If you have 50 or more pounds to lose, or are losing, this is the group for you! So jump on in and join; you'll be sure to get a warm welcome!

Claudia, I just wish I had been as savvy at 23 as you are! You are SO right, changing our lifestyle is the only way to get healthy. I had also tried all the various "diets" over the years, and didn't find the right answers until my forties. You are SO far ahead of the game, to be on the right path so young, while your metabolism is still hummin' along! You go, girl!

Linda, will hold you to that, you know; we'll have to all meet f2f one of these days!

JOYce, we are so looking forward to seeing y'all! I hope the weather cooperates with us so we can go out to the ranch for a bbq or something!

Carol, sounds like you are busy! Hope you are finding some time for yourself, and enjoying that pool.

Have had a quiet week, puttering around the house; start back to work Monday, but I'm looking forward to it. Was mostly OP this week, but don't see any loss yet; guess I'll have to be patient. The mosquitoes are incredible, so each morning I drench myself in that horrid Off spray before my walk, yecch. Sure don't want the Nile virus, though, so I guess it's worth it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Regards,
Jan

Jan, you keep putting that "Off" on! I'm glad you are being so careful about mosquitos. I had to look at your "f2f" for a couple of seconds before "face to face" popped into my head. Duh!

It is hot as blazes here today, even now. It's after 8 in the evening and it feels like it is in the mid-80's to 90 outside. I am so thankful for a good air conditioner.

Dh and I are remodeling for the first time since we bought our house (new) in 1976! Can you imagine that! We're doing away with one of the bedrooms (dh is taking the closet in the room out tomorrow to make more room) and making it into a library. He's even going to break through the wall separating that room from the family room (where we spend all of our time when we are inside) and make a nice, big arched doorway. I am so thrilled, this project is soooo much fun! We are really enjoying working together on it. Life is very good, isn't it.

Carol, I'm so glad you checked in, I am looking forward to reading your weekend post.

Hi everyone! How was the weekend?
Things are going pretty well down here, but I keep pretty busy between the job, the commute and the kids. Sometimes I wish I could be a little less busy so I could enjoy Florida! It's great to have the kids nearby, though, and they are thriving. They are both such sweeties! I emailed pictures to those of you I have an email address for.
Texaslady, how does it feel to be back at the old job? I know they are glad (and lucky!!) to have you back!
Joyce, I am so sorry about your fall! You and Linda need to be more careful out there in California! I can't believe they didn't take an xray or a scan in the beginning with your symptoms! If that had been a diaplaced fracture (with the bones out of alignment) you could have punctured a lung! I'm glad you are feeling better, though.
Linda, your remodeling job sounds so exciting, and it will be so much fun for you all!
Jan, has school started yet? Our kids down here started last week. Maybe you can explain to me why, in the heat of Florida, they start school in early August, when August is the hottest month of the year down here!
Janet, how are you doing? Your email was brief enough to not say much about your health.
Claudia, once again, welcome! Did you tell us where you are from? I don't recall. I am in my mid 50's and recently moved from So. Maryland to Central Florida. I am separated (for 7 years) and have a married daughter and 2 beautiful grandchildren. I lost 95 pounds on weight watchers but need to lose 25-30 more. I have been in a semi-holdiong pattern that I need to get out of for the past year. I put on 5 pounds, then hold, then drop them off. I know what to do- it's just a matter of doing it. It sounds like you are on the right track. Congrats for being determined to go to your meetings even if you weren't strictly on program this week. The emotional support you get from the meetings can't be beat, and the time you need them the most is when you are having trouble staying!

Well, ladies, gotta run. Have a good Monday, everyone!
Carol

Claudia, I just looked on the lst thread and I see you are from Hollywood, FL. How far is that from Ocala where I live?
Carol

Carol, glad to hear all is well over your way! Loved the pictures of your dgd and dgs; they are such cuties! Re: school starting so early, I can't figure it out either. Our school calendar this year is a joke, with no spring break, and a holiday the week before the end of school!! We start our inservice tomorrow, and the kids come next Monday.

Linda, your remodeling project sounds like a lot of fun; I'm sure you'll enjoy having a library! And it's great that you and your dh enjoy working together on it. I'm with you on the A/C, too; I wonder how my grandparents and great-grands managed down here without it!

Claudia, my little sister used to live in Hollywood, FL years ago! She worked in Ocala. So you and Carol are definitely in the same neck of the woods! Hope your week is going great ...

