Purple: I LOVE Nancy Grace...I dvr it everyday and watch it during dinner. I hope your night gets better. Have a GREAT day tomorrow. I know you can get through the night!

I am also a dvr addict. I would much rather record everything and watch it later or the next day minus the commercials. I can get more bang for my time buck that way. I work and go to school full-time, so I don't have time to watch commercials. I guess that's why this sounds soooooooooooo good...

I just heard about something called Spa Week...Ever heard of it? A bunch of day spas offer spa treatments of all sorts for only $50 each. They have one in the following areas: Arizona*, California*, Colorado, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington* and Canada.
The ones with a * are Sept 15-21, the rest are Oct 13-19. Anyway, I don't know how many of you are interested or live in the areas that are involved, but I thought I would share the info. If you want to check it out go to www.spaweek.org.

Tuesday August 26

Are You a Binge Eater?
If you're inclined to binge, the most important thing to do for yourself is to examine the emotional reasons behind your problem. I know that processing such emotions is hard and takes time, but here are some good techniques to help you modify your behavior and combat binge eating in the future:
Banish binge foods from your environment. Don't buy or store stuff that you can binge on. After all, you can't eat what's not there.

Try taking up a hobby. Keep yourself occupied so that rather than medicating yourself with food, you'll distract yourself with something productive.

Decorate your fridge with stuff that motivates you. I have two pictures on mine: One is a photo of my cellulite, and the other is of Madonna. Let me tell ya, there is nothing that will turn you off to food like pictures of cottage cheese on your butt.

Call a friend. The next time you want to stuff your face, reach out for support and try talking through your feelings instead of anesthetizing them by bingeing.

Do something to screw up your binge. In other words, pamper yourself with something that's positive as opposed to self-destructive. Get a mani-pedi. Take a bubble bath. Go to the gym. There are many places to go and activities to take part in that'll also lead you away from food temptations.

Real work takes time, so it's good to have some techniques to fall back on when life gets the better of you! And remember: one day at a time. If you do end up in a binge, work out a little harder the next day. Every day is a new one. Got it, kids? Cool.

thanks blueeyed...i live in texas - so will have to check out to see if there are any near me great idea
well, i'm off to do homework, we go over it in class and we all have to take turns with answers so i need it all done for when i get called on for answers.....and then pack lunches for all of us for tomorrow - before i can go to bed.

talked to my mom tonight...she's bought a plane ticket from ga to austin tx, so we're driving down to austing saturday morning to pick her up from the airport. and she's staying till tuesday morning. so we have a long weekend with my mom (nana to the kids)...they're excited...nana hasnt seen us since Feb and she's going thru grandkid withdrawals lol she gets emails every week with deals on flying to certain cities from ATL and this weekend was a special to Austin (just over an hour south of here)...so she bought it. she's excited and we'll be happy to have some family with us for a few days, with all the stress of life going on here and neighbors being a pain and completely ignoring me and my 2 yr old while she's sitting less than 1 ft from where we were standing this morning...i was so aggrivated. but just goes to show apparently they were never my real friends if they wanna be so childish over stupid drama crap that all started with some anger and too much beer. oh well....slowly i am learning who my real friends are....my friends from elem school and college who live in ga, and friends here on the 3fc (esp my red team, but am enjoying getting to know the other teams and newbies as well).
thanks for being a great friend and motivator and supporter, i hope i have (and can continue) to do the same for yall.
well, i have homework, wil chat tomorrow after school! g'night.

My DD is not feeling well. Evidently, (based on my DD's daycare friend's doc) there's a bug going around causing nothing else but fever. She was feeling kinda weak on Sunday, and had to come back home on Monday because of fever..and ended up staying home today too. I just got a call from her grandma about an hour ago...she went to bed around 9 but woke up screaming and was at 101.7... Grandma gave her some tylenol and took her to bed with her. She is up and down... She has fever then gets better..so we think it will be okay and then she gets worse again. Sigh... While rocking her to sleep yesterday, she was just staring into my eyes and I started crying because seeing her sick just made me so sad... then she wiped my tears and said "Don't cry, momma.." which made me cry more. She then said "I sad, too, mommy, don't cry.." Awwww.... I'd rather be sick for her... Sigh...

Armywife That's great that your mom gets to visit! I am visiting my family in Korean in October..and it's been over 4 years. My parents have never seen my daughter yet since she's 2 and she's their first grandchild. So they are literally counting down the days...and even my DD knows and says "I go into the sky in the airplane with you, mamma, to see 'grandma, grandpa, and uncle' in Korea". (she calls them grandma, grandpa, and uncle in Korean. lol)

Hi again TBL future losers!

