Morning all. TGIF!! This week went by slowly for me.

Annie – Sounds like you had a nice family evening last night. I’m sorry you’re not feeling 100% today. I’m not a fan of green tea at all, so I will withhold my opinion about the taste, lol. Yes, I ordered my pillow. Of course, it was just a few bucks under the free shipping threshold, so I ordered a couple more items – a Bondi Band wide headband to keep my hair out of my face during Pilates and a pair of yoga socks.

Happy – Congrats on the 6 pound loss!! Too bad that couldn’t count for the WW promo…but I think you could easily add some weight onto your body just through your clothing – starting with a heavy pair of shoes/boots and by layering up. And don’t forget ankle weights, lol.

Ceejay – I hope the pain from the injection fades quickly and that the bunion/toe pain is gone with it.

Susie – I’m glad you hit the hay early that one day – you apparently really needed the sleep! I tend to force myself to stay awake until a more “normal” sleep time - not sure why, like it’s a bad thing. Good job on the TOPS loss – they all add up! Re your next goal – maybe it could be an inches lost goal? I don’t really like measuring myself because I’m never sure if I’m doing it in a consistent manner, but for a short term, it could be helpful, and also encourage yourself to focus on exercise as well as your eating.

Hellos to the rest of you!

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Last night I watched another episode of Mad Men. This one was good and now I’m starting to feel sad I’m coming to the end of the series.

I did one of my “new to me” $1 workout DVD’s. This one was The Lotte Berk Method “Muscle eats Fat”. I’d read a review of it on the video fitness web site, so I knew it was a non-traditional workout. Yeh, it was a bit strange. That said, I did feel like I got a workout. On the one hand, the workout includes tucking your hips/rear to protect the back, which is good. But then there are lower body moves that could be a strain on the knees. I have mixed feelings about it. But it’s relatively short, and there is a good section that includes planks.

Speaking of planks…I began the 30-day plank challenge last night. I might adjust it for myself because this is the one that ends on Day 30 with a 5 minute plank. I have no aspirations for that this time around (last time I believe I made it to 4 minutes). I also noted that the challenge jumps up by 30 second increments at Day 12. Not each day of course – when you move to a higher amount of time, you repeat that time for two or three days (and there are rest days too). I think increments of 10-15 seconds might be easier. I’ll tinker with it.

The boss scheduled our performance reviews for Tuesday of next week – the day before he leaves town for the rest of the week. Convenient.

Tomorrow I go back to the dentist for my nightguard. I might get together with my friend D for lunch.

Don’t know what’s coming for Sunday. I’m thinking the less I know the less I’m expected to get involved, so I won't even bring it up.

That’s it for me. Have a great weekend everyone.

Happy
Your weight loss may only be fluid. Keep it. I can lose up to 10 pounds of fluid when I take my fluid medication.

Annie
No I don't have the back up camera. Wish I did. Just need to be more careful.
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I called my co-worker this morning and he was laughing. I told him if I were there he would be getting another friendly tap. He did it the car. He said he was playing a trick. I feel a lot better. These guys need to quit pulling pranks on me.
My bff sent me a text last night stating that Medicare wanted to set up a wellness program. and was sending her a doctor from Dallas to do it. She got afraid and called and canceled it. Told her I didn't blame her for doing that. She reported it to her health nurse and other insurance company and they are looking into it for her. She said that the doctor's name they used was a doctor that was on a tv soap opera. Sounds like a scam to me.
My toe is a little sore this morning but not as painful. I agree with Happy that if I can endure this I need too.
It's time to flip the laundry and then I need to go pay my rent. And the to Walnart to get a few groceries.

TGIF! I am so ready to be off work.

The weekend will be busy. Niece A has a basketball game on Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning is cleaning before the game. After that, DH mentioned on going to Verizon to get a new phone for me. Mine has suddenly started shutting down during the day. The battery isn't low, it just shuts off. I've had it almost 3 years so it is getting time to get a new one. I want to get one that I can sync with my fitbit, so I will get back into the habit of wearing it and working on my daily steps again.

Ceejay: Those rotten co-workers! Glad to know you didn't bump the car. I hope the soreness on the toe goes away quickly.

That is scare about your BFF and that call. I'm glad she called her health insurance and that she cancelled the appointment.

