Hello and welcome to the Thin Group! We are a great group of ladies (but men are welcome if there are any who care to join us) who have one thing in common. We are all working together toward our goal of being healthier in our daily lifestyles and to lose weight in 2000. There are all different ages and backgrounds here and we all have different ways of losing our weight. We all love to have fun and laugh, but we also give a lot of support, encouragement and motivation for one another. Please feel free to post with us - just jump right in and believe me, you will be welcomed with open arms. The more the merrier!

Please feel free to check out our website and learn more about us at: www.geocities.com/hotsprings/sauna/4797

Love, CJ

I tried posting 3 times! and they just would not go though!!!!! Now, I only have time to say we are on our way to the cabin for a couple days and I'll see ya when we get back. Sorry - they were pretty long posts too.

Have a great weekend ... see ya Monday or Tuesday.

Love, CJ

Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my shape to keep.
Please no wrinkles, please no bags-
And, please lift my butt before it sags.
Please no age spots, please no gray-
And, as for my belly, please take it away.
Please keep me healthy, please keep me young-
And, thank you Dear Lord for all that you've done!


THE TRUTH IN 13 WORDS...
Inside every older person is a younger
person wondering what the **** happened

Good morning everyone! Just thought I would sneak in and post real quick! Haven't had my coffee yet .. it's 6:30 am - Dick just left for work. It sure is coooooooold! Had lots of snow still at the cabin - about a foot and 1/2 yet! Nothing here tho. On the way home I thought "we should have filled our trailer up with snow and brought it home - piled it in the front yard, and stick my Free Snow Sign on the top" .... just for laughs ...

Well, hope everyone had a nice weekend .. I'll check back in later and see if anyone's around!

Love, CJ

Ok the wagon has rolled on to greener pastures but has left me here in the mud and cow .... Well, I won't go into that.

Weighed in on Saturday morning. It was pretty bad. Let's just say that there's NO WAY I'm going to make my Easter challenge. I wanted to hit the 40-lb. mark by next Saturday. That would take the removal of a limb or two. Not going to happen. But you know what? Perhaps I'll make it by April 13th or the 20th or so. Or at least by May!?!?!?!

I'm back on track (the right track this time, not the wagon wheel track) and am hoping to wow some folks this summer. My sister is usually good for a cookout for Memorial Day or July 4th. And hopefully, our house will be in order for at least one gathering. I plan to wear something besides jeans and a large "overshirt" while everyone else is in shorts, tank tops and/or bathing suits.

So anyway, I had my review on Friday, finally. It went very well! I won't know until the 3rd quarter if any of my "soft-spoken demands" will be met but at least the boss listened to me ... for almost an hour (!!!) and knows how I feel about some things. I wasn't whining or too demanding, I don't think. I only want what is rightfully mine - credit for my work, respect from my boss .... oh, and $$$$$, of course. I don't think I mentioned to you guys that our company announced a wage freeze in January. We're hoping to have it lifted in June. Hopefully, the management understands that if it isn't, there might be a mass exodus of employees. If and when the freeze is lifted, there'd better be a promotion and a hefty raise in it for me. We'll just have to wait and see.....

Oh, another thing I mentioned in my review was that it was unfair that only 2 of the 3 of us "girls" in the front office have to answer the phones while the third is constantly chatting with her friends or out having her hourly cigarette break. Something must have happened because the other girl has been logged into the phone system and answering calls too today. And she's also not speaking to the two of us who've been answering the phones all along. Aww. What a great and tragic loss.

I've rambled long enough. Have to go fill the water bottle. Hope you're all having a good one!

Love to you all!
Jo.

Hi to all. I haven't posted yet today...just been toooooo busy.

Judy - I love your poem. Some days I feel like I should just be able to pray away the wrinkles, the aging and the fat. I guess it doesn't quite work like that, although I had a fellow come into my office last week and try to sell me on some anti-aging pills. He even tried the sell with a straight face. I couldn't help myself, but I kept laughing.

