Hey chicks, we had choir practice today after school, and I "sang some Mexican music". DS brought DD to meet us, so I had a designated driver.

Maryann, sounds like you are making some progress. I'm so glad about your new friends. I agree with Paula. It is okay if you don't want to visit Leo's grave. Do whatever makes you happy and don't worry about what anyone else thinks. There are no rules about that type of thing, so you get to make up your own.

Sandra, I got my computer files organized today, so I'm feeling more in control at school. Tomorrow I hope to tackle some of the piles in our living room/dining room area. I don't have huge plans; I just want to get started. How are you feeling? I hope you are better!

Rhonda, you are such a great neighbor! I'll bet you are the hit of the neighborhood. When I read about your restaurant, it made smile. Lonesome Dove is one of my all time favorite movies!

Paula, congrats on your progress. DD and I plan on doing some planning/cooking this weekend so we can stay op. We may make your breakfast recipe. Keep up the good work.

Angela, hearing about your baby moving is making me smile. My youngest will be 20 in June, so it's been a long time for me. Enjoy!!

I'll check in with you chicks tomorrow. TTFN

Maryann, when I was so fresh into grief about my husband's death 20+ years ago, I knew one thing for certain: he wouldn't want me to suffer. Of course, you do suffer, but I bet Leo would feel the same way. He wouldn't want you doing anything that brought you more grief. If that means you don't go to the cemetery, you don't go. You do what is right for you and what honors the love you two shared.

I loved the restaurant and met the chef. He and I share the same last name so we talked about family history a bit. I've never eaten either rabbit or rattlesnake and I ordered an appetizer that was a sausage made from both meats.... I then had beef tenderloin enchiladas followed by ancho chili chocolate cake with a tomatillo sauce. I wanted to kidnap the chef and have him all to myself! OK, tomorrow, it's back to Core.

I made myself do more tonight even though I can hardly move!

Angela, I was also going to suggest also that you make some little egg muffins, or at least have a boiled egg at breakfast. That should help with the protein issue. I love oatmeal, but if I have just that and then go to exercise, I'm starving within two hours of breakfast. I'm going to do "no sugar" for a few days also. Despite the food of the last two days, I don't eat much sugar. But, when I do, I just want MORE.

I hope everyone has a good evening.

Rhonda

Rhonda, thank you for the hugs. I need some more. My tooth still doesn't hurt, but I reinjured my hip this afternoon. I was walking across the backyard when something happened. I was crying with pain. Now I have taken a hydrocodone and don't care if it's hurting or not. If it's still hurting Monday, I'm going to the doctor. Sorry about the whining. I just needed to talk about this a minute.

Rhonda, I am so happy you're adjusting to retirement so well. You hit the ground running. That makes me smile.

Maryann, I'm so glad you're connecting with the other ladies in your group. You will be good for each other.

Paula, you sound very focused. Atta girl.

Angela, seems like old times having you back here. Makes me smile.

We're getting satellite TV tomorrow. We finally gave in and admitted antennae alone isn't enough. lol

Just back from the Y -- got there at 7am, the place was empty! Did 5 minutes on the elyptical (better than the 1 minute last time ) then 45 minutes on the tread mill. Now to shower and get moving for the day!

Have a good one!

Mornin' chicks! I'm off to the grocery then home to tackle some of the mess! Have a great day y'all!

Sandra, I'm praying for your hip. Can I suggest taking some ibuprofen and icing it? The hydrocodone has acetominophen in it, so the ibuprofen is safe to take; it should help with the inflammation.

Good Morning Chicks! I've been up since 4:15, so I finally have a few minutes to catch up. It seems like I've been flying at high speed for over a week now. Thankfully, today and tomorrow should be quiet before I gear up next week again.

Angela..... back home my friend! It KILLED me not to tell everyone how you were doing and your spectacular baby news. I'm SO happy to see you back here. I'm sure the baby will be loving all those great fruits and veggies you are feeding him now. If the sugar makes you feel bad, imagine how it makes the baby feel! I hope your weather has calmed down. It's been pretty quiet here except for the fact that I am seriously sun deprived. It's really starting to get a bit depressing. How many days without sugar now? I'm really happy that you are enjoying your pregnancy and not sweating the weight. You will lose it when the time is right.

Rhonda......CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! To lose 20.5 pounds in that amount of time when so close to your goal is OUTSTANDING.

I'm very impressed with your exercise. I wish I'd stop hurting myself so I could get consistent. I really need to learn how to stretch. BTW, I love your eyebrows. I wouldn't have known what you did, but it certainly changed your face. You go girl! I'm really craving chili so I may make some and freeze in individual portions. Jim bought me some awesome lock and lock containers from QVC for this purpose. You were sweet to make it for your neighbors. My problem is that I lOVE the cornbread too! Maybe a small piece.

