'ICU- go ahead and try it on. Whats the worst that can happen? You just might be surprised with yourself!

lambchop, we're due for snow too. I'm planning to stay home all day tomorrow anyway so if we get some it won't bother me.

Newleaf, you should try on your dress too! You never know...

Okay, this is my third attempt at a post tonight. Let's hope this one works.

I'm sure you can all see one of my new pictures already

I'm excited about the big snow storm on the east coast. It means I might get a white Christmas this year. I'll have to pack for it but that's okay.

Lamb: I used to live in Bethlehem for 6 years before I moved to MS and I worked at Lehigh Valley Hospital. I remember you said you lived near there.

I've tried posting several pictures which I think is what derails my message. After looking through my pictures from last month and this month, the one I think shows the most change is the close up face shot which is kind of a surprise. I'm posting a picture of my face from last month which you can now compare to my avatar. I'm sure you guys are not interested in looking at my fat butt and if you are, you can read my blog.

Petra, Love your avatar! I see quite a change from your other picture!

Petra - love seeing the pics! Awesome...as for PA/NJ we're about to be buried in snow BOOOOO
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did 2 miles last night, and woke up at 4am super congested...Nooooooo - I just got over being sick a few weeks ago. DH brought home another cold from work. So frustrated...hard to run when you're congested...I was like...seriously? Again? Was sick during Disney, now I'll be through Christmas too? I think i'm more frustrated because i don't want it to interupt my run schedule right now though...grrrr

petra: definitely can see the difference, usually my weight loss shows up 1st in the face, and in the bust - not the places I'm aiming for! Are you driving or flying to NJ?

newleaf: way to go on the 5 lbs!

lc: wow on the running, you're my hero!

icu: definitely want pics in that dress : )

marie: love the dog pics

cruise: yay on the negative test results, let us know what else the dr has to say.

I'm sure I missed someone, everybody seems to be doing great. I cooked up 10lbs of chicken breasts the other night to try and get back to not ordering in or going out for dinner when I'm too wiped out to cook...I'm pretty sure I gained back 2 of the 4lbs I had lost : ( Need to get back to walking on my lunch breaks too, that seems to have fallen by the wayside the last few weeks and I can't remember the last real workout I did. Been dealing with a very painful shoulder for well over a month now which doesn't help. DS18 started college on Monday and seems to be doing well, wanted to know if his ex-gf who he wants to get back could come live with us. Absolutely not! Found a nice apartment in a great location that I really wanted to move too, everything seemed a go, then she ran my credit. Thanks to my student loan issue it's in the toilet and they wouldn't even work with me as far as paying extra security deposit. So I guess it wasn't meant to be.

My week started of yucky, hope it's not a sign of things to come. I had a coaching on a bad call that fortunately didn't count towards my stats, and an escalated call in which I was told I'm just an ignorant southern redneck. (being from ny that didn't phase me one bit, it actually made me want to laugh. I'm as yankee as they come!) They are pushing being artificialy "cheesy" on our calls and I'm struggling with that because it's really not me, and it's going to come across as being totally fake and insincere. Especially when I'm dealing with total buttheads! I hope everyone has a great weekend, we got as much rain as y'all are getting snow!

Kathi

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! I know, easy for me to say when I'm not in it. I'm just excited about seeing snow when I get home on Thursday. Haven't seen snow for 2 years.

My weight had been stable pretty much all week, bouncing around 225-226 but wouldn't you know, yesterday, the day when I officially record my weight, I was up a lb. Of course it is back down again today but I had to record a 1 lb gain for last week. It happens. I did have some higher calorie days but nothing really off plan so I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I'm going to officially weigh on Thurs this week for obvious reasons.

Had a crazy day yesterday. Woke up to no hot water. Apparently the pilot light went out on my water heater. I had to figure out how to relight that without setting myself or the house on fire. I managed to do that successfully. On my way to work, I encounter a beautiful Golden Retriever at a busy intersection who is obviously lost. He is running from car to car. I pulled over and picked up the dog. He had a tag. Called the owner who wasn't home. Ended up leaving the dog at my vet who tried several times during the day until they finally reached someone. Dog and owner were eventually reunited. I had a Golden Retriever who died a couple years ago so I have a soft spot for Goldens. Maybe for dogs in general.

I have to say the one thing I know from past experience is that I will start to look older as I lose weight. All that fat in your face is part of what makes me and a lot of people look younger than our age. The wrinkles get much more pronounced as the fat goes away. Not looking forward to that part but unfortunately we don't get to choose where we lose our fat from. A colleague at work had weight loss surgery last year and has lost over 100 lbs. She looks great but she also looks about 10 years older.

Lamb: if you would like to meet somewhere while I'm in the area, I would be open to that idea. Hope you feel better.

That's one of my thoughts about losing weight...my wrinkles will magically appear. LOL

Petra, yes I was going to ask your schedule, because I didn't want to impose on your limited time here. Now that I'm starting up a cold again - going to wait and see how I feel. I don't want to pass anything on to you. When do you leave? Guessing you're familiar with something like Lehigh Valley Mall? That's probably 30 mins from me - easy commute. I'm right off of 78/22 (NJ side)

WLW - good idea to cook that chicken up and plan ahead...planning has kept me out trouble many times!