CJ - It is good to hear from you. Let us all know how you are doing and what you are up to these days. Sounds like you will soon be out at the cabin often working on the construction. Thinking of it makes me tired already. LOL

Jo - You expressed for me the way this Easter Challenge is going. I just seem to be yo-yoing on 5 pounds - the week after I take it off, my body demands that it be put back on. I was up at WI again this morning (4.25 pounds), but it could have been the box (yes, it was a whole box) of chocolates I ate last night.

However, on the bright side, I worked out with my fitness trainer today. By tomorrow, I'm sure I will be stiff and sore. She is working on getting me toned up so I won't be so flabby and also at a rate that I will still lose weight and not bulk up. I haven't been to the weight room here for, well, several years, and the equipment is unbelievable. It is soooo fancy and complicated, but she is going to write down everything for me so that I can go work out by myself.

Anywhoooo, I guess I better be running. I took 2 hours to work out this afternoon, so have to get my work caught up tonight. Talk to everyone tomorrow. Take care.

Luv,

Know what I did this morning?!?! Got on my treadmill and started walking. And just couldn't stop!!! I finally had to get off and get into the shower so I could get to work. But I didn't want to stop!!! Huh?? What's that all about!?!?! I want to go back home and get back on my treadmill!!!! This is very weird.

I have a meeting at the VFW tonight so won't have much time to exercise. We're supposed to have severe thunderstorms complete with lightning and driving rain tonight so I won't be walking (or swimming!) to the meeting. But I've vowed that I'll drink only Diet Coke or water and I'll skip the munchies they always have. Deep fat fried something or other usually. Who needs it?

I'm back in the horrible habit of getting on the scale at the drop of a hat these days. Can't seem to help myself. I was talking to a girl at my meeting on Saturday who said her husband had hidden her scale but she found it and every day she gets it out, weighs herself and puts it back so he won't know she's found it. Sounds like something I'd do so I might as well just leave it where I can get on it more easily.

Here's something to try. Someone on some talk show the other day (don't know who or what show) was saying you should stand naked in front of a full length mirror (scary enough! ) and decide what part of your body you LIKE the best. Pick just one part you really think looks good. So I decided to try it....

Couldn't find anything!!!! Oooh, this is bad! Guess I'll just have to concentrate on losing weight and then slide slowly into things like firming and toning, etc. In the meantime, I can probably work on things like deep conditioning my hair and moisturizing my skin, etc. Seems overwhelming at times but when you just try to take it a little at a time, it's not so bad. I already put a little deep moisturizer around my eyes every morning and I've learned about soaking my winter dry skin in a nice luxuriating bath with bubbles and oils from a certain Queen around here! The walking has helped firm up my legs a little. Heck, I even brush with a whitening toothpaste ... with tartar control! A little at a time.... Maybe someday I'll be able to stand in front of that full length mirror and not cringe. Heck, maybe I'll actually FIT in the full length ("full-width"??) mirror!!!

OK, obviously I'm rambling again. Better go. Our company had a total of 8 salesguys at two different trade shows last week which means I've got 8 sets of notes and reports to type up and 8 sets of contact information to add to the data base and 8 sets of customers to mail stuff to..... So instead of just talking about it, I'd better dive in.

Hope you all have a good one!
Much love, Jo.

Good Morning!

You know Jo, I tried standing naked in front of the mirror. What I saw was something from a scary movie. Couldn't possibly have been me! What on earth has happened to my body? I have a bad case of Dun-laps disease. The belly not only dun-laps over the belt, but sags so bad that no amount of exercise will ever firm it up again! My upper thighs look like I carrying saddlebags between my legs! Suzanne Sommers, where the heck is the "Thigh Master"?

Went to the dentist again yesterday. Had to have impressions made for a crown. I fractured a tooth on a piece of sourdough bread! Can you believe that? I wish you could go to the dentist, tell him what you need and have him do the work in one visit, instead of having to go back time and time again! The tooth I broke is one of the stabilizing teeth for my partials, so it has to stay there. Costs so much you'd think the crown has the royal jewels in it!

