Good morning! Coffee's on, and there's time for a quick mug before I dash off to the gym.

Baff, I could not believe your photo of the house in your neighborhood!! We're having crazy weather here too, but thankfully it's just unseasonably warm and not destructive.

It sounds like everyone is back on track after the holidays, so . Lily, I love reading about your gym adventures -- who knows, maybe you'll end up as a personal trainer some day!

Got to run ... be back later. Let's make this a great week!

Good morning lovely maintainers.

Yes, I actually had me a good ENTIRE week last week and don't have any parties or social events this week so there are NO excuses to stray from plan this week.

I am going on a vacation for the first time in I don't know how long. It will be the first time I am on a plane since my brother in law got married some 13 years ago. Yup, all my friends were always going away and I made up every excuse in the book not to go with them. I was terrified of getting on a plane at my heavy weight. Didn't want to deal with the seat belt, squishing in a seat situation, going to a beach situation as well. Well not this time. Very good friends of ours, her mom has a 3 bedroom condo in Florida, which will be vacant, and they asked us to go along - and finally after years of saying, well, just too busy, just too this - I said yes. So on the 17th of January I am going away for a week - to a beach - in Florida - on a REAL vacation - going on an airplane - with ZERO worries. This has got to be my biggest NSV to date.

So yeah, I had better stay on plan for the next 10 days til we get there. I'll be wearing a bathing suit day in and day out (hopefully) and then of course there's all the vacation food I'll be consuming.

I've got to run as well. Got lots to do today.

I hope you are all FANTASTIC and have a marvelous maintain' kind of a day.

Morning, maintainers!

Rockinrobin: That's a fantastic NSV. You'll have such a blast!

Last night I cooked cioppino for DH & The Boy. Onions, garlic, fennel bulb, green pepper, a splash of olive oil; some red wine, chicken stock, and diced tomatoes; bay leaf, oregano, S & P, rosemary, basil, a shot of worcestershireshircester(shir) sauce, a dash or two of tabasco ... and then the seafood: mussels, shrimp, and some turbot. (The turbot was too soft & broke apart. Next time I'll splurge for some cod, halibut, or bass.) Not the cheapest meal in my repertoire, but it was dee-lish. And in the greater scheme of special meals, healthy to boot!

Best of all: leftovers tonight!

Off to get me coffee, me hearties.

Kim

Morning, everyone!

Kim, that sounds very delicious. I've always thought cioppino sounds good but I was too lazy to make it! I like the IDEA of cooking, but I've never really liked the reality too much. Unless I'm baking cookies for Christmas, of course...

Robin, how wonderful that you're going to take a lovely trip and you don't have to worry about your weight! What a blessing! And you've worked hard for it, so enjoy!

Meg, how's it going?

I'm feeling ok this morning, though I'm already tired as can be and the day hasn't started yet! This pregnancy thing really does make you worn out all the time! I'm going to try my best to eat only good food today, and if I have the slightest little scrap of energy left after teaching, I'm going to walk on the treadmill at school. Even if I just manage a mile, at least I'm moving! My scale said 170 this morning -- eek! A 3-pound jump since Saturday! But as you all may know by now, my scale likes to jump around a lot anyway. I bought a prenatal yoga DVD but I haven't had the energy to take off the plastic wrap yet...

Good Morning maintainers. I've been out with the dog already and am on my third cup of coffee. Last week it was -2 and this morning it's 60. Very weird. My kids go back to school tomorrow so I'm putting off any work today. Tomorrow of course I'll have to double up. Oh well, today I'll be a grasshopper tomorrow the ant.

Robin-Have a great trip.

LisaMarie-I remember being so tired. Which prenatal dvd did you have. I loved mine.

Kim-sounds wonderful

I got way too far behind last week so good wishes to everyone.

Good morning everyone.

Holidays are over for me, back to working and having exams again this week. I don't know yet how things will go, but somehow I'm confident they'll go well enough. I was hoping for good weather today (I really like biking along the canal), but it doesn't seem like the sun will really appear for more than ten minutes in a row, so blah. I guess this is a call to revise even more this afternoon.

Still OK regarding food. I'm very glad about that. Besides, tackling exams in a sugar-binge-induced semi-coma would be so not a good idea.

Good Morning, everyone!!

I've been back in town since Thursday and reading to try and catch up. I decided to wait for a new thread to jump back in. Hope you all had wonderful holidays and a great start to the new year.

Eating was not so great on my trip to see The Boy in Memphis. We ate out a lot, but I tried to make good choices. I FINALLY went grocery shopping with my dad and bought some good food to have around here. Its so frustrating since I'm used to living alone and taking care of myself. My mom wanted to get rid of the sweets....what did she do? Bake a cake. wtf.

Memphis was great and I have the greatest boyfriend ever! I'm so lucky to have him back(and luckily he feels the same!).

