.

Crazy week for me this week (leave the house at 7 a.m., get back about 12 hours later) so I was gonna whine. But after reading Meg's post I will adopt her positive attitude instead.

I weighed in at 140 this morning. Probably about 4 lbs. of bloat due to very salty snacking this weekend and drinking about 10 gallons of water during the night last night.

I'm going to be feeling very sorry for myself this week. But I will not go off plan. I'm gonna weigh 135 by Mar. 6th which is my 53rd birthday!

Gotta go shower! Have a great Monday everyone!

Dagmar (so cheerful it HURTS!!! )

Good Monday morning! Yesterday we had our first warm, sunny day in forever so I was able to get outside for a run. The rain is back today, though. No gym for me this morning, as I am taking my son for his 6-yr check-up, then I have to get another crown replaced. Hmm ... can't think of anything positive to say about that!

Hi all,

Pretty good weekend here. I was pretty happy w/ myself for sticking to my food plan Friday night. I did drink an extra beer, but avoided dessert and the extra dishes I had told myself I didn't need, and felt pretty good about it the next day. Sunday's kayaking/birthday party I did eat more than I'd planned. I was happy to go home early and sit on the couch w/ BF and watch a movie and relax - glad we didn't stay out all night. I also decided that I don't really enjoy kayaking (and had to convince myself it's ok to not like something!). I started out at the end of the group, which was full of expert kayakers. I was expecting a more leisurely paddle (it was billed as a kayak "party" after all) and spent the entire 3 hours paddling furiously trying to catch up w/ everyone, which I never did, and getting soaked by a drippy paddle. Boy did I feel the tricep workout I'd done Saturday morning, too! I got some bulk cooking and veggie chopping done, also. Preparing for another week of work, gym, rehearsals.

Ward, glad you got to enjoy the sun yesterday! Hopefully we will all get some sunny weather soon. It's stormy here today too.

Meg, be careful with your shoulder!

Marie, glad you're doing ok. You & your DH look nice and warm in those photos! I hope you have a speedy recovery.

Hi everyone else! I hope we all have a good week!

Meg, sorry to hear your house is damaged by all the weather stuff going on back there. You've had quite the winter.

Dagmar, I just read that cheerful people have less risk of heart attack. You know, I weighed 165.5 on Saturday after eating a homemade flatbread pizza with anchovies on it, then weighed 163 on Sunday. Sodium really affects us.

Wardhog, glad you were able to run. Let's see, how about, if I get that crown, I can keep my tooth? After 50, you start seeing things that way.

Friday I did a two-hour yoga class for people with neck and shoulder pain and woke up Saturday with back pain. What's up with that? Really it was an okay pain--I think my mid-back muscles just weren't used to doing that stuff. Plus on Wednesday I had my first trainer session where we worked on muscles I, sadly, haven't used in a while.

My Monday starts off with a training session in 1.5 hours, followed by taxes at 2:00 pm then a meeting with a contractor at 4:30 pm because we're trying to figure out how to add a bathroom without adding square footage. Oh, and without spending too much money. We'll see if that can really be done.

Oh, and we sold our house in Oregon. It was only on the market for about a week and sold for just $3K less than asking. I'm pleased with that, particularly since asking was about $10K more than I thought it would be. We have a wonderful realtor who knows how to price right.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Meg-- so sorry you are experiencing damage! Is it from the roof leaking or water coming in windows or something else? I don't live where we get ice so I don't know what damage it does. Sounds like you have a good plan for when dh is gone. I usually do better when my dh is gone as I can make simple OP dinners and not worry about him. I just finished an absolutely hilarious book if you're looking for a new suggestion. It is a laugh out loud memoir by former child star, Quinn Cummings (though it is mostly about her adult life); It is called "Notes from the Underwire: Adventures from my Awkward and Lovely Life". I read about it on Jen Lancaster's blog. I love Jen's books too!

Megan-- I can just see you kayaking! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it either. The only times I've tried canoeing, I've pretty much gone around in aimless circles. You have permission not to like something. Sounds like you did great with your weekend eating too!

Ward-- glad you got a run in. Sorry you have to get a crown. Yuck! I guess you may not feel like eating-- that could be a positive?

Dagmar-- you can do it!! My birthday is also next week (March 3). I am almost exactly 10 years younger than you. I think I'll just be at my current weight for my b-day and try not to overindulge.

Dd had her bday party this weekend and I didn't eat one thing! Not the ice cream cake, the chicken nuggets, the chips or salsa, animal crackers, or the bagel bites! Dh and I made a healthy dinner and I just ate that. I've come a long way from when I would have just eaten through the party too.

I made a delicious crock pot recipe yesterday (Weight Watchers). It was Cuban style pork stew with sweet potatoes. I can't wait for my leftovers I brought to work for lunch!

I better get to work! Happy Monday everyone!!

Hi everyone! We've been getting rain the past two days, which is great because the snow is finally getting melted away. OTOH they are forecasting that the rain is going to turn back into snow this afternoon. Sigh. Will the sidewalks EVER be clear enough for running??

Meg, sorry about the damage to your house. I hope the weather clears up soon!

Megan, I would hate being at the back of the pack for kayaking! I've always wanted to try kayaking actually but I'm afraid to do a kayak trip because of that exact issue.

Sheila, glad you sold the house so quickly!

Michele, great job on the party!

Hi Dagmar and Ward!

I am totally lacking in motivation today. I am so not feeling motivated to go do my run at lunchtime (but I will do it anyway), and I am totally not motivated to actually do work here at work.

