Ratkity, so far they haven't bothered things too much because we put plastic all the way around the garden and I think that scares them right now, BUT, when they get used to it, I'm figuring on putting some of my huge clothes on a stick, stuff it, and make it into a scarecrow. I've scared enough little kids with the size I was, so I think I can scare a few silly birds!!! My problem is the bunnies and now the slugs!!

Rattykitty (hugs for you)
Dian Welcome!!
Julbaby57 Congrats on losing 6 lbs..
Dusty!! I have faith you will this battle ...And remember you are beautiful also...
Nice pictures Merksie....
Well I walked again tonight for 60 min....Forgot my camera but I enjoyed the sights!! He! He! ......I was weighed today and Lost 3 lbs this week.......27 lbs gone.....Kissing the scale gods!!lol

Rat - One of those lurkers here that you so kindly shout out to so often. I'm usually always lurking, but don't post often, mostly because I have the most boring life ever. However reading the news of your loss of Captn Kitty I must post and offer you my sincere condolences. I experienced that heartbreak when I lost my schnauzer after 15 years. I'm so glad you had the time to say goodbye and be with him at his passing. I missed the chance to tell my Mitzi goodbye and be with her since she went very quickly and unexpectedly. Your beautiful description of his last hours brought me to tears. Time will help the healing and please know that Captn Kitty will always be with you in your heart.

Catherine - Can't wait to hear you on the air. I love Carol's idea for calling in, got my phone ready in the case it is a call in show.

As for me I'm just living my boring life, staying OP, tweaking the program as needed. Thanks to all you ladies here I learned my doctor didn't know what he was talking about when he told me 1200 calories a day. I did that and lost well for about 6 months, but then really stalled out and got very frustrated. I have now increased my calories to 1800 a day and have started losing 1 - 2 lbs a week consistently again. So everyone out there with questions about calorie counting, these ladies really know what they are talking about. I intend to talk with my doctor on my next visit and advise him he needs to learn more about prescribing diet programs for someone my size.

Hey girls! Got a great non scale victory today. Slipped on my wedding band! It went past my knuckle! Still snugg. But I have not been able to wear it in 2 years!

Rat - Sorry about your furbaby! Its been a few years since I have lost a pet (7). But my kitties are 10 and & 7 and the dog is 4. So they are cruzin' the senior citizen path shortly. Many hugs but I know nothing replaces the snuggle of a purring happy cat!

Dusty - I fell last week! I tell you it was ooooohhh so graceful! NOT. I was at school picking up the kids and I guess I was not picking up my feet and I tripped over my own flip flop! And there she goes!!!! Down on all fours. But really did a number on my left knee. Scrapped it good and freaked out all the kindergarden kids with the blood dribbling down my leg! But the moral of the story is I kept moving so it did not stiffen on me! It all healed better then my bruised ego!

Catherine - I'm on chapter 24 and did not get the floor washed! Hmmm can I blame you if DH askes why stuff is not done!?!?!

Julia-did you start Curveballs? Isn’t it great! Awesome NSV!!!! That is fantastic!!! As far as not getting things done while reading the book........yep it worked for me!! I told DH but its so good I can’t put it down!!! He laughed as he went to bed that night and I crawled in around 2am LOL

Debbie-hope everything was ok with your mom’s MRI. Could your hairloss be from not getting enough “good” fats?

Zelma- hope your feeling better soon!

Angels-you are doing great with your exercise! Good Job on 3lbs!!!! 27lbs!!! wow that’s great!!! I always try to invision something that weighs the weight I’ve lost......when I saw your weightloss I thought that is the size of the Turkey we had last Thanksgiving. GOOD JOB!!!

Luan-take pics at lunch tomorrow!!! We want to see!!

Carol-Could the inches be muscle? Or maybe the fat is shifting around a bit. But probably just some bloating. Not to worry your doing fine! And as far as your walking on the Treadmill that’s ok too! Take a picture from your treadmill!!!

Debi-That’s awesome you got yourself some things!!! I know how I felt after I got some new clothes.....I don’t want to wear the “big” stuff anymore LOL! What size did you get??? Curious minds want to know!!! LOL

Rat-sorry for your loss.....but at least you were able to spend the last moments loving on Captn!

Ria-Beautiful walk!!! I’m so envious!!! LOL Dh grew up in NY and I’ve been to the city once the day before Thanksgiving....LOL not a day to go site seeing! With all the people there for the Parade......it took us over 3 hours to get to the top the of the Empire State Building! LOL wish we could of went to Central Park!

