Good afternoon everyone.

I've been so busy working and sleeping (or at least trying to) that I haven't been in lately. I tried to skim over the posts that I've missed.

My son came in 2nd in his league for tennis He had to play a 3 hour set to get to 2nd place, he won the first game in a tie breaker and the second game he was down 2-5 and came back to win it 7-5. It was awesome but soooo long. Those 2 kids were so tired and it was 95 degrees out. He then had to play another guy to try to get first but I think he was just too tired out! He still gave it a great try but the other guy had a bye so he was pretty well rested (and plus he is an awesome tennis player anyway so it probably wouldn't have mattered if he was rested or not!!). My son now goes to CIF so that is what he really wanted to be able to do so we are happy for him.

Allison-sorry to hear about that burglary at your business. We have a big problem in SD with people stealing copper (and for exactly that same reason-to sell it to recycling places to get money for drugs ). I also meant to mention if you drive a Toyota watch out for your catalyctic converter! I have no idea what that is but people are stealing them alot (and you cant get smogged without one. I'm not even sure if people outside of California get their cars smogged!). I guess on most cars these things are welded on but on Toyotas they are just "taped" on (well, not really but you know what I mean). I don't know what they are made of but people take them apart & sell/recycle the contents

I changed shifts at work and now work 8pm-6am so I'm having a little trouble getting my eating & sleeping acclimated to the new hours. I've still been doing fine with eating & exercise (and I'm a great maintainer!!) but getting my sleeping fixed is another story. I actually am off work from 6 am this morning until 12:30 am on Thursday!! I think that is the most time off I've had in a long time (except when I'm on vacation).

I guess I better run and get some food into this house. Talk to you later. Jane

My diet got a little (well, a lot) off track yesterday. I'm still at this conference and they took us to see a rodeo last night. It involved a lot of food that was probably pretty unhealthy and a lot of wine. Enough that exercising this morning was out of the question. Other than skipping my cardio, I've done pretty well so far today, but I suspect that dinner is going to involve margaritas. Luckily this is the last day of the conference, so tomorrow I will be headed home and back on plan. And I don't have any more conferences until June, and that one I don't have to travel for, so I'll have more control over what I eat.

Allison--That really bites. I had no idea that aluminum (or copper, for that matter) was in demand by drug addicts. I suppose if you are addicted to expensive drugs, you'll pay for them however you can. When I lived in Chicago, someone would repeatedly steal our morning paper (actually walked up onto our porch to take it and would crumple up the notices from the Tribune telling them to stop stealing it). I remember being really annoyed about that (I even staked out the front porch once to try to catch them); I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be to have someone repeatedly stealing expensive aluminum that you need for clients from you. I hope that the razor wire works or that you find another solution that does.

Greatchoice, congrats to your son! Tennis is hard work.

AquaWarlock, welcome back. It's amazing how many social/networking events revolve around eating. I love it when I'm able to find things to do that don't involve food!

Michelin--Cute cockatiel!

Ilene, I love Chicago! What were you doing there? Did you get a chance to go running along Lake Michigan? I used to live on the northside, two blocks off the Lake, and my bus stop to get to work was on Lake Shore Drive. All the tall buildings along the lakefront create a wind tunnel; in the wintertime, those two blocks were a real bear. I would be all hunched over and tears would be literally streaming down my face from the wind.

Hi everyone,

Today started off good, but I didn't sleep well last night and was very TIRED all day at work. It is teacher appreciation week and at the end of the day I checked my mailbox to find a full sized Hershey bar and a mini 100,000 grand bar. I ATE THEM BOTH! I am pretty ticked with myself too, especially because I don't even really enjoy a Hershey milk chocolate bar!!! Argh. I know it had something to do with being off track the past few days at the beach AND being incredibly sleepy. I do not function well when tired, and my eating is usually at its worst when tired.

Anyway, I have to focus on tomorrow being a new day, but I still hate that I ate that... not what I needed after three days of being off plan at the beach.

Anyway -- Mudpie -- CONGRATS! You are my inspiration to do better tomorrow!

Greatchoice -- I just got a new (new- used) Toyota Matrix -- I'm really enjoying it, but now I wonder if I should be worried??! Anyone know more details on that? Please share!

I hope to report a better day tomorrow... hope everyone else has a happy and healthy day too!

It was a pleasure trip we just decided to take, don't ask why ... I can only imagine that "wind tunnel" in the winter time , holy moly, a couple of times we'd turn a corner and BAM there was that WIND ... I did meet up with a couple of gals from 3FC wyellen/Heather and Sandi... We had a nice supper and evening chatting, it was fun like meeting old friends .... Barbara sometimes, we just do the best we can, when circumstances like a business trip happen... I know you'll get back on track ASAP!

Jane -- Your son sure has some talent there, you must be so proud... Do you play tennis too ?

AquaWarlock -- Welcome back ... What a great idea to hike instead of eat and drink ...

Oooh, House just started gotta go ...

Good morning all!
We have yet another day of beautiful weather. I find I'm much more motivated to staying OP in sunny great weather - easier to eat lightly and have fruit, veggies, etc. instead of carbs.
Today is going to be busy. I'll catch up with everyone individually tonite.

Dagmar

Claire-just Google "catalyctic converter thefts" I just read the first two hits. If I were you though I certainly wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure there's a far greater chance of just getting your car broken into or stolen (BOY! I sound like a ray of sunshine and good news ). It was just in the news of more instances of this happening and the reason was the precious metals that are in these and drug addicts were selling it for money. I gues they are just easier to get off of Toyotas than other cars.