Happy: Look at the 10 lbs this way....it is good for your health. I am thinking of setting a goal that isn't just "number on the scale related". I do have my measurements as we are doing a biggest loser contest at work and we got measured 2 weeks ago and will get measured again in 6 weeks.

Laura: Good for you for starting a new challenge. I think you do well with those. You like seeing the improvement in time or reps as you get near the end. It is motivational for you. I struggle with things like that as I think I have to be "perfect" at it and if I miss a day or something, then I feel I blew it. That is thinking I need to get rid off for sure!

Of course your manager scheduled reviews that way; I think they train management on those types of thing!

Annie: Getting in 7,000 steps a day up from your 5,500 is great! Small changes are good as they usually become a habit that way.

It is time to shut things down at work and get out of here. I was all alone in the office for the last 15 min and decided to take a "me" break and chat to all your lovely ladies.

I'll see you over the weekend!

Annie
Proud of you for getting in the 7000 steps. Is this a new goal? I need to up m steps to 7000. Sometimes I can get that very easily but other times it's hard to get in the regular 6000 steps.

Susie
I like having my phone synced to the fitbit. I can check on the number of activity minutes I've gotten for the day, but I forgot to put it on my foot last night when I road the bike. I did get my 20 minutes in though. It just didn't record it. Measurements would be a good way to go this month.

Laura
I will start doing a plank per day. IO didn't realize that these were good for the abs.

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Made some soup last night to help me get in my quota of veggies. Going to make a pot of beans and ham later this afternoon and fried potatoes cornbread. Yes I know not the most healthy but this is what I grew up on. and I miss it. I'm trying to replace beans, peas etc for some of my protein.
My toe is much better today. No pain.

Evening all,

Cooled down considerably here. We are moving into Autumn I think since there are some fallen leaves from the Poinciana tree. Hasn't been much of a summer really and I think we may have water restrictions again during the winter. It's almost getting to time for my garden to go back into production. I bought some compost soil for the purpose today. It will get spread tomorrow - if the ODDU doesn't get to it first.

Dinner will be late tonight since I didn't get the firelighters when shopping. So we are trying to make do with what I had, but the briquettes are not heating well. Guess it will be another trip to the local store for some if something doesn't happen soon.

Laura - no wombats in our garden. They generally tend to be in rural areas since they are solitary animals and not at all very friendly unless they have been brought up around humans.

Susie - hope you are not bringing too much work home. It can become a habit and you never get away from it.

Ceejay - hope the bunion has calmed down a bit now and you are feeling better. My DS1's partner has a RAV 4 and I found it difficult to see things from the back window. My current ride has an amazing camera that 'sees' all around the car and lets me know when things are getting close. Sometimes the sound drives me crazy but I love the camera.

Happy - wish I had your problem about the weight loss. Well done btw. Mine is just the same as ever, but the size is shifting again. Must be all the yard work I am putting in.
I know what you mean about the rubbish man. We get our trash picked up once a week and the recycling picked up every two weeks. At the moment we seem to be filling up the recycling per week as well.

Annie - Strange that things taste funny with your medication. Don't you just hate that. Get your taste buds already for the meal and nothing tastes right.

Michelle - hope those headaches have gone away and that you are back to normal again.

Okay - I am out of here. Better go poke the chicken and look at the veges in the Weber. Guess you are all watching the superbowl. I loved Dame Helen Mirren's response to one of the ads - about drunken drivers. Stop it! so there.

Shad
I would like to have one of those back up camera's. I may check into it.

---
I'm working an extra day this week. My co-worker needed off today. She will be working for me on the 17th. Just the way the ball bounces around here. Came back from my round to check on the chemicals and the filters were low. Hmm. Checked the chart and one of the well's had kicked out. Put one on hand and it came on, then did the other one. It came on. Guess I should call the maintenance man to double check on it.
Did some more Spring cleaning yesterday. Boxed up a bunch of stuffed animals, some cookbooks and more dishes. Will be taking this and some more things to Goodwill Thursday.
Rode the bike for 20 minutes but actually had 30 activity minutes. Guess I was more active yesterday than I thought.
Need to call my aunt later to check on them.