Dusty-I wanna see a tiny town in Ohio!!! Take some pics anyhow!!! I love the idea of the thumb & forefinger thingy.....I will have to try it! Hope your knee is feeling better! I’m a clutz too don’t feel bad! As far as your family goes.......just know that they love you enough to do something........even if it was a wrong way of doing it........they care. Journaling helped me through my family troubles.....allowed me to write down things that my oldest sis & bro said or did to me.....they are 17 & 16 yrs older than me and STILL think of me as a child (I’m 42) I haven’t spoken to them other than 5 or 10 mins in over 3yrs! I know my hearts right and I hold no anger towards them so its up to them to change their way of thinking........all I can do is change me! LOL


Diann-Welcome aboard!! And congrats on your 6lbs lost forever!!!

Catherine-what is the website??? Hope you have a good time at the game!

Johnnie-Glad to see you!!! Isn’t it great to have a place to find inspiration and direction from experienced dieters like these ladies!!! Share the link with your doctor maybe they will learn something about large women’s weightloss! LOL


OK so now I feel better I finally sat still long enough to get personals done today!!! Tomorrow is my last day of summer school, well till 2nd week in July.......
Monday the girls and I are driving down to DS’s apartment and picking up his fiance and other DS’s girlfriend and taking her out for her Bday......I need to get her present finished. I took some pics of them at his graduation and I’m photoshop’n them fancy and going to put them in a nice frame for her Dorm room.

I have not walked outside yet but plan to tomorrow I hope!!! My plans are to take everyone’s pics and make a slideshow of our walks! I think it would be something neat! If you posted pics of a walk please PM me the town or location of your walk so I can put that into the slideshow. I think I will shoot for the 4th of july to have it done by....so we have a few days to get those pics up........and if you want to send a couple of diferent walks that’s fine too!

I’ve been really trying to stay under on calories.........I’m discusted with the sodium intake I’ve been getting!!! Seems like fatfree means sodium HIGH!!! LOL I am having an issue with fat free/sugar free ice cream.....it is really the only sweet that I eat.....but geeezeeeeee maybe need to stay away for awhile??? LOL lately I’ve noticed my fiber has been lacking.....so I justify my ice cream with a ½ cup of bran flakes mixed in.....it tastes like a mexican fried ice cream.....LOL

Well I better get this posted before someone else posts LOL

Ttyl
Bernice

Lurking here. Been busy and blah. But had to post. My heart breaks for you Rat. I was near tears for you. I gave my Claudia a hug, so happy to still have her. Hugs to you.

Dusty -- Glad the meeting went well, but please do be careful with your injuries. Sometimes pushing past the pain makes it MORE injured!!

Rat - *hugs* i know how hard it is to put an animal down, even if there is no other alternative. my heart goes out to you.

Hi everyone,

Thank you all so much for welcoming me into your group. My youngest son is in the process of moving out on his own and we spent most of today going to get his utilities turned on. Electricity won't be turned on until at least Monday they say. DS is so disappointed. He's ready to move out now. I'm so happy for him but at the same time kind of sad. He's my first one to leave the nest.

Rat - As a big-time cat lover it broke my heart to hear about the loss of your cat. (((hugs)))

Dusty - sorry to hear about your accident. Hope your knee gets better soon.

I haven't gotten on plan yet. Hopefully tomorrow I'll do it and walk a little bit. You all have a good restful night and a great day tomorrow.

justmary

Carol-No it is not a call in show. You never know what I'm going to say, and I'm pretty sure they may need the whole tape delayed thing. I can be feisty and a tad salty. I had to admit to a nun today that in that part of the book where I've got him on the ground, I didn't just say one mild cuss word at him, but instead went into a significantly profane tirade. That got edited.

I don't know about ya'll. Losing sleep over my silly book. I've had people take vacation days or call in sick to read it. Do you have any idea how bizarre that seems to me? I guess I truthfully didn't think anyone was going to actually read it. I got an email from the woman who sent me the card that himself lost. She's called Oma in the book which is German for grandmother. It's what her grandkids call her, although at the time this all happened, she didn't have any grandkids yet. She said she couldn't put it down either, and it brought back a lot of memories. She said it was like I was sitting right across from her telling the story. She misses me as much as I miss her.

People ask me if I miss my career, and I don't really, I miss the people. I miss piddling around with the hedges and playing on the church softball team. I miss getting to go to homecoming football games, and my great nephew's little league games. On the other hand, I'm actually homesick for a place that isn't there anymore. The home I grew up in was sold a long time ago. My friends have moved on, or passed on. I almost think that I haven't gone back for a visit because that would burst my bubble of the picture in my head of the way things used to be.

