Hello all....

Hope all the bills got written and put in the mail, Kerry! Mine got written...and are sitting here waiting for the mail OR the puppy to eat them whichever comes first! Oh dear! Isn't it amazing what "restruant food" can do to a kids appetiet? My boys would eat each and EVERY morsel OUT of the house if they could! Sadly our schedule requires quite a bit of eating on the run during the "regular year"....but... during the summer, I've got no good excuse...so....they think that they are about to die having to eat MY cooking! Poor things! DH is loving the home cooked meals! I'm trying to make them healthy.........but I walk a fine line with trying new/healthy things and having MY GUYS actually EAT the stuff!

Ginny, Don't you just LOVE all the summer doctor's appointments? I especially love the kind, thoughtful way the chldren thank you for dragging their fanny over town to sit and wait for their doctor's appointment... I guess them GETTING that we have other things that WE would prefer to do and that we are taking them there FOR THEIR well being would be just to dang much for them to "get"..... The doctor's appointment yesterday was a source of HUGE frustration and rants from me....... I will spare you the details...Gin, don't worry, I may just PM you this crap! LOL! In the end all is well with the kids spine! and all my grey hair can JUST be covered with dye!

Mouse, are you completely shriveled from being in the pool 24/7 for the last few sunny days? Hope that you're enjoying getting back into the SWIM of things!

My countdown to Orlando begins.... I leave on the 9th of July. I had BEST go get that kitchen finished!

Before I forget, went to WW this morning... was down 1.2! Walked the dog for about an hour this morning prior to the GAWWWD awful heat and humidity making it nearly impossible to breathe! Will go back out there after the sun goes down! Will have to buy a new pedometer to find out how much I'm actually walking!

Will get in that kitchen right after I finish watching my true love (Andre Agassi) get his booty whooped at Wimbleton. I admire Agassi's ooompfhh for moving his old (but still HOT!) body around the court.... I do miss his hair.... He is retiring AGAIN soon.... I sure wish he could go out with some sort of miracle win! ...I've forgiven him for marrying Steffie! LOL

Hope your weekend is going great!
Take care,
meeee

Afternoon Ladies,
Hope all is well with you this fine summer sunny but gawdd awful hot Saturday! I just can't wait for the sun to go down and cool things off a tad.
Robyn congrats on the weight loss. Way to go girl! You will definatiely sweat more off in Flordia when you are there, I am sure. Just a few bills got paid and mailed yesterday. We have to wait on my dh's check to pay the others. Man can be so dense at times. The last three conversations we have had about the bills go the same way with my dh thinking that we shouldn't have that many bills and that they all shouldn't be due all around the same time. Hello it has been like this for the last four years we have been together. Oh well. I hear you on the eating out part. I don't know what the kids will do when we get a stove and start cooking at home again. They will probably think we are killing them. LOL
Ginny, how is your weekend going? Any baseball games in your future for the weekend? Did it finally stop raining in your area of the States? My dh and I went to Wal-mart today and I thought of your big haul you made from there the other day. My dh said that we were only going in to get a few things and we weren't spending all day in there. But guess what 2 1/2 hours later we finally left there after he stopped to talk to 10 or 12 people. But when I finally saw someone I know and wanted to talk to, he was like come on let's go. Isn't that how it usually is with men though?
Mouse, hope you are able to get some much needed swimming time in this weekend. Do you have to work at the pool any this weekend? Hope Imp got over being mad at you!
Did we all lose Pam? I miss chatting with her.
Well I better go and try to get a few things done before our friend calls and tells us when to go to his cousin's birthday party.
By the way, we left our house last night at 5 p.m and didn't get back home until 2:45 a.m. Went out to dinner, drove around for a little bit, stopped to get a few things to drink and then went to a friend's house so the guys could play cards. Have fun just watching everyone play cards and chatting with them. So needless to say, my big fanny didn't make it into Curves this morning or for a walk today. Oh well, there is always tomorrow huh.
Have a great afternoon and weekend. Be careful and safe.
Kerry

Another busy day. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some time to read and respond. Gotta go rent a move........see ya!

Robyn, my dear. I spent a year in your neck of the woods during a July 4th weekend about 2 years ago.......Dd had a softball tournament at Virginia Beach.....it was 100+ the whole weekend. Police flew over the boardwalk all nite in helicopters (we were staying on the beach with the team)- took me 2+ hours to get to Williamsburg in the bumper to bumper traffic and some lovely road that was under permanent road destruction. It ain't too much better here.....George Washington slept here, right here in my home town, and we have all kinds of Revolutionary War encampments all over the place. Nuff said, I feel your pain.

Spent yesterday driving my widowed neighbor (the one who lost her Dh in Feb) to the Dr (she called me at 8:55 crying in pain), and squeezed in my WW meeting........then on the way home got the cell call from Dd that she cut her finger- it needed 3 stitches.....spent a lovely day. Gee, how was yours??
Gotta go enjoy more of my time off. I need a wine cooler.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I'm leaving on a jet plane!

Robyn- I know this is too late.......have a wonderful time, my friend. Safe journey and lots of fun and relaxation.

Dd's finger is ok. Healing nicely. My neighbor is not ok....had to take her back to the Dr this am, just before I went to drive to NJ to clean my Dm's carpet (which was filthy, my Dm is an atrocious house keeper). The little boys are off playing baseball this weekend......one game each day. I am not having fun here. This is supposed to be a vacation?

Hope everyone is doing ok out there......Mouse, Kerry, Pam where are you?

