Morning Ladies!!

Sorry I've been AWOL again.. Things have been heating up here in New Mexico, fire-wise, so I've been too busy to spend much time on line!

hope you all have a great week!!

Good morning Dan! I figured you were pretty busy with fires. A little early in the year for this isn't it?

Good morning everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s day  My weekend was really nice, although I went back on my word and over ate like I said I wouldn’t. This morning I was up again… but I’m not changing the ticker because of the see-saw that my weight has been on and I’m sure it will be gone by Wednesday! I know… ticker denial… Anyway, I’m doing take off today and tomorrow and I’m going to do it to the letter! I’ve continued to work out and can’t help but think that it has something to do with my weight being up – regardless of what Jillian and Dan (from TBL) say that it has nothing to do with muscle weighing more than fat. I tell you, I build muscle really fast and can already see definition in my arms and shoulders. It feels good to work out on a regular basis!

Hey guys!

Slow in here today! This is going to be an awful week! I have two finals left, then I move this weekend. I am used to moving, I have done it at least 3 times in the last 3 years, but it's usually the next town over or within 5 miles or so. This is 270 miles away! I have to pack things carefully and I am worry we won't have enough room in the truck!

It's TOM too, so I am sick to my stomach. UGH! I have a final today, but I am not stressing about it as this class is not transfferring to JMU, so I didn't study, but will still pull offa B.

I cannot wait to get settled in VA so I can get back OP. I am pretty much eatting anything in the freezer or house at this point and don't want to buy any more produce that I cant take with me Saturday.

I have been living on Olive Garden salad though, I have to tell you... YUM. I reccomment FOod Network magazine! BTW, last month was Aunt ANnie's pretzels!

Well, gotta eat and run to class!

Good morning friends. It is an absolutely perfect day here today........sunny and about 65. It is way to nice for me to be in this house today, so Maria, Andrew and I are going to run over to Lowe's in a few minutes and buy some more black mulch and spruce up our flower beds. I planted a lot of perrenials this spring, and made a pretty big flower bed in my back yard. I will take pictures when I find my camera, or when I remember to ask DH for his. That is why I have been slacking on baby Mia pictures. I htink one of the girls must have used my camera, cuz it is not like me to lose something like that. Anyway, I love spring, and I love flowers. Oh, and DH and my baby brother went rock hutning for me this weekend. We have a lot of fallen rock on the roadsides here, and they collected two pick-up truck beds of rocks for my future water fall in the back yard. My yard is tiny, but I am every trying to make it peaceful and enjoyable. It is still mostly the kid's territory with the swing set, trampoline, pool, etc......but I have a few places that are getting more grown up. Wow, sorry about the book......can you tell I am excited?

Food wise, not so great this weekend, but not awful. I am back POP this a.m., and it is going well. I will WI in the morning. I think Tues are my current WI day. Yeah, that sounds good.

I hope you all had a nice weekend, and plan on having a GREAT week. Each day is a gift.......do try to remember to find the sunshine
XOXO

Good Afternoon to you all!!

It has been a busy morning for me. No rest for the weary. As always I did not sleep well last night just the anticipation of Monday morning gets me all torn up and I just can not sleep. i will catch up tonight I hope anyway.

i was down 1.4pounds this week. I am happy because I was not exactly on plan this past week and was afraid of a gain. I did exercise 5 days last week so I am positive that helped keep me on track. I am doing takeoff today and tomorrow and starting an express plan on Wednesday eating 4 smaller meals instead of 3 meals. I am also going to try to exercise 5 days a week this week and see if I can get some consistant weight loss.

DAn- i have seen the fires on the news I wish I could send you some of the rain we are having here.

Nicole- Your yard sounds great. Flowers make everything better.

AmyNJ- Good luck on finishing school and packing. i hope the move goes smoothly.

Julie- I would not change my ticker either especially if your weight fluctuates that much. Good job on the exercise though, way to stay motivated.

Hello to everyone i missed
Hope everyone has a wonderful on plan day!!!

hello all. just wanted to say hi while baby X is sleeping. she had her 2wk check up today (a few days early) and now weighs 8lbs. so she's gained 12oz in almost 2wks. she's sleeping pretty good, waking up every few hours to eat and is an overall mellow/content baby. she loves to cuddle and have her head/hair stroked. i'm doing pretty good too, still adjusting to the new baby and her irregular schedule. i'm hoping to "officially" start back on plan at the end of this month. i'm already kinda watching what i've been eating and being more aware of all the carbs i've been used to eating for the past 40wks! so it's definitely going to be an adjustment and a re-learning/training my brain process. but i know i have no choice but to get back down to my pre-preg weight--i have no clothes to wear except my maternity stuff! ugh! thankfully i don't go too many places, so wearing my maternity jeans and a tank top with a hoodie over it are sufficient for now..it's just starting to get me a bit down that i'm so big again..and i know that i just had a baby 2wks ago and surgery on top of that too..so i need to give myself more time to recover, but still. it's hard.

anyways..enough of my rambling.

hope everyone has a good day and a good start to the week!

Hi Ladies and Dan,

Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Belated Mother's day to all of you!
I wasn't on plan this weekend and it showed on the scale this am. I am scared to go to the COD. So I all OP today and hopefully I will run in there tomorrow morning. UGH!

Hope you all have a good day!
Nicole Enjoy being out in the yard I have to be in a cubicle all day! BLAH!

