Happy Father's Day!

Today is Tame the Jungle day for me. I've been working outside whacking shrubbery until heatstroke set in. Dodgeing bees and poison ivy (that's on my list) resulted in cutting through the cord on the hedgetrimmers, very exciting!

I may do some easy cardio later (my legs are super sore from yesterday's workout) but it will definitely be somewhere air conditioned!

Have a good one!

Mel

Mel, it sounds like you are tackling the type of work that I've been doing. Thankfully I'm not allergic to poison ivy or I'd have it all over me by now. The honeysuckle vines I've been removing from our fence line are covered with bees and thankfully I haven't been stung yet.

I have to say that I'm feeling pretty depressed right now. The financial changes that DH has made with 401K and insurance premiums are kicking our butts. I just got a letter showing my adjustable rate mortgage is going up a full percentage point. The 2 SD's that just moved in over this past month are adding to the bills. DH hasn't hired an attorney yet to get custody of the youngest and stop his automatic child support from being taken out of his paycheck. So, we're supporting her and still paying her mom child support. Things seem pretty hopeless at this point. I'm considering selling my big expedition (as it's a gas hog) and finding me a smaller, more economy car. I definitely wish now we hadn't bought the boat and camper.

DS leaves at 3AM to go to Sacramento for his summer Army Drill. He's had me worried because he is talking of enlisting full-time.

I have been having trouble sleeping. I'm tearful and probably should see my Dr. for something for depression. My wt. has been alll over the place. I can't seem to stay on plan with eating. Some days I don't care if I eat or not and other days, I can't stop eating. Exercise has been plenty because it's the only thing that seems to take my mind off everything else.

Hi maintainers,

Lilly - How long till DH can reverse these changes ? Hang in there!

Rabbit

Lily - I'm so sorry to hear that! I hope things improve and soon.

I know I've been a little lax in posting but mostly because things have been hectic.

DH and I just bought a townhome. I absolutely love it Tons of walking paths in a really good area. Really good news is I will have a large basement room which will be designated the exercise room. We've decided that we will move our larger TV to the basement as well. We don't watch much tv as it is and it'd be nicer for exercising. We want to eventually get a wall mounted or very slim TV for the living room but that'll have to wait. We don't get to move in for another month and half but I need to start packing.

Hey all, back again. Not sure why I stopped posting before Christmas, though it may have had something to do with quitting my gym membership. I just was not going.

Anyway, now I am really getting into the workouts 6 days a week. Working out at home until I get a solid habit under my belt (which I hope gets smaller!!) Now that DD is older, our mornings are less hectic and I am able to get out more. I have been following my FIT TV recordings, as well as taking up Namaste Yoga, that has been a huge improvement for me.

Changing up the eating to BFL/EFL again. I just have to really watch those carbs and I think that even the brown rice, WW pasta and stuff is not going to be part of my life.

MEL - Great to be greeted by your post, though the jungle maintenance sounds menacing. Glad I have my little old postage stamp size of a back yard to take care of. 5 years at goal, just wonderful.

LILLY - sounds like you have a tough time right now, lots of coming and going. I hear you on the downsizing vehicles, we are going to go from 2 to 1 and I am glad my employer pays for my public transporation pass. Makes me walk more. Hang in there and strong vibes for all who are in the military.

RABBIT - Hi to you too.

NELIE - Welcome to the world of real estate and taking care of that. I am envious of the basement/workout space. I have converted the LR into a mini gym with a basket on strong wheels for my weights, my yoga mat is rolled up next to the china cabinet and the exercise ball lives in the room until company comes over.

I have my cottage cheese in the fridge beside the berries and all, ready to make some serious progress.

Liza

Congrats on the townhome nelie! Good to see you posting. We've been living in our new townhouse for a week but still have a few things back at the apartment. We're hoping to get the last of it tonight. I also plan to make a workout space in my basement (it’s so cool to have a basement!). I’d like to put an elliptical down there eventually.

Welcome back, Liza! I've made brown rice and sweet potatoes a very small part of my life! BFL as written was definitely too high carb for me. I usually have about 1/2 the amount of starchy carbs called for in meals 1 and 3, and leave them out of the other meals. Um, except meal 4 always contains fruit and protein. I guess I really don't eat BFL style anymore

Congratulations to the new homeowners!

My shoulders are starting to feel creaky again. I think it must be from doing the cross-trainer 5 days a week This morning I used a recumbent bike for cardio, but it sure wasn't as hard a workout! I may have to just skip the arm part for a while.

Mel

Goodness, how did it get to be 4 pm already!? I love work days that fly by, and yet I hate how time itself is going warp speed - guess we're never happy.

