Fiona-That sounds so very painful. I'm sorry that you struggle with that every day. Hoping you find some way to get relief from it very soon! Hopefully the prescription stuff will all work out. Insurance is a necessary evil it seems. But I hate it. Jumping through impossible hoops only to get denied seems to be the name of the game for them. I am impressed though......5 sets of 120 leg raises....thats a TON of leg raises!

Yeah, the BMI thing bothers me a lot too.....they are tying your health to your BMI...which I kinda get....someone morbidly obese probably has more health problems than someone of average weight. It's also because our country of choice is China and it will be a special needs adoption. China has a lot of requirements. It does seem sizeist to me as well.....but I can't change the requirements.
And I will add, we had no problems fostering/adopting our daughter due to my BMI, so the requirement is a China requirement, not an American one.
(And yes, my avatar is of my dog.....its one of my favorite pics of her because it looks like she is smiling.

Hi everyone.

ruby2sday and lovinlife, welcome to our little group. You will find tons of support here and Fi is right - we talk about anything and everything here, so jump right in.

I haven't posted for a few days - this cold is really kicking my butt. It's mainly a cough now, sometimes congested and sometimes dry and barky, but it's interfering with sleep (the night before last I spent most of the night sitting up on the couch because I couldn't stop coughing in bed). Last night was a little better until about 7 this morning. The city is installing new sewer and water pipes and they happen to be working on our street this week, so sleeping past 7 is impossible, unless you're my DH.

I'm hoping this cold is gone soon. Monday I'm supposed to go visit my best friend for a few days. I'm really looking forward to that as I haven't seen her in over a year. She has a five year old so I really don't want to be contagious around him.

On the diet front things are good. I'm back on track and down a little from my ticker weight. Funny how those things work together. I will update that later this week if the corned beef and cabbage doesn't put it back on. Is any one else making it tomorrow? I know it isn't very diet friendly, but it's once a year and I always make it, and I think DH would be devastated if I didn't. He's going to the store for me today so I can work on getting better.

Sorry no personals today but I'm reading all your posts and thinking of all of you and I hope you all have a great day.

Lovinlife Hiii!!!! Welcome to our home!! I love this group and they have done so much with helping me lose weight I don't think I could have done it without this place! Hope you'll stay awhile! Would love to get to know you!!

Fi Thinking of you today...Hoping you find relief soon but you did make a very good point...you aren't depressed and I know how much of a big deal that is. I am so glad to hear that!!

Cindy I'm sorry you still aren't feeling well. Spring/Summer colds are the worst!! The pollen is in full swing here, so much so that my blue car is starting to look green Get well soon my love!

Well DH went and had the brakes checked today. We need two new rotors and two of them resurfaced plus the pads they are saying close to $500. DH said no way we will change them ourselves. They also looked at the AC and the clutch to the air compressor had completely fallen off!! That is something we knew we would have to replace ourselves because we don't have $1,000 to get it done. So DH and I will have a lot of work to do on our girl here in the coming weeks!!

DH picked me up from work today and I had him bring my wedding rings so I could get a price on FINALLY having them resized. It's going to be $70 all together to get both of them done...but the exciting part is finally seeing what size I wear now!!! Before losing weight I had short sausage fingers, wearing a soze 11.5....I now wear a 7.5!!!!!! For the first time ever in my life I have a normal ring size!!! DH was just as shocked as me!!!! It really made my day that's for sure!!!

We just got home so I won't be able to get a good workout in tonight but I'm supposed to be going on a walk with my friend and her little here soon.

Oh also my doctor appointment is tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Better get ready! Be well friends!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all. I'm celebrating my 1/16th Irish heritage today with the stop to the rain, the mountain is out in all her glory, and the sun is shining! Hurrah.

Fi -- The patches are the cannabis transdermal patches that are used for pain relief. They have ones that are NOT psychotropic so you get pain relief without getting high. They also have ones that do produce the high. I wanted something that didn't involve smoking or ingesting and am going to look into these. I'll let you know what I find out. Glad that with all you're dealing with that the depression is at bay -- at least for now.

Lovinlife -- Welcome to our group. You probably have already gotten a good feel for everyone here, and we appreciate your sharing something about yourself. What a wonderful person you are to adopt and love children with special needs. The whole China requirement for a certain BMI is weird -- thanks for clarifying that it was a Chinese requirement as opposed to something a US agency would have. Good luck with going through both the weight loss and adoption process.