Hi ladies,

So... went to the doctor on Friday. She had me stand facing the wall and put her hands on the sides of my hips and squeezed. I almost passed out. Then she moved down my legs (to the saddlebags) and squeezed. Again, unbearable pain. She did a bit more checking involving touch, pressure as in push against my hand stuff and flexibility. It appears that my hip flexors are very weak. These are the muscles you mainly use to do things like stairs and walking. When the hip flexors are week, the IT (iliotibial) Band takes over on the side of the leg and it stresses the knee. Hip flexors and IT band are very very sore. And I have a healthy dose of arthritis in the knees. But most of my pain comes from the muscles - that's good because that's fixable. She said she could give me cortesone shots in the knees but I drove myself and I know those are painful and wasn't sure I could drive home afterwards so I took a pass. Said I'd rather do physical therapy because if I have the opportunity to alleviate this, or avoid it - I'd rather do that. I had the same problem with the IT band last year. It surprised me because I am in the habit of daily stretching for that muscle every day. I guess I was not doing enough. It makes sense how things progressed. My knee is wonky so I always walk stairs holding to the railing. I never walk not holding on to something because a few times my knee would give out and I didn't want to fall. Or slide on the icy steps outside. By holding on, it allowed the hip flexors to weaken. That put more pressure on the IT band. The more the band got stressed, the more my knees hurt. The more my knees hurt, the more I adjusted my walking which created bigger problems on the knees. Big circle of ugly. The therapist I saw and liked last year is not there any more but Doc said there is a new one - a lady who specialized in female pelvis work which is good since our hips are different than guys. I am going to see her Wednesday morning. The only issue is she's in a town 30 minutes drive from here. I have an 8:30 appt so I will have to get up at the crack of dawn in order to have a comfortable amount of time to have a coffee and wake up, shower and get over to the office. This also means DH has to get up which is not a problem for him as he is an early riser too. I don't care for the road to this town - it's only 2 lanes - one in each direction and it's curvy and most of it is no passing so if you have a speed demon behind you, they tend to crawl up your behind thinking that will get you to exceed the speed limit. I don't like that road so DH will drive me. That night we went out for a birthday celebration for him and had a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant. He loves their swordfish. I had chicken picatta (chicken in a lemon based sauce). I also had 2 glasses of wine and panna cotta for dessert so I blew all of my extra weekly WW points. That's ok, I planned for that.

Yesterday was his birthday. Another step to becoming an old man. I told him it was my job to keep him from turning into a grandpa geezer since he was trying so hard to go that route sad but true. We went over to the art show where he has a piece entered into the show. There were some interesting pieces. I bought one that really grabbed me. Everyone was commenting on it. I think DH was wanting to see if people liked his bear picture. When you purchase a piece they prefer you to leave it the entire month for the duration of the show if you can but they put a red dot on the label of the artist to indicate that piece sold. So now I told DH he can casually saunter into the store and discretely check to see if anyone liked his photo enough to purchase it. I hope someone does - it would mean alot to him and his self esteem. The gallery owner is our good friend, the president of the Humane Society here. She asked what we did Friday night and I whispered it was DH's birthday today and we went out to eat. Next thing I know she comes out with a candle stuck in a cup of treats and we all sang Happy Birthday to him. He was embarrassed but loved the attention I'm sure. I also scored him a free tiramisu birthday dessert on Friday by telling the waitress it was his birthday. I personally believe that everyone deserves to feel special at least one day a year so I do make a fuss about birthdays even if I don't get the same in return.

I met a lady at the art show who is an avid quilter and "fabric artist" she was telling me about a local quilters guild but I have heard of them before - despite what she says about them welcoming new people (reeling in new fish) I have heard they are amateur professionals and if you join up you are expected to submit an entry into their various quilt shows. Not as a beginner I won't. Then I started researching it - it's not like having a hand needle and thread and piecing together fabric. Now it's high tech with fancy sewing machines and all sorts of stuff. I certainly don't need another hobby to invest money into! Best to stick with what I have now.

Today is a quiet day. Some cooking. Some laundry. It's snowing a bit - we are only supposed to get an inch but it's really coming down now. DH is not feeling well - like he's coming down with a cold so I sent him to bed. He's been sleeping for quite a while so that's good. I have an excuse to be on the computer since he wakes at the slightest noise so I'm being quiet.

