CONGRATULATIONS, EVERYBODY!
We are 250 threads old today! WooHoo!!!!

We want to invite everyone to join us in our journey.
We share laughter and tears.
We share what works for us and what doesn't.
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Monday........Motivation Monday
Tuesday.......Tuesday Tips
Wednesday.....Wednesday Weigh ins
Thursday......Thankful Thursday
Friday........Friday Facials, Fingernails and Fun
Saturday.......Sit-up Saturdays - any physical activity
Sunday.........Soup and Salad Sunday - recipes

These are not required topics ...just ideas to share. We have found them very helpful. We also share heartaches and fears...joys and celebrations.

Please feel free to jump right in with us.
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Hi everybody! Hope you all had a lovely day! I did WI (not Wisconsin) this morning. I was bummed, I was up 1/2 pound. Now before you all say, geez, that's ok, it could have been anything.....yada yada. It could have been alot worse and I am grateful. I am also a bit annoyed because I had two losses and a maintain for the last three weeks and I really thought I was done with the gaining thing. Oh well. Just goes to show, must do better!

I've also been feeling a bit bummed about Christmas. I don't know, and I'm not sure any of you here can relate to this because I don't think any of you are in my spot, except maybe Mary. Anyway, my problem is: My kids are of that age where Christmas??? so what???? They're 21 and 23. Christmas is make a list, mom buys it, wraps it and then they open it. No big deal. No surprises. No excitement. No nothing! Now if that's not a bah humbug attitude, I'm not sure what is. You guys all have kids around that are still, for lack of a better description.....FUN!!! Or....you have grandkids around that are.....FUN! I've got three guys in my house that are......NO FUN!!! Oh well, that'll be enough belly aching from me. I'm better now.

Here is #9 from the Family Circle article:
Have goodies, but only when you're out. You can enjoy the yummy treats that come but once a year---such as gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate with whipped cream -- but only if you deliberately go out to get them. If you don't keep these kinds of foods in the house, you'll learn to recognize what you truly crave and are willing to go out of your way to get. Once you've fulfilled your craving, the treat is gone, so the calorie count won't escalate as it would if you could go back for seconds and thirds.

Sara: I'm sure you made it through the day just fine. Any calls come in? I'm sure the anxiety was enough to make you nuts. * Nice job getting hubby to work out with you. That's doublely(sp?), ****, two times worth, good rewards!

2cute: Sounds like you had a full weekend. Those grandkids gotta keep you smiling.

Mary: Honey, you sound sooooo busy. Take a breath!

Lucky: Thanks for the next installment of Dr. Phil. It almost sounds like he knows what he's talking about!

Kat: You too, slow down a minute. This is supposed to be an enjoyable season! Ugh, who said that????

Syn: I'm glad to see you back. Sounds like you need something to fill more time and coming here will do some of that for you. Now here's my sage words of wisdom: I think you should get yourself a little tree and invite your neighbors in for punch and cookies, and then have your brother and SIL over one day, and just make yourself have a little holiday spirit. Find someone in your complex who is in the same boat, or worse off, as you and team up for a drive to see the lights, enjoy a Christmas carol concert at a local church or do something else that's fun. You need to help yourself out of these dolldrums too. Enough of my soapbox , I love you dearly and these are the same things that I tell my mom every year since my dad was in the nursing home and now past. [[[[hugs]]]]

Steph: That was a quick fly-by! Nice to see you.

Cathy: You too. And you're right. Calories do count. I need to start counting them too. I need to be more accountable.

Well, girls, I've been long-winded enough here. Hope you all have a good evening.

249 to 350?? I don't think so!! But we know what you mean, Thin!

Sara, I got your card today, you little hottie you! You look wonderful and your happiness is written all over your face...I am so proud of you!! Is Reg Filipino? My hubby is half Filipino and he looks a bit like Reg...You two make a very nice couple!

