Thanks for the supportive words about my job. We have a gigantic fundraiser next Thursday and it's stressful right now. Lots of extra hours, but I'm trying to get out at 5 today. We'll see. In May, it will be quiet. This is the life of a fundraiser - it's hard sometimes, but I really love my job.

Scale said 138 this morning & I changed the ticker b/c I needed the boost. Plus, I am wearing heavier clothes than I normally do during weigh in, so why not?

This weekend is going to be bananas with fun stuff. Tonight I have a BBQ & then a dance party. Saturday, I have an outdoor festival & another dance party. Sunday is my brother in law's birthday celeb & then later I'm going to yet another dance party.

Three dance parties in one weekend! I wonder how many calories I will burn?

Wow Chickie!! Dancin' queen!! Have fun!

Busy day again at work. Not much time to post. I have a busy weekend, too. All-school musical tonight (The Sound of Music, my older son is playing in the orchestra for the final time) and our road trip/hike tomorrow. I'll try to check in as I can!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Carol - how's the cold doing? The gentleman who helps unload the kids at DS10's school mentioned this morning that there are only 7 Fridays left for us ... holy cow!!!

kathi - with you on the strained family situations - wish mine wasn't under my own roof, but that's a project for later. We have to look out for our own sanity!

Cindy - hope your appt went as well as you expected. Let us know how the boxing goes - I'm curious.

annie - glad your back is healing up in time for your trek. I don't think there's much worse than a sore back - grr! Nice work dodging the donuts! I can resist donuts pretty well, but muffins? No way. It's a good thing they rarely show up here! Congrats on the pound!

slroth - it was only an hour's drive. Atlanta - 2 hours on the plane. Always great to have a friend call and want to do something besides eat - can I borrow your friend? Re my goal - no biggie because it really represents the bottom end of the 5 pound range I think I can maintain. Meaning I'm at the top of it right now - or what the Maintainers usually call a "red line". And where I'm at right now does feel like a great place to call the upper end. I just have to keep plugging away, and deal with how slowly things go from here.

kitteh- on the allergies. Many, many people suffering through high pollen counts here too.

motivated - work chaos sucks. Is your boss tied up in the same event, and that's why he's working late?

angels - woo - sounds like you're working the FUNCTIONAL exercise route!

Jen - Can relate completely to the ultimate potential thingy. If you're familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality types, I am a full-blown INFJ and spend LOTS of time in my head.

Kim - I bombed the Vit D test as well. I took 6000 IUs (right unit?) daily all winter long, and am getting a fresh test done next month. It does seem to make a difference with energy level, and I definitely caught fewer colds this past winter.

petra - so glad to hear you're delegating! It's tough to sign somebody new into your life, even if they're there to help. Best of luck with the bloodwork. I personally paid for a VAP cholesterol test to get my dr. off my butt about my cholesterol (generally 230). It worked - I don't have to listen to the statin speech any more. Keep us posted on what happens with the fiber uptake - that's really interesting!

PM - that's all I'm doing right now too - keeping my eye on next Saturday! Bring on May!

Quick check-in for me as well. Today is Grandparent's day at DS10's school - and he's got a sleepover with a friend tonight, a dress rehearsal tomorrow morning, a haircut, and then the school is releasing salmon fry into the river in the early afternoon. Work is bananas, it's supposed to rain this weekend, and I've gone on strike with picking up after DH. Any bets on how many weeks it will be before he notices?

Hi everyone! Just checking in - thanks for your great recap ICU! Been a mixed week for me - I hit the 30 lb mark and sort of a mental wall. I'm really tired of this whole weight loss thing. It just seems to take so much energy that I'd rather devote to something - anything (everything) else.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend!

CAT-thanks for the encouragement on the geocaching. Wish my gps would hurry up already. Hope your foot feels better. That's kind of a bad place for pain to be...makes it tough to exercise. Yikes!

Chickie-Congrats on the loss and have FUN this weekend.

Annie-Enjoy your road trip/hike and son's performance. I miss my kids. They both live in Denver, so I only get to see them once or twice a year and it's now been over a year :-( Going to go visit at Christmas if I have to hitchhike! It's hard to not be around more. When I moved here, I never thought about grandbabies either or I might have stayed in Denver.

ICU-enjoy that busy weekend. Kids grow up too fast!

lolajean-hang in there. I am right there with you. It's just been that kind of a day. I want a cheeseburger and fries for dinner, not ANOTHER spinach salad and a tiny bit of bbq pork. I'm not sure if it will help you any, but I keep right on telling myself that as much as I just want to eat *normal* again (whatever that is), I would rather be thin and a little hungry than full of junk food and FAT.

We have guests this weekend, tomorrow night, just for one night. Once they get here, the work is actually easy for a while. Then on Sunday back to more cleaning. Should have most of it done just in time for the open house, then it will be only upkeep for the summer. And ongoing yardwork/landscaping.