Beautiful baby Jill!

Hi Amy M, Jersey Amy, Julie and Liza! POP days to all of you!

We could sure use it Amy.. I'll take all the rain you can send!

Liza! Yeah, a bit early for the fire we had yesterday which was just north of Santa Fe near the town of Pecos.. We figure it was probably a lightning strike or a campfire left unattended, but we're not sure as of yet.. That area did get plenty of snow this year, but it's been drying out fast.. We've had two solid weeks of big fires down in the SE part of the state, so it's shaping up to be a busy summer.. Sigh...

Hey guys, another final down!!!!

Jillian- don't worry about the weight, you have your ticker there to show that you can do it again! YOu're such an inspiration! I was showing my mom your pics on MySpace to show how much you lost and she kept saying WOW!!! We can do this together! Once I get settled in VA (which will be by the end of the month) let's do it together!!!

It's funny, I move to VA on the 17th, but come right back up to Jersey on the 20th for that whole weekend. My younger brother and sister are graduating from Rutgers, and hten my brother's commissioning! So I will definitely not be on plan!! But that's ok! Life happens!! I didn't make my 30lb goal, but tha'ts ok, I made 18 lbs which is great!!

Well, off to make another Olive Garden Salad and relax and study.

Have a great day guys!!

jill- 9 months on, 9 months off for baby weight. At least that is the story I'm sticking with! By that, I have 2 more months to get 30lbs off.

Nicole- Catie is 7 months old already! can't believe it...looks like she is gonna crawl any day now. Thanks for your encouragement about walking. LOL about the baby screaming 3 blocks into your walk!

I'm not changing the ticker either, have lost and regained the same 3lbs. I hate it! gotta up the waters and exercise...

hey to everyone else. Gotta run and meet the school bus...

Have a POP day/week!

Here's the recipe for the Olive Garden salad and breadsticks!!! (From Food Network Magazine)

Salad:

Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 T (tablespoons) White wine vinegar
3 T Miracle Whip
1 T lemon juice
2 T grated parmesan cheese
1/4 t (teaspoon) garlic salt
1/2 t dried Italian Seasoning

Salad:
1 10 ounce bag American Salad blend (I use romaine)
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
4 small pickled peppers (I use peperoncini)
1 small vine-ripened tomato, quartered
2 T black olives, sliced
1/2 cup large croutons
1 T grated parmesan cheese

I usually just make the dressing in my bullet (combine all ingredients) and then make a personal salad. I don't like olives so I don't use them. The pepperoncini's are with pickles in the grocery store, I bought Mt. Olive brand.

Breadsticks:

Dough:
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 T unsalted butter, softened
2 T sugar
1 T fine salt

For the topping:
3 T unsalted butter, softened
1/2 t kosher salt
1/8 to 1/4 t garlic powder
Pinch of dried oregano

1.) Make the dough: Place ¼ cup warm water in the bowl of a mixer; sprinkle in the yeast and set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, butter, sugar, fine salt and 1 ¼ cups plus 2 T warm water; mix with the paddle attachment until a slightly sticky dough forms, 5 minutes.
2.) Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface until very smooth and soft, 3 minutes. Roll into a 2-foot-long log; cut into 16 1 ½ (sixteen pieces) inch long pieces. Knead each piece slightly and shape into a 7-inch long breadstick; arrange 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a cloth; let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.
3.) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make the topping: Brush the breadsticks with 1 ½ T of the butter and sprinkle with ¼ t kosher salt. Bake until lightly golden, about 15minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining ¼ t kosher salt with the garlic powder and oregano. Brush the warm breadsticks with the remaining 1 ½ T melted butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.

Jillian, It has not even been 2 weeks yet! You need to just concentrate on eating as healthy as you can right now, and recovering and maybe doing a bit of very mild exercise, if your doctor thinks you should...

I had a nice mother day, but not an on plan one. We did go hiking and I am sure I burned off at least some of the extra calories that I ate. I do tend to have trouble adjusting just a bit when I have burned off some extra.... I guess I'm with Katie and eat the whole cake. I'm a bit stiff and sore today, but not as bad as I was after our hike last weekend up to the top of Wind Mountain and Beacon rock. We got up really early and hiked to the top of Multnomah falls yesterday and then back behind it for a ways, which is not that far of a hike (about 4 miles) but it is rather steep up climb up to the top of the water fall. Beautiful place though.

JerseyAmy..........thank you for the recipes Maybe I will make them tonight I know it is a pain to type recipes, so thanks for taking the time My whole family will be thanking you after I make them

Dan.....have you seen I Love You Man? We went to see it on Sat. night, and it was pretty funny....but it really made me think of you and your obsession with Rush. If you haven't seen it yet, you ought to.....it will make you laugh.

So, it seems as though we all chowed down on Mother's Day this year. It is good everyone is right back OP.

Jillian....I know it is hard to be patient. I was always sooooo ready to get back with the program after being pregnant. It is good you are not rushing it. You know, you can always go buy yourself one outiflt that fits, no matter what size it is, so that when you do have to go out, you can at least feel put together. Just cuz you buy one pair of fat pants, it does not mean you will wear them forever.......just a few weeks, you know. Then, you can donate them to goodwill and make someone else really happy, cuz they will be like brand new

Ok, time to get my house together. I played in the backyard all day so far......time to clean.......ewwww.
XOXO

morning all.