Well the time away at the coast was a blast! The weather was beautiful, even for the late afternoon/evening outdoor concert. The band was hot, fun and quite a trip down memory lane for DH and I. Saturday DH went deep sea fishing while I went garage sale-ing. Turns out, there was a blackberry festival in the downtown area with tons of crafts and foods. I bought two really great smelling homemade soaps - Ocean Breeze and Orange Cream, yum! And the only food item I bought was the smallest size of cinnamon covered almonds - also yum! It was a fun day and even got hit on by the guy in the antique store who told me "I'm usually allergic to married women, but you got some eyes." He even got flustered and lost his train of thought - cute.

We went to one buffet, at which the only thing off plan was clam chowder and maybe a little too much roast beef. At Sizzler another night, I also had clam chowder (love the stuff!), as well as a portion of steak, a little baked potato, some salad and a little ice cream with butterscotch. (very little). I did my WATP 4 mile DVD every day but naturally missed the evening 30 min. of elliptical. The great news is I'm down to 212.2! Exercise really is making the difference for me this time.

I'm also experimenting with virgin coconut oil. It's supposed to help with energy and metabolism, as well as reduce cravings. Also supposed to help with hypothyroidism, for which I am currently taking 150mcg Synthroid daily. I'm getting busy figuring out how to add 3 tablespoons a day (360 calories) and still get in all my protein. By the way, it has no cholesterol or hydrogenated fats, but it does have saturated fats but they are medium chain, which are metabolized quickly.

Another food item - I order these Gnu bars (for their natural fiber content) I learned about right here on 3FC and in today's shipment, they sent a couple packets as samples of SweetFiber - a natural sweetener that has fiber and is made from inulin (natural vegetable fiber), fruit extract and natural flavor. Haven't tried it yet, but I'm hopeful.

I'm as anxious as any of you for the new TBL show to start! We just got two new DVRs (one up one downstairs) and you all are educating me on how valuable they will be in the weeks to come. Thanks.

So sorry about Bette's cat and niece with eclampsia. Hope you can follow Anna's suggestions - she's a doula with a lot of great advice to handle things naturally - always the best.

Rhonda - I second what others have said, bravo for you getting right back up and starting again. Hilary spoke about Harriet Tubman, how she told those in the underground railroad - when you see the torches, just keep going, when you hear the dogs, just keep going, et. al. That's you girl - you just keep going - I'm proud of you!

Purple and Tara - Also so very sorry for your situations. Nothing like a child being sick, then comforting you, to break your heart. Prayers for both your lives to get back to normal soon.

Diva - Thanks for tips on binge eating - something we all know a little about, but mostly on the wrong side of the information. Thanks for sharing this.

MJ - I, too had a couple of those "just hungry" days. Better now though and this coconut oil is supposed to quench that problem, so, we'll see.

Mollymom - Welcome, I'm sure you'll get hooked on checking in with your team once they are announced. I have found a lot of motivation right here.

Jo - you cracked me up too, with your textual expression of Horatio on CSI - too funny.

To all the rest, I've been reading along, but have gotten suddenly busy, so forgive me if I missed some details. Long term care insurance adjusters are calling me with insurance assessments, the state is calling for delegations and private pay customers are too. What is my ideal job? I'm with Zinke - something that pays me to stay at home and take care of stuff here - oh yeah, that's my pension. Well, a couple of more years, then the ideal. (And I'm not one of those people who insist they just wouldn't know what to do in retirement - I got plans baby!)

That's it for me for awhile - I'll be working next two days.

Later

Dora

Tara--that fever bug is going around here as well, lots of kids have missed the first days of school because of it, including a little girl in my daughter's class. I am praying she doesn't bring it home, because my son has a history of fever seizures and I really do not want to go through that horrifying experience again. I hope your little girl gets better soon, it is so heartbreaking to watch them in pain and know you can't make it better

Not much going on here except I'm staying OP and working out as much as possible. I need to add strength training to my routine soon I know. For now I'm trying to just walk at work for about 1/2 hour and then do my treadmill when I go home. I'm trying to focus on being consistent in my routine so that I can easily add something more if I wanted to. My biggest problem right now is trying to be consistent with working out...I can be so easily swayed So working on making it a habit. My scale is showing a slow but steady decline so hopefully that's going to keep me in check and the numbers keep going in that downward direction.

