Yay! Last week of February! It's been a miserable month and I've had entirely enough of it. Think spring!

I have a cold and lost my voice, which is not good for answering phone calls at the spa. Fortunately we're not open today so I'll see if my voice comes back for tomorrow. Meanwhile, it's off to the gym and a day of errands.

How's everyone else doing this morning?

Good morning all!

It has been a miserable winter! My birthday is in March so that always signals the slight beginning of the spring season for me.

I'm maintaining at 133 lbs. That's great considering the indiscretions of last week. I'm finding I can maintain my weight but it's not the healthiest way to do it.

And for my dad. He seems to have suddenly come to his senses re his legal affairs. I'm taking him to the lawyer next week to get his house here signed over to me and to complete and sign his will (over a year waiting for that).

I'm going to "celebrate" by eating clean this week and stopping to breathe whenever I get anxious. Strange how there isn't always a learning curve with this maintenance business. Sometimes things just occur to you that should have been evident all along.

The important thing is that mind and body finally seem to be in step with each other. My mind is always the hard one to convince.

Have a great Monday all!

Dagmar

Hello fellow maintainers. (Yep, I say fellow, because after such a while, I don't feel like a fake anymore. )

I admit I didn't have much time to follow the chat last week, so I hope things are going well/better for everyone.

Spring will be welcome here as well. This past winter hasn't been so bad (at least I was able to laugh at the lack of water and central heating at the office, which means I was as far from depression as I could be), and anyway it just coudn't be worse than last year at the same time, but I won't say no to more sun and above all to a little more warmth. My body still wants those 15-20 kilos back to be warm, and I still refuse to give in. Humph.

Of course spring will mean new clothes... wait, no, that's just an excuse for me to order stuff on eBay, I guess. My bank account is weeping.

I resumed running yesterday, which brought me two nice surprises: the first was that it was easy (I guess this means I've remained in good shape all the same), and the second that I found an iPod on the ground. As soon as I find an appropriate USB cable to plug it to my computer, I'll check whether it's just switched off due to a low battery or completely broken.

Good morning! I can't believe it's almost March. Bah - bye bye February!

I have to go to a swim birthday party on Saturday. I am so not ready to have my spring swimsuit debut.

Meg, I hope you are feeling better soon.

Dagmar, I am glad your Dad is going to do the right thing.

Kery, hooray for the running! And how lucky you found an iPod. I hope it works.

Happy Monday, guys!

Hello!

Yes, this winter has truly sucked, I am SO ready for spring and new beginnings now.

Wow, finding an iPod, what a bonus!

Only a few hours left of the working day here (1.45 pm). Nice.

/Ann-Charlotte

Ann-Charlotte, it was such a nice to surprise to see you posting on last week's thread! I didn't have a chance to say welcome back and we missed you ... so I'm saying it now.

I still feel this way after 6 years!

Meg, feel better!

Ward, I bet you look great in your suit.

Welcome back, Ann-Charlotte!

Kery, hope the iPod checks out.

I'm ready to be done with my string of sinus infections. Seems like I'm on that path, but now have somehow tweaked my neck. Can't win for losing.

Prepping this week to take the kids to see their grandparents. I'm so not looking forward to the plane trip with two very young children. The airlines don't let people with children board first anymore and no one seems to know that, so we get lots of dirty looks as we go. Joy.

Anne

Aww thank you Meg! I'm surprised you remember me at all, considering how little I've posted her but perhaps there aren't that many Swedes floating around here.

But now I am very much determined to become a proper fixture here.


(Gosh, 17 lbs looks like a LOT when I look at my ticker in my signature. 8 kilos sounds much smaller.. )

Ann-Charlotte, I'm hanging right there with you. Only 3h30 to go and I can go home too!

I asked a colleague at lunch about the iPod, and he told me that if indeed the battery has run out, then it's normal that the screen is black and nothing's working (obviously, but heh, it's better to double-check). So it fits my theory of the iPod-still-working-but-no-battery. Keeping my fingers crossed. (And I'm curious to know what music is on it, too. )

Oddly personal thing to find, an iPod.. Choice of music says quite a lot about a person.

I have 3 iPods (a tiny Shuffle for the gym, a Nano for music and a Touch for video).

Welcome (back) Ann-Charlotte! I'm at 16lbs above my goal weight today so we are in the same boat.

I'm hoping I'll have more time to post this week than I did last week, but we'll see. I'm counting down the days until my flight to CA. How sad is it that the thing I'm most excited about is that since it will be warmer I'll be able to bike and run outside every day?

Saturday I did another trial run for my upcoming triathlon. I had planned to swim 300m, bike 7 miles, and run 2 miles, but I didn't make it. The swim was no problem, but when I got upstairs, the bikes were all occupied! I figured, no big deal, I'll just do my run first. The run was fine, I made good time (under 24 mins for 2 miles is great for me!). Then I hopped on the bike, but it was a disaster. I usually put the resistance at 5 to approximate riding my real bike, but I had to turn it down to 4, and then I only managed to make it 3 miles. I figured it was better to get off the bike and put my head between my knees than risk passing out and falling off the bike.

Anyway, I'm pretty disappointed. I did learn a couple things though. Number one is that on race day I am going to need some kind of nourishment in between legs of the race, because just having breakfast and then trying to do everything is not going to work. Number two is that if I wear shorts instead of long pants, I will totally chafe my thighs, so I should wear my long pants. Number three is that as much as I want to make it through this thing without wussing out, there is a pretty good chance I will run out of energy and have to walk part of the run.

Seriously, this is a beginner's triathlon -- how people do the Olympic distance ones is beyond my comprehension! (Then again, so are marathons.)

