Last day of March?!

Good morning! I'm racing to chug down my mug of coffee and jump into my gym clothes, so I'll start us off for the week and check in later.

Let me say, though: thank heavens for new weeks and fresh starts!

Here, here!

I had a great week last week, but that only partially made up for my previous 2 week peanut butter disaster. Another great week and I'll be back to where I was about a month ago. This is so silly! Why is my memory about a week and a half long?

Hope everyone is doing well, and March is ending like a lamb for you.

Mel

Hi fellow maintainers! I hope you are well. And yup, AMEN to fresh starts.

After having a so-so week, too much fruit, not enough for a gain, but too much for a loss, Saturday night occured. And it wasn't pretty. In fact it was very, very UGLY.

I was wonderfully back on track yesterday. Made a vow to not touch even one grape this week. Some people need to stay away from PB, but no, I've got to stay away from - grapes. I also found an incredible treat. Need to keep that to a minimum too. It's nothing new, but it is to me. Sliced frozen bananas. I slice them and place on a cookie sheet, freeze them and then put them in a container. It's like eating banana ice cream. My kids are loving them too. I usually stay away from bananas. I hate that an entire one is 100 + calories. But with the slices, I can take a couple at a time and spread the calories out.

Enough rambling about food.......... Got tons to do this week. Passover is less then 3 weeks away and I'm in heavy duty cleaning/shopping/cleaning mode. Taxes are here NOW. As is FAFSA, lengthy college aid forms which must be filled pronto. Still have to switch health insurance. Then of course there's all the first of the month bills. My washing machine is broken since last week. I have someone coming this afternoon hopefully to look at it. Something tells me it's time for a new one. Which stinks majorly because it's a washer/dryer combo and the whole EXPENSIVE thing will most likely have to be replaced. Laundry is piling up sky high.

Sad weekend. 3, count um, one, two, three, way too young people have passed away. One is the father of my daughters friend. One is someone I knew very well many years ago and am now good friends with his brother. The other a brother in law of a friend. One was in his fifties, the other 2 in their forties. So sad.

Anyway, have a great week folks.

Good morning everyone,

I'm really trying to mentally clear my head and start a new week fresh. I'm much less upset than I was Friday, but I'm still upset. The roommates haven't said a word about the ruckus Thursday night to me, just continued on conversation as normal. I checked the paper and there are no apartments available to rent that I can afford this week. I am just going to deal with it as best I can for now and try really hard to not let it stress me out. Most of the time I don't mind not making a lot of money, but right now I wish I made a bit more so I could afford my own place!

The weekend was nice and sunny. BF and I hung out with some friends Saturday, and went sailing Sunday. I should have come to work b/c I've got a lot on my plate but instead I went sailing.

I've decided that for April I'm not going to eat any alcohol or sweets. I need to be 100% on plan. Not surprisingly, Saturday AM after (finally) getting a good night's sleep I got in a fantastic NRLW workout. I actually managed to do the body weight matrix 2x. I want to keep that feeling for a whole month! BF has commented on my arms and my um, tooshie that he can tell I've been working out more.

Robin, you sound very busy. I hope you get everything done in a relatively sane manner. If you do need a new washer, you can replace your combo unit redneck style - get a new washer, use the dryer in the combo, use broken washer as laundry sorting table. I'm sorry to hear that so many people you knew have passed on. They were so young.

Mel, well, back to where you were a month ago is better than back to a few years ago. Keep staying out of the PB jar, I will too!

Meg, I hope you had a great workout!

Have a great week everyone!

Hi everybody. Sorry I was MIA last week. DH & DD both had the flu, and we had house guests (with very loud, destructive small children) on top of that and it was a rough week to say the least. I'm also having trouble accessing the site using my normal set-up of Firefox on Vista and it just wasn't worth the hassle with everything going on, and I found my brain was too saturated to really follow anything, anyway.