OMG what a Monday! I've been up since 4 AM, it is only 9:30 and I'm totally frazzled! I hate making reservations, and doing it for people other than myself is a bit more trying than that! I'm trying to get 4 of my employees up to Yakima, put into a hotel for 9 days, rent them a car and get a container/storage bin placed where we need it. Oh, yeah, and order a truck to drop off a trailer so we can load it to be hauled up there. It would have been fine except the first EIGHT hotels were booked and the flights are more expensive than originally figured 6 months ago. (Of course I knew that, but I doubt DH put that in our proposal.) This job had bad vibes written all over it from the beginning and it's gotten worse as time has gone on. The worst being that we had no inkling of the tax rates up in Washington. Oh, my, they are actually higher than California if you can believe it! But at this point, we're committed and have to do the job. I just wish DH had listened to me and not taken the job but he was determined....

Anyway, my 3 minute break is now over and I have to get back to it.

Good morning! I had a pretty good weekend. Got my bathroom cleaned and my laundry done on Saturday, which had been bugging me for weeks I swear... Got in a good workout with DH on Saturday - he helped me a lot with my squat form. I can't see myself obviously and haven't put a mirror in the garage yet, so it was nice to have another pair of eyes to look. Was a sunny & pretty weekend here, so got some cleaning done on Saturday and got in a nice run at the park on Sunday. Felt good to get out. Went and played trivia at a tavern with some of DH's friends from work, that was fun. Had a veggie melt & yellow rice w/ black beans, held it to two beers and split a brownie with DH. I was proud of myself.

Allison - this job has been a mess from the beginning! Hope it settles out some.

Jessica - I'm not feeling particularly motivated myself. Hope you get your clear sidewalks soon.

Michele - good job at the party!

Sheila - what did you do at your neck & shoulder pain yoga class? Was it a real class or a video? That is great news about your house selling so quick and at a good price.

Megan - perfectly okay to not like kayaking. I don't really like it either. Sounds like the rest of the weekend was productive, though!

Ward - it was beautiful this weekend! Hope your dental visit goes smoothly.

Dagmar - cheery is good. And, the salty snacking probably did hit the scale today. It will come back down. You can make the birthday goal!

Meg - yes, be careful with the shoulder! You hurt your shoulder with upright rows in the past, didn't you? Hope your snow and ice clear so you can get a claims adjustor out there soon!

Good day everyone!

Okay, things have settled down a bit. I got the flights in for the guys, finally found a hotel that wasn't booked on my 8th attempt! Bad part is that it's a lot more expensive. Rented a car for them but they'll have to put it on their own card--they wouldn't let me pay up front. And got ahold of the container place up there to have a container dropped off later this week. That was the best part--he was really nice, knows the contractor we're working for and knows the jobsite as the contractor has several of their containers up there already. The freight company should drop off a trailer today so we can load it up. I'm glad that part is over, but I'll have to repeat the flight/hotel/car thing several more times in the coming weeks.

Last night for dinner we had an amazing "scramble." I don't know what else to call it. I went to the store and bought:

zucchini
red pepper
yellow pepper
butternut squash
Brussels sprouts
red onion
mushrooms
cherry tomatoes
green beans

I chopped up what needed chopping, threw it all in a bag with some chopped up chicken and added a Zesty Herb marinade. At dinner time I cooked some rice and then put the "scramble" in the oven and roasted it all. It was truly amazing! Everyone loved it! And it was colorful. nothing worse than a bland looking dinner.

I just have to say, I am far too excited about the fact that our weekend forecast says it will be sunny and in the upper 30's. I'm laughing at it because back when I lived in LA, I would have been horrified at such a forecast, but now I'm thinking, "Sunny and warm!!!"

Allison - I love the sound of that! Similar to my veggie scramble of Friday night, we just left out the chicken.

Jessica - funny how our perspective changes! I used to think 42 was chilly to run outside, now I exercise at that temp in my garage and have gone for runs in the 30s. Hopefully those are almost done for the season for me, though.

I had a good salad for lunch today, am eating some fruit now, feeling good so far. We'll see if I can keep it going.

About time too! I was thinking we'd have an entire winter without snow - a first for us I think, at least in my lifetime.

All of this is supposed to melt in the rain tomorrow, making for happy but slushy dogs in the car.

And Mudpie, bless her pointed little head, has discovered sititng on my desk and looking at the monitor screen. Her favorite? The 3FC dancing carrot of course! She keeps swatting it and has now started scratching at the screen. Time to remove her to the floor.

I'm going out to clear off my car and then I think I'm going to bed. I feel about 4 years old saying that but it's been a long, long, day.

Have a good evening all you grownups who are staying up later than 8 p.m.

Dagmar

Dagmar, about the carrot! That is too cute. Hey, I went to bed at 8:45 last night, you're not alone!

I got asked to do this career panel thing at a local university this afternoon. I thought it sounded like fun, and the people who asked me picked me because they liked me at the women in computing conference, but now I totally don't feel like driving the almost 2 hours each way to do it. In the snow, no less. Oh well. Actually to be honest I got annoyed that I have to pay for parking. It's like, you invited me to your campus to talk to students, you could at least pay for my parking! Technically I could expense it but filing an expense report is too much of a pain to bother.

On the other hand, I get out of the office for the afternoon, which is nice. It's not like I'm getting anything useful done here anyway, my brain is not functioning today.

Laughing about the carrot, Dagmar. It is my fondest wish to be able to go to bed at 8:00 PM, so I'm envious of you. I try so hard to get to bed "early" (read: the time I should in order to get 8 hours of sleep) every night. It almost never happens these days.

Jessica, hopefully the university panel will turn out to be fun. Those things are always more fun than I think they will be.

Allison, the scramble sounds delicious and very veggie-ful!

Is it only Tuesday?