Sam -- So sorry you're having to deal with the IRS. I know that they have had an incredible amount of fraud between identity theft and people lying about having health coverage and this results in people who are honest getting dinged. Hopefully you'll be able to get your refund soon. In the meantime, sounds like the car is going to be a major $$$, but you're right -- life in the South without AC would be miserable. I always think of before AC and all the clothes that women had to wear and the corsets. I'm surprised any of them survived. Of course, they also undressed and took naps during the hottest part of the day -- not a bad idea! Great news -- talk about a NSV -- on your rings. That must be so exciting!

Cindy -- Yep, I'm making corned beef and cabbage. Like you, I basically have it once a year and I don't think it's that bad of a meal. I braise my cabbage with apple, a little vinegar, and caraway seeds but do a regular boiled meal for the rest. Then I have sandwiches with the leftovers. Truly one of my favorite meals. Sounds like the cold really hit you hard. Hope that you're all better in time for your visit with your friend.

Donna, Porthardygurl, Tootsie (and I know I'm forgetting someone) -- hope you are all doing well.

I need to get it in gear. The cookies are finally done. They look good -- not great, but good. A friend is coming over to look at my double bed frame that's in the attic to see if they want it. Then the kid that did all the yard work for me is coming for lunch and to play with Toby. I want to get to the gym first, so I need to get a move on it.

Hope everyone has a great day.

New collage: "Burial Cairns in California Desert". (Click image for larger version.)

Betsy Yeahhh the whole car situation stinks. But DH thinks we can probably do it all ourselves for about $400 which will still be pretty cheap than to have to pay someone to do it. Very excited about getting my ring back on Monday!

Fi Awesome collage!!! Kinda gives me this sort of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, meets The Creepshow vibe. Really cool!!!

Ever have one of those days where you're just fed up? That was my day today. Everything was going well at work. Left early to go to my doctor's appointment at a new doctor all together. I pull into the place that their website said there office was and guess what? They moved!!! I was freaking out because I didn't want to be late for my appointment. I hadn't saved their phone number in my phone yet so I called the number on their website...disconnected!! I decide to go to another office that was next door to see if they knew where they had moved to. They weren't exactly sure and a really nice front desk lady called one of their other locations to get the correct phone number and called for me. What she ended up getting was a VERY rude and snotty woman on the phone. She asked her where they had moved to because there was a new patient who was lost and asked if I could still keep my appointment. She got nasty and told her no I'd have to reschedule. My appointment time was in 10 minutes by the time we called. She handed me the phone and told me to make sure they don't charge me a no show fee because it isn't fair. So I said something and she got rude with me and said she wasn't going to charge me and then huffed and puffed while she looked on the calendar to see when I could be rescheduled. She wouldn't be able to get me in for another month and by that point I was tired of her being so rude and said you know what, how about I'll call you when my schedule has time for me to come see you and hung up the phone. I apologized to the woman who was so kind to help me and she said she was more in shock that she was so rude when she was just trying to help out their patient and a fellow doctor's office. She did tell me that they would be accepting new patients at the end of April if I wanted to come see them. They're a family medical doctor. I took their card and may just do that. I really didn't absolutely have to go to that doctor's appointment today, but it would have been nice to get some more insight on my health and what I need to do to prepare to have a child in the not so far future. My psych is the one who referred me to the doctor, I'm sure she is a wonderful person but their other people stink and I'm not going to even try to go back there. If they had their website up to date I wouldn't have been late. I still don't know their correct address. Shows how much they cared to have me as a patient anyway.

I was going to go back to work since the day wasn't over yet, but my boss let me take the rest of the day off, so I went to this outlet store to look for some new under garments. I didn't find anything that would fit me well. I tried on some different pants too. I was able to get a size 12 on but it was a little snug. The 14's were too loose. I guess I'm a 13 now if it even exists LOL. They had a lot of cool house stuff and I wanted to buy the whole store...But I got some of the necessities that we could use around the house. The retail therapy helped...I haven't done that in a long time. I also ran to grab some things from Wal-Mart and stopped at our local asian market and got some kimchi, fish cake and pickled radish. DH is making pork bulgogi tonight. We had it earlier in the week and it was so spicy we had a fire ball in our stomachs for 2 days so he is insisting on making it again and making it better. I really could use some good Korean food right now after the day I've had. I got home late because I didn't pay attention to time and I really don't feel like working out. I'm taking a me day.