DH is mad a me because I tried to sleep in this morning after a bad night with limited sleep. The last time I really tried to push myself through major fatigue in this pregnancy, I wound up in the hospital being monitored for way too many contractions. Anyway, he allowed DD to play with a ceramic piggy bank (unsupervised) that she loves, and of course, it broke (smashed into a zillion bits--unfixable) and somehow that was all my fault, even though I had removed the pig from her reach last night and he gave it to her this morning. I suppose he thinks I'm just avoiding dealing with her tantrums in the morning, but I really just need to rest. I reminded him about the hospital trip, and I'm hoping he gets it now. I am still a wreck, a zombie, but am too mad to sleep. I'm trying to cut him some slack because he also had a bad week last week, and I really don't want to fight about it, but show a little sense. Ceramics and two year olds don't mix, no matter how mad you are with your wife. OK, rant off.

The good news is that I have not gotten the flu (yet), and am hoping it stays that way.

77 more days to go. I'm clearly at the stage where I must have a "Please be mean to me" sign on. People love saying all these mean things. "If you think it's hard now, just wait." Does it make them feel better? I do have a kid already, and for me, yeah, the first weeks/months with a newborn were tough, but compared to pregnancy, I'll take it any day. Two very different animals and there just is not comparison. I've quit talking to 3 or 4 "friends" who just can't keep their mouth shut about it, even after I've told them that I just don't need to hear that right now.

Anyway, I'm struggling to be positive this morning and obviously failing. Hope you all are having a better day.

Anne

Good morning maintainers.

Dena~from the last thread, here's your answer: I live in Palm Desert which is just down the road from Palm Springs. I know what you mean about finding an affordable home! Wowza! Thankfully we built our current home and since we're in the construction business (glazing) we were able to pull a lot of favors otherwise we wouldn't have half the house we do.

Gary~thanks for the offer of keeping an eye on Dana at Fullerton! I'll let you know if I need to take you up on the offer. We do have family in the area (aunt & uncle in Brea, two cousins in La Habra and one cousin in Yorba Linda). As for Ashley, do you think Dana will run into her (do you think she'd know who she is)? Yes, I know who she is (thanks to DH who watches racing relentlessly).

Robin~sorry to hear about the deaths. That is so hard.

Anne~hang in there and don't listen to those busybodies!

I'm having a tough day here. Saturday was spent driving to San Diego (2 hours) sitting in a conference (5 hours) and driving home (2 hours). Sunday, the family and I got up for a 5k in Palm Springs (I took Chico). We had a good time but I developed shin splints in the first mile and had to take it easy after that. I wonder if my favoring my shins is what is making my hips hurt today? Anyway, we got home and gave both the dogs a bath and that's where my troubles began. I don't remember lifting either of them (70+ pounds each) but just the bending over for all that time seems to have done my back in. I spent the rest of the day alternating heat and ice and using my massage pads. MIL gave me a pain pill which allowed me to get some sleep (just a couple hours before it wore off). Every time I wanted to roll over it was excruciating! I finally got up at 2 AM and took some Tylenol and that helped a little. I got up, got ready for work and went back to bed for 20 minutes, got up and got the kids up and fed breakfast and went back to bed for another half an hour. Now I'm at work. The back hurts (not as much as yesterday) but I'm so tired from the painful night's sleep. Geez it sucks getting old!

Hi everyone, I've been missing for this past week. Just extremely busy. My birthday was last Tuesday and we went out to dinner and then to visit friends and mall shopping for me some new clothes. Couldn't find many shirts, they all looked like maternity clothes. On Wednesday we took a day off and went fishing all day, it was fun. On Thursday we had a Dr. appt. in OKC for Lacy. (They think her Vascular Ring that goes around the esophagus and Aorta is causing the problem again). More testing still to be done and a visit to a Cardiologist. On Friday we were back in OK City for my Hepatology appt. which went OK, but Dr. says it may take a full yr. to wean my prednisone back down.
Saturday we ripped up all the carpet and baseboards. Then went to a friends dinner party that we had promised to attend.

Sunday we completely put my new wood laminate flooring in my living room. Still have the hallway yet to do. I do love the new floors, but it is a lot of work! We're really saving lots of money doing all our own labor. I am very proud because it looks like it was professionally done.

DH goes back to work tomorrow. I plan to paint the computer room while he's gone and have it ready to lay the new floor when he comes home again.

