Day 2 of vacation -

Met up with my DF in Raleigh. In the morning, I did my exercise in the hotel gym, and headed off for the state archives in search of information about my ancestor who died in the Civil War (aka War of Northern Aggression - as I was told yesterday). A VERY nice genealogist at the archives helped me & we found out that my ancestor was part of Sherman's march through NC. I actually felt guilty! Of course, I knew he was a Union soldier who died in Raleigh, but somehow, being part of Sherman's army sounds so much more ruthless!

During the afternoon, we walked around Raleigh & last night, we went to an International Food Fest - wanted to go to the U2 concert, but no way to get tickets. We decided to eat only foods that were unfamiliar to us - had milk bubble tea from Vietnam; some kind of delicious pork thing from the Fillipines; and a fried veggie thing from Bangladesh. Totally avoided all the fantastic pastries from France!

Today I woke up and did my 60 min in the hotel gym & we're getting ready to leave for Savannah.

Check back tomorrow.

Lynn

Hi Karen,

I am so glad you joined the Halloween Challenge. It is definitely MAGIC! I cannot believe how much it helps me. I have not eaten sweets since I started & have lost 4 pounds!

Lynn

A Blessed Sunday Morning to you all!
Lynn...how wonderful for you, traveling sure agrees with you. Lots of temptations and you're doing great. I was ready for your challenge after sluffing off for a few months, it's working for me too!
Off to get ready for church, have a great day everyone.

Rosy, you'll get to watch whatever you want on tv while DH is gone.

Karen31, never too late to join the challenge.

Lynn, sounds like you're having a fantastic trip South.

Weighed in yesterday and even with such a good week behind me I didn't lose an ounce...sigh...there are weeks like that. But it was a good week and I have the satisfaction of knowing I did it all right. Even yesterday, my free day for dessert, I never went over my calories. That's the first time ever on free day that I stayed within my calorie range. Another thing to be satisfied about. So, surprisingly, I'm not discouraged over the scales.

Have a good day all.

Another glorious autumn day, perfect for kicking back and relaxing.

Yesterday we went with the whole family, including my 86 year old FIL, to the Renaissance Faire. It was a lovely day, cool and sunny, and we had a great time. I kept within my points, though barely, and I might have lost count, but with all that walking around am pretty sure the diet won't take a hit. I lost 2 lbs. last week so am feeling good. Not happy, though, that my just purchased and wonderfully fitting jeans are already getting loose!

Got another laugh out of talking with my Mom. She's funny and smart, and I love her, but she's always been weird when it comes to me and weight. She lost a lot of weight on WW when I was a young adult, and ever since then is fixated an what I weigh. She wants to know the NUMBER. And every time I have ever told her how much I weigh, she gets quiet and kind of judgmental--if I gain, if I haven't lost enough, if I weigh more than my sister. It's really strange and kind of infuriating all at the same time, because I end up feeling like I haven't lost enough.

So this time I've been not telling her anything numerical. Not what my weight was when I started. Not what my weight is now. I do tell her, though, how many pounds I have lost. That's all. She's still inquisitive and always asks, "But what do you WEIGH?" I just refuse to say. "I'm not telling, but I'm really happy to be down two clothing sizes!" It drives her crazy, probably because she can't compare me to my sister. Anyway, I hope to pleasantly surprise her when I visit this holiday season. We haven't seen each other in six months.

Sounds like everyone is doing good and keeping busy.

Indeed, Freda, the bountiful MIL could be Southern! I'd forgotten about how generous Southern hostesses can be. It's been way too many years since I've been to Atlanta.

Good Morning! I thought that I would post a link to a video of the town that I am living in. It is really quite neat! In the video they will show you a BIG house that looks like it is white with a red roof. It has a drive under carport on the left side as you look at the picture. This house was my brothers house here in Carthage several years ago. It has 12 inch Marble walls and was built out of Carthage Marble. When he sold it they turned it into a Bed and Breakfast and they also have a vineyard with their own winery. A couple months back we went over there and they do give tours free of charge so it was really neat seeing what they did with my "Brothers" house. I will try to post some pictures of the that later..

Have a Wonderful Sunday!!

Oooops!! Guess I should put the link in!!!
http://www.visit-carthage.com/video.html

Hello all, just dropping by and happy to see so many of you that I remember even Z!!! I have been in a research study with a hospitial in Cincinnati since Aug. 3 to try to reduce my antibodies so I can receive one of my daughters kidneys. I have done 9 mild Chemo treatments & steroids (with all the side effects) and now doing the last of 3 Plasmapheresis (cleans anti bodies out of the blood) the last one is tomorrow!!!! I have this Cath. in my neck so they can attach the machine, doesn't hurt but I sure can't sleep with it there. Good news is during the first chemo round my antibodies dropped 30% but they were 98% they still have a ways to drop.