Marie-thanks for the compliment. I don't think anyone has ever told me I'm gorgeous. You are making me nervous about the sagging skin when I lose the weight. I lost 65 lbs before and didn't have a lot of sagging skin. More on my arms than my stomach.

Lamb: I'll pm you with my email address so we can decide on a time and place when I get home. Hopefully I'll have internet access too but just in case. I'll have my blackberry so I'll get email anyway.

In one of the posts I lost yesterday, I told you all that I have a custom made dress too. A nurse I worked with in medical school made me a dress I wore to my graduation. I still own that dress and it is almost 15 years old now but I weighed more then than I do now so I have no desire to get back that in dress. I just has sentimental value.

I did the giving away my "fat clothes" before as a way to try to discourage me from regaining my weight. We see how well that worked. I didn't get rid of my skinny clothes, I just packed them up and put them away. So I decided this time I'm packing up the fat clothes and putting them away for awhile until I'm sure they are gone for good. Maybe that is one of those things I can incorporate into my maintenance reward schedule. After maintaining for so many months.....I get rid of the fat clothes. At any rate, I brought the skinny clothes in the house and they are in a bag in my closet so I can take them out and look at them from time to time as motivation.

You guys are making me want a KA mixer. That may have to go on my reward list. That sounds like too much fun. I might even have to start making my own bread. The meat grinder might be good for me since I have interesting taste in protein choices I'm gonna be getting some venison soon from one of our nurses who is a big deer hunter.

I got all my wrapping done today. Now I have to figure out how to get all this stuff in my suitcase with my clothes.

Marie - yes, this portion of the east coast got about 10 inches - though DC probably got the brunt of the storm. So glad you enjoyed your cinnamon roll. I think balance and moderation are the key to healthy eating and enjoying things you want. I don't want to live my life without that in my mind. For now, I have to, but in maintenance, I need balance - it's important.

Enjoy your new furniture...my dogs take over our sofa's too, which is funny, because my animals weren't allowed on furniture growing up, but I knew even as a kid, I'd let them up when I was in charge, LOL

Petra- neat on having the custom dress made too - even if it's not one you'd wear again...I have always been hourglass, and years back i was comfortable somewhere in the size 10-14 range. I think I was around 150 at the time, so that's why i picked it for my goal. I also don't want to be "thin" as long as I'm healthy, because like you mention, HAHA, want to keep some "natural filler" in my face. Aww, I may change my mind as I go, but I guess I just want to like what I see - and be healthy- wherever that may be.

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woke up feeling crappy, but i guess that's good...has to get worse before it can get better - so hopefully it will move along quickly. Drinking ton, trying to flush any toxins out...and will try to keep a positive attitude. I think that's half the battle!

oh yeah, and lost another pound.

got on my crazy scale yesterday and those 2lbs are gone. sigh...just keep bouncing up and down between 166 and 168. Will see what the scale at the gym says tomorrow.

petra: safe travels and enjoy the snow!

lc: great job with the running and consistent weight loss : )

marie: an escalated call is an extremely irate customer who wants a supervisor. this one was even more ticked off because there was no sup available. I wouldn't give him what he wanted (there was no way to do so, and even a sup couldn't have) so he went from calling me rude, condescending, useless etc to the ignorant southern redneck comment. which still makes me giggle!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday week! Today's my weds and I'll be celebrating Christmas with 2 of my 3 kids, and 2 of the grandbabies on the 23rd.

I'll post later with personals - we just got home and I have to go get DS10. Here's the 9-year unworn dress. What a great feeling to be dressed up without "foundation undergarments" - and actually, I thought the dress was just a bit too big! More about dinner later, too - because the vegetarian entree blew my mind and I want to share some of the tricks we figured out they did to it.

ICU-you look fabulous in your dress. Glad you enjoyed your dinner.

Lamb-I'm actually a little shorter than you and 150 is my goal weight too so I will still be technically a little overweight at 150. I'll have a BMI of 26 but I think that is the weight I look best at also. Below that I don't like the way I look so it is a weight I can live with.

I did something today I never do and hope I don't regret. I got some dark chocolate. I have to assume this has something to do with hormones. I only got a small bar (less than 1 oz) and slowly ate what the package said is 1 serving (1/2 the bar). Dark chocolate is actually "permitted" on my diet but I avoid it due to my issues with sugar. This is 73% cocoa so its not very sweet and I'm hoping will not be enough to trigger a sugar binge. I guess we'll find out. I considered buying darker chocolate so that it would be even less sweet but they only had it in larger bars and I didn't want that much in the house.

Gonna start packing today. I'm flying for whoever asked that question the other day. I imagine the airport mess will be resolved by the time I leave on Thurs and all the roads will be cleared. Got my winter coat out this morning.

Where did this month go???? I've been so busy being sick. I'm much better now but wow! I haven't bought a single Christmas gift yet for anyone. My kids are horrified. I have Tuesday off work and i'm planning on going then. 4 kids, 1 day. I can do it!

You look fabulous! Can't wait to hear about the dinner and the tricks