Hi to Janet, JOYce, and Texaslady! Hope you had a lovely weekend!
Regards,
Jan

Dh took out the last of the closet in the "to-be" library today, which makes the room bigger, it looks so strange without it. He also took the drywall off where the arched doorway is going to be, just on the library side--we still have the family room side of the wall intact. He needs to frame the archway before he takes out the other side of the wall. Tomorrow we're taking some more things to the thrift store to donate, which will clear even more room in the rest of the house. We have two sewing machines (one about 80 years old, a treadle type, and the other was my Mom's) and a recliner to get rid of, and they are all pretty big and take up too much space. It was a tough decision to get rid of my Mom's machine, although I don't sew, I hadn't wanted to let it go until now. I know she would be proud of me for donating it, rather than keeping it for the rest of my life. Of course, dh never made me feel like I had to get rid of it, he's really sensitive to my need to hang on to things. I am very blessed. I feel like this is sort of a step in the right direction for me.

Jan, how strange that your school schedule has no spring break! I wonder if the Christmas break will be extended?

Oh my gosh, Carol, I had no idea that if JOYce's ribs had been displaced that she might have punctured a lung, thank the good Lord she didn't. She is having computer woes, I'm not sure when she'll be back online. Personally, I am going through withdrawal because of not hearing from her for about 24 hours, she and I email back and forth daily, sometimes several times in a day. Unfortunately, she received a virus through an attachment.

God Bless you all. I was in St. Agustine Florida this past weekend sorry for the delay in answering a few questions.
My location: Hollywood Florida If Ocala is north of Tampa I would say 4 hours?? I make it to Tampa in 3 hours most of the time. (My husband is a speed demon)
About my Kidney , I lost 50% of my right kidney but thats ok. There are people who have 50% of one and lost the other one completely and still survive. I drink lots of water and I have tried to cut back on the red meat and dairy.

Gotta go boss is here!
I will post later

Love- Claudia

Claudia, so glad to hear from you again, how was your weekend? Glad that your kidneys are working OK, and I think you are very smart to have changed your diet in order to keep them functioning right. You seem to be very sensible.

I still haven't heard from JOYce since she got the virus, and all this right after she'd had some work done on her computer! She was very frustrated with the store because they were really dragging their feet about sending a technician out to her house to fix it. Well, it was finally back up and running, and now this! I called her last night and she said she and dh were going to Staple's to pick up a new version of Norton Antivirus today.

Hi all!
Claudia, I'm glad to hear that you're getting along so well after the kidney surgery, and I agree with Linda, you're so wise to take steps now to safeguard your health! Hope you had a good time in St. Augustine. Oh, and I had thought my sister lived in Hollywood once, but now that you described the location, I remembered it was Beverly Hills! Memory plays funny tricks on us sometimes.

Linda, I know that must have been a tough decision to move the sewing machine out, but I'm sure you'll be glad you did; and it makes a lot of sense that your mother would have wanted it that way, as it will help both you and whoever ends up using it again one day. Sounds like your project is moving right along!

Dh and I just got back from San Antonio; he had an appt. with a surgeon, and now has his gall bladder removal surgery scheduled for Sept. 6. He probably will not be spending the night in the hospital, as it is arthroscopic (sp?) surgery unless complications arise during the procedure. Sure hope this gives him some relief!

We are both having a good week program-wise, though. We stayed at a hotel last night in SA, and went swimming & used the exercise room several times. Stayed within points, too, by having a salad for dinner and fish for lunch. (We brought our own Kashi for breakfast.) Dh wants to speed up his loss, and I need to reach my personal goal this fall! Oh, and I bought the cutest jacket as an incentive, in size 8; it's a bit too small right now, but hopefully by the time the weather gets cold, it will fit!!

Hi to Janet, Carol and Texaslady! JOYce, got your msg just now; so sorry to hear you won't be able to make it down here after the wedding. But soon, I hope!! Hope your virus is cleared up now!

Regards,
Jan

JAN, how (typically) kind and thoughtful of you to have said what you did about my decision to donate my Mom's sewing machine. I have actually been hoping that someone who maybe couldn't have afforded to buy a new one might buy my Mom's at a thrift store and be able to sew for her family. My Mom was always "doing" for other people, and I know that would please her, rather than my hanging onto it. Thank you for your response, you are one of the nicest people I know!

It is cooler outside today, under 100, which is such a blessing. Dh and I went to Trader Joe's today and it wasn't too unbearable walking from the car to the store. We bought some frozen chicken tenders and some frozen fish fillets, among other things. TJ's has such wonderful prices, we are blessed to have one so close to us.

