Welcome Friends
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You've found a great place to come
and vent, share or ask for prayer support.
This is a great group who will be very
encouraging, caring and loving....
....anyone is welcome to join!

A Servant's Prayer --

Jesus, My Jesus....How marvelous are your ways....
Far more splendid than my mind can envision.
What an honor to be chosen by you.
A lowly child I am, but empowered by the Holy Spirit
to fulfill the great hope to which you have called me.
I give myself totally to you, Lord.
Take my imperfect heart and make it perfect.
Peel away the hardness.
Close the doors I have opened to the temptations of this world.
Gently remove the roots of painful memories, sins, doubts and fears.
Discard anything that separates me from you.
Lord, fill the emptiness with the light of your love
that I might be a beacon calling the lost back to you.

To love as you love.....
To serve as you serve.....
To forgive as you forgive.....
Always mindful of my nothingness while doing great
and marvelous things in your name and for your glory.
This I pray, Jesus, in YOUR name ...
Amen.

HI FOLKS ~ well, another month has come and gone, so it's time for a new monthly thread. I guess technically September is still part of summer but I always thought it was part of fall when I was a kid; I guess it changes around the 20/21 of the month. It is cooling down here now, so that kinda feels like fall is coming for sure.

The labor day weekend is upon us; and some of the kiddies here have already started back to school, depending on which one they attend. Others will start next week, I think. I see that some of the trees are starting to turn a bit yellow and the vines & some bushes have just a touch of wine, so there's a hint.

It sure was a one this year, wasn't it? Well, now that is almost passed us, we can enjoy going outdoors again. I got lots of green beans from my barrels, and cherry tomatoes from my hanging plants; and will surely try them again next year.

We hope to add some LILAC BUSHES along the back lane as a natural fence so we can avoid all the rocks back there. They will look & smell pretty and they are one of my favorite bushes. I thought we had one here, but turns out they are something else; one is a pink honeysuckle and the other, I still haven't found the name for yet. It has tiny, light purple flowers near the top but they aren't lilacs (they have no scent and they only put blossoms in the top of the bush).

Hope you all have a wonderful long weekend; and a Superbly Serene September ...

Bad news today was that I didn't get any exercise and I went over my calories by about 700 at the bbq I went to.

But I had a pleasant day today and I'm in good spirits. Lots to be thankful for!
#1- my back pain improved a lot overnight. It's about 80% better. Walked upright today
#2- lost another pound. officially lost 30 lbs total now. earned another cheerleader below. yay!
#3- got to go to a bbq with old friends I haven't seen in a while and got to go to scrapbooking club today. busy but fun day! And it was beautiful weather. 75 degrees and sunny


Looking forward to getting back to the y tomorrow and my routine and beginning my Sept goals!

Good job Laura! 30 lbs is amazing!!

I have not been doing well at updating. I have been on the Metabolism Miracle diet now for 4 weeks and I am really liking it....well...if one can LIKE a diet

Any how, I am experiencing something I don't ever recall feeling before and that is total satisfaction (most of the time), after eating a meal. I feel full and satisfied not needing to eat. Odd feeling but one that makes me understand that the diet is working.
I have only lost 2.6 lbs if we look at the average for the weeks, but I have lost inches. I was to measure and I have lost 2 inches on my bust, 1.5 inches on my bra line, 2 inches at my waist and an inch on my hips.

I don't feel much thinner but I think I am headed in the right direction. 4 more weeks on Step 1. I hope to see more results by then. I"d like to see the scale move more. I will start back with Zumba this week since it restarts, but only meets one time a week, so I need to try and take some small walks during the rest of the week.

we have HOT day again today, 106 !! Not supposed to last long, in the next few days it will cool off again, but it is dry dry dry, need some rain! can't wait for some wonderful fall weather around here!

yesterday and today went great. today my mama came with me to the Y and worked out with me. It was fun showing her around since she's joining on Saturday. Her new excitement renews my own excitement. And I'm doing so good on my Sept goals already. It's TOM but I'm trying to drink lots of water so I hope I don't retain too much. I weigh again Thurs and I'm hoping for 298 so we'll just have to see.

take care y'all

I'm doing good, just checking in. Hope everyone is well.

LAURA ~ that's nice that your mother is going to join you going to the Y; that will make it all that much more fun too. You are almost there; I'd bet you'll reach twosieland by the end of this week most likely the way you have been going.

NELLY ~ glad you are enjoying your plan and have fun with that rumba. I love to do chair dancing to Christian music. It doesn't really feel like exercise to me when I'm doing it becuz I'm having so much fun singing and bouncing away ...

We had a one today; in the 80's F but it kinda felt hotter with the humidity. Still, I spent lots of time outdoors early on watering my berry plants. I ate my first two raspberries off my own plants and lots are getting ready to ripen soon (I hope).

I had deli chicken breast for dinner the last two days with salad & veggies; still have a bit of chicken left for tomorrow's lunch if I want to. I was thinking that I like chicken so much that I'm gonna start to look like one soon; then I thought that maybe if I eat more fish that I might start to look like a nice, slim fish -- hmmm, I wonder if there's any truth to that? You know -- becuz they say -- you are what you eat!!!

Anywho ~ I can always dream, can't I? Hope you are all having a lovely week so far. Take good care now ...

