I'm still fighting a summer doldrums with snacking - Ouch. I'm stuck with the idea that snacking will fix tension. It hasn't yet, but, remarkably, I seem to be willing to keep trying.

Haven't made plans for Fourth of July on Friday. We have some grass-fed ground beef. Maybe it'll be the day for super hamburgers to find out if they're worth it.

Good Morning all!

I'm on day 3 of a four day weekend and today is Costco day . I have never been able to shop there with enough time to take it all in and today I will do that. I won't BUY it all but I will have a careful look at pricing and see what's in housewares as well as the food sections. My "treat" will be to buy a book - they apparently have recently released hardcovers at up to 30% off.

I am about to launch an advertising push with a new business name and a "branding" of myself. I'm advertising on screen in a local theatre, have signs for my car, and will be wearing a t shirt with the new name and logos on it to work every day. DH is updating my website and my photo will appear on it. New business cards and a post card delivery blitz in August will complete this phase of my new look. The goal is to bring in 3-4 full-time dogs by next summer to bring my income back up to a decent level.

Dagmar

Your advertising campaign sounds exciting! I hope it brings wonderful new clients! Good luck at Costco. Let us know what book you decide upon.

Bill... I hear you on the snacks! I was watching a cooking show yesterday and they made burgers using 65/35 ground beef! I rarely eat ground beef but we always get the leanest meats possible. I'm sure more fat equals tastier burgers, but I'm not about to go there! I wonder what meat restaurants use?

I'm back from visiting dd in Houston and the scale seems relatively stable but I never quite believe it for a few days after traveling. My challenge is that we are headed to Napa tomorrow and will be eating lots! My plan is to go to bikram tomorrow before leaving, and we are only going for one night, so hopefully I'll be back in time for bikram the next day. We are going to go hot air ballooning which I'm fairly freaked out about as I'm pretty afraid of heights! After we fly, we get a scrumptious sounding brunch.... Younger dd is going with us so it should be fun. Once I'm back, I'll have a few weeks before we go to London to focus on eating and exercise.

Dagmar~does Rover.com work in Canada? It's a site where dog sitters (and I assume walkers) can advertise. I don't know what they charge but you're able to post what you charge for pet sitting, etc.

We're getting closer to wedding time! 24 days and counting.

I did not sleep well last night. Ugh, woke up at 1:30 and I don't think I got back to sleep at all. It's going to make for a long day.

Bill, what is a super hamburger?

Dagmar, good luck with the new brand!

Michele, I always buy 90+ ground beef! 65 sounds gross to be honest.

Allison, is this DD's wedding that is coming up?

C's rash turned out to be viral. Lasted two days then disappeared. A got it too and is on her second day. We took them to our twins club family picnic on Saturday in any case since C's rash had gone away and A hadn't gotten it yet. (It's just a rash with no other symptoms so no big deal in any case.) They played in the water a little -- the park has a spray/splash area, then we got them dried off and changed and they went on the swings, then stole food off of our plates. C ate all the coleslaw off my plate and A grabbed DH's entire plate and flipped it upside down. Then yesterday we gave them a haircut since they had hair in their eyes all the time -- just trimmed the bangs straight across. I messed up and cut C's hair shorter than A's because she was squirming too much! Oh well. Once the hair on the back and sides grows longer then we'll let the front grow out too. Unfortunately they've got my weird hair -- their hair is straight on the top and front and curly in the back.

In other news I'm on week two of MuTu System and it's going well so far. I've been counting calories as well and am honestly already sick of having to enter all this junk. It's not so much logging that I ate food in X quantity, it's more entering in recipes that's a pain. I'm down a couple pounds though so I feel like I'm going the right way. I'm supposed to pick two changes to make from their food rules list for this week so I have to decide which ones. Some things I already do (eat fruit/veg at least 3x/day, drink lots of water, minimal or no caffeine or alcohol), some things I'm not going to do (cut out 100% of refined foods). I think I will focus on getting oily fish 2x/week for one of them so now I need to pick the other.

Bill, I'm with you on the snacking. Fortunately, most of the snacking is taking place in my garden, where snow peas, lettuces and radishes are ON. Which goes well with ...

Dagmar, my prized recent find at Costco was a 16-pack of individual servings of hummus - organic, and in little flat shallow tubs that are absolutely perfect (though secretly I am disappointed and somewhat horrified about what makes up a single serving). Have heard great things about the wild Alaskan salmon patties in the frozen food section too. Good luck with the business drumming-up!

Michele, ballooning is really fun and the big basket does feel secure.

Allison, I hope you can grab a power nap somewhere today. I hate being exhausted even more than feeling hungry.

Jessica, glad to hear the rash was minor in the scheme of things. I laughed about the plate-tipping - that was a huge risk with DS. He still lunges at food and it's even worse now that he's a teenager! Congrats on the successful start to your MuTu!

Lonnngg weekend - made the roundtrip to Chicago on Thursday to drop off DS at his leadership conference, and then turned around and basically did it again on Sunday to pick him up. My fanny still feels flat, and not in a good way! I'm really glad it's only a 4 day workweek! DS turns FIFTEEN on Saturday; he chose shrimp creole for his birthday dinner and told DH to "kick it up a notch". It may not be wise to have the grandparents over to share ... Still in a bit of awe that I've managed to keep a child alive and thriving for 15 years.