Last Thursday DH's custody hearing was postponed. His XW didn't agree to the terms and was furious that we had claimed Shelbey on our taxes. OH Well! (She is now being audited for claiming both Shelbey and Taylor last year neither of which lived with her). Anyway I think we've resolved the issues now and can proceed with the custody of Shelbey.

Today DH will be gone . He has to take oldest SD, Samantha, to book her into jail for hot checks. (She has warrants out for her again for the millionth time). Then he'll get her bonded out and she won't see any jail time! Of course I'm mean and keep telling them "you aren't helping her by bailing her out each time, let her learn her lesson". But, no one listens to me. I absolutely couldn't live like that, I'd bawl like a baby if I ever had to go to a jail for anything.

Anyway , hope everyone has a good on-plan week (myself included). Maybe after DH goes back to work, I'll make good use of my gym membership again.

Hi everyone! I'm back from a weekend vacation in St. Louis. DH and I had a great time! I wish Indianapolis had as much nice stuff as St. Louis does. Anyway there was a lot of eating out obviously, but also a lot of walking. When we got back to our hotel Saturday night I had to peel off my shirt and sweatshirt because they were both soaked with sweat (eeew!).

I am very proud of myself because while I did not make the best choices possible at all the restaurants, I made BETTER choices. My calorie estimates (based on websites so not too accurate) show that I didn't go over 2000 at all, and only had one day over 1700. Woohoo! That, combined with all the walking, should leave me in a good place weight-wise. I'm up only 0.5 lbs for the weekend and I know I'll have water weight from the sodium, so I may even end up with a net loss!

I am super-excited about this. I have NEVER been able to go out of town and make good choices. So maybe I didn't get the taco salad at the mexican restaurant and had a burrito instead -- at least I didn't have them put cheese or sour cream on it. Maybe I got chicken nuggets at Wendy's instead of a salad, but I had a side salad instead of fries. I ordered fish for dinner, skipped the french toast and sausage at breakfast (though I did sneak a biscuit), and resisted temptation most places. Yay me!!!

Shane - thanks for the info! I had no idea that was how nose piercings worked, I figured they were just like post earrings! I'm not planning on getting any more piercings (at the moment, you never know what will happen in the future) but I like to be informed.

Hi to everyone else -- no time to respond right now, but hugs to those of you who need it!

This week is going to be tough foodwise. I leave on Wednesday for a business conference in Chicago, so I will have very limited control over what I eat from Thursday through Sunday. Saturday and Sunday I will be at my parents house in the Chicago suburbs, which is usually a complete eating disaster because they have so much junk around the house. My step mom makes this stuff called friendship bread; she showed me the recipe once and let me tell you, that bread is no friend of mine! And it is addictive; I could seriously eat a whole loaf in one sitting, all by myself. She has two recipes, and of course she makes the recipe that is absolutely the worst nutritionally.

So, here's the plan. On Saturday I dropped my calories back down to 1200 and plan to stay there until Wednesday. On Wednesday, I will pack sandwiches to eat while I'm traveling. I have bananas, Asian pears, apples, and Fiber One muffins for snacks. I'll bring energy bars to eat for breakfast or will order oatmeal from the hotel. I'll just do the best I can for lunch and dinner. I will not eat desserts at the conference and I will do my best to stay away from the friendship bread and other junk at my parents. The head trainer at my gym is arranging for me to get a free two-day pass to the branch local to my parent's house and I'll work out at the hotel fitness at the conference. If I do all that, then maybe I'll be able to get back to maintenance when I get back, instead of having to lose weight.

The good news is that my Dad is making corned beef and cabbage for dinner on Saturday! It's his specialty and, while it's not the best, it's not terrible calorie wise; when I've made it myself I've managed to fit it into my calorie limit while dieting. But it's a pain to make, so it's a special treat when I can get someone else to make it for me! Maybe I'll ask him to try to do an extra good job trimming the fat before he cooks it.

Robin: That's an interesting idea with the bananas. I love bananas but I'm always loath to buy them because you have to eat the whole banana and it is 100+ calories. Maybe I'll try freezing some slices. I'm sorry to hear about the three people in your life that passes away.

paperclippy: Great job staying on track in St. Louis! I've never been to St. Louis; what did you do there?

alinnell: I hope your back feels better soon. Back pain is really miserable.