Ceejay - who is going to cover for your coworker when you retire? Seems like you do alot of filling in for somebody work. That's good that you are slowing cutting down on the stuff at your place. Makes moving easier. My sister is doing the same in preparation (3 years) for retirement. I'm not so sure I could smile at the co-worker playing a trick and you thinking you hit him. There are other less stressful "tricks".

Shad - you can always burn some corn chips if you are out of firestarters. At least the Doritos brand out this way makes excellent firestarters. Better to burn them than eat them! Don't be too envious of me and weight loss - no doubt I will have to wrestle every ounce out of me for the upcoming week and going forward. Will take careful planning and mindful eating. So if there are water restrictions - does that mean you had a very dry summer? Is it summer or autumn when the rains (should) come? Will be nice to get the garden in - hopefully you will be around enough to enjoy it's bounty. I truly enjoyed the peaches I canned this summer - will make 2 boxes next time and hopefully we will have a better growing season this year. Last 2 years have been a bust in the garden. Thanks goodness for the farmer's market.

Susie - did you decide on a goal yet? I am making my first one about getting comfortably into a pair of black dress pants that have a smart thin red stripe in them. I have had them for years - can't zip them up yet so it will take a few weeks of work. I hope to wear them for my birthday dinner late April if not before that. Maybe if I work hard I can get into them for our anniversary March 5. Did you get your new phone? I have to admit seeing how much people are doing with their smart phones makes me a bit jealous I don't have one - feel like I am missing out on things. I guess you can "scan" an item at a grocery store with an app that will tell you how many WW points something has just by the bar code! But I can't see putting out the expense if the thing works everywhere in town but not at my house or on some of the more remote woods. Expecially if I put something in the phone and then want to check it later at home. Enjoy the game tonight!

Laura - I am thinking about you and wondering how your "Super Bowl" party is coming along. Did you fuss or not? Hope you are not stressed or asked to do more than you want to. My sister told me about a program on cable on the A&E channel - Fit to Fat to Fit. It just started. It's about super fit trainers who are going through an experiment to purposely get fat so that they can be more empathetic to the struggles of their over weight clients. It's interesting to watch them try and gain weight (sometimes as much as 70 pounds!!!). Of course they all lose the weight (and then some) but they all struggle with the first few workouts (they gain weight and stop exercising for a while) - just the same as their clients. I am confused as you are about what are the right moves when exercising. My yoga teacher is saying she is reading more about certain moves that were popularly accepted that they are now finding are more injurious than beneficial. I also know that I can no way at 60 do what I could at 40 so that might be a factor also. I guess you have to listen to your body and adjust where needed when things get tight or are prone to weaknesses.

I probably should go wake up DH - he's been asleep for 3 hours - very unusual and he's the kind that if he sleeps any more, sick or not won't be able to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. Not that we have anything special going on tomorrow. But still. And I need to go peek out the window and see how much snow we really got. Have a good Sunday and hello to the rest of the chicks.

Good Monday Morning/Evening All....

Whew what a weekend. Had the boys Saturday evening and all day yesterday. Poor lil Royce wasn't feeling well, on antibiotics that made his bum just raw. He screamed every time I changed his diaper. I did get his bum a bit better by putting cortisone ointment on it then slathering it with vaseline. Made my heart break for him. On a good note, papaw and the boys built a tent, put puzzles together, played cars, trains and airplanes, hide n seek, and a few other things. I did play some also, not as much a papaw. I mostly did meals, refereed, laundry, refereed, snacks, refereed, and did I mention refereed? lol. I made chicken/veggie stir fry for dinner when the kids came by to pick up the babes. Totally delish and we will be having it for dinner tonight. Also sent some home with the kids. Watche the first half of the super bowl and half time. Lady Gaga knocked the socks off the anthem, great job and she even looked half normal. lol.

Will come back for personals in a bit.

Morning
Annie
Sounds like a fun time with the boys. I feel for Royce.