Had a nice weeks vacation on the beach in Florida and relaxed end of July just before the study started. The program has all been paid for by the research study which is a hugh plus. I won't know the results until after Oct. 28. Also on the plus side I am eating small portions, healthy, low protein, salt and my own kidneys are hold steady at around 14% function and no dialysis and I have lost a total of 25lbs.

I have missed you all but the last couple months have been filled with twice a week trips to the hospital, which is 4 hrs. each time and then dealing with the side effects from the chemo the rest of the week.....energy only spread so far. They just recently found out that a couple types of Chemo work on the antibodies, this is all exciting and will change the way kidney people will be treated if successful. There are 20 of us in the program and 2 are getting their donor kidney and 2 have moved the top of the donor list so they are seeing success, I plan on being the next success story!!! Phyl

Hi Phyllis. So glad you dropped by. You posted a few times when I first joined 3FC. Happy to hear that everything is going well with your medical problems and that your morale is so high. Best wishes for a successful transplant.

Hey, Linda. Don't be sad about the jeans. Lots more smaller sizes in the stores. What I did when I first started losing enough weight to go into smaller sizes was to buy from the Goodwill stores. They often have great clothing for next to nothing. I just 3 pair of jeans for the winter there as I have about 25 more pounds to go.

Karen31, I enjoyed the video. I want to move there now. See now you've made me restless to move. I've lived in this house for over 31 years.

Hi Bobbi.

Had a good walk today. It was chilly but the sun was starting to peep out. I had on a long sleeved t-shirt, a cotton hoodie and a hooded jacket over that. The wind was so strong that at times I'd pull both hoods up. Then I had a great dinner (black bean and cheese enchilada, black olives, baked potato and big tossed salad). Yum. I could do that over again. Ha, ha.

Hello all,

Hope you all are having a nice weekend. I had fun yesterday ~ watching Corbin play baseball. Got to hug on Maddie a little bit. Then Sara came over in the evening and we watched a movie together. Jason was here on Friday night and we watched a movie. So thankful to be nearby them and get to spend time with them.

Headed to work here soon ~ praying for good nights.

I think the challenge thing is helping me ~ the weight is creeping down, but I'll take it ~ even 1/2 pound at a time. Feeling hopeful

Take care

Phyllis! I am so HAPPY to see you posting. First, I am sorry about the illness & treatments. Next I am thrilled to hear about the exciting new treatment.

Lynn

DiverGal - I LOVE going to a Renaissance Faire! We have a big one down here every year in Feb/March, it runs for 5 consecutive weekends. I go every year and - I must confess - I'm one of the geeks that like to go in "garb". It's a time when I can express my inner wench. Usually, one or both of my boys dress up too. DH just rolls his eyes and has just accepted this as one of my many little quirks.

Day 3

I got up and did my hour of exercise in the hotel gym. We left Raleigh & headed toward Savannah. Stopped at South of the Border - a funny, tacky, little group of stores, restaurants, and a motel. Had fun walking around there deciding what the MOST tacky item was - decided on a plastic swan with plastic/glittered red roses. Then, about 2 hours from Savannah, stopped at Walterboro - an adorable little artistic town. Went to the Artisan Center & saw TONS of things I would LOVE to buy (I refrained) and had a lovely lunch in a little Italian restaurant in the town.

We got into Savannah around 5 - just in time to visit all the dealers at the arts and crafts show along the riverfront. Topped off the evening with oysters (for DF) and shrimp for me. I did pretty good with eating - went about 100 calories over my targeted 1200 and had a little gelatto (broke my goal of no sweets). My real downfall was a bowl of "hushpuppies" (little round globs of deep-fried cornbread). Had way too many of those with my shrimp. Oh well, have to get in training for our Paula Deen dinner.

Lynn

Oh Lynn, thanks for the welcome, missed you.

I LOVE Savannah and that whole area and the food, oh my goodness how wonderful....love hush puppies. Let us know how you liked Paula's, which one of hers did you go to? the one downtown? Savannah is one place I would love to go back to, we were there in the fall also.