I'm looking forward to the long weekend. It should be relaxing!

blueyedlvrgirl, Thanks for the Spa info. I didn't know there was something called a Spa week. I'm definitely going to check it out. I marked it on my calendar. Something to look forward to and working extra hard for rewarding myself with a Spa treatment

Roni, binge eating...been there done that. I think we can all relate with this particular problem. Thanks for the information. I try not to buy stuff I know I can just pick up and eat. You'd think I would have learned by now. Last several months I know I've gone to the fridge few times or pantry to just go munch on something but with lack of binge unhealthy food there I ended up saving myself. So it's been working for me so far.

taragettingthin, I hope your DD feels better soon

Dora, glad you're back and you had a good time. Congrats on the weight loss. And you got hit on I bet that felt great! You go girl!!

Rhonda, You can do it girl!!! We're all here for you.

Jo, Horatio text expression was priceless!! My dh always tries to imitate him everytime he sees him on tv. It's just funny

Found a new recipe today. Yum Yum!

Jicama, Tomato, and Black-Bean Salad

Makes 2 (1-cup) servings

Description
Jicama, a delightfully crunchy Mexican root vegetable, is often eaten raw in salads and slaws. Tossed with a zesty lime dressing and mixed with beans and juicy tomatoes, it makes an easy, irresistible salad that's perfect with anything from the grill. Prepare a double batch and take it along to your next potluck — just be ready to share the recipe!

Prep time:15 minutes

Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 can (15-ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 small jicama, peeled and chopped
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons diced red onion
1/8 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
Whisk together lime juice, garlic, and cumin in a large mixing bowl; slowly whisk in oil. Add beans, jicama, tomato, onion, and cilantro. Toss to combine, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Nutritional Information
190 calories
11 g total fat (1.5 g sat)
22 g carbohydrate
4 g protein
9 g fiber
400 mg sodium

I love to read so was wondering what everyone else is working on right now or would recommend?

QOTD: What book(s) are you guys currently reading or have finished reading recently (last month or so)?

Currently Reading:
- Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian (1st book and it's a series I believe)
- You on a Diet by Dr. Oz
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes Series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- SQL Server 2005 (umm not too fun)

(Yes I always have multiple books going on)

Recently Finished:
- Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyers
- Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J R Ward

only have a min..so no time for personal..my kids are wild this morning.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful OP day!! I could sure use and easy dieting day!!!
hope the little ones who were sick are better. Its so hard when kids are sick!!
hugs to all

Currently Reading:
Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen
Anxiously awaiting my first book in the Twilight series - to be delivered any day now.
Need to pull out some of my health related books to re-read for motivation (i.e. You on a Diet, etc)

Recently Finished:
Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood
Circle of FriendsLucky You by Carl Hiassen

Rhonda - I can't even begin to tell you how many Jicama's I've bought to try and then let them go bad.

Good Morning Everyone. I hope you all have a great Wednesday!! Not much new with me - just checking in.

Purple - I hope things are better today. Keep your chin up. On another note - are the roses you have in your avatar ones you have grown? They are beautiful.

Tara - Hope DD feels better soon. It is so hard when they aren't feeling well. I always felt so helpless - like I'm the mom and I'm supposed to make everything better for them.

Rhonda - you inspire me. You always get right back up and start doing what we should all be doing. Good for you!!

Misty - I will definitely check into the spa week. I love doing stuff like this. And it would be fun to do with some friends. Thanks for the info.

Roni - I too am guilty of binge eating. It's something I'm trying to control. Thanks for sharing!!

Jo - So funny - Horatio text talking!!

Dora - Glad you had fun. Good job on the loss too!! (And on the pick up - doesn't that make you feel good?)

QOTD - My 9 year old grandson gave me a book over the weekend that he claims is the best book he's ever read in his whole life. He'd like me to read it and then he and I can have a discussion about it. Sort of like a book club. Cracked me up. Anyway, I believe the name is Inkspell. I haven't started it yet but plan to this weekend.

Better get busy. I'll check back in later.

I recently finished reading Tempted (an erotic novel, I think it was written by Megan Hart) ~ I borrowed it from my neighbor earlier this summer, and since we stopped talking/hanging out in the last month i finally had the time to read it..very interested, was hoping for a different ending. But I returned the book to her yesterday. but i'm pretty sure of the author's name. she has a series, apparently Tempted is the first in this series. I want to look it up and maybe go to the library and get the next one.

Hi everyone!!!!!!!!

QOTD - Currently reading "Beet Queen" by Louise Erdrich, The Eyre Affair by Jasper FForde, still working through The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco. I am pretty focused on Beet Queen right now tho, nearly through it.

I also just finished the Twilight series and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (which is great, I recommend it). And a whole slew of Christopher Moore novels (easy, fun reads if you are looking for something mindlessly entertaining).