Happy
I've never heard of the IT band until now. Hope things improve. When will you start the therapy. I've been watching the fit to fat, fat to fit program. It's kinda interesting.
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My sister from Missouri called last night and offered me her rental property to live in. Her dil is there now but will move out of state by the time I'm ready for it. I kept asking her about how much the rent would be and finally she said I will let you take care of the utilities. This is where my niece lived before she moved. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with a garage. When I go up this spring I will check on it. The house is located in a smaller community which I like. About 15 minutes from her home in Ash Grove, 15 minutes from Nixa where one of my nephew's live, and an hour from Branson. It's a perfect location. However, it does have a lawn but she said her dh would take care of that. I'm on cloud 9. I'm going to give it a try.
Texted my bff who got married last year. I think she was getting a bit home sick.
Now to tell my bff in Jonesboro. She's the one who will be 100 percent disappointed. cause I will not be there to take care of her but she has relatives near by.

ok I am back...

Yeah for Peyton. Hope he retires before he gets too hurt.

CEEG...Remember to do what is in the best interest for you! I would definitely get it in writing what you are supposed to "take care of" financially and property wise at your sister's rental. If it doesn't work out, you can always move.

HAPPY...happy birthday to DH. How did his piece fare at the show? I know what you mean by one part affecting another part. From walking "crooked" with my bad ankle, my knees are suffering. It hurts like heck to get up and down from a chair. May have to start wearing knee braces. I know losing these added pounds would help my situation. Just need a full body brace then wrap me in bubble pak. I took and age test that said I would only live till 57, maybe I can hold out till then. lol.

SHADDIE...you are heading into autumn and we are heading into spring. However this week is full blown winter. One day's high is only 17, and snow flying on several days this week. Temps don't look good till about the 20th. Bleh. Hope ODDU stayed out of the compost pile and doesn't smell like a huge turd.

SUSIE...did you get a new phone afterall? It is all fun and games, hit or miss till you get it all figured out. I just learned how to turn my flashlight off and on today. Go me!!

LAURA...good for you on the plank challenge. I don't think I could do it if I tried. Not even if a sum of money for doing it was involved. You go girl. How was the super bowl party? We watched some of it in bed, then turned it off after halftime.

Hello to all,

Hugs

Morning all. We had a little bit of snow this morning, but I was happy it had stopped by the time I left for work.

My weekend was busy, and I need a “make-up” weekend. Saturday morning I had the dentist appointment and got my new nightguard/anti-snore contraption. Afterwards I stopped at the Trader Joe’s store that’s on the way home. Ugh, I should just never go to that store because the parking lot is a nightmare. I also stopped at the dollar store for a couple things.

Shortly after I got home, bf’s mom came by and we all went over to the aunt’s new apartment in assisted living, which is not far from our place. It seems like a nice place, but I’m sad to see how frail the aunt is, and she’s at the beginning stages of dementia. And I’m sad for bf’s mom – she is one of six siblings. All have lived fairly long lives (all but one made their 80’s), but three are gone now, and three have developed dementia, including this sister. The other living sibling (a brother who’s 87 years old) is now having serious medical issues, including a failing kidney (it’s been his only kidney for the better part of his life). So bf’s mom is losing family members (lost a sister less than 6 months ago) and must be feeling frightened about her future.

We hung out for a bit in Aunt B’s new apartment (nice size and natural light) and then all went out for lunch, and then visited a bit more afterwards. We didn’t get home until around 4 pm. After that I did a dog walk and that was about it for the evening.

Sunday morning I lazed around a bit, then got a batch of brownies made. I was considering experimenting with using a muffin tin or mini muffin tin for individual brownies which are cute and have more edges (which people seem to like). But I chickened out and just used a regular baking pan. Anybody ever tried doing that?

After that was some cleaning and setting up, a last minute shopping trip for a few things, a dog walk, and then some more preparation. I made cornbread from scratch to go with the chili bf was making.

The gathering was nice – only six of us. Our food was good. BF’s chili was good and not too spicy. My cornbread was well-liked. I made a basic one, but it had corn kernels in it that I think I processed too long because there was no bits of kernel evident…but it still tasted good and had good texture. People brought chicken wings, homemade popcorn, and the fixin’s for Moscow Mules, a popular drink at the moment (vodka, ginger beer, , and lime). (I stuck with light beer.) Aside from the usual salty snacks and cheese/crackers, bf picked up some cilantro-lime shrimp from Costco and they were tasty.

Too bad the game wasn’t all that great – offense was lacking on both sides. But bf was happy P. Manning had another SuperBowl win and had another record for himself. The commercials were sort of disappointing – a lot of big name actors, jeez. All the good that money could be doing and they fork it over for actors and the huge fees to broadcast the commercials during the game…and I guess I was disappointed that Budweiser didn’t do another one of their cute/heartwarming commercials like they had last year. If they did, I sure missed it. Lady G was fine with the anthem, and the halftime show was alright. I’d have been happier switching over to the Puppy Bowl… But overall, the evening was pleasant.