The lady making my window toppers called yesterday to make sure I'll be here for the delivery and installation this morning. I'm all excited, can't wait! Wish she would hurry and get here!

CJ, hope you get to feeling better and start posting more. I for one really miss you.

Sharon, Chrissy, Sandi, Carolyn, and all the rest of the oldie group, where the heck are you? Have we all gotten into a funk at the same time? Get on back in here and tell us what's new in your lives!

Hugs, Judy

Hi everyone. The cold weather has finally started to lift here and it is sunny and semi-cold now. We still have a lot of snow which is really unusual for this time of year. However, it is March and not October. LOL.

Jo - Back on that old treadmill again. Great job. I started with my fitness trainer yesterday. I'm a little sore today, but not as bad as I expected. I am going to get on that treadmill when I get home tonight, though. I just have to lose this last bit of weight. It seems like I yo-yo on the same old 5 pounds every week. I am going to do this...guess I'm just too stubborn to give up at this point.

Judy - I know what you mean about the crown. I just had one put in last week. Three weeks in a row I was at the dentist, plus one Sat. morning to get a temp filling in the broken tooth. I still have a chronic tooth ache from all the work, so take tylenol every few hours. Hope yours goes well and that you don't suffer too much. Although the suffering in the poketbook makes up for it. LOL.

Hope everyone has a great week. Take care.

Cheers,

Waaahhhh!!! I don't feel good!!! I wanna go home!!! Whine. Whine. Whine.

Actually, it's nothing that a Midol the size of a basketball couldn't cure, I guess. Hope all the "phone girls" come in today because I want to go home early.

Spent hours at the world's most boring meeting at the VFW last night. Man, I'll be so glad when this project is over. The good news is that I took a little bag of pretzels with me so I wouldn't eat any munchies and I drank diet coke all evening. Unfortunately, it was not decaffinated diet coke so I couldn't sleep last night. Then I finally dozed off only to be awakened around 4AM by some serious cramps. Yuck.

OK, I'm through whining. Forced myself to eat some cantaloupe this morning just so I'd have something in my stomach but have no appetite. Guess that's a good thing.

I'm planning all sorts of projects, cleaning, crafts, etc. for Friday because I'll be home all day and need something to keep me out of the fridge and out of trouble. I'm hoping Saturday's weigh in will "redeem" me a little. Not doing well so far but I'm thinking it's only PMS and water retention which should go away soon. (I hope. I hope.)

Judy and Peggy, you guys are scaring me. I haven't been to my dentist in years and have been thinking I should make an appointment. But I don't wanna!!!! I think I may have a cavity or two though and I know I should go.

Judy, how do your windows look!?!? Curtains and shades, etc. are my next project ... well, one of many "next projects" anyway.

I'll repeat Judy's sentiments now. Where is everyone!?!?! Hope to hear from you all.

Much love, Jo.

Hello?? Anyone home?? Already out waiting for the Easter Bunny? I'm feeling better. Left here around 4 yesterday, got home at 4:20 and went to bed. Got up around quarter to 6 this morning, feeling almost human again. I vaguely remember Rich coming in around 9-ish but don't remember him actually coming to bed. Woke up to birds and the sunrise this morning. Sure is pretty out there even if a bit chilly yet.

Ate my yogurt and 2 fat free waffles for breakfast and I'm starving!!! But I think I'll try to stay at the very low end of my points range today. Still hoping Saturday's weigh-in won't be too traumatic. I was thinking of weighing in tomorrow morning but I think that'd give me too much freedom to "do as I please" over the holiday weekend. Instead, I'm going to take my free day tomorrow as a challenge to keep busy and stay out of trouble. (Trouble = food!!)

MSN.com has a home page link to a Weight Watchers chat at 1:00 today, Eastern time. Maybe I'll see if I can sneak in and learn anything new. Actually, they're having several chats with a couple different diet plan people throughout the day.

I've been interrupted 3 times since starting this boring rambling post so I'll go now. I'm working on a list of things I can do tomorrow to keep busy. It's a very loooonnngg list. Saturday, we hope to put in the kitchen floor - ceramic tiles, very nice. I'll be glad when it's done ... then on to the next project(s).

