She sounds like a real pice of work liam frowned becuase he knows her coming means him getting upset.. i have a friend that treats her sister kids the same way.. and i hate to see it.. she would even tell her off for walking for goodness sake.. yelling when she does nothing.. her and her sister fight alot and always have my neighbour .. there mother and the childrens grandmother siad her girls have always fought having kids just gave them more to fight about and to fight with.. each seeing the child as an extension of the sister they dont get along with..
Niether of them will change.. and my friend sister is like yours except her kids are palmed off to grandma 6 out of 7 days a week and sleep there at night too .. her sister comes in eats and leaves the kids .. comes back eats still leaving them there .. maybe taking them home sunday.. the kids are 9 and 2 ..

Morning everyone!

vixjean - I'm sorry for your loss, you're in my thoughts!

jill - There's a little old lady who rides the bus with me in the afternoons and she always tries to start conversations with me. I was annoyed with it at first - when I'm on my way home from work I'd really rather sit quietly, figure out what we're doing for dinner, not interact with people. But I realized that she really just has no one to talk to, so I started being more responsive to her. I've learned a lot about her and she seems really lonely. I don't know how I started thinking of older people as nuisances but that's definitely changing when I realize how neglected and alone they can become. For about a week when I saw her everytime she would start talking about how her brother had just died. Kept repeating it over and over. I knew she didn't have any one else in her life, and this was the last of her siblings to pass, so I think talking through it was helping her accept the fact that all her family is gone now... I dunno, it makes me really sad, but my interactions with her sure have opened me up to being more compassionate. I'm glad you could be there for that woman when she really seemed to need someone to talk to.

Faerie - I miss you over in the Flex chat! I agree with onthetee, way to be patient with the world. Sure was telling you to slow down, huh? I hope everything turned out alright

mumtoliam - Your sister has no business telling your son that he's a horrible boy. No one should be saying that to a 4 year old, regardless of their behavioral problems. You're doing a great thing for him by limiting his interaction with her.


As for me, I had a nice bit of encouragement from DH last night. He's always been very supportive and patient with me, and loves that I'm losing weight for myself. I ask him sometimes if he can see a difference in my body, and aside from the fact that you can see my collarbones vaguely now, he really can't notice. I don't blame him - I know I've lost many inches and whatnot but it's not really drastic, and he sees me every day. Yesterday though he was walking back from campus and I decided to take my bike and ride to meet him halfway, and when I reached him he said that he could really tell that I've lost weight from a distance, especially in my face and neck. So it's funny, he can't see it up close but he can far away! I guess because he doesn't see me often from a distance or something. But yeah, that was nice, as it's really the first time anyone's said I look any different Now I just have to stand about 40 feet from anyone I'm talking to and it'll be great.

I hope everyone has a good Friday. Any exciting weekend plans floating around? I'm gonna go sit in a hot tub for 48 hours I'm pretty sure I deserve it being that I have officially completed all requirements for my master's degree now. Assuming I pass the paper I'm handing in today I've as good as got my MA Hot tub and wine in the country under the stars... what a reward, eh?

Karmuz - Way to go on the running! How awesome!

Chelle - Awesome job on getting those groceries with a budget!

Tee - Maybe the universe is saying "Bite me" and I'm just getting it even angrier at me by trying to be nice!

Jill - What compassion to listen to that woman who obviously needed a friend. I know what you mean about the losses, but I promise you 1-2 lbs is GREAT. There's this really nice girl at my WW meeting who has consistently been dropping 3+ pounds for 16 weeks. Seriously. Not exaggerating. And, I like her, and am happy for her... but it is harder to be happy when the scale isn't looking quite as down... and being that I was up .2 this week... didn't make it any easier. We'll get there. In our own time.

Vanessa - I can NEVER even imagine speaking to my nephew that way! Sure, I've had to remind him to play nice & whatnot, but he's also my sister's son. He's part of my family. My sister might have slightly different rules than what I'd put in place, but I try to respect that as well. Telling anyone they are "horrible" in order to reprimand them... that's inexcusable. It means the person doing the reprimanding doesn't have anything USEFUL to say to help the other person correct the behavior that is wrong.

Suite - I just caught up over with all the Flexies ^^

chelle i will try to behave.. lol Do i go to the principals office now or do i just miss out on play time??? lol

for anyone wondering i gave them a few too manys blue gilrs at told them there pom poms were bigger but ours were dressed.. and theres are nudey rudey.. lol

it hard to have fun when you guys sleep when im awake and i sleep when you are.. its like midnight here and im heading off to bed and your are all starting to chat..

i had a op day completed my beach challenge (268 one)about 11 hours or so ago.. and have 25 minutes of spending.. so far lol..

my cals are low today and i wasnt hungry im down to 272.1 (from 274.5)and im going to do my weigh in in the morning .. so when your all gone again... ......

That was so wonderful of you! It's amazing when people just seem to fall into our "laps"!

That's awesome...I'm glad you went to BJs and decided to cook and not eat out. Chellez, At BJs (usually at any wholesale store) since Daniel is a member he can get a second member card for you free of charge. Each member can add a secondary member of their choice. You have to be present as they take your picture for the card. My husband's a member and I'm just a secondary member. You both need to go their customer center.
I get the skinless chicken breast from there usually and lean beef.