Tomorrow is Friday and I'm pretty excited for the weekend. Looking forward to some quality time with DH without having to go anywhere if we don't want to. Be well my loves

Sam— What a story about your missed appointment! All of a sudden I realize how fortunate I am that my three main doctors these days all have exquisitely polite and caring receptionists. I can't imagine one of them moving and not calling all the patients with upcoming app'ts to tell them about the new location—or at least updating their website! Sheesh... But I love how you're not lettin' it faze you—that you're rejoicin' over your new ring size, doin' a little retail therapy, and lookin' forward to some yummy Korean food. Thanks so much for the amusingly phrased feedback on my collage: I'm into both Hunter Thompson and "Creepshow"! Lately I've started to feel insecure over how simple my collages are. Compared to other peoples', they usually have few elements, very basic techniques, not much layering. But that's how they've been all along... Once I did break out of my comfort zone and made an extraordinarily complicated, busy collage. It wasn't half-bad...but I didn't enjoy the process. I felt like I was just sticking more & more things onto it for the sake of doing so, not with any clear artistic purpose in mind. I guess I'll have to try again some time...

My day started out really crummy, because I woke up so severely depressed, I had to really push myself to get out from under the covers, to drink the coffee and eat the omelet that Bob had so sweetly made for me.

What is the deal with my depression? I'm not used to this frequent alternation between good moods and bad moods. Usually I stay in one mode or the other for an extended period of time. But everything's changed since my Big Disaster, since I'm on completely different medications. Who knows...

So I cancelled my app't with Mike—something I rarely ever do. But all the same I felt stubborn about retrieving something good out of the day, so right off the bat I meditated for an hour. That helped enough that I was able to create the back sides of a couple of my collage postcards: vintage stamps, more collage bits, fancy address, a long personal paragraph, the whole bit. I hope I'll be able to talk Bob into helping me go to the post office tomorrow to get them hand-cancelled.

All day long I kept going back and forth between feeling better and crashing into despair. A lot of things are bugging me these days, but at the top of the list is this cannabinoid medication my chronic pain doctor wants me to start taking. I really want it! But when I called the pharmacy today to see if they'd contacted my insurance company, they said they hadn't even received the order from my doctor for the prescription! Arrrggh.... So I called his receptionist for like the third time this week, and gave her the phone # of my pharmacy again. I know that doctor is very busy, but this is ridiculous! =big sigh=

And yet...and yet...I kept on pushing to try to feel better. I did all of my long and demanding Qi Gong routine: the physical part of it is minimal, but it takes a LOT of concentration to do the energy work, the manipulations of chi within my body. I managed to hold my focus through every bit of it, though, and thank God.... by the time I'd finished my second, much more chi-focused meditation, the sun was setting, and my mood was lifting steadily, as it always does at that time of day. (I'm downright allergic to afternoons.)

As I write these words, I'm listening to an excellent St. Patty's Day rock-n-roll radio show—my favorite deejay on Sirius-XM, of course. And some time tomorrow Bob and I will watch our recording of UNC's first-round game in the NCAAs.

So life moves on...best wishes to all of y'all...

P.S. Ha ha! I just did a little retail therapy of my own: 'went to ebay and bought a bunch of vintage stamps with fish on them. I LOVE FISH!!!

Sam That is absolutely insane that the receptionist was so rude. I think you are making a good call in not going and perhaps finding somewhere else. I worked as a receptionist for a while and one thing I was super careful of was even if I was having a bad day, ticked off, or completely overwhelmed--you could never tell over the phone....because sometimes its a first call (like in your case)....plus you just don't. It's bad customer service. Even though its a doctors office....customer service still applies. AND its a doctors office. If you aren't at ease scheduling (or re-scheduling) an appointment with the front desk....how comfortable are you going to be the doctor? She was wrong on so many different levels. On a positive note...How did the Korean food turn out this time?

Fiona Your collage is awesome! So sorry it was a rough day. I hope tomorrow is much much better. And sorry that you, too, had to deal with doctors offices today with your prescription. Its horrible that we have to advocate SO hard for ourselves to be listened to, isn't it?

We have an appointment with the accountant first thing tomorrow morning so most of tonight was spent scrambling around making sure we had all the paperwork we needed. Stupid thing is, we have already had our taxes done once but we are 95% they were done incorrectly. Long story, very short, we were asked to fill out a form for my husbands job that we are pretty sure (and the new accountant confirmed it over the phone) was incorrect and were told we owed a LOT more than we expected. When we questioned the previous accountant he was adamant that he was correct and sent us the bill. Lots of factors at play here...but suffice to say, my husband switched jobs this year and we are going with the accountant who has worked with his current employer before and who is pretty well known in our community. So fingers crossed we don't end up deeper in the hole by having to pay another accountant for something thats already been done.