If I don't get to post again, I wish you all a VERY HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Much love, Jo.

Well, this is me today. Thanks goodness the boss told me I could go home at noon today. I really had planned on doing that, but at least I don't need to sneak out now. LOL

Actually, I think it is his way of making up for the 'incident' yesterday. He used to be an RCMP officer and still uses a lot of bullying techniques that some cops use. Well, yesterday he jammed paper in the printer (while printing a personal document, I might add), bellered at me to fix the printer, then went balistic when I touched his piece of paper. That happened just before noon, so all through lunch hubby had to listen to me blubbering.

As predicted, boss came back from lunch full of apologies and told me I could take a 1/2 day today. I had already planned to do that because I have been working 12 hour days doing budget (his work, I might add), and want to go see the grandkids (their parents, too) this weekend and our youngest son is meeting us there with the 'monster' dog. (I really do miss the dog even though he was so much work.)

Then the worst happened...cramps and feeling yucky. Oh well. I'm just not going to let that ruin a perfectly good weekend and I'll quit whining now.

Yesterday I met with my PFT for my second session. I can actually feel like I am making progress. Hurt like heck, though, but that will go away. She is working strictly on toning muscles with me, so has left my cardio up to me. I guess I am really going to have to get the treadmill at home in action.

I was watching some of the girls at the fitness centre yesterday on the treadmill. They program it at a very fast pace and run for 30 minutes. I stand there with my mouth open and eyes bugged out. My PFT has to remind me to quit staring. LOL.

However, through all of that, I am going to lose weight this week. I have planned to make sure that I journal everything this weekend and not to go off of my program. We are taking the family out for dinner on Saturday evening to celebrate birthdays...one granddaughter had a birthday last Sunday, our daughter's birthday is today, the other granddaughter celebrates her first birthday on April 5, and our son's girlfriend's birthday is April 4. Do they make birthday cards that read "Happy Birthday to my Son's Girlfriend? Juuuusssst wondering...

Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend. I'm not sure if I will have access to internet this weekend, but if not, will catch up on Monday. Take care.

Sorry not been posting ~ been very very busy. Hubby is leaving in the morning for Maine ~ will be gone a week ~ I shall miss him! Anyway, just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very Happy Easter ~ and I hope that this place gets busy after easter once again!!!!

I am attaching a little something I made ~ hope you like it.

HAPPY EASTER!
Love, CJ

Hi everyone,
Well I got back from my training in Los Angeles last week, but have been working at H & R Block every day and have not had much time to post so I just got off a while ago and thought I would post while I have a few minutes to do so.

My training for my job assessing children in the Indianapolis schools went great. I just loved being there and was treated to a wonderful hotel-the Airport Marriot, wonderful food and got to see some of the sights in L.A. We went out every single night we could as soon as we were done with our training for the day, to places like Hollywood, The Queen Mary Luxury Liner in Long Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. I would have liked to see more places, but didn't have lots of time with our classes, studying ect. I did really well and got my certification as an assessor and got 95%, when they observed me with my child I had and my written test I had to take. So all in all it was a great trip I think.

The other good thing is that I decided to extend my stay a couple of days as I have lots of my Dad's relatives in the L.A area. I got to see some of my Aunts and Uncles there and about 20 of my cousins as well. I have 2 girl cousins there. Sandi and Carole Ann, who I haven't seen in years and they both insisted that I spend a night at each of their places. They both also arranged a get together with their brothers and wives ect. They are not sisters and their mothers are my Dad's-Papa's sisters too. So I haven't seen them for I would say maybe 25 years since we were teens. So I had a party Saturday and Sunday night too. It was so great seeing so many of my family members, I really loved it and we all 3 cousins bonded and we will keep in touch you can bet. Sandi and Carole Ann both want me to come back soon, with Ken next time and stay at each of their places. They both are willing to share me I guess. LOL