Had a good weekend, and the weather was nice for a change. Did my last long training walk for the half marathon next Sat. Now I just have to get through 2.5 more days of work. We leave Thurs noon to go to an evening wedding about 4 hours away. We'll stay overnight (camping in our truck) and come home on Friday. We have a number of things to do in Anchorage, including picking up my bib for the race, and a pasta meal (hard to call it dinner when it's served at 4 pm!). Then home to sleep in my own bed and back to Anchorage for the race by 8 am. Whew, see what I mean, I've got myself to next Sat afternoon already - and it's only Monday.

Liza - good to see you back. I wondered where you'd gotten to.

Mel - using the arms on the cross-trainer makes my shoulders creak. I use them about 1/2 the time and let them flop the other half.

Nelie - wow, congrats on having a new home. And I'm jealous of the exercise room too. I have a small TV in my sewing room, but there's no room there to exercise too!

Lily - sorry to hear DH has messed up your finances. Hopefully he can get it fixed soon. We ended up paying more taxes than we'd anticipated, which since we also pay estimated taxes really strapped us for a bit. Whoever fixed it so you should have to pay both on the same day should be shot!

Ok, I know the radon alarm is supposed to save me, but why does the low battery alarm have to go off at 3:30 am, because then I slept through my 5 am wake up to workout. Anyway, I am going to walk this afternoon, maybe some yoga in an empty conference room, I am working until at least 9 tonight so my options are limited. At least I won't be eating.

MEL - thanks for the welcome, my own EFL plan does include some very high fiber carbs, but also things from the garden that I use. I know the tomatoes are going to be great and I will have to work on keeping them at arm's length, not over do. But the blueberries, I am fighting off the birds and will eat them hand over fist. I do have my cottage cheese packed. LOL. I was missing it on Atkins if I do say so.

How did you sleep, sometimes after a shoulder and back workout - I find that if I sleep on my arm or arms, I am really feeling it the next day.

PAT - Sleeping in your own bed before race is probably the best thing you can do for yourself. Good luck.

DD heads off with my SIL for a trip to the summer house to open it up for my mom, her birthday party is on Saturday, I love having a child that others like to have around. She and my nephew are 5 months apart. We took him along on our Memorial Day Weekend camping trip, his first time in a tent. He loved it, and was a great camper, really helpful and full of enthusiasm, it was great to see that. We are such old campers, we forget the little things, like the chipmunks stealing the dog's kibble, bulging cheeks.

Been following the Ab workouts in the Oxygen Magazine, love the variety, though am still researching the opinions on working abs every day or not, even within the one magazine - two differing opinions. Of course, I am not in any danger of working out that often that hard yet, but I do aspire to it.

All (both) you new homeowners, any painting or changes in your futures?? DH and I bought our house and had big plans for the kitchen - got a baby instead and realized, we didn't like our original plans for the kitchen, I always say DD saved me from a terrible kitchen design.

Off to get some more work done.

Liza

Shan - so I take it you are enjoying your new home?

Liza, fortunately, we found a townhome that doesn't require much if any work on it. The current homeowners totally redid almost everything in the last couple years. We might paint but we aren't quite sure about that yet. I guess we have time, we have a 1 month overlap between our apartment and having the townhome but I want to live in the townhome as soon as possible

Hi LWL,

Gosh, so much news in one day !

Happy homemaking to all the new home owners. Enjoy your new houses!

Pat - is your marathon this saturday ?? I hope you will have tons of fun!

I did bike again to work today, so another 1.5 hours added to this weeks total. I like the way Peeke puts it in het new book: another 1.5 hour of body dollars in the bank. Eating is soso. I might have a look at this concept of EFL (own eating for life? )

have a great day all,
rabbit

Congrats Nelie! Will you still be in the Rockville/Gaithersburg area, or are you branching out?

hrbabe, I hate commuting That said we will be in the same area. It takes us about a minute to get to 270 and a minute longer to get to 355. I think we have extended our current commute by a few minutes but not very long. Considering it takes me 5 minutes to get to work, it would be hard not to extend that commute although there were some townhomes less than a mile away from my work...

Morning all.

Nelie - when I changed jobs in 2001, people asked me if I'd have a longer commute. Yup, 2 blocks more. I live 3.5 miles from work, and if there were sidewalks or a bike trail or even wider shoulders on the road I could bike it. As it is you take your life in you hands to walk or bike along about half the distance. THe state transportation dept swears this road is in their 2008 plan to upgrade and repair (which will include bike trails) but I've heard that promise before so am very skeptical.

Oh, I had more to say, but it's time to run off to a meeting - booorrring......

Hi guys - just killing time until I take a cab back to the airport in Bangkok. Today wraps up my travel here, and tonight I start the tedious journey home. I leave here at 11pm tonight, have a layover in Seoul, and then will be back in NYC by noon Thursday. It will take me a full 24 hours to get back if you count the actual hours of travel time! Yikes!

I'll post more this weekend once I get over the jet-lag a bit.
Cindy

PS - Nelie, congrats on the new home!