I'm on my way out to Target, to see what I can find...no work tonight, may as well make use of these hours...I must get back in time for the Sopranos ...I missed last night and the repeat is on tonight at 10...season finale...I'd better run if I want to get anything done.

After a rocky start this morning, (Hershey's miniatures and a couple of macaroons to be exact) I must say I pulled myself together and low carbed for the rest of the day and feel great. There is definitely a carb sensitivity happening with me. When I cut way back...I feel wonderful. No cravings, I'm clearheaded, calm and in control. You may laugh, but I'll tell you this anyway...I was flipping through the boards before...procrastinating...and I came upon a thread entitled "Facial hair??" Well, being the not so proud owner of more than a few chinny chin chin hairs, I was intrigued. (my tweezer is my friend, I don't leave home without it!) There was some interesting discussion about the body's hormonal/insulin response to carbohydrates and elevated testosterone levels which can cause facial hair! The woman who posted reported that since following a LC plan, she has noticed a 75% decrease in facial hair! Now, you would think that ALL the other bad things associated with obesity would get me to stand up and take notice (well I have but then I just sit back down again!) but this talk of decreasing facial hair really caught my eye!

Okay, I'm really going now...maybe I'll be back later...

Hey guys. I haven't gotten any cards yet. I Posted a new photo made with my new camera.

I don't think so, Kat!!!! Low carbs couldn't even do that for you..... I do know what you mean about carbs....I feel so much better when I don't eat them.

I can't wait for your card but will be sad there isn't a picture.

Sara, Sara, Sara... you are SO pretty. Your happiness is showing!!!!!! I should put your picture on my desk at work for inspiration. That's where my stress eating can take over. Thanks for the picture!!!!

G'evening my lovely chickies!

Shesh. Kat and Lucky are good for my ego!

Kat: Hee, hee. Reg is Chinese actually BUT he lived in the Philippines until he was 11 so he IS Filipino in a way! It's funny. I always said, out of all the nationalities, I could never marry a Chinese man because they were so small and I'd feel like giant, amazon woman in comparison...whattya know, I married a Chinese man who knocked those stereotypes clear off their feet! That'll teach me!

Well, I'm done my first shift on the crisis lines. NO CALLS! That means my next shift will be just as nerve racking! It's actually Tuesday night/Wednesday morning from midnight to 8am! I should just be able to go to bed as usual and keep my pager beside me. It's loud enough to wake me up to take calls.

ANYWAY, in the last couple of weeks I've had contact with my sister who I hadn't spoken to in the last year (not to be confused with my sister who has Lupus). We're scheduled to go to a play on Thursday night with her and her boyfriend. I'm hoping all goes well so Christmas at my parent's house in a couple of weeks will be smooth sailing!

Okay. Should think about sleep now as tomorrow morning brings with it tiny fingers tinkling the ivories!

TTFN
Sara

Hello all,

Sorry I didn't get a chance to come in during the weekend, but I was trying to get the Christmas shopping done. I did go to WW and lost 1/2 pound. I was disappointed, as I felt 2 or more pounds should have been lost, however, a loss is a loss right?

Question: what is the deal with the christmas cards? I guess I missed those posts. oh well....

I am giving my self 3 vacation days from work (wed, thurs and fri). I plan to do what I want to do, when I want to do it for those 3 days. I am tired and need a rest.

Food wasn't so good yesterday. It started good and ended lousy. Today is another day.

Well it is 2:30am and I still can't fall back to sleep. I better go and try again, cause 5am is fast approaching.

Good night.

Hey Susie... I am up with you. But then... I am always up.
We are doing a Christmas card exchange here. Some of us are also sending photos so we can get to know each other. If you want to join... I would send PM instead of putting your address on the board for everyone to see... but then that is up to you. I am VERY private about my address and only have given to a few "special" ones. But then again... there are a few I wanted to exchange addresses with but they did not join in.

Sara... as I said in you PM... your picture is just beautiful !!! I want to see before and after photos now though. Side by side would be cool.