Megan: I hope things get better with your roommates or that you find a place you can afford.

wndranne: I don't understand some of things people feel it is acceptable to say to pregnant women. It's crazy!

lilybelle: Wow! That does sound like busy week! You did so much I don't even know what to comment on!

Mel: At least it is only taking two weeks to recover from the PB disaster. I've had far worse disasters. Last year it took me six months to recover from the holidays (this year I managed it in 3 months; maybe next year I can cut it down to 1.5 months).

Hi maintainers,

Anne when you read this, only 76 days to go. Just hang in there, and take your rest. You definitely doi not want to risk another hospital trip. If you are needed to take care of others, you need to take care of yourself or you will not be able to. As for ceramic piggies ...if that is all the damage DD and DH are going to have in the next months, they are truly blessed and lucky people and should appreciate that.

gary - good to hear from you!

Lisamarie, shane - just keep hanging in there!

Lily - I.m exhausted to read your programme. I hope all keeps going well for you.

I had a very busy weekend , a birthday party for DS and for myself. i was so busy with arranging things that I managed to keep the food and wine within decent boundaries. 2 or 3 glasses for a BD party, and foodwise 1 piece of cake and a tortilla. That is reasonable I would say.

Today I did NRWL 2A2. I did not fall over on the 1 point row or on the woodchop alternative on the stability ball, but I find the moves very difficult. I might stick in stage 2 a bit longer untill I have at least mastered what the moves are about. And.. I might be loosing the tiniest bit of weight...and gaining some muscle. Loose pants, and the scale was a bit down, even after my party.

Hi to everyone,
Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Barbara - we went to a huge sculpture park, the botanical gardens, the AKC museum of the dog, the art museum, their big public park, the zoo, and the riverfront (where we took lots of goofy pictures by the arch). They really have a lot of nice parks there, and the major museums are all free!

Anne - sorry to hear you've had such a rough week. My DH sometimes insists it's my fault when he stubs his toe, so I sympathize!

Robin - sounds like you've been busy!

Megan - I hope you find a new place. Maybe you should bring up the incident with your roommates to get them talking about it?

Allison - Ouch, I hope you feel better soon!

Lily - You sure have been busy!

Rabbit - good job on the BD party!

Meg and Mel - Hi!

Rabbit, I never really "got" the woodchop alternative in stage 2, which I also tried to do on the stability ball. It didn't feel very effective for me. I kept re-reading the exercise directions, tried again... at least I can really feel all the other ab exercises! Congrats on the loose pants!

Blue, I know how hard it is to stay OP food-wise when traveling. It sounds like you are as prepared as can be. Good luck!

Jessica, sounds like you did a great job making those better choices. Being able to do that while out of town is a major victory! Glad you had such a nice trip.

Lily, at work when we're bored we check our county's website for what we nominate "mugshot of the week" (there are some really good ones in such a redneck place!) and most of the people do, indeed, look really upset or mad. I would definitely be the one crying, too! Sorry about your SD's continued problems. She always sounds like such a piece of work.

Allison, sorry about your back. I hope it mends quickly!

Back to work... It it Friday yet?

Hello, all--

I've been reading (but not posting), trying to keep up with everyone's life.

Mel, glad the peanut butter problems are long gone. It's startling how fast the pounds pile off, and how long it takes to get them off.

Robin, how sad about all those relatively young people passing away. Hope you were able to fix your washer and not have to buy a new combo.

Megan, I read about your roomies and their guests--how rude! Hope a new apartment is in your future.

Anne, only 77 days! In non-pregnant terms that doesn't seem like much, but I imagine from your viewpoint, it seems like forever. Hope that your day ended better than it started.

Allison, ouch!!

Lily, after reading your posts I feel 1) tired and 2) lazy. Please bottle some of that home improvement energy and send it my way!

Jessica, WTG on eating out! That's a fantastic NSV.

Barbara, sounds like you have a plan for your trip. I'm now curious about friendship bread. Wonder what will come up if I google it.

Rabbit, I tried one of those ball exercises out of NWRL, and could not get it at all. I'll keep trying, however. Good news about the loose pants.