Another thing that's a good friend as a kitchen appliance is a Food Saver gadget. It is awesome we use it so much especially when it comes to saving food and putting it away in the freezer. I don't get freezer burns and have actually thrown less stuff away cuz we cannot finish it fast enough. It's just the 2 of us at home and we can only go thru so much food at a time. And it's cheaper to buy cheese and meats in bulk then we just put it away in portion controlled sizes.

BTW perdue also sells boneless skinless chicken breast in 2 chicken breasts per pack for proper portioning.

Vanessa.. I can so understand your situation. My sister is always mean to my kids. She has one who is just a few weeks younger than my youngest. She is truely a spoiled brat at just over 2! She doesn't share, she hits and screams... but never would I ever treat her like my sister treats my kids. She yells at them over every move they make. I hate being around them... times when we all meet up at my mom's are something I totally dread.

Good morning, Bluesers! TGIF!

I'm here and I've been reading all of our posts and keeping in touch...I've just not had much opportunity to chat today. My work load is crazy today and I have to focus unless I want to work over tomorrow...and, that just ain't happening!

Just a couple of call-outs......
Michelle - Congrats on staying on-plan and not caving to the evil Arby's!
Liam's Mommy - Your sister is toxic and doesn't deserve the privilege of being a part of your son's life. Good for you for realizing this and taking a stand.
Jill - I'm glad you were able to connect with that nice lady last night. We Westerners tend to have such a strange response to our elderly citizens. I wonder why? Yes, they can get cranky sometimes, but they often have such a nice way of looking at life. BTW, I'm a slow loser, but it's usually my own fault for not sticking to a calorie count for the day and not getting some great cardio exercise each day. Any loss is a great loss and you can be proud of your accomplishments this week. It doesn't hurt to take a look at what we're doing and tweak it a bit for maximum results. It might be that your body just wants to lose slower, but who knows?
Anna - I'm so sorry to hear that you're not feeling well. I hope good health finds its way back to you soon!

I'll check back in again later when things get quieter at work. Hope everyone enjoys their on-plan day.

GO BLUE!

I have no idea what happened over there, and I don't want to know. It was all in fun and jest...

So, no QOTD today?

Ti'An, I agree....we need a question of the day.

Friday's Question of the Day
Do you find it difficult to stay on-plan through the weekend? What makes the weekends difficult for you and what methods do you use to keep yourself in check?

My answer...weekends are my times to de-stress and reward myself for making it through the work week. One of my favorite ways to reward myself has always been with yummy foods, restaurant meals and sweet treats...along with a margarita or two! Staying on-plan means that my eating must stay consistent throughout the weekend and I must stay on-guard against my binge urges. This doesn't always lend itself to relaxation and pampering. I guess I need to find some alternatives that work as good as or better than the eating.

Oooh, good QOTD!

I do find it difficult, but not impossible. If I'm out and about, or being active, I'm fine, but if my weekend consists of sitting around watching movies or reading or something, I'm prone to snack attacks. Usually even if I snack all day I make sure I am still snacking on-plan, and I think that's what helps me get through it. If I must munch, I have to munch within the limits of WW (which are few, obviously - just that I can't overdo the volume). It's working for me so far. If it gets too bad, I just make myself leave the house - go for a walk, run an errand - or I'll call an old friend since eating while talking on the phone is awkward

Friday's Question of the Day
Do you find it difficult to stay on-plan through the weekend? What makes the weekends difficult for you and what methods do you use to keep yourself in check?

I actually find it easier to stay on plan over the weekend. That's because I don't buy junk food to keep at the house, or go out to eat very often. My office, however, is full of landmines. I work next door to Krispy Kreme, so everyone visiting our office brings us doughnuts. Additionally we have a lot of office events for morale. For example this is what yesterday looked like at my office (WARNING: FOOD PORN) As I walked in yesterday there was already a basket of homemade brownies on the breakroom table. As I walked toward my desk, I passed a co-worker with 2 dozen hot doughnuts. There was a "lunch" out for a co-workers birthday. That co-worker went a bought cheesecake for the office to share. Then at 3pm, our HR Director declared a "snack attack" and we all gathered in the conference room for cupsfuls of m&ms. (Personally that's too much like preschool for me, I asked for a nap instead.) Oh, and then she passed out "prized" to the people who guessed the triva question right on our intranet this week....candy bars (it's always a food prize, so I never guess). That was all yesterday! I do have to admit to sharing a small brownie with a co-worker, but it was homemade, and not iced. You ought to hear what they are planning for Cinco De Mayo next week. Nachos with cheese (the canned nacho cheese from Sams). Gag! My first thought was "Do you know what Anna would say about that cheese?" It's beyond a product.

Fridays are the hardest for me because I'm tired from working all week and if hubby and I don't already have dinner planned it's really easy to say "let's just go out and get something to eat". I find as long as I plan for the weekend I usually do ok. Not planning leads to bad things!

Weekends are definitely a challenge for me. I'm usually out and about or doing chores or something, so I usually don't drink as much water as I should--at the office, I keep a bottle on my desk and sip al day, usually ending up with 2-3 liters a day.

We also tend to eat out more, and I tend not to plan much. It's a bad combination