Mary... I can't wait to go see your new photo. I am going as soon as I sign off here.
I am back... Mary, your new picture is GREAT !!!

Tina... I loved your new photo too. Your son is a adorable in it. What did you find so disturbing. I thought you were beautiful.

Kat and Lucky... I can not say enough good things about lower carbs. It was a gift from heaven for me. It affects my mood swings, my aches and pains, my hunger, and I although I never thought of it... it has even affected my chin hairs too.

Thin... I am going to make it my "mission" to come up with some FUN for you and your boys. Come on girls... Thin needs some ideas to liven up her guys. LOL

Okay... I have been working on my cards all night. I went to kinko's and got paper copies made. Not good quality... but good enough. I must admit... I am VERY disappointed that all of you are not sending photos. I almost backed out and did not send any either. But you can thank my daughter for convincing me to take down my protective guard and let you guys know more about me... including photos. So please please .... send me photos of you too. (I am begging here)

Okay... I have to run. I will deliver these cards to the post office in the morning. Just remember... I am no Sara.. LOL ... heck.. I never was.

2Cute do you follow a specific Low Carb diet? They are all confusing to me but I need to do more than just eating less carbs. Right now I just don't eat any until my evening meal. I read this was better because they make you sluggish so you don't want them earlier in the day...however, with your schedule I don't know what you would do

Ok.........first of all, let me apologize for my absence as of late. I have been absolutely swamped with work and other stuff, but I will give you a quick update.

Saturday: Went to the parade. It was lovely.......all the floats were awesome! I didn't walk with the team, but felt good knowing I could have if I had of wanted to. Took lots of pictures and ran the video though....

Sunday: Had to work.........of course. Then after work, I came home, grabbed something to eat real quick, took a VERY short nap, headed to church and then came home and passed out!

Monday: Work........picked up Trey at school. DID NOT feel like cooking, so decided to skip WI (not Wisconsin) and go out for dinner. Now, before anyone starts throwing rocks, I have decided to officially change my WI night to Tuesdays, because Mondays are just too hectic for me. So, I WILL be going to WI tonight.

Now let me just comment on the restaurant I went to.......it was the bomb! I am a HUGE chinese fan, so we went to a new place called the Jade Palace. It has a huge chinese buffet......just tons and tons of awesome dishes, along with fresh fruit, salad and dessert bar........but the thing that made this place so awesome was that they had two specialty bars. The first one was the Mongolian BBQ.......I am in major love with this one. You pick out a big bowl and fill it full of the veggies you want, (I chose scallions, (just the green tops) onions, mushrooms, water chestnuts, carrots, mushrooms and broccoli.) Then you choose your meat.....(raw) I chose chicken and shrimp. Then you chose what type of sauce you wanted......teriyaki, herb & garlic, spicy ginger and what seasonings you wanted. Then you hand the whole thing the the chef and he cooks it right in front of you.........it was AWESOME! They also had a vietnamese soup bar where you could pick out the type of meat, noodles and vegetables you wanted and the chef would make your soup for you. It was absolutely awesome and definitely a wonderful place to go.

Also, I would like to mention that the only Christmas card I have rec'd so far is Mary's. I haven't got Sara's yet........where is it? Of course, I'm looking forward to getting everyone's card....I have no patience whatsoever!

I am still OP and have done my WATP videos four times this week. I am hoping to overcome that 5.4 lb gain from last week tonight at WI. I must say, I am somewhat distressed though. As I was doing my video last night, (I was doing WATP for the abs) I broke one of my little arm bands. Was NOT very happy about that. In case none of you have it, it's a nylon type belt that goes around your waist and is held with velcro......VERY STRONG velcro I might add, and then has handles attached to the belt by the thick rubber band type things and as I was using mine, one of the bands snapped........I was not very pleased.
I think I'll just stick to using the weights.