Phyl

Good Morning Girls!
Hi Phylis, so happy to see your smiling face again. I'm sending you a hug, happy to hear you're doing so well with your chemo and dropping 25 pounds is a huge bonus! Keep us informed when your test come back Oct 28th.
Lynn...don't make me hungry for Paula Deen cooking! I love her and watch her show often. Did you see Kelly Ripa (Regis Philbin show) when she dresses up as Paula Deen and put huge amounts of butter in her recipes, even munched on a stick of butter? It was so funny!
I saw a clip of Paula a couple of days ago with a diet recipe, she said it was diet because it only had 1 stick of butter in it.
Karen31... I started to download your video but it was taking to long, will have to come back to it later today when I have more time. I'm so impatient, need to work on that fault!
Karen and Rosey.......how's it going with you two? Maybe you two can give each other tips on cooking two seperate meals?
Isabella...I'm a huge meat eater but black bean and cheese enchilada sound wonderful to me. I wouldn't mind making a vegetarian meal now and again but we always have so much meat in the freezer and wild game doesn't keep forever.
Glynn...I think everyone was ready to bucket down this fall, everyone seems to be losing. Congrats to you.
MBM...okay, lets see a picture of what a geek looks like in "garb"!
I have to get a package mailed off now, I sold some spurs and straps from DH's cowboy shooting outfits. I've sold most of his old west clothes, they went like hot cakes on ebay.
Had a sad thing happen to one of my sweet chickens. They had pecked a hole in one of the window screens and a wild cat (we think, it's been hanging around all summer)got in. We have flower boxes with impatient plants under the windows, the cat jumped up on them, broke off some flowers. It pushed his/her way in thru that small hole and killed one of the chickens. He ate the head off and I felt like I'd lost one of my pets. Bruce shut the window after I put a new screen in. The next night it was back because we saw more flowers broken off and the water pitcher knocked over again. What terror the hens must have had being cornered in the chicken coop with no way to escape.
Now that I've cried again about my chicken, I better get busy.
You all have a great day!

Phyl! Really great to see you, and so glad that your treatment is progressing encouragingly! I popped back in here a week or two ago; been doing okay diet-wise, and busy with the twin grandbabies and work and other family stuff and so on and so forth, but miss the "Golden Girlies" and hearing about what's going on with everybody. Lynn, your trip sounds soooo boffo! I'm envious. I've never been to Savannah, and it's one of the places on my sister's and my "to do together" list. I hope we get to do it, but in the meantime, I'm really enjoying your check-ins. Oh, hush puppies! They really are yummy, aren't they? I think I could easily lose track myself if I had a dish of those in front of me.
Linda, I would be surprised if we ALL didn't have some kind of issue around our mothers and weight. My mother was always on the heavy side - a little round flamingo of a woman with relatively long skinny legs and a heavy, big-busted torso. I've got the legs, and could just as easily have the same kind of torso if I didn't always manage to catch myself before I get too far over the edge. On the other hand, my sister is a petite little woman who's never weighed much more than a hundred pounds soaking wet, and HER daughter tends toward being heavy and resents my sister's "naturally quick metabolism" - or whatever it is that allows her to eat like a truck driver and never gain an ounce. I have to admit to resenting her a time or two myself.
Congrats on the weight "creeping down", Glynne. At this age, I'm happy with "down", never mind how long it takes to get there.
Isabella, that enchilada sounds mouth-wateringly yummy. I think I'll try making some. I'm getting a little bored with our usual meals - they've become a little dull and uninspiring. Time to do a little more experimenting, methinks. Thanks for reminding me. Oh! The "methinks" is a natural offshoot to the discussion of Ren faires. I like them, too. I've never "garbed up", but who knows? Might be kind of fun...
Hi Freda! Hi Karens 3 and 31! Hi Lyn - have you moved into your new house yet? I bet you'll love being on the Cape year 'round! I know I would!
Oh, Bobbi! What a shame about your chicken! My dad raised banty chickens when I was a kid and I used to love them. They laid perfect little eggs - about the size of a robin's egg, if I recall right - but brown, like a regular chicken egg. You'd need about 10 of them to get a decent breakfast scramble.
I went to Sturbridge Village yesterday http://www.osv.org/museum/index.html with DH and my DD & SIL and the little twins, their big sister and my other grandson, who is 8. It was a beautiful sunny fall day - perfect for traipsing all around, and we really had a great time. DH and I are members so we get in free, SIL is a teacher, so he gets in free, the grandchildren are on DH's and my "family membership" so THEY get in free, and all we had to pay was 75% of one admission for my daughter as our guest. Then we took them all out to eat afterwards because it was her birthday weekend. I took her clothes shopping on Saturday and we got her some terrific winter outfits and a beautiful winter coat and two pairs of boots. A busy, busy weekend, but lots of fun all around. The babies were wonderful - never cried once, and really enjoyed looking around and chattering as we took turns pushing their carriage or carrying them. It's hard to believe they're already six months old!
ENOUGH out of me! Hope everyone is having a lovely Monday - I'm at work, but I'm not going to let that little problem spoil my day!
Take care, all!
Z