Paula, I SO love it when you are here. You always have such GREAT ideas for food. I'm starting to look forward to cooking again at some point. Ok...not cooking but certainly looking forward to eating real food. Your food always sounds so appealing to me. Congratulations on your membership at the Y AND more importantly, that you are actually going. Good for you!

Linda, how's it going? Have you had a weigh in yet?

Mary Ann, how are you? I understand completely about the stone. Seeing my Mom and Dad's name on the headstones was almost more than I could bear. It is just so final. I only go once a year now to make sure that all is well. They are in my heart and I talk to them whenever I want. I don't need to go to the cemetery. You should do what is best for you. Everyone is right. Leo would not want you to be in pain. I'm so happy for you that you are going to group and meeting women who are in the same situation. You can all be lifesavers for each other.

Nancy, congratulations to Robin. 20 pounds in that short period of time would be motivation for me! Is it helping you to have him on a program? It helps me that Jim is doing something as well.

Sandra, how is your hip? Geez, it's not fair after the whole dental fiasco. I do find that often after I've been stressed my muscles act up in weird ways. Maybe that happened to you too.

Sloan, I'm sorry you were feeling so stressed. I understand about the clutter and disorganization stress because I have that too. Yesterday, I conquered my kitchen table, budget, coupons, things to do list. You name it, I worked on it. There's still more but I made a dent. You just have to take a deep breath and work on one thing at a time.

Well, I've eaten breakfast and am still VERY hungry. Jim is up, exercised and showered and dressed already. I guess I should get started on my day. We are having the last 3 rooms in the house painted next week and I have to select the paint colors. I'm nearly done. Does anyone know a great place to purchase a daybed at a reasonable price?

Talk to you all soon! Drink your water.

Sloan, thank you for the prayers. I'll take Tylenol today. I'm taking Meloxicam daily and can't take Ibuprofen with it. Sounds like you'll have a productive day.

Paula, kudos for getting to the Y.

Vickie, I'm with you on wanting the calamities to stop so I can exercise. You may be right about stress. My jaw and hip are both hurting.

The Dish guy is here. Life is good.

Hi ladies! Vickie, I posted on your Facebook wall before I checked in here. Nice to "see" you again!

Sandra, I'm so sorry about your hip! I hope it clears up quickly and you can get back to flinging arrows. I live in fear that I will fall on the ice here, and really strain something. That or wet my pants.

This is day 4 without sugar. It's amazing, but I'm starting to redevelop my taste for "real" food again. I remember when I was doing Core, fruit tasted great. It's starting to again! I don't have to overstuff my mouth and stomach to get the taste & fullness sensation when I'm avoiding simple carbs/sugars.

I made a homemade chicken noodle soup for supper last night because we have some people sick with cold/cough in my family. It was so yummy. I think tonight is fish and oven fries with some kind of veggie.

I'm planning on spending the day sewing, if I can ever get off Facebook and into real life.

Later!
Angela

Angela, about FB. I'm there quite a bit, too. Your chicken noodle soup sounds yummy. I made Curtis a decadent chicken salad with mayo. He's in Heaven. I'm having WW TV dinners while he's eating that.

Dr. Curtis and Nurse Sandra figured out I've pulled a muscle in my hip and that's what's causing the pain. I first pulled it in the pool. I think the injection for bursitis is working. This pain is in a tad different spot.

Anyhooooo, I'm feeling spunky, and I'm not taking anything for pain today. Life is good.

We're getting a good slow rain on the veggies I planted yesterday. Feels like spring. I plan to start tomorrow during football then back to Monday. Again--life is good.

Hey chicks, I've been busy today. I made a dent in the clutter (dents are good, right Vickie?), went to three grocery stores, started some laundry, and worked on a light fixture that I'm embellishing as a chandelier. We are having steak on the G. Foreman grill tonight, so right now I'm watching a movie with DD.

Vickie, I loved reading your post. I know you'll be glad to have those rooms painted. We still have to paint and have our flooring installed.

Sandra, I'm glad your hip is better. You'll be flinging arrows in no time.

Angela, I'm impressed with your sugar fast. Do you still eat sweetener or have you stopped that during your pregnancy?

Hey to the rest of you chickies!

I am trying to avoid sugar and sweetener until I've been "off" for a few weeks. Then I may work in Splenda or something like that. I am still eating fruit, fruit juice and spreadable fruit though. Gotta get something sweet every now and then!

I ended up not getting anything done today that I wanted to. My dad called and reminded me about our political party's caucus that was today, and since I was my precinct secretary, I had to go. It took 2 1/2 hours!! But I bowed out of serving as the secretary this year, since I figured I'd be plenty busy at home.