Ok, I guess that's enough for now. Trey is sick today and is out of school. Here I was sitting at work and I get a call from dh on the cell phone....."Trey is sick so I'm bringing him up there to you and call your Mom and have her come and get him and watch him today." I can't even tell you how that phone call made me feel. "Sure Ron, just bring him right on up here to my WORK. That was over an hour ago and we are STILL waiting on my Mom to get here. (Trey and my co-worker are playing Yahtzee) Doesn't seem all that sick to me.

Also, and don't get mad thin, but I'm confused. Our last thread # was 249 and now we're 350? I know it's just a typo, but I just had to point that out, because that's just the kind of nitpicker I am.

Oh, 2cute, you guilted me into it! I already mailed my cards, but I think I have some leftover Christmas family pictures from a few years ago...

>>>I actually stopped right there to go look for them and TORE my cimputer room apart looking for them...of course I couldn't find them...I have a ton of pictures, but very few with me in them...I'm usually the one taking them and avoid being taken like the plague! I will find one today though, and will send it out so that you all can see my pretty face!<<<

Well...I have my gym clothes on...there's a 10:00 step class and I intend to be there...so I'd better get moving!

later, dudettes...

Hello Everyone.

Hey how do you look at the pictures out here. I am so computer illiterate. I have done pretty good this week. I went over my points on Saturday but other than that it has been okay. I just hope to loose this Thursday night. I want sooo bad to be in the 220's. Everyone seems to be doing so well. I love the encouragement you all have and give one another.

Have a great day.

Tonya
244/230/150

Mornin' girls! I was actually out and about yesterday for a bit, shopping and cattin' around. I had to run to Marine City to get one of my Christmas presents! Ok, so you all don't know where Marine City is (except for Susie). It's like 30 miles north of here. And when I said 'my' Christmas present, I really meant 'my' as in for me. Pretty dang bad when you've gotta go get your own! K-mart has been running their electric roasters on sale for the past month. And week after week the darn things are in the ad for a different price. Let's not forget: They want you back! Well, on Thanksgiving we decided that my 50 year old electric roaster has about seen it's day so DH thinks a new electric roaster for me for Christmas is a wonderful idea. Where the heck to men get the idea that appliances are what a woman really wants? What ever happened to perfume and jewelry? Anyway, no K-mart on the nearby planet has any of these things so I got wind that the store in Marine City had them and I called and they held one for me. Two hours later, I was back on my own side of the planet with my new roaster! Whew! The plus side is I hadn't been up that way in a while so I took the lakeshore drive back and saw all the freezing water. It was a nice day for a drive, sun shining, etc. I cranked up the stereo and pretended that life was good.

Here is #10 from the Family Circle article:
Give to those in need. Many friends and colleagues will give you gift baskets full of luscious treats at this time of year. Reichenberger suggests donating any food gifts, such as cookie tins or other wrapped and sealed goodies, to local soup kitchens. You'll feel good about giving to people who are less fortunate and you'll save yourself from consuming hundreds of unneeded calories.

Kat: Ok, you caught me. Is the number better now???? * Have fun 'stepping'. It sounds like you're on a roll.

Lucky: Any men on your doorstep yet??? Inquiring minds want to know.

Mary: Your new picture is great. And you sure do look in your element surrounded by all those books.

Sara: I don't know whether I should say I'm sorry that you didn't get to try out your crisis skills or that I'm glad that no one needed to call. I think I'll go with the latter, as I would like to think no one needed the call.

Susie: 1/2 a pound is a 1/2 a pound. This time of year, we're doing well if we can hold our own. PM me your address, and I'll give you mine. It's not too late to join the Christmas card exchange. It was a discussion we had a month or so ago and Sara compiled the list of addresses and PM'd them to everyone that wanted to join in. * Good for you taking a couple of days off. Sounds like you really need some R & R after the budgeting process.

2cute: Ok, I'm waiting for the FUN to start pouring in..........any minute now........I can feel it coming!