Hi,
Sorry I have been MIA for the last week. My dh and I went to a couple parties at the beginning of the week and I have been trying like hard to get the weight off before Tuesday's weigh-in. LOL I hope the scales are a little down from two weeks ago. Plus trying to get the kids to read for their summer reading program. That has been a chore since they want me to take them to the programs at the library every Wednesday, but don't think they have to do anything on their part. My sdd has not finished one book yet this whole program. Her brothers have finished two a piece. But usually they have more done by now. So I am sitting around reading in front of them trying to encourage them to read more. Plus I have had two or three friends ask when my dh and I were going to Mytle Beach with them. So I guess I will have to start saving money in order to do that next summer hopefully. I have started out small by just emptying my wallet of my pennies. Then here once I start back to school and start doing the after school program again, I will start sticking in a little extra money from each paycheck. Plus I think I will try to save my profit from selling Avon to go towards our vacation fund.
That is what is new with me.
Robyn, hope you have a safe and fun trip. We will sure miss your wit around here for the week.
Ginny, sorry to hear that you had a rough week. Glad to hear that your dd's finger is healing nicely. Will say a prayer for your next door neighbor. Hope she gets to feeling better soon. So how did you do at your WW's meeting? So what are your big plans for today? I have washed the dishes in the sink, did a load of whites and now am enjoying the peace and quiet. THe kids went to a friends house to swim. So I have been reading a book. Try to watch a little tv and my dh came home and changed the channel on me. So I guess I will just read a little more. Atleast it is a good romance novel.
Pam and Mouse, hope all is well with you both. Miss chatting with you. Hope to hear from you soon.
Well I am off to read a little more. Maybe I can finish my book before the kids come home and rub it in their faces that I finished a 376 page book. In their library reading program that would count for 7 1/2 books. That would be a little mean of me. But i guess i have to do what I can do to get them back on track, since their dad doesn't sit down and read a book in front of them. Their mom doesn't encourage them to do anything educational at all. So it is left up to me the mean stepmom who happens to be a teacher too! LOL
Have a great afternoon. Chat with you all later. I promise!
Kerry

Hi all,
I am feeling a little down today. Last night before I went to bed, I got on the scales to check my weight and my dh came in the room and read what they said. I was trying to hide it from him and his nasty comments. He said wow what is with that weight? Looks to me like all you have been doing here lately is eating! Then he couldn't understand why I wouldn't talk to him after that. Then this morning he made a comment that he doesn't think I can ever get to my goal weight and that I am just playing the weight loss game. Those comments were very cruel and hurtful. I can't help it that God blessed me with a lousy metabolism. We all can't be blessed with the metabolism that his family has. Sometimes I just wish for once he could feel what it is like to be heavy for a day or two. Well I better go and check on my stepsons' and their reading. I am cracking down hard on them since the program is over with on the 26th of this month. Even if they only read 10 books I will be happy with them. Talk to you all later.
Kerry

Big, big hugs to you Kerry. How hurt you must feel from your Dh's comment.
As a woman, we all face these issues- not only do our bodies tend to want to retain fat (gotta protect those childbearing abilities!), but I think we are stress eaters more than men and also just seem to carry more guilt than men. We feel responsible for everything and everyone.....and I know that you fit in that category, or you would not give a hoot about your Dss's summer reading programs. I am no educator, but I have read articles that mentioned if a child reads even two books for the whole summer, it helps prevent brain drain from hitting so hard. Bless you for what you are doing. Now on to you.
Please don't let Dh's poorly worded and timed comment railroad you and get you off track. The Kerry I know and love is a "loser" (the weight loss kind!) and is very disciplined. You will get this weight off- it is just going to take some time. Look at all the weight that you have lost and KEPT OFF! Look at all the healthy habits you have adopted! Pretty impressive, in my book!
Goal weight? Ok, I am not at mine either - but can honestly say that even when I am bad, I can reign myself back in much more easily. And you do that too. So many positive (and true!) things I can say about you. Focus on them, not the negative. You go girl!
Hope today is better.........and that Dh is in a better mood.

Hi Ginny,
Thanks for the hugs and kind words yesterday. I ended up spending two and half hours at the local hospital with my dh and sdss'. One of them hurt his shoulder on Sunday evening at a friend's house swimming. He told his mom and she didn't do anything about it. So yesterday when we were in the grocery store he doubled over in pain. I brought him home and told his dad that he could take him to the hospital. So I drove separate and entertained the other boy will my dh and sds was back getting medical care. Then I went on to Curves and worked off my bad mood. I have to take my sds back to the hospital tomorrow to see an opedehistic (sorry spelling) specialist. The doctor thinks it is sprained and something else is wrong with it. So that is why we have to go see the specialist tomorrow. Took the other sds to the eye specialist today. He got a good report and is almost done with his vision therapy program and then will be put on a maintaince program to retain the support for his weak eye muscles. So he goes back on the first of August to be re-evaualted. So I am in a much better mood today. I have been to Curves this afternoon with my sdd and am now waiting to go to TOPS. It is just a weigh-in only this evening with me in charge of it. That is a little scary. LOL
So how is your week going? I hope you have find some time to relax and exercise. How is your dd's finger?
Well I better go and get my stuff ready for my weigh-in. Plus I have to write on a few of my AVON books to pass out. Talk to you later. Have a great evening!
Kerry

I gained 1/2 pound, but I guess that is not too bad since I haven't had a weigh-in in two weeks. Plus 4 parties in between weigh-ins. I will just have to recharge my batteries and go full speed ahead in the coming week to have a loss next week.