Surprisingly our guests stayed later than I thought they would…two left around 11 pm and the other two at 11:30. Cleanup wasn’t bad, but between that and getting ready for bed, I wasn’t actually in bed until nearly 12:30. Late night for me. I’ll certainly feel more tired as the day goes on. I’m sure I’ll be sorely tempted to ditch Pilates class tonight…

I’ll be back later with personals.

Back for personals…

Happy – Let the weight charts say what they want – they generalize, of course. The ideal is whatever weight you’re healthy at and feel good at. I gained back what weight I’d lost, and I do feel ungainly with some of the Pilates and yoga moves. I feel fine in terms of my health, though I’m on a low dose med for my BP. I do think my weight would eventually effect my feet/joints. The excess needs to go!! Re your hip flexor and IT band muscles – I agree, better to get to work on strengthening and stretching those muscles than to have to have knee surgery! Flexibility (stretching) and strength training sure get short-changed. I like to read weight loss blogs, but it seems inevitable that the authors end up taking up running. I know this is partially due to a need to keep themselves challenged and motivated in their fitness efforts, but I just don’t think running makes sense for a lot of people. I lose interest in those blogs... There needs to be a balance. Pun intended! People need strength, flexibility and balance in addition to the benefits of running (or other cardiovascular activities that offer the same benefits without the joint stress). I’m glad you’ll be going to PT to get stronger and reduce your pain!!--- I hope someone buys your dh’s photo. That would be so great.--- I watched an episode of that “Fit to Fat to Fit”. Meh. I think it’s interesting that a trainer would be willing to do that. I suppose if the trainer was always healthy and fit, it would be an eye-opener for them and of course allow them to identify with the struggles of the person who is not. I suppose that, plus the money and tv exposure, makes it worth it to them.

Ceejay – I don’t like that trick your co-worker pulled on you – yeh they need to stop that!--- Gosh, hadn’t heard about that scam with a wellness program. You’re usually made aware of such programs by your insurance carrier.--- I’m glad your toe is feeling better. --- Yes, planks are great for your entire core!--- Good for you with the spring cleaning. I need to get back to purging my paper.--- Wow – interesting news about possibly retiring to your sister’s rental property. Isn’t that bigger than what you currently have? But it sounds like the location and price are right. I agree with Annie – best to formalize the obligations of both parties. It’s worth a try, for sure, though moving out would be a PITA…

Susie – Did you get a new phone? What kind?

Shad – You need one of those chimney-type charcoal starters. http://www.amazon.com/Weber-7416-Rap...arcoal+starter I think the shape of it helps the process. The charcoal goes in the top and some crunched up newspaper goes on the bottom and it sits on your grill. The paper gets lighted and gets the charcoal going. ---- Yeh, sometimes the sound that accompanies the back-up camera can be maddening, but it’s good that it’s there. I’d never turn off the sound.

Annie – Sounds like a busy weekend, but satisfying. Re Manning – he’d be a fool not to retire and be content and grateful for the stellar career he’s had.

Hellos to the rest of you!!

==
Forgot to mention before - when I stopped at the dollar store on Saturday, I checked the dvd's and found two more workout videos by The Firm. Cool. I guess they buy out large lots of dvds when the retailer wants them out of their inventory. My gain.

Gosh, I'm running out of steam.

Happy Monday ladies,

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for a few days. Busy but fun weekend. Friday I took the day off because I got a free ticket to watch the taping of a 2 hour interview with Brett Favre (former Green Bay Packers Quarterback). It was supposed to be a 2 hour interview,but because Brett likes to talk, it was closer to 3.5 hours! There were probably 50-75 people in the audience and I was at most 20 feet away from Brett. AWESOME! I went to it with a couple friends from the Packer bar. After the taping, we took a cab to where the Super Bowl City festivities were. Very crowded but entertaining. I’m just glad we chose to take the train from San Jose to San Francisco because traffic and parking would’ve been a nightmare.