I'm running up to Chattanooga to do a couple of errands and then coming back and kicking my job hunt back into high gear. I'm focusing on Nashville...anyone know any big corporations to look for there?

Have a great day!

Hi everyone!

LisaMarie - congrats on the pregnancy!

Lily - Glad to hear your DH stood up to his daughter!

Kim - LOL, in my house we also call it worcesestershirestershire sauce!

Robin - Have fun on your trip!!! That is a great NSV.

I'm having a little bit of weight fluctuation but not much. I was down to 141 yesterday but back up to 143 today, probably from the two glasses of wine I had last night. Luckily Friday is my official weigh-in day so I have some time to fix this! I've now gone five days with no sweets. Walked straight past the pile of free donut holes at work this morning and I am happily sipping my tea!

Last week I really wanted stew, so I had picked out three stew recipes to cook for the week. Well, it turns out that after two stews, DH was sick of stew! So we are saving the third stew for the end of this week. My recipe actually calls for seitan but I couldn't find it at the grocery, do you think it's ok to substitute tofu? Anyway I am feeling really good about last week's food choices and hoping this week will be as good. We made it to the gym three days last week (Jan 2-4, after the holiday that the gym was closed for!). Aiming for five this week. Tomorrow I have an appt with my rheumatologist -- not really sure how it will go. My prediction is he'll just say "come back in three months."

It is unseasonably warm here today - 60 degrees! Pretty nice if you ask me. However, it is raining, which makes my joints achy. :P Oh well. DH and I have been looking through the Burpee flower catalog thinking about what we want to plant in the spring!

I am going away for about a week or so. Their will be no weigh ins, I will be at my son's home in Sacramento so will have some control over meals.. I will fix my own breakfast and probably lunch. I also will be taking my dog along, but don't know if the weather will be cooperating for long walks. I just hope I will be able to fit in the same clothes that I start out with.

Congrats on the baby-to-be LisaMarie!

Boy oh Boy Anne! Your DD will love having a baby brother.

Kery - do well on your exams. Good job of giving away that yummy cake. I did that over Christmas with a fudge cake. Best move I made.

Shane - good luck with the written test and the in person interview.

Jessica - I don't think tofu will stand up well being stewed unless you add it in the last 15-20 minutes. A better substitute for seitan would be very thinly sliced chicken or turkey breast.

DH finished spackling and sanding the family room and we painted it a warm antique white. The former owners had it as a very cold bright white. Next to do after ripping up the white carpet is to put down an oak floor so we can practice dancing.

Right now and until after our dance party here in our house at the end of April, we're going to keep the family room furniture in my studio which is really the living room of the house.

For painting since I only have 'good' clothes at my current weight, I went into my fat clothes basket and pulled out a pair of sweats from my highest weight. They stayed up because the elastic in the waist is really strong, but boy were they baggy. DH said, "You could fit two of you in there!"

On Saturday I took a Ladies Only class on how to make my West Coast Swing dancing more stylish. We worked for the first hour of the two hour class simply on posture from the feet to the knees to the thighs to the hip to the stomach to the rib cage to the shoulders to the head. There's a certain posture for this dance than is different than others such as Salsa or other ballroom dances.

Then we worked on how to place our feet as we're moving from step to step. This dance goes toe-ball of foot-heal rather than the standard heal first to ball. Finally, we learned one specific move we can do to look fancy.

Now, I'm excited to get our dance floor down so I can practice what I learn so I can later work it into my dancing.

Today's day number 6 of no sugar. It's helped my weight come down already. I really want to get back to goal and then see if I can get down to 5 below like I was last summer before we leave for our weeklong cruise on a sailboat in the Carribean at the end of February.

Morning. Whew, it warmed up here today (all the way to 10 above )

Bargoo - I've been hearing about the awful weather in Sacramento (friend's son is in school there). Don't get washed away.

Robin - great NSV!! I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Not much going on here. Lots of work, and a full 5 days to work this week. I had a decent eating weekend, and got stocked up on the foods I need so this week is looking good too. DH is still gone, he'll be back late Thurs night. I have my gym stuff here, so no excuse for not going straight there from work. It's a cardio day, and I'll start my new WL program tomorrow.

Hi everyone,

Meg, I have already told DH that after I get in great shape that I'd like to take classes to become a personal trainer. I am loving the gym and I really think I'd rather do this than to go back to being a nurse. I still have my RN license on inactive status for now. I'm hoping that once my hepatologist sees how fit I can become that he'll give me permission to work again.

I am cheating and doing the abdominal stuff as long as it doesn't hurt. If anything hurts at all, I won't do it. I figure since my whole tummy is wired with mesh that maybe I won't have any further hernias. I know, I know, I just can't refuse trying to firm up my belly.

rockinrobin, that is an awesome NSV. Having a fun trip with no weight worries will be fantastic!

Carolyn, my gym offers Latin dancing classes. I think after I get my body in better shape I might have to give these a try. Sounds fun to me and I thought of you when I saw the classes posted.