So how is everyone doing now? I see it is kinda quite around here and you can bet with the Easter Holiday this weekend, it will really be quite till Monday I would say. I am having a get together Easter with my kids, Ken's sister and niece and her husband as well. We will have a good time, this is my brother, Jerry's first holiday living with us and he is sure to have a good time with all of us kook's. LOL

Peggy-You seem to be making progress with your personel trainer I would say from the soreness you are having. Don't worry, just remember what they say "No pain, no gain" So I would say you are making pretty good strides from the sound of it. LOL Have a wonderful Easter weekend with your family and that "Monster Dog" too. LOL

Jo-I can see you are really trying to be good with all that yogurt ect. Good luck with you weigh in tomorrow. Let us know how it goes. I am sure you will do fine and I too think that it is probably water retention too. I sure hope that you boss heard your demands and they put their $ where your mouth is. LOL

Judy-Ah yes I sure do know about crowns and have several of them myself. I too have a fortune in dental work invested in my teeyh. Thanks for missing us oldies. I sure don't want to dissapoint you and everyone else so HERE I AM!

CJ-Hey there girlfriend. Sure sounds like you had a ton of snow at the cabin. You and Dick must have had your work cut out for you shoveling all that snow. Surely you have a snowblower up there. Miss you girl and hope that you are doing well. Dick still working in Royal Oak and making lots of money I take it? My gosh it sure was good to see you when I was in Michigan. I loved seeing you and how nice of you and Dick to come to Chrissy's Mom's funeral. I know it was much. I know you will really miss Dick, but he will be home before you know it.

Trish-So are those jelly beans still in the basket at work? I love jelly beans so much and I would just have to get my hand in them. Don't worry about the weight till Easter is over, than we can both worry about it. I know I will try to get back on track too.

Carolyn-Yes I am with you, those buffets they have really tempt me and you can be assured that they had plenty of those during training in L.A. But I am trying to get back on track again and not doing too very bad so far. How are you doing? Post when you can and let us all know how things are going for me. Are you back from Florida yet?

Sherry-Hey ho girl, are you still out there? I'll bet you are busy getting ready for a big get together with the family if I know you. How is it going girlfriend? I will have to send an email when Easter is done, been meaning to but been so busy. Are you on vacation from school now, due to the Easter Holiday? I know you are loving it if you are. LOL

Chrissy-Hey sis in law. How the heck are you doing? It was great talking to you the other day when you were visiting Papa in his room. That was a unexpected but pleasant surprise. I miss you and can't wait to see you when we all go to Boca Raton for Jimmy's wedding. I can't wait can you? What fun we will have. They better be ready for us nuts. LOL

Well on the weight front, I had been gone from my WW meetings for several weeks, but weighed in Michigan when I was there a couple of weeks ago and gained 3 lbs, and when I weighed this past Monday I had another like 1.2 lb gain. But considering all the eating out I did in Michigan everyday and the wonderful buffets during my training and all the family parties I went to, I am not too upset. I enjoyed it and have already started getting back on track. But of course Easter is another thing, that ham, those scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs and the deserts. OH MY! LOL Oh well what is a person to do? HA HA HA

Anyways soon we are going to my brothers son, Jim's wedding in Boca Raton. Our whole family will be going. Ken, myself, daughter in Indy, daughter in Fort Walton Beach, Florida and our two sons and brother Jerry too. We are going from April 25th to the 29th. I am getting excited about my nephews wedding. It is at a resort and the wedding will be held overlooking the ocean. How romantic and WARM TOO. LOL I for one am getting sick and tired of all this darn cold weather. I want to go somewhere WARM for a change. LOL Should be fun to be with the whole family again.

Well everyone, time to post this. I am sooo glad to be back and I have missed EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU GUYS. Love you lots and miss you so much too.

Love, Sassy Sharon

Gee I know I haven't been here in a while to post about weight etc, but I did notice I am considered Missing Member when I go to the Geocities site.
Hmmmm, guess I will have to get back here and post if I want to not be a missing person. Just wanted to stop in and say Have a Happy and Blessed Easter.