I had dh rebuild my computer after I got home, since it was running very slowly and had a few viruses. Now, a new hard drive, a complete rebuild, more memory, and Windows 7 installation later, I'm speeding along wonderfully! It's nice having a computer guy as a husband sometimes.

Oh, I had a great nsv (non-scale victory) today. After the caucus I got home to find my oldest daughter had gone and bought Oreos (my favorite cookie!!) with Daddy while I was gone. She sweetly offered me some, but I turned them down. Yay me! I am actually going to treat myself to some 100% fruit juice tonight as a fun Saturday night treat.

Nighty night!
Angela

We've had a good evening watching movies. After the 2nd one, we did some shooting. Now how many couples do that on Saturday night?

Have a good evening, everyone. We're on our 3rd movie now. (We're like kids with a new toy.)

I'll check in tomorrow...doing family stuff and political party work today....

Oh My I have been very grumpy today..

I am overwhelmed emotionally with hubby's knee/back issues, going back to work , sending youngest to college soon , fixing up and selling house and possible moving to new town.

It is all too much at one time and it ALL hit me this morning.

I had to write things down and then I realized that that is to many transitions
to handle at one time. I think we may put the house work on hold til summer.
Another thought is to stay in the same town even if we rent one more year and delay moving to the mountains.

Angela..you are doing great and I love hearing as many details as possible about that precious baby..

Sloan..I am glad you are getting caught up..I think you get an amazing amount of stuff done..

sandra..I hope you are feeling better..wish we could bring some core soup over to you..

Maryann.. I think you will develop some great friendshipos out of this group you have joined.. My very best friend is someone I met 13 years ago in a
divorce support group. I went 5 years before I could go to my Fathers
grave. I treasured his memory everyday but could not do the grave thing.
I felt quilty for a long time until I realized it was okay for me to remember him my way.

Good Morning Chicks! I've picked two of three paint colors. I'm stuck on the third one since I only have a picture of the bedding that I will eventually put in the room. Do you have any idea how many medium brown shades there are?! Anywho........

I'm having a hungry week and I do not expect a loss tomorrow. I did no exercise and I've been eating at 1700 or 1800 calories. I think it is the phantom PMS. Last night I succumbed to the ever tempting Multigrain Bistro crackers and smart balance light right before I went to bed. I was very hungry and could not have slept. I think it was because I didn't get much sleep the night before. It always messes up my eating. So, I start over again today and try to do better.

Sandra, I hope your hip is better today. It's raining here like crazy and Jim and I are hurting from the dampness. I'm not supposed to take ibuprofen either because of my kidney issues. I don't find that tylenol works well for muscle aches. I have taken some Midol extra strength because it has tylenol in it AND some muscle relaxers. It works on other areas besides the menstrual ones! I'm glad you're enjoying your Dish. We just have cable but it's good here. I also buy Jim Netflix for Christmas and we use that alot. We were watching movies yesterday too. We are so behind because we never go to the show. We saw Glory and Duplicity. I liked Glory and hated Duplicity. It was too hard to follow.

Ohhhh Angela, homemade chicken noodle soup sounds great to me! Congratulations on day 4 without sugar. What are you snacking on in the evenings? Passing on those oreos could NOT have been easy. When I'm having a chocolate attack I eat Zone Double Dark chocolate bars. They are awesome. I haven't calculated the points but I would guess they are around 4 points. Reasonable for a snack/dessert and really yummy. I'm on Facebook alot too. I'm horribly addicted to Bejeweled Blitz which I now play on my iPhone as well. I keep telling myself that I'm keeping my brain/eyes active. Who am I kidding?

Sloan, dents are OUTSTANDING! It means the piles are not winning. You had a very productive day, it sounds. I would have loved steak on the GF grill. I ate a butt steak on Thursday at our once a week dinner out. I was craving meat in a BIG way. Another indicator that a real TOM may be on the way this month. I SO wish to be done.

Rhonda, so how was your day?

Nancy, you sound like you are in the same place as Sloan. Take a deep breath and recognize that you can't get it all done at once. Then pick the most important thing to work on first. I have to keep telling myself this constantly. Is the stress making you want to eat?

BTW, did I tell you all that Froufie says hello? She left on a cruise yesterday but I don't know where she is....I forgot to ask. I told her to come back but she feels funny because she's not doing Core right now. I told her you all wouldn't mind so she may pop in after the cruise. She's lost over 30 pounds. We always want to hear about that, don't we?

Gotta run. It's 11:00 and I haven't eaten breakfast yet. Not good. I'll check back in later. I'm having a pj day and it's raining out. What better day to be on the computer.