I did want to tell everyone that I appreciate all the nice things you've been saying about my book, and the cards and messages. I haven't really replied to them the way I should, but I don't take compliments well, and I've been pretty overwhelmed by it all. I think it is going to take me a long time to process all this stuff.

Man—I’ve been stuck to the internet today a lot for a person without a laptop.

Thought I’d do a quickie post while I cool off from my stepping. There is a program on the Wii Fit where you can free step, which is basically stepping on and off the board continuously to a rhythm in the controller. You can change the speed and the sound in the controller and then you switch back to the Television and watch TV while you do it.

I like it, so I’ve been doing half an hour every night, though I still haven’t managed to get it in before midnight yet. The controller says happy little things like “You’re going to be tired tonight!” and “Keep up with me!” and “You’ve reached 2000 steps!”

It makes me happy because the same program that talked about the happiness meditation said that overweight people walk 2000 steps less per day than people of a normal weight. Well, I figure, putting in the 3000+ steps (I did 3077 today, best yet) on top of the daily workout can only accelerate this little journey of mine. (and I want to accelerate! Does anyone else have fantasies about finding genie lamps?)

Anyhow—as for it being super late at night, my brother keeps complaining that it is not good to work out late. They say you shouldn’t eat late at night…so if it’s super bad to eat, it must be super good to workout! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

My knee is burning a little. The stepping isn’t too bad. It really only hurts when standing and sitting. Something about the combination of bending the knee while simultaneously putting weight on it is not good.

I’m being careful though, I appreciate everyone’s concern. I’m icing it again, and pretty soon I’m gonna take a super hot bath then go to bed.

Julia—You fell too!!? Oh my gosh, how terrible. It’s so awful. Knees that hurt make a huge difference in the way you move and the way you feel. I’m sorry your spill was bad…too bad they don’t make icepacks for the ego! Congrats on getting on that wedding band!

Angels—you’re so sweet! Congrats on the big loss!

Ratkitten—Thank you for the support. I like your idea of writing down my thoughts. Only I may give them to my mom so she can see how I feel. I can’t talk about it. I’m a Leo ya know, and I can be a bit overwhelmed by my own emotions and pride at times. Taking the time to write everything out will help me talk about how I feel without looking like a total spaz. Oh and thanks for the strong reaction! It is empowering to know I’m not just whining. This has been a hard day for you, and I hope you get a good night’s rest and know that ultimately, we do what is best for the ones we love, even our little furry children.

Bernice—You’ll be getting my pictures soon as I get outside. I think I’ll walk on Campus tomorrow if the weather is fine and try to get some nice pretty pictures of my university. Glad I am not the only klutz, let’s start a club. No banana peels allowed! I do journal, and I will start using my journal on here so my posts don’t keep running on so long. This is embarrassing! And you are right, I know my parents and brother and sisters love me very much. So I am putting my hurt and anger in a bubble and floating it away. Oh—and tomorrow I am so totally trying the ice cream/cereal thing.

Heather—I’m going to go easy on the knee—It’s killing me though. I was just getting into it!

Just Mary—Good luck with your sons move! I can’t possible imagine being a mom and having to see my kids go off. It would be a mixture of fulfillment, pride and sadness. Think of it this way though, I’m turning 25 and I’m still at home! Not because I can’t leave, I just like it here. I’m afraid if I leave, no one will be here to keep my mom sane.

Sleep well everyone,
Dusty

Luan - We have our flights and hotels all booked already, so I am hesitant to change any dates, especially of flights. The hotels would be fine I think, but you get charged a hefty fee for changing flights as far as we've seen. We may look at other things we can look at in that area and may just spend one day at Disneyland instead of two.

Dusty - I'm glad your knee isn't causing you too much grief at the moment, but please keep taking lots of care with it. I fell (on some uneven paving stones at school, but never thought to claim anything - that isn't the way I do things) a few years ago and it wasn't until a few days later that I noticed a few problems with my knee. It was later still when I got pains in my hips/back and realised that this was because I was favouring my knee, so other muscles were compensating. Anyway, from experience, just keep being careful.

Ratkitten - I am SO sorry for your loss. I know that you know you did the right thing, and you spend some lovely time with Captn Kitty before taking him to the vet, but I also understand how you need to take time to grieve. I hope you take comfort in those around you (both furry and otherwise) at this time.

Catherine - I hope that the interview goes well for you. I have done a couple of radio interviews about my weight loss and I found it quite offputting to talk to someone over the phone about these things. It is much easier face-to-face. I can't wait to get the website so I can listen to you.

