Have no idea re the *'s. I emailed the text from ms word, then cut & pasted it into here. Hmmm.

Terra - Have fun at the movies. What movie did you and your friend see?

Laura - I'm glad the park district classes work for you. I tend to like to be spontaneous about the days I exercise, so gym memberships work for me - that way if there's not a class I like (or am physically able to do yet), I can always ride the bike or do the rowing machine. I'm glad my insurance and surgeon requires attending support meetings. I'm learning so much and I think I'll be fairly prepared for what can happen after surgery. I think your "is it worth it?" or "was it worth it?" response might've ended up under Dera's post, but it was applicable there too. In fact, once you start looking at the calories or fats or carbs or whatever you're counting...it helps you to make an informed decision...is this food worth it? For me, because my hospital is already booking surgeries into October and November...NOTHING is worth delaying my getting to the 5 lbs left to go mark...and I just have to remind myself of that when I get the compulsion to make bad choices. Sounds like you have a wonderful weekend planned! I hope the weather stays nice AND that you have at least a little downtime.

My weekend is filling up too. Tonight, D and I are either going out for dinner and a movie, or if he has a meeting, then I'll go to the gym and take Santa to the dog park. Tomorrow I'm taking Bob to a workshop on Social Media Marketing for Writers. I'll eventually need to know this info too once my book is written, but mostly I'm attending because it's nearly an hour drive and Bob can't drive that far with the pain he has in his leg. After that, I'm hopefully going to the movies with my step-brother, and then taking Santa to the dog park. Sunday I'm working out with a personal trainer and then doing website work until the evening when it'll be dog park time again.

Three weeks from today, Santa and I will be starting our road trip. The first leg of the trip is driving from here to Portland, OR...a 10 hour drive. I'm so looking forward to the trip.

Much love to all,

Hi everyone,
I did make it to Chicago just fine although the flight was full of crying kids. It was a tough week at my Mom's - not much to do, there are lots of muggings on the public transportation system so I am not comfortable at all heading downtown or doing much of anything. I napped alot, read alot and watched tv.

I am at my sisters for a few days - unfortunately she is having big time problems with an abscessed tooth right now. I told her she didn't have to come get me but she wanted to spend time with me even if she is feeling poorly. So we aren't planning on doing much except hang around the house and I may cut my visit here with her short if she is still miserable and in pain.

I will get back on later to read over and comment on personals.

Congratulations Anne on getting a wonderful job offer. I know how hard it is to believe that the sun will shine through, I'm glad it finally did and that you will have the start of a great experience.

Gotta run for now. Later chicks.

Happy - I'm glad you made it to Chicago. Sorry you had a tough week at your mom's. That's a shame that you couldn't get downtown. Are you going to get a chance to see Laura at all? So sorry to hear about your sister's tooth. Are you going to head back to your mom's before you go back home? Even if you can't do much, I hope you're still enjoying your visit with family.

Michelle ~ I did have fun at the movies and so did my friend, We saw Blended which stars Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, It was a really good movie, Im gonna have to buy it when it comes to dvd.

Hi guys,

Will try to catch up. Sister has her computer set at a really high resolution and the print is super tiny - it's really hard for me to see and she has Windows 8 which I am totally unfamiliar with and I don't want to mess up her computer so I'm trying to deal with this as it is.

Right now it is not looking good for meeting up with Laura. My sister is feeling badly - I have had abscesses before and I know the pain. She can't eat much other than very soft foods between the tooth pain and the abscess and I really don't want to ask her to drive all the way to the mall and then kill time if she can't eat herself. She is on antibiotics now and I might even have to take her to get her 2 teeth extracted later towards the end of the week if she makes that decision. I hate to see her in such pain. Sorry Laura

Shoot... hold on. Mom just called...

I'm glad that my aunt wanted to leave the concert early. After all she's 80 years old. We got to see the main attraction for us which was Loretta Lynn. She can still sing. And sang for about 45 minutes. I felt like I got my monies worth. And the M.C. was Mark Lowery who used to be with the Gaither vocal band. And I had no problem what so ever going up and down the steps.
I bought the movie Noah and watched it last night. Both the DVD and concert is part of my birthday presents to myself.
No exercise last night or today but will get started back tomorrow.

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Laura
What is park district classes? Sounds like you will be busy this week end. Try to get some 'me" time.

Michelle
I've always been a compulsive eater especially after I got out on my own. No mom to make restrictions for me. Thanks for sharing your wls meetings with us. They are very helpful to me.

Happy
Thanks for checking in. Hope your sister feels better soon.

Shad
Have I missed your posts?

Terra
I most always wait till the movies come out on DVD's. It's too loud for my ears in the theater. I like both of those actors so I'll probably be buying that one too.