On Saturday, I went to the gym, then did some cleaning, and then went out to dinner with the family of my friend Bob who passed away last year. I was touched that they invited me. It was for his mom’s 85th birthday. As luck would have it, I was sitting next to another family friend who has run the Disney half-marathons several times. I mentioned to her that due to my shoulder surgery, I was unable to train until just recently and now I can only run 1 to 1.5 miles and then I have to walk. She said that a lot of people do intervals, and I just need to keep up the pace of a 16 minute mile. She gave me some excellent tips and encouragement, which I really needed as I was starting to feel defeated because my stamina just wasn’t at the level I hoped it would be.

Sunday I went to a doggie play date, then home to do some more cleaning, and then Santa and I went over to a friend’s house to watch the Super Bowl. I was really rooting for the Denver Broncos. I’ve always liked their quarterback Peyton Manning back to the days he played for the Indianapolis Colts.

Today after work I have a hypnosis session, and then I’ve got to run a couple errands. Tomorrow, I have to leave the house by 5:15 am to get to the gym so I can run on the treadmill and then work out with my trainer. After work, I have to go with my bf to drop off his car for repairs.

Sorry I’m behind on personals. I hope y’all are doing well.

Much love and big hugs,

Hi guys,

Going to try and get a quick update in here as I'm not sure I will have time in the morning. Going to try and get in the shop a bit earlier. My partner who works a partial split shift with me on Tuesdays is going to opt into Weight Watchers for a while which is good. Her doctor recommended the "Colorado Diet" which is what Dr. Holly from the show Extreme Weight loss developed. I briefly read the book and it seems near to Paleo. S decided she could not tackle it right now and I said WW would be a nice training ground for that as sugar and carbs are expensive in points on WW and the Colorado diet. So that's good.

On the bad side I got an email from the shop coordinator that over the weekend - probably on Sunday when the shop is closed - someone entered the building and stole the $200 in cash we keep for register money, stole the bag we keep with (coin) change AND took all the quarters out of the register itself. What a low down dirty jerk! It was an inside job as there was no break in and the person knew exactly where we hid the money. It's just a good thing they didn't know where the keys were to the free will collection boxes we have bolted to the counter or they would have taken that too no doubt. Just makes me mad. I have my suspicions on who did it but I can't prove anything.

Wednesday morning I go for my physical therapy evaluation. I have been trying to stretch the IT band and be more careful going down stairs the way I should to strengthen those hip flexors. My yoga teacher will also have some moves for that because we are focusing on that in class right now.

DH has a cold - first one he caught since we moved here. It's a mild cold and he is being ok and not a man baby about it so that's good. I made him chicken soup today. I did get some cleaning and laundry done but I still feel like I barely scratched the surface. Next 2 days I won't be home much to do anything.

Made bbq ribs in my Instant Pot. It's not so "instant" - took me just about all afternoon in the kitchen but then again I made baked potatoes, some mashed for later this week, cole slaw, fresh fruit salad and the ribs. The meat took about an hour and a half between saute to finished off in the broiler and they were very tender. But they were fatty - from the farm. One of the few things I did not care for from there. Next time I will prepare them the same way but get baby backs from the regular store in town.

I thought the Super Bowl was bleh. The commercials were boring - except for the lambs singing the Queen song Somebody to Love for the Honda commercial. Thought the halftime was uninspired for the 50th bowl game. They sure could have done better than Beyonce. It was just us so we had the ribs for dinner - stuck to the plan - no snacks for me.

Michelle - how great that you got to see Brett speak. Good too that you were able to get some tips about the marathon. I'm sure it will be here before you know it. At least you can practice outside.

Laura - I agree with your comments about the running. I am not a fan of running myself. If anything, I'd race walk around a padded track or could see a short sprint and interval walks for a 5k. But as long as you're moving, that's what matters. The thing about the Fit to Fat to Fit trainers is that sadly, they all commented about how good the food was once they got used to it and one guy talked about how he had time for going out once he was not spending all his time in the gym. The worst part is that they now grew those evil fat cells once they gained the weight - if I had known about them as a teen, I would have worked wayyyyyy harder to keep the extra weight off as I moved through life. We got some DVDs with The Firm at the shop also. One of them was still in shrink wrap. I opted not to add them to my rather big library of unused videos Some of those moves are just too much for me at this point in my life. One of my favorites is a Masala Bangra Workout - Funky style it's got good moves for cardio and I like the music too. Plus you get to dance with a scarf. Glad you didn't have too much of an overload for the game at your house. Hopefully you didn't fall asleep on the train on the way home. It's awful trying to stay awake at work when you're tired. I actually have one of those brownie pans that makes all edges. Keep forgetting to use it when I make brownies though! They have the little mini brownie muffins in a plastic pack at the store. Two bite muffins I think they call them (unless you're my DH who shoves them in). I like them better than the regular squares. It just seems like a hassle to try and get batter into the mini muffin tins at home.