Linda, how great that Trader Joe's is so close to y'all! Sure wish we had one. But we do enjoy going to Central Market, a specialty grocery store in SA that has all sorts of interesting stuff. Not low prices, though!

It looks like the server will be down this weekend, so hope to "see" everyone again Monday! Our students come back then, and I'm really looking forward to it, but will spend many hours up here at school between now and then.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Regards,
Jan

Helloooo? Where is everybody? (I know JOYce must be in Oklahoma by now, but ...)
Hi to Claudia, Janet, Texaslady, Carol, and Linda,! Hope everyone is having a great week!
We started back to school; I have a bunch of terrific kids in my classes this year again!
Drop in and say hi!
Jan

Hi everyone! How is the week going? Mine's been chaotic with one thing and the other since this time lat week, but I'll spare you all the boring details!
Jan, I'm so sorry dh has to have surgery, but on the other hand, having him finally feel better will make it all worth while! It's amazing to me how far surgical procedures have come. I recall my mom having her gall bladder out when I was 16- it was a simple, uncomplicated removal and she was in the hospital for 10 days! That was the routine then. How is school going?
Joyce, I'm thinking about you in Oklahoma and hoping the trip is absolutely wonderful!
Linda, how is the remodeling project coming? Your talking about Trader Joe's made me miss it, not fo the first time since I've moved here! There are no TJ's here in Florida, and while some of the stores carry some of the TJ staples I loved (like the Kashi products, Skinny Cow and the Golden Krackle), noone has that wonderful Milton's bread I was so attached to!
Claudia, I am about an hour or a little more north of Tampa. Being a new Floridian, I am still trying to learn what's where and how to get from point A to point B. How did your weigh in go this week? Hang in there!
Janet, where are you, girl? How are things going with you health-wise? I've been worried about you!
Texaslady, are you enjoying being back at the old job? I bet they were thrilled to death to have you walk through that door again! I heard Houston had something like 6 inches of rain one day last week- did that affect you? I sure hope not!

Well, it's been a long day and I'm tired, so I think I'll run. I'll post more about what's been going on here with me in a day or so.

Take care, my friends!
Carol

Yes, we all have been very quiet! JOYce left for Oklahoma several days ago, we'll hook up with them when we get to our hotel in Oklahoma City, they are staying not far from where we will be. I am so excited -- on our second day out, we are going to stop in Roswell, NM just long enough to poke through a couple of souvenier shops. I want to get a T-shirt proclaiming I was there! Neither dh nor I know what we really think about crop circles, UFO sightings and aliens, but you know? --There is so much that we don't know about in this wide world!

Jan, I'm glad that you have some good kids this year, I think though, that you would appreciate kids no matter what they are like. You just seem to be like that.

Carol, that is the absolute bunk that you don't have TJ's in Florida, pooie! Thanks for asking about the remodeling--today dh moved some more electrical wires around (and created another outlet so I'll be able to plug in the vacuum in an easily-reached spot), which necessitated his going up into the attic (a California attic, which is more of a crawl space!). The archway is all finished with plasterboard, although it isn't cut all the way through to the family room; that will be the last thing he does (to keep the plaster dust, etc. in the new room; if the arched doorway were open all the way through, there would be no way to close it off). Tomorrow he'll put plasterboard up where he ran some electrical wires in the wall. I think that he's also going to start rounding the edges of the archway tomorrow, too. My Mom's Mediterranean-style house had archways and they were rounded at the edges, so naturally, that is what I would like to have. He'll need to file the edge into a round shape. Lots of work, but he likes detail-y stuff, thank goodness.

Claudia, how are you doing? Please check in!

Carol, hope your schedule has quieted down a bit for the weekend! Sounds like you are wearing yourself out again, helping everyone else out, I'll bet. Remember to get some time for yourself, too! Re: school, the first week was hectic but fun, and I'm really looking forward to working with these classes.

Linda, I guess you're on your way to Roswell and Oklahoma by now! Hope you find a really cool shirt! I'm with you, I don't know exactly what I believe, but I really do *want* to believe we're not alone in the universe! I'm a big Star Trek fan from way, waaay back; I always liked that vision of our future, so optimistic and progressive.

Dh and I are winding down from our week. Went to SA today for the WW meeting, and then had a great salad at a tea salon downtown. Did ok points-wise this week, but the scale still refuses to budge. Not giving up, though!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Texaslady, Janet, and Claudia, stop in and say hi!
Regards,
Jan