Morning all - back from the yoga class - it was great - so between the other class even if I don't do anything on my own I will do 210 minutes of exercise per week.

Donna - sorry to hear about the car situation. Frozen pipes - that is indeed a mess too. Hope you have a better day - you deserve it - hugs to you!

Battle - great news on the scale front - you have changed more habits than maybe you give yourself credit for. Enjoy your weekend.

Nicole - way to go girl - 8 lbs - keep it up!

Brenda - what program is that? Glad you are feeling such a great relief - going in to this with confidence is such a plus.

Annie - so glad you are going to swim today. Hope you didn't have to swim out of your office yesterday. I hope your bosses don't let the stress of the pending contract trickle down to you.

Val - wow - that is great that you stopped and ate on the way. I'm not sure I could deal with the clingy kid - are you able to have any time one on one with your friend? Maybe a girls day (hour) out? I'm sure your friend would love it too.

Kayley and Heather - you are so kind with the thumbs up for 2 minutes on the elliptical - I felt like my weight was making me move too fast - will better balance help that?

Colneed - great job on the loss! WTG

Kimmie - glad you are using and enjoying FITDAY - acountability is something we all need.

Catherine - how's the tooth? Hope you are feeling better. Another "Catherinism" - hungry while in a come - I concur.

Jeanne - I too love the Japanese steak house experience - we haven't done that for awhile - thanks for the reminder.

Debbie - batwings? You been hanging out with Catherine? Love the description. Hope you're "dancing the fat away".

Zelma - I love the hair color - you are such a beauty. I loved it before but this is great too!

Xena - no DDR for me either (yet). Maybe that can replace you boot camp when its over - you can still get up before dawn and start the day dancing.

Johnnie - glad to see you - doesn't it feel great to be back in control. I hope you find some exercise that fits you.

Hi Nancy, RK and everyone else - miss you.

Need to get busy around here. Hope you all have a great OP day - don't forget to drink your water.

Hugs,
Carol

Kayley- For a busy girl you're doing great on the exercise so far this month.

Carol-I have a similar relationship with my doctor. I've been with him for 12yrs. and he has never nagged me about my weight. Although I sometimes wished he would. But if I bring the subject up he is sure to educate me on the risks of being this heavy, and happy when I shed some lbs. of course. Good luck on all of your dinners and travel that you will have to do.

Valerie- You can thank the gas prices for the rise in the cost of just about everything these days! Will it ever end?

Donna- I hate frozen pipes! I go through it every year, and my pipes are insulated. I only have trouble when the temps get down below zero though. And good luck with the auto repair, I hope it is'nt too costly.

Brenda- Good luck with the program. And finding somewhere indoors to exercise is always nice when it's so icey and cold outside.


Have a good day everyone! Colleen

I just got back from my hour dance class and hour and a half yoga class and boy can I tell that I hadn't done the yoga in a few weeks. Stuff that was getting easier was much harder again. In fact I am pretty exhausted and I think I am going to go take a nap. My ex is coming over tonight to give me my Christmas present. That should be interesting.

I also stopped at Target and bought a full length mirror so that I can spend more time looking at myself and building the love.

Speaking of which, the scale deals are everywhere! They had a scale that was rated to 400 pounds and had a sample Biggest Loser workout dvd for only $15. If anyone is looking to buy a scale it looks like the time is now!

Birthday yesterday, wedding today. I'm snarfing some stir-fry right now, because the dinner at the wedding will certainly include pasta, as well as cake. As we know, cake is a four-letter word (and has maggots in it, right Heather?) but I don't wanna deal with whatever goodies, pasta, etc. they throw at me, without a solid, late lunch of veggies and lean protein. I'm ready to face it.

I've about lost count of days OP already, which tells me I'm in a good, forward-looking frame of mind. It's strange, not being pumped up, fired up, all enthusiasm brimming over - just focused, prepared & careful. What catches us up in bad habits so often, is not being prepared when temptations hit. I think every day of what's coming. If I go out to lunch at a restaurant, I think of the good options they have before I get there. Waiting and cruising the menu only makes for bad decisions. Planning my options for nutrition & my own benefit is how I can succeed. Failure is always an option, it's just not what I should wait for, or allow to be thrust upon me.