We had a very rough night last night. My grandsons had let Lucy (my 1 yr. old Lab) out the front door. She came hobbling and whining back in last night. I could tell something was definitely wrong with her. We took her to the 24 hr. Emergency Vet Hospital. We had to carry her on a blanket to the car. We thought she possibly had broken ribs and internal injuries. When they rolled her over to do her X-rays, they found she had a large jagged cut under one arm with a large pocket of blood/pus accumulated. The vet believes she was attacked by a "large animal". I think my neigbors Pit Bull that runs loose is the culprit , but I have no proof. (That dog has lately been hanging out on my deck and growling at my dogs through the glass door). Anyways, they put Lucy under general anesthesia, cleaned and stapled her wounds and gave her IV antibiotics and pain killers. I picked her back up this morning and she's now on oral antibiotics and pain med's. I have to take her to my regular vet. tomorrow to have them check her to make sure the infection is getting better. Poor thing has to wear a face shield cone to make sure she doesn't lick the wound. Even with the pain med's she acts like she is in a great deal of pain but a little dopey at the same time. Her treatment has been Very Expensive, but there was no way that I was gonna just let her suffer. With all the vet bills I've had this past month, I need to find a Pet Insurance company!

Our weather is crazy here too. The other day it was 15 degrees, today it is 78 degrees.

Lily~so sorry to hear about your dog. ER vets do charge a lot more than your regular vet, but in cases like this, it is worth it. I hope she heals quickly.

Robin~have fun on your vacation!!

Lisa~yes, being pregnant can be a strength zapper. I remember working all day, coming home to fix dinner, eating and going straight to bed.

I'm feeling a little under the weather today. I woke up just fine but before I headed to work I started feeling nauseous. I went to work, but turned around and came right back home after 10 minutes. I slept for a couple hours and now I feel like I have a sinus infection. I'm pretty sure I had a sinus infection over Christmas, but have felt fine for the past few days. We'll it's back with a vengeance--either that or I have something else going on. So I'll drink my chicken broth and take it easy today. My tummy feels better--its just the pain in my head (and neck) that are bad.

We are staying in a nice cushy hotel that has a business center with computers and high speed internet, a fitness center, and a nice big bowl of apples at the front desk. I have been using all of these things, especially since the snacks they keep giving us at our meeting are mostly cookies and brownies (you know the yummy homemade giant ones). Not even a fruit bowl! The woman at the front desk knows how much I like apples by now. Good thing I've got the gym and brought some knitting - the meeting is already wearing thin, it's not very productive. I've stuck OP with eating & exercise so far, just 2 more days to go.

Lily, ah, poor Lucy! If you can prove anything about that pit bull perhaps you can get some kind of court order for the owners to keep it chained up. Hasn't it charged you a few times? I love dogs but such an aggressive dog can't be allowed to run around.

DGAdDawg, my mom does that kind of thing too - complaining about how many desserts we have, then making more. I feel your frustration!

Robin, how exciting about your trip! What a wonderful NSV!

I'm headed to dinner with a few colleagues. Have a great evening all!

OK, I was sure we'd be on page 2 by now! The thread is almost manageable today.

Let's see:

Hi Meg!

Robin, I'm envious of your vacation.

Kim, your dinner with the unpronounceable brown sauce sounds heavenly!

LisaMarie, I did take my prenatal yoga video out of the wrapper, but it made me tired to watch it. So I didn't do it again. Ah, well.

joyofsixLisa, 3 cups of coffee!!

Kery, I'm sure your exams will go as well as you expect. Good for you for doing it sugar free.

DG, congrats on getting back together with the boyfriend. Good luck with your job hunt.

Jessica, I just got a winter comfort food issue from Cooking Light I'm going to crack. Is this where you got your stew recipes? I need you to come cook for me. Well, you or Kim. Or better yet, you and Kim!!

Bargoo, have a nice trip.

Carolyn, it seems like you are ALWAYS dancing!

Pat, you'll have to give us a quick review of the WL stuff. I don't get over to LWL (or whatever it is now) much.

Lily, can you call the sheriff on that dog? It sounds like a headline waiting to happen. I'm so sorry about the attack, and hope your Lucy recovers soon.

Allison, I hope you feel better soon.

Megan, I'm proud of you for choosing apples over cookies.

Now I'm tired again. Anyhoo, it is raining here! Sort of cozy to be home. I'm feeling really good for a change, had a decent day at work. It is my year to keep track of our money, and I like that I know where it is going, so I feel in control. DH made a nice, small supper and I just finished up my after dinner snack of warm whole wheat pita bread and roasted red pepper hummus. It was very nice.

I'm going to run along and do some email, and then settle in with my new Cooking Light and Triathlete magazines. The baby is moving tonight, and that is fun. DD is being very good, and I STILL have no houseguests!!

Everyone have a good one!

Anne