ANNIE! you'd better plan on living past 57!!!! I know, it's easy to say - if I feel this way now, how will I feel later? I guess the answer is you move more slowly but push past the cricks. Yeah, I agree that I hope Manning retires too - he would be a good commentator - could probably make a bundle in endorsements and as a speaker too. Got to look at his buddies and see the toll that all that crunching takes on your aging body after a while. Get out before you get crippled. How is C doing - behaving himself food wise? Poor Royce and his sore bum. I think they make something called DRC - Diaper Rash Cream that is supposed to help although it's sort of a heavy ointment. No problem as he does not have to apply it. Poor guy - that must be painful.

Ceejay - are you ready to "up size" into a bigger house? You might be expected to do more later on then you originally thought. Living in a small town is nice though. And don't go into a house with lots of stairs - that gets hard as we get older - trust me, I know

Ok, well I must have zoned out again. It's past bedtime and I think I left dishes to soak in the sink. Need to get to bed. Goodnight all. Will check in later in the evening.

Good Morning My Chick-a-Dees...

Speaking of DEEs, where is she lately? I hope all is going ok and you are feeling great. Check in please.

HAPPY...I am good with 57 or any age the good Lord wants to take me. I know that sounds a little depressing, but the struggles in life, who needs them? I actually laughed about DH not being a man baby. I so get that one. C has been a man baby far too long this time, over it! Thanks for asking, he is doing better, half eating right, pretty much staying away from the real wicked foods that trigger issues, nuts, corn, caffeine, etc. The bleeding is minimal, however he is having another sinus/cold thing going on. Bleh. Part of me feels sorry for him and another part wants to smack the liver out of him. Good thing I love him. haha. How did DHs piece do in the show? Hope he gets to feeling better SOON. Only thing worse than a summer cold is a nasty winter cold. WOW, who would have the gall to steal from a thrift shop that supports the humane society? B&ttheads. Hope you all at the shop get that one figured out. Too bad you don't have cameras. Desperate times people take/do desperate measures. Couldn't live with myself if I were them. The ribs sound delish, even if I am not a huge rib fan, mostly cause the meat sticks between my back teeth too much. Of course I could eat a pile of poo with a good BBQ sauce on it. lol. Good luck at the eval for your therapy.

CHELLE...how exciting you got to see our man Brett. He is one of the players I would like to meet, plus Peyton and Jeff Saturday. Dreamy that Jeff is. They all have great attitudes and so involved in the community/volunteering. A couple of people here are doing the 500 mini-marathon this year. A guy I used to work with at RCA/GE/Thomson flies in from Texas every year to run it. A big deal and is the 100th running of the Indy 500 also. Should be a lot of celebrations going on.

LAURA...RE:Cheap DVDs...one of Cs stops is the Dollar Tree store. If they have good deals on something he knows I like, he lets me know so I can check it out. Nice to have inside help. lol. Sounds like the SB party went well even tho it was a late night. I am having a hankering for Chili myself. hmmm. Trader Joe's parking lots must be mandatory cause our TJs is the same way. Skinny rows, people parking every which way, and the people themselves walking through, just a mess.
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My son spent the night last night as he had a side job near us and didn't want to drive the hour home. He had homemade pizza for his requested dinner. So I made my dough in the bread maker and then assembled it. Put the za in the oven at 8:40 pm, he got home around 9ish. WOW talk about a late dinner. C ate leftover stir fry over rice and was in bed by the time DS arrived. We stayed up til 10:30 talking, so that was a very late night for me and could of slept in this morning, but did not. I did get Sassy's towels washed/dried/folded. She still hasn't gotten the hang of doing her own laundry. lol.

Make it a great Tuesday/night. Hello to all. Hugs