CJ ~ Oh thats a bummer its too loud for your ears, I enjoy going to the theater, I would be really upset if I could go for some reason. Yeah I always love it when Drew and Adam are in movies together, I dont know why they arent a couple off screen either, They would make a cute couple. I know they are both married to different people but I just dont know why they never dated off screen when they were both single.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up at 6:08 but then I fell back to sleep and when I woke up again it was 6:30 am so I thought I better get up so I did Im still gonna go for my morning walk outside at 7 though. I already let Clyde outside and I gave him food and fresh water. Now Im just posting on 3 forums including this one, Im reading my news-feed on facebook and emailing a few people. Im about to eat breakfast. My plans for today are to do my laundry and do my afternoon 1 mile walk and then my 2 mile evening walk and thats it.

Ceejay - glad you had a nice time at the concert. Sounds like you were all dolled up and ready to have a good time. It's great that you didn't have any trouble with the stairs. That's really encouraging.

Terra - I like Drew in her movies. She seems like a fun friend to hang around with. Seems like you have a nice routine going on there. You should track how many miles you walk and post the total at the end of the month. I'll bet you'd be surprised.

Michelle - I admire your dedication to the food and exercise. I guess it's good to tell yourself no to temptations because it's good training going forward when you will have to live with restrictions post surgery. Also good to get in the exercise habit and try new things so you know what might be too tough as you heal up. Surgery is a huge committment with no turning back so it sounds like everything you are doing right now is setting you up for success. I'm very sorry to hear about your friend's battle with cancer. I hope that they can find something that helps him with minimal surgery. Thank you for talking about "food funerals" - like the others, I really find the information you share with us very enlightening.

All your talk lately of fitness and the gym has me motivated to get cracking once I get back home. I still have 20 visits on the pool passes I never used - however they don't expire and I prefer to use the pool when it's more quiet and summer tourist season (and 10,000 wild children) keep me away from the pool. Should be better in September when things quiet down. I also want to clean out the 3rd bay so I can use the treadmill and start to train to do a 5k walk come spring. We have so many I could probably do at least 10 between spring and fall. I think DH would walk with me.

Gotta get ready to go out with friends tonight - will get back on here tomorrow. Have a good weekend all.

Seems I have been mia again. It's a bit hectic over here right now. I've built one complete garden bed, have another one ready to put together - would have done it yesterday except it rained. The lettuces, baby leaf spinach and the beans are in and getting ready to grow. I have corn and peppers to put into the next bed along with parsley, chives and another couple of herby things. Yesterday was very wet so I got stuck into household chores, cleaned the venetian blinds, swept up the danged cat fur (again) and cleaned out some of my wardrobe. So the work is moving along. I am rubbing things off the list as I go. Still, I am a long way from finished.

Happy - nice to know you are out and about in Chicago. How much longer before you go home?

Ceejay - everyone seems to have to have the music and the film turned up to jet decibels. The world will be deaf in their later years. I have problems with that as well. Did I miss your birthday - geez I need Mel to keep these things up to date.

Annie - dinner sounded good on facebook

Michelle - hope you get that last few pounds off soon. It sounds like you are doing just great.

Laura - good for you for quitting what you no longer enjoy. Everything serves its purpose but there comes a time when it no longer does and you are best to move on to something else.

Terra - are you doing the walking? It is not good that you are putting back that hard earned loss.

Susie - still snowed under? Seems you and I are the missing ones.

Ahh well, my old neighbour from across the road has just had a visit from the Ambulance. I fear that the end is either close or already here. Better go over and check on Bonnie this morning. He hasn't been well for a long time and when I got back from NZ, she told me he only had months to go. Seems like maybe his passport may have expired, poor man.
Another job for today.

Better go and get my world under control again. Coffee is done.

shad
My birthday is at the end of the month, august 27. I'm like my mom and celebrate all month.

Happy
Don't blame you for not wanting to use the pool while its full of kiddo's.
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I did enjoy my concert last night. Today when I got home my neighbor came over and told me she was rousted out of bed with 2 guns pointed to her head. They broke in through the front door and she didn't hear them. They put her in the bath room and she escaped through the window. Unfortunately I wasn't home. We watched the camera's from last night but all we saw were flash lights.

More later. Need to work off some of this excess anxiety.
I don't feel very secure right now. but thankful I have a security alarm.

Hi, just a quick post before I head off to bed. Had a good time with my friends tonight. We don't get to see each other very much any more.

Ceejay - that is darn scary about your neighbor!!! Especially since that means they were not far from your house. Good thing you have that security alarm. I'd be unnerved too. I'm glad you are ok. Good call on celebrating your birthday all month long. I thought it was a bit early for your special day. I will not be home in time to wish you a happy day so happy EARLY birthday and I will wish you a belated HB when I return.

Which would be August 28 Shad. You sound like ever the busy little bee. Glad you got the garden in. I have a huge weed bed to clean out when I get back - not looking forward to that and I hope I have not done permanent damage with the weeds in there. Sorry to hear of your neighbor's last days. I hope he had a long and good life. How long are you going to be home now? Is Sunday the cat appreciating you again?