I am up one pound today. I had a calorie high weekend but am now back on track again. I will have to increase my exercise to make up for this pound. I'm not going to beat myself up over this because this is just life.

I am still connecting with my buddy and we both see changes in ourselves not only physically but emotionally as well. We are seeing our need for snacking not being as strong as it once was.

Laura: I'm glad your mom is going with you. Like you said her enthusiam will give you more incentive also. It's also nice to have someone to exercise with and to hold you accountable.

Rosebud: You are too funny! If what you say is true I should start looking green with all the veggies I've been eating!

things are good here, hope y'all are well. I have my lil nephew Aiden (age 2&1/2) to take care of from about 8 am till midnight starting yesterday and going thru 9/23. It challenges me to budget my time and I have to take him with me to workout so I can't do it for 3 hours like I want. So I took him yesterday for 50 mins and today 1 hr and 20 mins. So I took him to the park to walk and run and play so I could keep moving. I think we'll take the puppy for a walk in a while. Now I just gotta figure out dinner. Not quite used to having a puppy and toddler in tow all day long. My usual routine just doesn't translate to having a little guy. It would be tempting to stay home and watch cartoons and feed him happy meals but if it isn't on my diet it isn't going to be on his. And I don't want my weightloss to stall because I am not getting the same workouts. We watered my tomatoes earlier and he harvested all the red ones. And a couple green ones too, oops. Ok, take care everyone. Naptime is about over. Time for Auntie Lolo to get moving.

Laura, Fried green tomatoes are really yummy !

WILMA ~ me too; I eat a lot of veggies these days as well!

LAURA ~ hey, this is good practice for down the road when you have your own kiddies ...

BARGOO ~ I've never tried fried green tomatoes, but I wouldn't be surprised if I like them though.


We had a good day yesterday; got lots done around here. Errands done and picked up a few groceries via DH and his cool bike. I went out for a walk again last evening. I am still getting lots of cherry tomatoes off my hanging plants. BTW, they are called TUMBLING TOMS. The temps dropped here quite a bit, so I may bring the plants indoors for the nights this week, but they say it will warm up again as the week goes along. Eating is going very well too; we had homemade chz burgers last night. Tonight will likely be fish and salad, etc.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone ...

Been trying , well cannot say trying when I goof up all the time and don't do what I am aiming on doing like counting my calories. I just don't understand why I cannot get that down. Since I fell 3 times and wreaked on my bike I just have not felt like exercise and scared of the bike , was going to sale it but it looks like it got ran over by a truck, don't know if anyone would want it. Well as you see can not sleep there goes my 8 hour sleep. Gotta finish some dishes.

BOOTSIE ~ there are other ways you can keep track -- just do the NO DIET-DIET PORTION PLAN I shared with you all here some time ago. Your life is so busy. Forget counting calories; forget counting carbs. Just have one serving of each thing (except veggies & salad -- they are unlimited) for each meal or snack. That is so EZ-PZY! The weightloss may be slower, but it is so much easier to stick with and is much simpler too.

Sorry to hear about your bike accident; give it some time, and you may get over your fears. We will pray about this for you. We bought my DH a cute 3-wheel bike for his 65th birthday -- he loves it! It cannot tip over (his last one always did that on him). It is stable and he just zooms all over the place in it. The kiddies tell him how cool it is, becuz this one has those higher handle bars like they had in the 70's on the banana bikes. Do you remember those?

Anyhow, it is a bright, bright red with a huge white basket in the back. He goes up town for me at least once a week and does errands & pick-ups for me. He can bring back at least 4 bags of groceries in it, but usually he just gets 1 or 2 at a time. Then in between, he does his runs with it for fun.

Do you not have a dishwasher? You are such a busy lady, it would be so nice if you had one. Maybe your DH would get you one for Christmas. I don't use mine unless we have lots of company becuz I don't have as much to do as you do. If I had to work full-time and do all that you do, I probably would use mine more. You have so much on your plate. I'm so glad that you popped by for a visit; -- don't be a stranger, we love to hear from you.

Well, my eating has been going very well this month so far; and I am very pleased about that. Today, I am making chicken & riblets for dinner with some of our very own green beans plus some baby carrots & new potatoes. It smells very yummy in here. I may also baked up some more apples like a light apple crisp (and you know, lite on the crisp part).

Yesterday, was a big fish day for me: toasted tuna/tomato for lunch; and baked sole + a few tators + coleslaw for dinner. Friday, we had homemade lean chzburgers for our fun meal. I had a veggie pita pizza for lunch today. For breakfast, I had an egg + bacon + one toast & coffee, of course. Yesterday, I had a medium bagel + PB; and Friday, I had an eggmuffin (that is, an english muffin with one egg with chz/ketchup).

I often have a banana or orange with my first coffee of the day, or for my morning snack, or with my breakfast if it is low in calories. Just thought I would share what I am eating this month, just in case anyone finds it helpful in any way.

Hope you all have a Super Serene Sunday ...

Just got through breaking up a fight two of my pet male cats pickin on a 18 year old lady cat boy was I hot! They should be ashamed of themselves ! Ethel my new dog got brave or really forgot about claws and helped me break em up!She is so sweet just love her. She even sleeps with me at night time . My dishwasher has been broke for years ,hard water around here but thankful for it! Been going through my brothers boxes today and it sure gets depressing but i need to get it done.