Mary - Welcome! I hope your son gets settled in his new place soon. I understand how hard this must be for you, but you can't force them to stay either huh? Will he be close by? I don't have any children, but I have a lot of friends who say that they saw just as much of their kids once they moved out as they did when they were living at home because they were still coming home for meals and to have Mum do their laundry.

Bernice - The gift you are making for your son's girlfriend sounds beautiful. I just know she will love it. It also sounds as though you have a wonderful day out planned. I hope it goes even better than you expect.
Now that summer school is finished, how long do you have off until your new school year? I have two weeks left before our mid-term holidays (two weeks off) and that is the middle of our school year.
I'm planning to go on a walk over the weekend and get some pics to post here. Your idea of a slideshow of our walks is great!

Angels - Congratulations on those 3lbs gone!!!! I can just imagine you giving your scales a huge hug and kiss. Perhaps if you do it will keep being nice to you. Mind you, if that was all it took there would be a LOT of lipstick-covered scales in the world.

Johnnie - It's great to see you again. I am glad you realised that your doctor didn't really know what he was talking about as far as losing weight went. I kinda had a similar problem with my dietician friend. She was fantastic at giving advice, and has lost a bit of weight herself, but she hadn't known someone who had lost as much weight as I had and was still setting me a goal weight that hadn't counted for the excess skin. Even when I talked to her about it, I don't think she could imagine just HOW much excess skin I could have. People need to learn to alter their thinking for the circumstances and not try to fit 'one rule' for everyone.

Julia - Sorry to hear that you fell last week. I can't remember you telling us about it. I hope you don't have any lasting problems from the fall. You are right, the main thing we think of at the time is whether people are watching or not. I remember thinking as well that it was lucky I had already lost some weight, or my poor knee would have had even MORE pressure on it.

I have just finished having the whole week off. I didn't plan on that at first, but I went to school Wednesday, thinking I was fine, but I got all light-headed and dizzy after walking slowly (ten minutes) to school and standing around for a little while. I was also finding it really hard to concentrate. I went to the doctor AGAIN and she said that it was just part of the same virus and I simply had to rest TOTALLY for the rest of the week. This is my usual doctor and she knows that I tend to get back into exercise a little too soon, so I think that she was kinda letting me know that 'resting' means NO exercise. So, I have to confess that I have done NO exercise since last Friday. Oh dear... I am certainly not used to that. It has not been easy, but I need to throw off this bug and I am just going to have to cope with getting my system back up to scratch after I am better. My weight is actually doing really well, but I had an attack of the munchies today and had WAY too many nuts and peanut butter. I usually crave that sort of thing when I am hormonal, so maybe it is just ovulation time. *fingers crossed*

On Wednesday night I directed the school choir at the Citizenship Ceremonies. They looked fantastic in their black dress pants and white cotton shirts with the music (clef) symbol and school name on the chest. I would love to post a photo of them, but we have to get their parents' permission to do things like that and I'm not sure how many we have permission from. If they get their photo in the school newsletter, which is posted on our school website, I will let you all know. They sounded beautiful and I was EXTREMELY proud of them. They made a couple of little mistakes that nobody else said they could notice, but it bothered me a little, because I feel that it was MY fault. If I had been feeling 100% maybe I could have directed them a little better. Oh well, we got a lot of compliments from dignitaries and guests, so all in all it was a great evening. We are singing at another one in August. Same songs, but a few different kids. My choir is so big that we have to halve the Grade 4s when we go, as they can only cater for 40 kids. We are singing two of the songs at the end of term assembly as well. One of our teachers is becoming a citizen early next term, so we will dedicate the Australian songs for her at the assembly.

Well, I think that is about it for me. Other than choir Wed night I have been doing NOTHING lately (as ordered) so don't really have much else to chat about. I hope you are all having a wonderful week. It is Friday afternoon here, and Neil will be home soon, so I get to spend a whole two days with him. YES!!! I love when we just get to be together, even if we don't actually DO anything. We are saving really seriously at the moment, so don't do a lot at the weekends. Fuel is SO expensive here that we don't even drive a lot. It is much cheaper to catch the train as we can both travel for $8.10 on the weekends. We couldn't cover the fuel for that amount, let alone parking at many places added on.

Take care all,

Zelma

Ria - I LOVE the pics from your walk. It looks as though you have a very scenic route that you can walk. If I want somewhere lovely to walk we first of all have to drive/train it to the location, like the coast where we can look at the Indian Ocean, or the river in the city. We can actually walk to the coast, but it takes a little while of walking along boring, busy roads to get there, so not exactly very pretty along the way.

