

Time to scoot I guess. I just feel like shutting my poor little watery eyes, and soaking my nose in lotion... AaaaaCHOOO! Darn !

Terri

Punkinseed- I too am a closet marilyn manson fan. He's actually a very well read and intellegent person. He speaks very well. I had a chance to meet him last year at Ozzfest. He was a great 'normal' guy.