The whole situation has me stressed and wanting to eat, because that is my go to when times get hard. I am trying to remain focused, went out and did a walk/jog for 30 minutes, and have not cheated today. So for that, I am proud of myself.

Can I join in? I have been back at it for 3 wks. I am trying to keep my carbs about 50 per day. I feel good but scales are being ugly. I lost 9lbs week 1. Then gained back 5 and scales are still there. I had a moderate cheat day a wk ago. Scales won't budge. But guess what I'm staying with it!!!😱
I am using the gaZelle for 30 min a day and lifting weights daily. I feel good.
I am losing inches. I was able to wear a shirt to bunco last night that was to tight 3 weeks ago. 🎉 We do fingerfoods and I took a healthy food and stayed on plan. Big improvement for me!!
We'll have a great day!

Hello everybody!
I know I know I have been MIA for days and even when I check in it is a flying visit!
Unfortunately I have had to have my Central (PICC) line put back in for IV antibiotics to start again. What I really want to do is lie in a hospital bed and refuse to move until they fix me!
Am feeling quite shaky and fluey today which is not surprising as the oral antibiotics are not doing the job.
I am hoping that the CT results will be available to the community nurses who come to the house to do the antibiotics and give me some answers. I will then know what I am dealing with which will reduce some of my anxieties.
I may have the PICC line in for up to 6 months in which case I plan on buying a specific waterproof cover so I can swim regularly as that is my favourite form of exercise. I have one for showering but it is too uncomfortable to wear when swimming so I will treat myself.
Hope everyone is OK,
Take care,
Donna

The sun is out but I'm having a blah day. Don't know why -- and that is unusual for me -- but blah it is. Oh well, if this is the worst thing that happens then I have nothing to gripe about (but probably will!).

Fi -- The new collage was kind of scary. Then I took the opportunity to look at your body of work and thought WOW! What a creative mind! I like the composition of yours even though you feel they are simple. Or maybe it's because they are so much less cluttered than others I see. Sounds like you really worked at battling through the depression -- hard to do. Enjoy your new stamps and the b-ball.

Sam -- I would have just lost it. First, I can't imagine why there wasn't a sign posted on the door, why they didn't call every patient with an upcoming appointment, and why the web site wasn't updated. One suggestion is to definitely provide feedback to your doctor who gave you the referral. Doctors do talk to each other, and it's possible that the doctor with the crappy receptionist would be glad to get the feed back. Glad you were able to do some retail therapy, will get the car fixed and will have your rings soon. And it sounds like you have a good weekend coming up.

Lovinlife -- There's nothing like a problem with the taxes to give us a bad case of the jitters. Hope that the new accountant gets things figured out and definitely in your favor. I take it the form was provided by the first accountant. If it turns out he was wrong, I would suggest asking for a significantly reduced bill from him! He did do work on them so probably deserves some compensation although filing taxes incorrectly would be a pretty major boo-boo -- especially for an accountant! Hope it all gets straightened out. And on a positive note, not eating when you're this stressed is a major win for you. Way to go!

Dgramie -- Welcome back! The ups and downs of those first weeks on low carb can drive you nuts. One cheat day and your body just totally betrays you. Glad you're seeing results in the inches area.

Donna -- I'm so glad you posted because I had a feeling that you were having some more problems. So sorry to hear that you have had to have the PICC line put back in. Have you gotten the CT results back yet? Sometimes just getting a definitive diagnosis on what's causing these recurring bouts would help a lot. Hope that things start looking up for you very, very soon.

I'm getting ready to head into town. I'm going to stop by the medical marijuana place and investigate the transdermal patches and then go find a grass catcher for the lawn tractor. I was going to go up to look at another town up around the kids tomorrow, but my nephew sent me a text that one of the exits will be down to one lane for road work all weekend. It's in an area where the traffic is always horrible anyway. Basically, there's I-5 going north with the mountains on the east and the sound on the west. There are some side roads I could go on, but I'm sure they'll be awful too with others trying to get around. So, cancel that. Guess I'll get the tomato starts moved to the next sets of pots as their first leaves have started. I want to germinate the peas so I can get them planted in the next week or so and set out the onions. Time to get started on the yard work again!

Bad day yesterday eating wise in terms of salt intake -- my fingers look like little sausages. Back at it today. Hope everyone has a great day.

Fi The whole thing with the doctor's office is I think they have already moved since before I made my appointment and just not updated their website. I had never been to that doctor's office before or seen that doctor so I'm not entirely sure. I actually got a recorded phone call today telling me I missed my appointment..uhhh you think? LOL!!! I really like your collages. Sometimes the simplest things are the best things. Sometimes things get too busy and then you feel like your looking at a picture on acid because it's so busy. You are such a creative genius and I am in such envy of you I'm glad that you share your art, it makes me feel lucky to get to see such wonderful things. I'm sorry you've been battling a lot of ups and downs lately. You're right it could be the medicine, change in the weather, who knows.