Barb

Had my doctor's appointment. She was impressed with my weight loss. She had the same number of lbs lost as I do (24) although her numbers were a little different because they weigh me with clothes on but I guess my scale at home must be pretty accurate. My blood pressure was pefect 120/76. Hard to make an argument that my meds should be reduced with that. My cholesterol looked great though. Total cholesterol of 191, trig 77-last year they were 217, LDL of 138, HDL 38. HDL could be a little higher. I haven't been drinking as much wine as I usually do to try to cut back on calories and that would help my HDL some. I asked for a fasting insulin level. I want to know if I am insulin resistant and if that is part of my problem with why this is going so slowly. I imagine that is a send out test and I will have to pay for it but at least I will know.

Went to a yoga workshop tonight. It was a guy playing tibetan sound bowls. Really not exercise-all meditation. Still good.

I'm liking my personal assistant so far. She has gotten a lot done in the past couple days. I think this is going to definately positively impact the quality of my life.

Just a quick post before I spend the day doing outside things before rain starts.

The last two days have not been good food-wise. I don't mind two days, but I worry they will start a slippery slope. And today I have a "date night" with hubby, so there will be beer or wine involved. But besides the drinks, I will focus on good eating and exercise.

Yesterday was a planned day off of exercise. Today will be outdoor stuff plus an actual walk.

I'll catch up with everyone after the weekend...busybusybusy!

Sue

Good morning and happy weekend.

Yesterday was a good exercise day, although with the birthday cake at work... Oh, well. I'm feeling so much better as I continue to recuperate that getting back on track doesn't feel as daunting as it did just a week ago. Today will be more celebrating and goodies, tomorrow I will count, but not worry if I go over, and Monday I will really work on counting and staying in range.

Don't know who started the Vit D discussion, but a year or so ago, I had a test done and found I was way low, so I've been taking supplements and it really makes a difference. I am a complete convert and I recommend to people who tell me they're dragging around with low energy for no apparent reason to get tested. It's so easy to correct Vit D deficiency--once you know about it. (Getting off soapbox now.)

Have a great weekend everyone.

Happy Saturday all!!

We are having some lousy weather - rain, snow and even a little hail on and off all day yesterday and most of the weekend too. I hate being cooped up inside and not getting in any good playground time for my son - glad I have the Wii to help us both burn some energy!!

Rain here too PeanutsMom. Though I suppose we need it. DD16yo's Dance Recital today also need to help Ds12yo make an erupting volcano for school.

lolajean and angelskeep, I am also with you on the food thing...somedays I am so sick of having to pick grilled chicken with salad, when salty fries sound so much better.

Becky, I give your dh 2 weeks!

What does your son play, anniedrew? My oldest dh is a french horn player. I thought he would be done when he went to college this year(he's more into his guitar), but he picked it back up again.

Well I better get moving....Happy Weekend to ALL!

We are having terrible weather too-no snow thank goodness but tornado watches. My favorite! I was hoping to do some outside work in my yard this weekend but no such luck. I'm going to try to study for my test instead. Something I have not done enough of but now that I have my assistant I don't really have any excuses, do I?

Will probably do some wii exercising in between for a break now and then.

Hey Everyone! I have been back on plan over a week now and I have dropped a few pounds, yay! I am eating healthy and I feel pretty good mentally and physically. 11 more pounds to lose before getting back to 202......I am focusing on making it to onederland within the next couple of months.

Great that you came back Hydra.

Hydra: great job getting back on track, glad it's all falling back in place : ) I'm sure you can make it to onederland shortly!

Petra: hope you didn't have the tornados? great that the personal assistant is working out for you! I'm glad your numbers looked good at the dr. I was deficient in vit d as well and am (ok, supposed to be) taking the weekly prescription. I did for several months and didn't feel much of a difference. need to get back to the pharmacy for my refills next week.

newleaf: I think you said your surgery is the 26th (tomorrow) do if you do pop in I wanted you to know I'm thinking about you : )

I'm trying to get geared up for my move in 2 weeks - how did it get here so quickly?! I think I may take a page from petra and hire some help. being car- free does have it's down side! If we can ever get our schedules coordinated I still have that date in the offing : ) My new phone crashed just as was getting into some great apps for tracking exercise etc, won't have the replacement until wednesday. Still maintaining, went down a pound I think it was thursday but went out on friday and saturday so I'm sure it didn't stick. Back to the drawing board this week! I hope everybody is having a great weekend : )

The weather is beautiful here today. Amazing what a difference a day makes. I've been busy making up for yesterday working out in the yard. Weeding, cleaning out beds, planting new things to replace things that died. I even got brave and moved a shrub. Don't know if it will survive but it had outgrown its previous location. I also got my herbs planted which will make me a happy cook. Fresh herbs at the market are hit or miss here. There were a couple they didn't have when I went today but I will check back again to make my little herb garden complete.

I'm cooking rabbit for dinner tonight. Should be interesting. I'll let you know what I think.