We're leaving in a couple of days for Los Angeles to visit my DH's oldest daughter. He was there to visit her last year, first time he'd seen her since she was six months old (she's 36), but I've never been. I've got this entire itinerary planned that includes probably way too much stuff. Has anyone been to the Huntington Garden in Pasadena? I hope it's worth the price of admission. My SD lives near Pasadena so we thought we should spend a day doing Pasadena things, especially looking at old houses, which is one of my favorite things to do.

While it's been colder than normal, the daffodils, hyacinths and cherry trees are blooming profusely. Spring looks like it's here--it just doesn't feel like it yet!

Sheila: You make the friendship bread with starter, which consists of flour, sugar, and milk, which sits out in a plastic bag on the counter for about 10 days (you squeeze the starter every day and add more flour, sugar, and milk every few days). The idea is that you use 1/3 of the starter to make two loaves of bread for yourself, then give the rest of it to two friends so they can make bread (hence the name "friendship bread"). When you make the bread, you take the starter you have left and add 1 cup of oil!!! , 1 cup sugar (remember, there's already about a cup of sugar in the starter), 2 cups flour (again, already about 1 cup flour in the starter), more milk, 1 LARGE box instant vanilla pudding (NOT the fat-free, sugar free variety), 3 eggs, spices, baking powder/soda, etc. Interestingly, I ran the nutritional analysis on this and it comes out around 220 calories per slice (assuming I'm estimating right on the amount of sugar, flour, and milk in the starter). So if my stepmom would make the healthier version (skim milk; non-fat, sugar free pudding; combo of applesauce and oil instead of one cup oil; eggbeaters instead of eggs) and IF I could limit myself to one or two slices, it might not be so bad. But I swear I end up eating like half a loaf at a time (and then eat the other half later that day ).

It's supposed to be an Amish recipe but I have to say I'm pretty surprised to find the Amish cooking with instant pudding

If you google it, you'll find lots of recipes and websites on it.

paperclippy: Sounds like a fun trip. Way cool that the museums are free. We went to NY a couple of years ago and were in sticker shock from the museum admission fees!

Megan: I'm hoping that if I just head into the trip with the attitude that it's not going to be a free-for-all in terms of food, I'll make better choices. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.

Happy April Fool's Day! I'm not one for practical jokes so am hoping I can slide by under the radar today without attracting attention.

Barbara, I've had that bread before and have the same reaction to it that you do! Stay strong!

Anne, sending you a huge . It sounds like it's been a terrible week, on top of your usual stresses and tribulations. that you stay flu-free, and yes, you need your rest to keep your immune system strong. You have our permission to smack anyone who says anything mean to you. No jury in the world would convict you.

Robin, so sad about your friends. I've never tried frozen bananas but they sure sound good!

Allison, you're not old!! How's the back today? And the shin splints? What do you think set those off?

Lily, I hope that Lacy gets some answers and relief quickly! As for your SD, she sounds completely hopeless, like she'll never learn. Just think how simple your life would be without XWs and SDs!

Jessica, your weekend was a huge accomplishment! It's easy for most of us to control our eating at home, but traveling makes it so much harder (and it's almost like permission to go off plan). You did great, and now you know how good it feels to come home without a gain, so it will be easier next time!

Hi Rabbit and on the loose pants -- love that feeling!

Megan, I really hope that your own apartment comes along for you quickly. You don't need any more stress in your life! Interesting how you had such a good workout after getting a good night's sleep. I think we underestimate how much that adequate sleep is linked to eating on plan and exercising. For me, it's the biggest predictor of success (or failure!) in a day. Congrats on the cute little tush!!

Hi Sheila! Have fun in LA! I've only been there to connect flights (and get lost) in the hideous airport. It's now on my list of airports to avoid (along with O'Hare and anything near NYC).

Mel, just picture your PB jar covered in pus and maggots, burrowing in and out. (you weren't eating breakfast when you read this, were you? )

Time for the gym then a gazillion things to do. I'm tagging along on DH's business trip to Florida tomorrow and haven't even gotten out my spring/summer clothes yet, since it's still cold here. I think I'd get funny looks in Miami wearing thick turtlenecks!