Today the wedding cake beckons. I'll be busy making other plans... and acting on them. Have a wonderful, healthful day!

Donna-no one leaves faucets running here, and the pipes never freeze. I have no idea why. In Oklahoma I spent many a morning outside under the house with a torch trying to unfreeze pipes, but no one does that here where it gets to -40. Weird. You guys are starting to sound like the demolition derby family.

Annie-I feel pretty good today. Good enough for a load of dishes and four loads of laundry. There weather here is supposed to hover around 0 this weekend, so everyone is out going crazy because they know it can’t last. It’s only -5 right now, that’s like 23F. Himself was running around in just a tshirt outside. I’m sorry you’re going through a contract process. That’s the way the funding for my program was, and the first time I didn’t do the proposal (it came right after my head injury and I couldn’t do it) in over 5 years, and it was awarded to someone else. That left 7 people jobless including 3 single moms. I’ve always carried a lot of guilt about that eventhough most were hired by the organization that did get the money, and the rest found work quickly. I was the only one that didn’t get another job. There’s a big difference between keeping a job you’re used to and trying to find a new one after having a head injury.

Battle-Have you started building an Ark yet. If you do, it think it would be okay if you didn’t take two of everything with you. I think we could live without cockroaches and hornets.

Kimmie-I don’t know if I have God’s ear or not, but that has never kept me from trying. I’ll certainly keep your niece in my prayers. I lost a 10 month old nephew in 1972 to a hole in his heart, that couldn’t be fixed at the time, and that now is easily fixed with an outpatient catherization procedure. We have made such progress in working on the little ones, that I’m sure she will be fine. They are lucky to have you to take care of the other kids so they can focus.

Carol-I never ate much in front of other people either. Most people thought I was a vegetarian, and couldn’t understand why I weighed so much. I did love going to the doctor when I was losing well. It was practically cheerleading practice for the nurse. She wanted me to write down everything that I was doing, and wanted before and after pictures to show people.

Val-I’m at 3 days too, and it is finally getting easier. I haven’t felt the need to eat a dish towel or wall paper. Both were starting to look good at one point. The price of healthy food is always going up.

Carol-My tooth feels great. This dentist is the best. I’ve had really bad luck with dentists in my life, like the one who billed my insurance for stuff he hadn’t done, and the one who got in a hurry and jabbed a tool into the roof of my mouth making for a nicely infected wound. This guy is gentle and really good at what he does. He’s also the first dentist, that I know of, that I’ve had who is gay. I must be becoming one of those little old ladies that only want the gay guy to do her hair or something.

Nancy-Isn’t New Year’s resolution time great for deals? I’m waiting for my store to put my brand of protein shakes on sale, and I’ll buy 6 months worth, and enough dried skim milk that they are going to think I’m sending it to an overseas mission or something. There are a lot of Mormons and Hutterites here, and they believe in having a 6 month supply of food on hand, so the clerks do see some of this, but I look like neither.

I had a devastating loss this morning. I lost two blades on my blender. Luckily, I didn’t ingest them. I dug out my old one, until he can run down on Monday to pick up a new set of blades. Himself is not terribly mechanical. The idea that you could call some place with a part number and go pick it up and fix it yourself has thrown him. I remember the day he came home and I had taken the VCR apart. He thought I’d had a breakdown, and was taking everything apart to find the demons in the machines. I think I’m going to find something else to take apart today just to terrorize him. I started taking my mom’s alarm clock apart when I was 6. My dad finally got a neighbor who worked for the phone company to give me a big box of broken phones to play with. I got several of them working. I love to tinker.

carol-- I don't know if balance helps with the elliptical... I think it just takes a while to get used to, for whatever reason!!

Nancy -- I love that you bought a mirror to build the love! Let us know what the ex does!

valerie -- maggot-ridden cake. yuummmmmm. Not. But if it helps, then YAY!

I am definitely sick today. Taking it easy. But I feel like a snot machine.

Carol – Hmmm…I’m not sure (about balance and the elliptical). I have horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) balance, and I never had a problem with it. Although, I noticed that I kept wanting to go faster, because I thought it’d be a better workout, but could only do a few minutes like that. Just pace yourself. I don’t think that answers your question…lol. Good luck with it!