Carol and Heather - You have me craving grilled zucchini now. It sounds delicious, especially with some garlic. I'll have to remember to buy some tomorrow. I'm trying to find lower calorie veggies for the evening. I was loving my corn on the cob as a little extra until I found the calories for it. I don't normally count calories, but I was curious. Maybe I'll just keep ignoring calories when I find something like that I enjoy. Or maybe not...

Tricia - There is NO way I would ever have thought of using peroxide to wash my mouth/throat/nose and sterilise it. You said not to rinse my mouth, but I imagine that I gargle/spray, then spit it out, but don't rinse with plain water after that. For some reason I pictured peroxide burning, so wouldn't have thought of putting it near my face. I will have to look into that. I couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of germs I encounter in a normal school day. Thank you for the information.

Debi - Your new outfits sound lovely. Do we get to see pics?
I'm not sure I'm a flower eater, but I'm glad you enjoyed your blooms. I truly envy you with your home-grown produce. I LOVE red peppers! They are twice the price of the other coloured peppers here too, so maybe I should look at growing my own.

realist-glad to see your still around! lurking is good hope your plan is going well too! take care and stop in sooner!

justmary-I've had 3 of mine move out, to college. The oldest summer before last got an apartment near his college and for mother's day that year we helped move him in.......I think of him taking his first steps at 15months and wonder where the time has gone! My second oldest went to college for two years then joined the Army.......I think his joining the army was the hardest of all "moving out"s that I had.......because if I want to see my oldest its an hour away I can drive down and get a hug if I want.......but with my 2nd I can't! My oldest daughter (3rd child) moved out to college last year and this summer has been working out by her college living with the family she nannys for......she was debating whether to come home this coming school year, of course I said yes you can and go to the community college......DH said NO, she needs to be independent he talked to her more about the reasons she wanted to leave the college she was attending........and they came to a decision that she would transfer down to her brother's college and be near more family and friends for support....she really likes that idea........I'm a little bummed I wanted her home again.......but I know deep down its the best for her. I still have the baby at home (16 LOL) so a couple more years till she decides/gets accepted into a college LOL but just the other day she was talking about NY!!!! grrrrr that's too far!! LOL ohhh the joys of motherhood never end do they???? LOL

Catherine-you are no different then most about viewing where we grew up in a certain light.....I know when I go "home" for visits its not the same.........my parents are gone so their house isn't home anymore.......and all my childhood friends have moved or we have lost contact so I don't get to see them......how strange we see things from our past in our past eyes LOL I'm very proud of you for doing it, both the things you did in your life and the book......but especially the book........it takes alot to relive and in print no less the hard things we do in life.

Dusty- I think I've been a clutz all my life LOL I remember crossing a major street with my mom and falling down for no reason scrapping up my knees and my mom didn't even notice I fell till she got all the way across the street and had to come back to help me up LOL I was around 9 or 10 LOL *****CAUTION***** ice cream (yes even the fat free/sugar free type) is addicting, I do NOT want to be the cause of your addiction!!! LOL but it is fabulous with the bran flakes LOL Dh had some last night but all he said when I asked him how he liked it was "ummgh" which when translated into human was 'it's ok but not all that you rave about" LOL I love mexican fried ice cream so the taste was great to me!!! LOL

Zelma-I have one more week in July(7-11) of summer school. We don't go back till August 7th........so this summer I have a couple of weeks off at a time.....kinda stinks for doing some kinda trip........but oh well we will plan one for next summer! DH & I had wanted to go on a cruise during my fall break but I think we will push it off till next year.....one I want to be smaller for that and two we have several expenses that need to be done first LOL I will take DD down to her brother's apartment and she will stay with him & his fiance for a week and then I was thinking with my extra money from summer school I might send her on a plane to see my sister in California for a week before school starts maybe! DH said she has things to take care of around the house before he will give the ok for that LOL so she is working hard without complaining LOL it would be the first time she was able to go anywhere alone like that!


well I must get ready for my last day for a couple of weeks at least LOL

take care and have a great Friday!!!
Bernice

Hello my sweet Chickies (and my wonderful lurkers! *hugs Johnnie*),

Your cyber hugs and condolences helped me so much yesterday. It's hard not to replay Captn's last days and hours, but I have re-read all your posts and your love fills my heart. Mere words just don't convey how much I appreciated all your notes to me. We are such a great family here and I feel a special connection to all of you.

My brain is a little mushy right now, but I am healing with the help of all of you and my own family (as well as the rest of my fur family).

Sloppy Golden Retriever kisses, PsychoRat me0ws and Neurotic Buford birdy screams for all!

Luv,
Ratkitten