Barbara B - I hit the big 50 yesterday and it feels really good. I went and got a pedicure, but I may have to do something more than that. We are going on vacation next week to Myrtle Beach so maybe I will find a little reward there.

Hey Joni - Thanks for the youtube Mom's song. Loved it and I am passing it on.

week 40
LAWL franchise center
Plan 2 with lites
total lost 50 lbs.
Motto - My new motto is - I know how this _______ tastes. I have had it before. I will have it again someday, just not today……..

Kim - I would have loved to seen a picture of the high-top sneaker wedding!

Lynn - when I saw the line that you hit the "big 50" yesterday, I almost said "hey, I'm turning 50 this year too....duh! You are talking pounds!!" Congrats - you are doing fabulous!

I'm feeling sort of blah and out of sorts. I need to find my mojo and get my arse in gear...the gym tomorrow morning will be a start. I watched TBL hoping it would jazz me up; it didn't. I need some happy pills...just kidding...I just need some funny Felicia or Nicole stories!

Nicole - yes, I've had issues with this mom. She actually told me that she thought her child would do much better if I stood beside her all day while I taught. I told her that I have 24 other children in my class who need and deserve my attention and that wasn't feasible! She also told me that I was absolutely insane for expecting 2nd graders to learn all that we are learning and that I am expecting too much. She threatened to go to the school board to let them know the skills I was expecting her child to learn. I reminded her that I have to teach what the state says I have to teach. I also told her that when you expect kids not to learn much, they usually don't. But if you keep your expectations high with a positive and encouraging attitude, kids will usually perform higher than even they thought they could. I always refuse to look at my students cumulative folders for the first three weeks. I don't want to know what they couldn't do in years past. I want to know what they can do when I expect them to achieve. I've often been shocked to find that one of the kids who is doing awesome was labeled an underachiever!

Wow! I didn't mean to get on my soapbox!

All that to say, yes, this mom gets under my skin! LOL!!

Dang, Felicia.. I want you as my kid's teacher... I often feel they don't get enough to do... I seem to remember having TONS of homework when I was a kid.. What they have by comparison is paltry...

Hello, everybody. I am a newby on this site and looking forward to learning LAWL tricks from the pros. My COD has 12 year olds as counselors. They talk so fast I need to replay every sentence to get any information, plus they seem to be spouting the same dialog from a manual. If I hear the phrase "Super" one more time I will explode!
I know I can reach my goals, that is the kind of person I am but I need to have relearned my eating and reprogrammed my inner voice of negativity. By the end of this my money and time needs to have metamorphosed my body and mind. Call me a butterfly shedding my exoskeleton.
Well any way glad to have this support group to lean on during my journey. Tuesday

Dan - I actually don't give much homework since I teach second grade. We work so much in the classroom that I want them to go home, have a quick review, and then be a kid for a little while. My goal in homework is to give no more than 20 minutes worth. If a kid can work 10 problems, why give them 20? I mostly want the parents to be involved so they can see what we're doing. They have to sign the homework every night so I know that they at least saw it. I don't ever want there to be an instance where a parent comes to me and says, "I had no idea he/she was struggling so much with this!" I love when a parent writes me and says, "He seems to be having problems with ??? Can you help with this?" I'm embarrassed to say that there are times when I haven't picked up on every kid's weaknesses - one of the many problems with over-sized classrooms.

Some parents love my style, some don't. Most are grateful for the daily report that I send home concerning behavior and classroom performance. That way, we can all see right away when problems are starting and nip them in the bud.

I'm very much a "honey, baby, sugar" kind of teacher - I LOVE my students and consider myself their mother during school hours. But I expect a lot from my kids. I'm rarely disappointed in their efforts. I think that when you establish an atmosphere of mutual respect in the classroom, kids are more willing to work their tails off for you to show you what they can do.

Okay, enough about my teaching philosophy!!!

Everybody have an awesome day!!

Welcome, Tuesday!!

Hi again Joni,
Thanks for the compliment on the pounds that I have lost. Regarding my reference to the "big 50" - Agewise - I guess you could say that I don't have to worry about turning 50 because "been there done that." I am 60 about to turn 61 LOL.

Everyone make today count in this journey of ours........

week 40
LAWL franchise center
Plan 2 with lites
total lost 50 lbs.
Motto - My new motto is - I know how this _______ tastes. I have had it before. I will have it again someday, just not today……..

Morning All
I haven't had a chance to read back and catch up but I did see a big 50 next to Lynn's name so congrats!!
Hope you are all doing well. Joni.. my mojo has gone too.. to another planet or gone south or something!!! Post Thanksgiving recommitment fully engaged for this lady!! I am about to write out my journal for next two weeks, re stock my healthy fridge and get back into the game. For the rest of my Canucks that are also 'stuffed' from this past weekend.. yesterday is over and done with so let's all get back on the band wagon today and start anew!!

Happy week everyone!

Joni see if you can get into the new pics of your 'kids'

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...3&id=535352065

Good morning All:

AmyLou – actually the splenda pie was quite good, I didn’t think you could tell the difference and others also told me you couldn’t tell the difference. I had made apple before with half sugar and half Splenda, so this time I decided to go all Splenda. The pecan I made with Splenda brown sugar blend for baking (which is half real brown sugar and half splenda), as well as the corn syrup of course, and the pumpkin I made with a mixture of real white sugar and Splenda brown sugar, and nobody could tell the difference that I had done replacements on those either.