Ilene-I am so proud of my so! I do not play tennis. I have no idea where he gets its. He just decided to start playing it 2 years ago. I don't even know anyone who plays tennis! It certainly would be good for me to play, it is great exercise. If I did play I'd have to play doubles though; too much room to cover on my own

Whitlin -- Way to go for your husband!! My DH also brought down his cholesterol this year, without med... The doc was insistant that he take meds but he refused, we did it through nutrition and exercise, the doc was shocked ... I swear sometimes I think those docs get a cut on the meds they prescribe ...

Well, just back from my run to and from the gym with a half a** lazy chest/tricep workout, I just wasn't in the mood to do weights this morning for some reason... and that's very unusual for me, I love my weight training ... Now I have to get ready for work ...
Tonight, if the weather keeps up I'll go biking ...

Good morning everyone!

My scale rewarded me with my TICKER weight this morning!!! So far, my plan is perfect for the day, so things should be heading downward from here!

Had the appointment with the fencing company. $1700 to install the razor wire--not too bad considering we've lost close to $20,000 in the past 3 break-ins.

I've never been to Chicago myself, but that's where my Mom was born and raised. All her family has either died or moved away and we never visited there when I was young. I still can't figure out how my Mom came to Utah to meet my Dad....I think it must have been her uncle she was visiting and then she must have met my Dad in church as my aunt and uncle belonged to the same church as my Dad. Weird how things like that happen.

I'm feeling a bit undone today. DD blocked her blog and now I have no window into her life. That may sound weird, but she doesn't talk to me much so I never know what is going on. I doubt I'll ever know as much as have in the past few months. Oh, well.

Jane, DD is in school band with the boy who won DVL singles tennis here. He's the son of a friend of mine. She doesn't know where he got the tennis talent, either. I had asked my son to go to a tennis clinic a few months ago to see if he'd catch the fever. He didn't even pick up a racket (there were a lot of other activities going on and he chose rock climbing!).

Well, everyone have a great day.

Hey all! Just checking in to say hello! I started off my day right & headed to the gym for an appt w/a trainer--she is the 3rd one I've had in the last 6 months, they keep leaving or whatever, anyway, sure enough I get there & she "doesn't work there anymore". How aggravating. So, I hop on some cardio stuff & get a little cardio in while the club is lining up another trainer. I swear, I'm ready for my hours to be used so I can try somewhere else... It's still a good workout & a great club, just a pooky training system, y'know?

So, while on vacation, I was able to keep the scale more or less in the same place, no gain, no loss, which was pretty pleasing (yes, I took my scale with me--a little OCD maybe Nah...), but now that I'm back home & back in a controlled environment, things are moving down again, yeah!

Well wishes to all & I'll catch up on threads later!

Liz~my DD has a similar problem. The gym she belongs to is supposed to have a Pilates class every night at 5:45--she's gone twice this week and no class! It is discouraging to pay for something and expect it to be there and then not to have it. I'd like to join this gym as it is 2 doors from my office, but with problems like that, I may have to look elsewhere.

Oh, Allison, I soooo understand... My DD caught me reading her MSN history a few months ago and now she doesn't keep her history anymore ... I felt bad for snooping but it gave me a window into her life that I miss now ... My DD will be 17 in September. She can be secretive, but always spills the beans eventually... She told me last night as a matter of fact that *I* was her best friend that she could tell anything to and it wouldn't go any further, I was shocked... We are close though and I can read her like a book... How old is your DD?

Your DH's doc sounds like my DH's ... What happened at the time, when DH's cholesterol was high, is that DD became a vegetarian... So we all started to eat pretty much the same way, eliminating red meat for DD and us, but we still ate fish, salmon and chicken, we both like our protein. Lots of veggies and fruits ... DH also started looking at ALL labels, and if there was cholesterol written on there he would not eat it... There is cholesterol hidden in things such as crackers and frozen entrées that you'd never think of. He went from 6.2 to 4.7 (I'm not sure how those numbers translate, to US numbers , I know that they are different), I'm also not sure about the LDL or HDL numbers specifically either, we were looking at the total numbers. I don't think his Cholesterol going down had anything do to with eating walnuts and pistachio, since he doesn't like those nuts, and has never eaten them... He also started walking daily for 45+ mins and now we both bike...

Well, I'm at work this afternoon and it's boring with nothing to do, so I am here posting and lurking... Oh, well, get paid to be on 3FC ... but the afternoon, still gets long

Wow, Ilene--sounds just like me! DD is 16. I'm still trying to figure out how I can access the page without her knowing it.....she spends most of her time in her room playing computer games and chatting with all her friends, but it is nice when she spends time with us and actually talks. Perhaps I'll just try to tough it out like a Mom should! I don't know for sure if she even suspects that I've read it--I've never let on that I have. I think it is just that the blog space has been doing upgrades lately and it may have just added this layer of protection (like myspace has done for quite some time). I do have other windows of opportunity to see what she's up to, but she isn't as forthcoming as she is with her blog.

What has worked for DD and I is that we, just her and I, go out EVERY week at least once, for lunch or supper, my treat, and she has gotten to like this a LOT and expects and misses it if we don't go... Once I even let her have a few sips of my vodka and tonic and OMG she was soooo talkative it was hillarious, I found out quite a few things that night ... I have to be super careful though when we are together not to judge, her or her friends, be supportive without being preachy KWIM? I do enjoy those times though and I think she does too...