Laura - I hope you are feeling well enough to enjoy your busy weekend. What iconic chicken place do you speak of if you don't mind naming names? I can understand you taking a break from WW - if you are not getting what you need out of it right now, no sense in wasting money. And you have other tracking options to keep you from a big bender so do what feels right. There is another book by the author of "Gone Girl" called "Cutter". The book ladies at the shop said that was also a good book so you may want to check that out too if you like her writing style. I read "The Fault in Our Stars". A bit slow and I almost gave up but it got interesting from page 200 on and I did enjoy it. Reading Jodi Piccults (sp?) "The Storyteller" now. I hope you can manage to schedule a few vacation days - enjoy the last of summer when you can. I am hoping that the heat holds off for a while. I am noticing it is much more humid here than at home.

Annie - I hope you can finally relax and truly enjoy these last few days of freedom before you start with the job schedule again. Hug those babies, cook some good meals - get the last bountiful goodness out of the garden patch!

Susie - I hope you are catching up and not buried in work. Did you do that team outing thing you dreaded? I hated those too. Was not teambuilding or motivating for me at all. I despise competitive stuff totally. I hope you did well. How's the walking coming along? Your foot holding up too?

It's almost 1:30am so I had better get off the computer and get to sleep. They rise early in this house and even though we aren't doing anything special - Sis is still resting up, I don't want to sleep the morning away.

Happy Sunday everyone.

Back to work this morning. And back on this silly computer. it will crash if it's not fixed.

I had a lot of anxiety last night but I'm not going to let it get me down with what happened to my neighbor. I will tell my sister today to see what she says. My aunt will be down here herself moving me back to Paragould.

Thank you Happy for the early birthday wish. That will be here before I know it. I would love to sleep the morning away and I will Thursday.

Not much is going on this morning and I hope it stays quiet.

Morning all.

I felt pretty awful all day at work Friday. I felt like I got enough sleep, but still felt crummy mainly because I am having more digestive issues - no details except that it requires a laxative.

Slept well Friday night, skipped Jazzercise Saturday. Had a hair appointment early afternoon, then a light lunch and a dog walk. Met the other couple for the ravinia show. Lovely weather for an outdoor concert, such a lovely park-like atmosphere there. Tony Bennett still sounds great and he had a fantastic jazz combo accompanying him- piano, guitar, drums, bass. I'm glad we went. Glad I got to see him. At 88 years old, he won't be doing this forever.

Relaxing the morning away today, but we're going to pick up bf's mom early this afternoon and go to white fence farm for dinner. They're specialty is fried chicken.
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Shad- You sound busy but content. Okay, happy with the outdoor stuff, not so much with the housrwork. Can't blame you- cleaning up cat fur and Venetian blinds=no fun. You make it sound so simple- if it's not working anymore, give it up and move on to something that will. Me, I try to stick it out, overthink it, feel guilty over it, blah., blah, blah. Silly me. I should stop that.

Ceejay - How scary about what happened to your neighbor!!! Don't blame you for your anxiety! I'm so glad you have a security system. I hope the local law enforcement is taking actions that will make you feel safer. I'm glad you enjoyed the concert. Great you had no problems with the stairs!! Nice treat for your birthday. The classes offered by the park district are held at a park facility near my house. In the past I've taken Pilates & kettlebell classes. I've also taken the various classes under the punchcard program - take any of those classes I want to fit my preference/schedule. I'm going to check the catalog for fall & register for something.

Happy- Sorry your sister's having a painful dental problem! How awful. I hope she gets relief soon. Don't worry about us getting together on this trip - I know we'll manage it eventually! !! Your sister needs relief, not extra running around right now. The chicken place is White Fence Farm. I know there's another down south called Delray's I think. Maybe we'll try that out someday too.

Michelle- Busy weekend for you. You will be strengthened in resolve by that epiphany you had and all the soul-searching you've been doing. You will make these goals a reality!!!

Terra - Glad you enjoyed your movie.

Hi Annie, hi Susie.

Gonna get this posted before I lose it, then get in the shower & get dressed before heading out for lunch. TTFN.

Laura
Sorry you haven't been feeling well. I know about those digestive issues.
Your park district kinda sounds like our Community Center. I have free passes to the work out area but if any other classes are held I would have to pay.

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Was looking on the camera's last night and I did see two young men around 12.30 next door. Due to this I'm pretty sure who did this awful act. I'm just so glad they didn't rape her or kill her. I'm ready to leave right this minute if some one would come help me pack up.
I'm going to ask B about some things tomorrow about the computer. It has a a warning sign on the icon in the device manager section. I wish I was more computer savy but I'm not. I went to hp.com and did a search. I think it's wanting to upgrade to window's 8.
More later. I'm trying to keep busy so I will not think about this week end's
event.