Hi maintainers,

This is the worst period I've probably ever had in terms of emotional instability and face-stuffing/bloating/subsequent overload of feelings from said face-stuffing. It's coming to an end but yeesh! Stayed up too late, crying inconsolably about nothing, giving BF a fright and keeping us up.

The 4th is looming! I'll be going to a friend's camp in central NY for fireworks, picnicking and swimming, staying the night, then heading to Bethelwoods to see Crosby Stills & Nash. I'm excited - looks like an amazing venue!

Bill - I always think of the cows I see out West on the range and then feel pretty good about dropping extra. It's not cheap though so it's def a special occasion thing!

Dagmar - Hope the new branding/ad campaign launches you into multibillionaire territory and you get your own TV show and the whole kit and caboodle

michele - enjoy Napa!

alinnell - Sorry about the poor night's sleep. Like Becky I'd rather be weak from hunger than feeling dazed from exhaustion.

paperclippy - Don't let them make fun of you for their crooked haircuts! You know whose fault it was

ICUwishing - Congrats on 15 years! Shrimp creole sounds wonderful. Feel free to send any leftovers here.

Bill - You crack me up! If snacking relieved stress, I'd be completely relaxed all the time.

Dagmar - great on the scale! Also, excited about your blitz! Good luck! Hope you pick up some good jobs.

Allison - I hate waking up like that. I don't do it often and it is usually worrying about one thing or another that makes it happen. The wedding?

Jessica - For calories of recipes, I usually used recipes that gave the calories. Of course you never know how much you are eating unless you are going to divide it up - and I just didn't have time to do that. I'm sure you don't have time with twins! Also, what's up with recipes that say something like "300 calories; serves 6-8"! It's either 300 calories for 6 servings or 225 for 8! I just totally guessed how much I was getting. Also, I have been using smaller plates and bowls. They are actually my Christmas dishes. I always loved them and instead of putting them away in January I just kept using them. IDK, they just make me smile each meal I have. If someone is over I just explain I wanted to keep them out for a year!

Michele - wow hot air balloon! It will be beautiful I am sure! Did you say you are near Monterey?

Becky - well time will fly now. HS and college absolutely fly by when you are the parent!

I love being out here in Monterey! The weather here is like heaven compared to the he** in Orlando! I have been walking/jogging every morning. When I leave I am cold, but when I get back dripping. Also, sleeping with the windows open! Wow! Even in FL in the winter, when the weather is nice, we can't really do that because of humidity. Also, I'm too paranoid with the crime in Orlando. Even though we are in a nice neighborhood there are still home invasions. This condo has no AC and it is so refreshing to have windows opened up all the time.

I'm not liking not having a scale. I am tracking what I am eating (as much as possible with the eating out) and am exercising and then on the weekend we walked way more than I would at home. So I'm sure it will be fine. But still... I don't want to go lower or higher. Want to stay right here at this perfect 144.

It is official. It has begun. That which has brought me mega stress for OVER a YEAR! We went to our attorney's office this morning to sign the contract that will dissolve our current corporation. We already have our new LLC set up, but DH is out doing the DBA paperwork. We've opened one of two accounts (the other I can do with an email as soon as I have the DBA paperwork complete). We have our new tax ID. Next DH has to get a new contractor's license andthen I can start re-applying for all our licenses (one per city and there are several here). Then filling out new credit applications with all our vendors and ordering new letterhead, business cards and checks. Oh, and installing new accounting software.

Yeah, not much sleep ahead for me.

Glad one of your stressors is nearing an end, Allison!

Sharon....I'm probably 1.5 hours tops from Monterrey. We are 45 min from San Francisco and a little over an hour from Napa. Not too shabby of a location!

krampus Very sorry to hear this. You've sounded so much more upbeat since you returned from Japan. Any idea what set this off? It'll pass, as you know, but it must be horrible when you're in the middle of it.

Krampus, sorry I didn't see your post. You must have posted right when I was typing mine, but mine takes a long time to type on my iPad.
I just saw the post from SilverBirch just now, and I wondered what she was referring to and was horrified to see your post right above mine and I didn't say anything. I just didn't see it.
I am lifting you up in prayer. You will get through it. The weekend should help!

I am so very, very glad that the high heat and humidity has passed on! I swore up and down that after this past winter, I would never complain about summer heat again, but 85F with 95% humidity is just not compatible with life! At least when it's cold, you can put on more clothes. I was a little distressed when I read that several models of the climate change predict that the Midwest will see a lot more combo days of high temp/humidity in the summer. Yuck!

Allison, good luck with all the business changes. You are a skilled planner and can eat this elephant one bite at a time!

krampus, hope you are on the backside of the reality twist!

I'm feeling a combination of excited/silly at seeing my ad up on the screen tomorrow night. So far I've had one person who I did not know take a business card for cat sitting in the future. I'm giving this plan 6 months and about 3K - that's more than I've spent in advertising in the last 20 years combined so it's quite frightening to take such a risk. I need to get 6 full time dog walking clients to get back up to a decent level of income. Sitting in the living room whining wasn't working so I'm trying this. Is it the better choice? I hope so.

I have been eating candy. Not so much due to all of this - I'm really excited about doing something to try to save my business - but due to DH's situation.

I hope he makes the better choice(s) for himself too. I know I can only talk to him (and I have been doing that) and he has to make the final decision. He can take a big risk and maybe succeed or stay where he is and be doomed. Seems a simple thing but it's not. SIGH

Dagmar

Very exciting, Dagmar. I'm watching with interest and fingers crossed!