Lovinlife I completely agree with you. I work as an insurance agent and I know customer service is key with everyone. People want to be treated like a person, not a number, and in a doctor's office of all places I feel like there should be more compassion regardless of the situation or what you're dealing with that particular day. I've always been told your outside life leaves the door when you walk in, which can be hard sometimes. I don't plan on trying to go again and if my psych asks me if I saw the doctor (who is her friend from medical school) I'll tell her what happened and that I don't plan to try and reschedule. Taxes suck but boy does your problem seem so much worse than mine was. I hope you get it all sorted out. It sucks having to pay a second person to get it right.

dgramie Hello!! I think you may have posted here quite awhile ago if I do remember?? Don't get discouraged by the scale, if you are losing inches that's great!!!

Donna Please do keep up with us!! We worry about you so I'm glad you checked in. I hope things turn out ok and you get your answers soon!! Glad to see you are still thinking about going swimming when you can ...How are the babies?

Betsy You're right I probably should say something. I was so mad I wanted to write a google review so people would know what they could be up against and to let them know about the website issues since apparently the office doesn't care. I really have no idea how long ago they moved either...It could have been months or a year or who knows!!! I'm keeping on the bright side though and moving along. Hope you have a great weekend with hopefully lots of sunshine!

Today wasn't too bad at work. I actually have been having a great week and have gotten pretty much ahead on my work...I don't know if I should say that too loud the mountains of work may come crashing back down on me LOL. When I got off work DH told me he didn't feel like making dinner or wanted something quick. He decided he wanted Chinese so I went and got it for him on my way home. I have a weak spot for Chinese but I pushed through the temptation and just got it for him and came home with nothing. I just finished exercising and decided I would make a personal egg bake for myself that's going in the oven. I just threw in what I could find on hand...sweet potato, onion, tomato, ham, egg and cheese. Hopefully it turns out ok. This is the first time I've made something like this, although I guess it's about the same as the egg muffins I used to make.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow and of course DH is taking it upon himself to claim a lazy day. I want to get the house in order since we probably won't be going anywhere. It's starting to take on a life of it's own again. We'll see where it takes me.

Hope everyone has a great evening!

Hi guys! Sorry I have been a bit absent this week! I hope you all are well! I have had a fabulous end to the week, I have made some big progress at work, and I am having a nice, chilled out weekend. I weigh in again on Monday, I hope the scales are kind to me! It will be 2 months since I started on my current meal plan and exercise regimen, and I am hoping to have cracked the 10kg lost mark this week! I still have another 4 weeks to go, and my ideal goal is to have lost 15kg in 12 weeks, but I am taking it one week at a time! I hope everyone is hitting their targets and enjoying their journey!

Sam, Betsy, & lovinlife— Thanks so much for the nice comments on my recent collage, and about my collages in general. I guess I'm attracted to abstract art so much that even when I'm working with representational elements, I tend to think of them as adding up to an abstract composition. That's one way of understanding the "simple" thing. Abstracts can be complex, of course, but the ones I admire (e.g., Kandinsky) don't have layered stuff like tissue paper or random splotches of paint like a lot of collages I see. I must say, though, that my fellow Kollage Kit participants mostly stick to simple, well-composed arrangements.

dgramie— Welcome back!

Last night I did the exact opposite of the advice I give to other people: when a craving for sweets hit, I immediately gave into it. =sigh= Bob was kind enough to share some of his fruit bars with me. My weigh-in is on Monday, and I'm not looking forward to it. I just feel heavier...

More afternoon depression today, but I got in my full Qi Gong routine all the same. The meditation part really helps my mood.

The Formula 1 season kicks off this weekend—yay! If someone had told me, twenty years ago, that I would turn into a huge fan of Grand Prix auto racing, I would've said they were crazy. But each race is different, because each one occurs on a unique circuit, in cities scattered all over the world. It's so international a sport, in fact, there are rarely any American drivers, and the American drivers that appear from time to time always drop off the map quickly, 'cause they just don't seem to have the knack for driving these very light (carbon-fiber, minimum of metal), very fast, high-tech machines.

So I guess between F1 and the NCAA's, Bob and I will be spending an unusual amount of time in front of TV. =laugh=

Two new collages I made today: flower remedies 1 & 2. (Click image for larger version.)