Nancy – I noticed that when I was at Target today, too! All of the fitness stuff is on major sale, because of the New Year! Good for you for buying that full length mirror. That really is awesome. And good luck with the ex tonight. When was the last time he saw you?

Valerie – Have a great time at the wedding, and good luck avoiding the cake! :O Let us all know how it went!

Catherine – Whoa. I’m glad that you were able to fish those blades out!


Well, I just got back from grocery shopping, and I’m good and stocked up for the week! I have some Ramen noodles that I will probably finish up tomorrow, and then on Monday, full force onto my plan! I’m not feeling all that well today, so I’m just going to take this weekend to rest, and then get back on the exercising track on Monday as well, too. Need to get my minutes up!

Nancy- I had an ex-boyfriend that brought a Christmas present to me just to show off his new girlfriend.

Donna: Sorry about all the car trouble you are having.

Brenda: I hope when you do your weigh in you are plesantly surprised.

Nicole: Yipee, congrats to you on -8.8! Great job.

Battle: Yeah on -1 especially during TOM's arrival. I am not as lucky as you. I am expecting TOM any time and hope I am retaining water thus, no weight loss.

Carol: Great job on the 210 minutes a week. You inspire me.

Nancy: Hope tonight's dinner goes well with the EX. So, so proud of you for the mirror!

Val: If the cake calls you, go dance!

Catherine: I am so the oposite about tinkering. I can break most anything but fixing it uh nope. That would be my Joel. He is the fixer and I am the.... breaker. lol. Glad you are feeling a bit better.

Heather and Kayley feel better very soon.

Well, made it to the pool and then did tons of walking after working out. I got in probably 4 hours total today with all the walking I did. That is exciting to me. I also touched up the gray in my hair. It was getting out of control. lol. Got the house spic and span with the exception of one of the bathrooms is almost done. I wanted to go swim at a certain time so I stopped right in the middle. lol. It should only take me about 10 minutes to get in there and finish, just being lazy. I have about 1/2 the laundry done too. Joel is outside taking the lights down. I love the Christmas lights but it is definately time to put them away until next year.

Hope you are all op and doing well.
Blessings,
Annie

OK, so I went to the wedding which was outstandingly lovely. Turns out that in the bride's early teens, her mom had pointed out the groom & told her she should date a boy like that someday. They've known eachother somewhat for years, but only started dating last February. They're such a beautiful couple, and both families are thrilled, which is always cool.

O yea, the reception. Turns out it wasn't a dinner reception. It was a FREAKING DESSERT reception! A 50-foot table with nothing but carbs & calories piled everywhere! Ya know, I was in control before I went into that room. I did some serious damage to their coffee supply, but I didn't touch a morsel of that stuff. It wasn't even that tough. I ended up having to sit with the evil one and listening to her endless twittering, but even with that little stress, eating that stuff just wasn't an option. Actually, I had my digital camara with me, and I cruised old pictures rather than deal with her. There were pics of Gabriel on there, and if I had needed any more motivation to be good, it was right there.

Of course, by the time we got out of there, we were starving. We ended up at Parasson's - home of some of the best lasagna on the planet. Bill ordered the lasagna, I ordered the baked chicken cassarole with a salad - no pasta! And then the unexpected thing hit the table. OMG! The garlic bread!! Now THAT was far more tempting than any of the sweets, perhaps because I didn't know it was coming, or maybe because hot garlic bread is devine. I asked Bill to move it, he did, and he ate all of it himself.

I'm feeling rather puffed up with myself, having been good in both planned and unplanned circumstances this last few days. I even talked to evil SD a few times. OK, twice, but I behaved & didn't say ANY of the things I was dying to. Hopefully the worst is over for the next several months, as far as ESD goes anyway.

Bad part is, I didn't get any exercise again today.

CATHERINE, hang in there! If I can resist every one of 153,896,942 calories under the fire of the ESD, then you can resist the call of the wallpaper! We're on a roll!

OMG Val, that is an amazing victory!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please don't beat yourself up for not exercising!

Val! Excellent job!!!! You had amazing victory's today!!! You are the bomb!!!