Baylee: Baylee, Baylee. What are we going to do with you? "there's that much less for in-laws to snoop through if/when anything happens to me." What a hoot you are! As if at that point you're gonna really care!!! Hope you end up with the lay-offs. That sounds like a great way to take some long deserved time off.

Tina: Ok, you too! I fixed the dang number already.....GET OVER IT!!! When I was in Meijers the other day, they had all kinds of those bands available. Do you guys have Meijers in Tennessee? * I'm glad the parade was fun. * Hope WI (not Wisconsin) goes well for you.

Tonya: Where have you been? Haven't seen you in awhile.

Gotta run, girls. Times they are a wasting. Have a good day. Love to all.

Morning lady's,

I am so tired, I need a week off to just lounge around and sleep, and have someone waite on me. Maybe that's what I should ask for Christmas, don't think I'll be albe to get the time off work though. Finally moved, finished everything moving everything out of the old place on sunday, and started putting things away in the new place, it's looking pretty good, need to sort through my clothes, there still sitting in garbage bags, don't know what's clean or dirty. And of course, something else has to go wrong, the first time I take a shower in the new place the the drain in the laundry room backs up, so I get out of the shower, walk around the corner and there's my son with his pants rolled up, wading in the water, didn't come and tell me, thought it was pretty cool to have a pool in the basement, He actually asked if he could go get his trunks on to play in the water. So it's backed up about 3 times since Saturday, their working on it this morning, hope they fix it, this will definelty, make my house stink, the carpets down stairs, are getting all wet. But it's been nice parking in a heated garage, no running out in the freezing cold to start it up, and let it warm up for 20 minutes.

I haven't gotten any card yet, I thought for sure I would have gotten Sara's card, but not yet, Canada's post is very slow this time of year, for me to send hubby's gift's home to his family in Newfouldland, it will propbably take about 3 weeks. I was looking thru old pictures yesterday, and there is absolutely none that I would want to share with you guys, there's actually not many to choose from at all, I alway's try my hardest to not be in the pictures. If I don't get one out for Christmas, I'll try for after, need to go get family pictures anyway's.
Where are you guys posting your pictures, your always talking about, and how do I get to the Chat site, can someone fill me in, maybe with a PM. Please and thanks, I don't know what's wrong with my Computer, but I am never able to see any of the attachments you guys post, and idea's.

Food's been very crappy lately, was on a huge Carb pig out yesterday, didn't have time to grab breakfast yesterday, and when I got to work the had home made Christmas cookies on the table, so I pigged out on them, then I had a Tuna Sandwich, and some Ichiban Noodles, and when I got home I had 2 hot dogs with the buns, a bunch of french fries, some left over maccaroni from the night before, and some potatoe chips, and man did I feel yucky, very dragged out and tired, need to get serious again, and get back on track.
Who has a good scanner, maybe I could add a picture to their card and they could post it here for me. I'll try to find one.
Going to print off the list of address's today, and start on my cards, was waiting for my Regal Order to come in, ordered some really cute cards, but not sure If they'll arrive to late. I'll wait till the end of the week and see.
My son has his first loose tooth, it's so exciting still, to watch them experience their first time at something. He's going to have a funny grin, just hope his teeth grow in Straight and look nothing like his DAD's.

Well this was suppose to be a quick post, got to get back to work.

I have been up allll night... and when I tried to sleep this morning... everyone keeps calling me. Sooo I got up... but I can't post... just too busy. BUT... LOL ... Kat... I am sooo happy you decided to send photos. Thank YOU !!!! I hope more change their minds too.

Baylee... you have a PM. I don't know if you get an email telling you or if you get the pop up screen... so just in case you didn't know.. please read. You don't have to answer if you don't want.. but please read it. I won't mention it again.

Duckie... go to where you posted your avatar and that page has options called "Thread View Options". Click Yes on everything and you will get to see everything everyone posts.
For others who may not know where they posted their avatars.. LOL ... it is at the top of the page... under "user cp"

Phone is ringing.. gotta go