Good morning maintainers!
I'm just sneaking in at work to say "hi".
I have a feeling I'm going to "need" you all this week.
Some weeks just feel more like that.
I have been nursing a cold slash something (ear infection? sinus infection?) and it seems no better. Grumble grumble.

I went to a dinner/auction Saturday night with dh. I never drink and I mean never and dh somehow managed to pump 3 drinks into me. They were very strong and I am such a lightweight. Anyway, I felt horrible yesterday but better in that regard today.

For those of you that use 24hour fitness, I found a really cool thing there. I don't know if they are all doing it yet, but I can plug my Ipod into the treadmill (some of the ellipticals too) and not only does it charge, but it downloads your workout to nikeplus.com and it will track your workouts! You can set goals, set up your own little character (kind of like a mii wii) and it looks like a blast! I've done it twice so far and it is motivating me to want to run faster and further!!

I'm trying to talk dh into running a 5K with me and he says he doesn't know if he wants to because he knows I would be faster than him. Have you run a 5K with someone? Do you just leave them in the dust? The only other one we ran was a "fun run" and it wasn't really timed so we stayed together.

My older dd comes home again for spring break in less than 2 weeks. I am excited! I am planning on getting my tattoo finally when she comes home. I am working on the design and trying not to freak dh out as he still isn't too excited about it (it looks so big! Are you sure you want to get one?)

Better get back to work.... talk to you all later!!

Who mentioned the sandwich generation? I was the third child for my parents and my DH is the oldest. His grandparents are younger than my parents!

It's been an interesting weekend. DD got scammed by Jiffy Lube and we're on the warpath. We just hope that nothing serious was done to her car in the meantime. We'd like that car to last her through college.

The weekend was OP all the way and yet I managed to gain 1.5 pounds. It really has become a frustration.

Fun thing, though~DS's Karate demo team did two shows at the Riverside County Fair and Date Festival on Saturday. Afterward we wandered around the exhibits and had Gyros for lunch. But before lunch, DS and DH rode the "slingshot." They sit, strapped into this contraption shaped like a ball but open. Then they shoot you about 120 feet in the air at 100 MPH. The whole thing is recorded (so they can sell you the video) and your "comments" are broadcast over the loudspeakers. Too funny! DH was like "Whoa!!!...Whoa!!!...SH*&!" Then laughter. DS? He screamed like a girl!!!

Hi everyone,

I managed to get some house chores done this weekend, go on a nice long bike ride with a friend, and went to the city to see a play yesterday with my theater friends.

My new boss is hiring for her old position. She had told everyone during a staff meeting when she was first promoted that "she was NOT considering anyone on staff for the position" (did the aggressive tone of voice she used come across in my quote?), but several of us applied anyway, because we feel we're qualified and the pay is better. Her boss is in on the interview process, and we're all speculating that he told her she couldn't just not interview anyone in-house, b/c 2 of us got interviews. Mine is at 2:00 today. I'm nervous. It's hard to be positive about an interview when you feel the main hire-er is negative about you, and you know they want to hire someone else. But I'm going to give it my best shot and keep a positive game face on.

Allison, sorry your daughter got scammed by Jiffy Lube. It's so hard to find a mechanic to trust! The slingshot sounds fun.

Michele, if you need us, we are here. What design/placement did you decide on for your tattoo? (Or have you not decided yet?)

Jessica, it's great that you practiced for your triathalon so that you realize those things ahead of time. Are you going to do another practice run, with pants, snacks between legs, etc? Remind me of the date of the big day again.

Anne, I hope the plane flight isn't too bad.

Ward, I'm assuming the swimsuit party is indoors? It's still kind of chilly for bathing suits in Atlanta!

Dagmar, I'm so glad that you got this good news and are less stressed. That's wonderful!

Kery, how is the ipod project coming?

Meg, I hope your voice returns quickly.

Ann-Charlotte, welcome back!

Let's have a great week everyone. I'm off to my interview...

Hi everybody...

We got my MIL settled in yesterday at a cousin's house where she will be doing most of her recuperating, so the hospital pressure is off. She is now settled to recuperate - it is an hour to an hour and a half away with traffic, DH and I both get off at 5:30ish, will have to meet up at home to drive down there which won't happen until 6:30 in Atlanta traffic, so we won't get there until 7:30 at the earliest, won't get out of there and headed home until 9:00 or so.... And none of those estimates have any time for dinner in them... We may do this for a couple of days and after that we'll have to trade off or something... six weeks of that will be worse than the week in the hospital... And, I feel slimy all over for even thinking about the difficulty involved in the visiting...

Allison, that was me that mentioned the sandwich generation... older parents, four year old stepson... I hate Jiffy Lube - I have never had a good experience with them...

Meg - hope you feel better! Having no voice is no fun!

Dagmar - I'm glad the situation with your dad is working out. That is a tough one...

Kery - wow, iPod! Good luck getting it back up. I would be interested to see what was on it also!

WardHog - wow... it is almost swim suit time already... wow..

Ann-Charlotte - welcome! I haven't been around long, so I don't remember you from before but look forward to getting to know you this time!

Anne - traveling with kids has gotten so much more complicated - can't board first, can't carry as many snack and beverage items as you could in the past, etc. Good luck...

Jessica - I think those are perfectly good reasons to be excited about it being warmer! I'm somewhat sad today that I'm released to run but don't have time to do it today.

Michele - DH and I have also talked about running together, but he doesn't want to go for that same reason. Says he can't keep up with me so doesn't want to go until he can. I'm trying to tell him that he can get out there and build up to where he can keep up, but not going it definitely won't happen. He hasn't committed to going yet, so we'll see.

Megan - that is a tough situation with your boss and the interviews. Good for you for applying anyway, though. Good luck!