Dawn – 1000 trick or treaters! – WOW! How do you afford it? I used to get about 250 and I thought that was a lot, I can’t imagine 1000.

Nicole – Boy, do I hear you on the friend with the comments about your house. However, in my case it’s my sister! She is constantly making similar type comments to me when she comes over, tries to make it all sound nice, but there is a subtle dig in there. Not that my place is a dump mind you, but there are days when it is certainly not something from a magazine. Her place is like that – no matter when you go there, but there she is single and has been so all her life, so has never had anyone to clean up after besides herself. This past summer I had her water my bedding plants while I was on vacation, and there were apparently a couple of weeds I missed. She made the comment when I got back about how I had these couple of plants that she thought were weeds, but figured that anything that had got that big must have been planted deliberately! *itch!

Welcome Tuesday! You have found a “super” site. There are times that we all find some of the counselors at the COD a little bit annoying, There are a couple at mine that I just want to punch in the mouth when they look at me and say “what happened” whenever I may have a slight gain, yet when I am consistently losing tell me I’m one of their “poster clients” and want to put my picture on their wall! Arrrgh! However, my point is that there are times when you get a counselor that is very helpful, and some not so much. Bear with it. However, I have found that this everyone on this site is very supportive and will give very good advice.

Lynn – You look great, I would never have put you at 60!

Have a great POP day everyone!

Good Morning All. I am in a much better mood today, but I just don't want to be at work.

Lynn - CONGRAUTLATIONS on the BIG 50!. What an accomplishment.

Does anybody know what is up with the underlining in our text now? Did I miss something? Some kind of announcement or something?

Nicole / Val: My house inspector was my mom. My house is lived in. I have 3 to clean up after and I finally told her I wasn't going to spend my LIFE cleaning a house for it to get mess up again in a few minutes. There were too many other things that I wanted to do.

Felicia - Love the school stories. You will look back one day and wish you had kept a journal of events and stories. I do on the life of my SIL/BIL. It would be better than any fiction / reality show you have ever watched. LOL

Nicole – thanks for the comment on the kids. I just had their fall pictures done this last weekend so I’ll have to update my profile picture of them. Of course DD wouldn’t smile, she was more concerned w/ eating the mum plant and leaves and DS was squinting in every picture. Oh well, such is life.

Lynn – congrats on hitting the 50lbs mark. That’s a huge accomplishment! I would be so happy to just hit the 20lbs mark. I’ve been stuck at this weight for over 2 months.

In regards to Halloween, yes, we do actually get about a 1,000 kids and if the weather is nice, we can get even more. There’s just something about our neighborhood that everyone in town flocks too. A few years back one of the metro news channels even came down and did a story on it. Yes, it can get expensive, but we have about 20 people that come to our house to help hand out candy and watch all the kids and some of those people usually contribute a few bags of candy. Every little bit helps! It does get pretty crazy. Most of the neighbors put out decorations and lights, they all play Halloween music, and those of us that have fire pits bring them out so people can gather around and try to stay warm. We love it and it’s really a great time for everyone. I never really cared about Halloween until we moved to this neighborhood so now I never want to move out of it! I’m so glad that my kids get a chance to experience this, my DS starts getting excited for Halloween in July already. This year DH, DS and I are dressing up as Viking warriors. DD will be a pumpkin, I thought for her first year she should be something cute. DS thought we should all dress up as Star War characters and DD could be Yoda. Not this year! Okay, I'm rambling, that's enough.

Boy do Liz and I know what a messy house is like.. Seems like no matter how much we clean up, it's a cluttered mess in no time...

A friend and former roomate of ours wrote a book a couple years ago on how to "declutter" the home.. It's a good book, but just like LAWL, you have to really COMMIT to it for it to work.. I encourage you to check it out..

http://www.clutterwise.com/

Dawn-That sounds like so much fun! I love getting together with family/community that is the best part of any holiday. Every year for Halloween we always have Trunk or Treat at our church. My DH is the youth minister, and basically that means I plan it. I love it though. Anyone who wants to participate decorates the "Trunk" of their car/van/pickup and the kids go from trunk to trunk trick or treating. We always roast hot dogs, and have apple cider. It is so much fun. It has become not just a youth event but an entire church event. You'll even see the elderly going from trunk to trunk saying trick or treat! This year Halloween is on a Wednesday so we are going to have the party immediately following church service. I am so excited! I usually dress up as a clown and paint faces too.

Lynn - Congrats on hitting 50!

I hope everyone has a good day 'cause I'm feeling mighty fine! We are actually going to have fall like weather today. I've been told that the high will be 77! I love it!

Good morning everyone I am off a bit cuz DH is working from home today. He is flying out at 4:00 p.m. to Minneapolis for work for two days. Anyway........I will have PLENTY of time over the next few days while he is gone. I will re-earn my name as the Post Master for sure Well, since my time is short, I will have to come back later on to play. I did, however want to say:

Congratulations on hitting the 50 lb mark, Lynn!!!

That is a huge accomplishment..........and yes, pun intended And, I would have never guessed you were 60 or 61. You look great. So glad you put your picture back up on your avatar. I feel like there is a better connection between members when we can see each other's faces.

So please, everyone who does NOT have a picture up for their avatar.........just do it

Ok, have to go and get something done here today. I have such a hard time doing that when DH is home...........it always feels like a weekend to me when he is here
XOXO