Good morning all. Am I to assume everyone had a good time yesterday, since no one's up yet Here in central Indiana, we had lots of fireworks, punctuated by one of the more ferocious thunderstorms of recent memory. This morning, all is calm and sunny, and it's not even very hot! Yet.

Tomorrow's getaway day: I fly to LA to see my gal pals. I am SO looking forward to it. I've paid the bills, done the laundry ... all that's left is packing. Does anyone else loathe packing as much as I do? I don't know why it's so hard ... too many decisions and not enough room, I suppose.

Well, putting it off won't make it any easier. Hope everyone has a great day. If not before, I'll talk to you next week!

Hugs all.

Have fun Robin! I'm a "big" packer, too. Godd thing I'm plenty strong to muscle my suitcase on and off the luggage carousels, because I can't seem to travel without at least 4 pairs of shoes and and outfit or 2 for every imaginable situation. Of course, when I get wherever I'm going, I end up wearing the same three things and 1 pair of shoes, but you just never know

Just got back from the gym. I had 1 client today, then did a brutal back and bicep workout. I decided this week to finally go back to the 4 day split, minus the abs. They still get more than enough work just doing the rest of my workouts and racking for clients.

Lots of fireworks and thunderstorms here, too. I skipped them all, and stayed inside with my nervous dog. We went to a neighborhood bbq yesterday and I planned to go off plan, but I'm back on this morning. It felt nice to be guilt-free about it. I picked my "gotta haves" very carefully so I didn't just waste calories, but satistfied my sweet cravings for about the next four months. Lots of energy for the workout, anyway!

It's stinking hot and humid here today. Dh is out mowing the lawn, then we are off to see Farenheit 9/11.

Have a good one,
Mel

Hey Mel -- It is nice to consciously slack off the food thing for a day isn't it? I did yesterday too... Today it's back on track, I had my usual breakfast of egg whites and oatmeal, for lunch I just finished some fresh, I mean fresh from my SIL garden, lettuce with shrimp a good olive oil and salt... YUMMY!! it was delish!!

I'm going back to the gym with DS in about 5 mins... I should be doing legs today but since he's with me I'll do another UB... for a little while I won't be doing my usual 4 day splits so I can train DS... WHen he's comfortable in the gym I'll go my way and he can go his... but by then maybe I can do a 4 day split with him... Would that be too soon Mel? In about 3 weeks... He'll have been at it for 5 weeks by then...

Robin -- Have fun girl with your gal pals...I tend to over pack too, must be a girl thing.... Have a littel vino on me!

Well off to the gym with DS...TTFN

Au contraire, she's the luckiest woman around! (we're talking French for Ilene) Happy "kind of" anniversary.

Monsieur Jacques -- That would be leaf lettuce... I had the very same thing for supper, just as delish the 2nd time!! So Jacques, will you tell us exactly HOW you proposed to the lovely Mademoiselle? Enquiry minds wanna know !!

Madame Marguerite -- Merci for thinking of moi!

Yeah Jacque silvous plait spill the beans. did I spell that wrong Ilene? I am in sunny, HOT, HUMID Tennessee and luvin it. I took the kids to the pool today and actually fell asleep for about 30 minutes. It was great! I'll be at my FAV gym tomorrow morning for cardio and back. I just love my gym here. It is so bright, roomy, nice shiny equipment and a much better air conditioning system than Detroit's Ballys.

I just finished a quasi healthy meal of lean ground turkey and spaghetti sauce on top of green beans. It could have been better but considering the food options at my brother's house, it could have been a LOT worse. I'm just glad I remembered to grab the ground turkey and sauce from my cousin's house before I drove over here.

We are doing Dollywood on Thursday and I am going to attempt to smuggle in some snacks so I can stay on plan AND budget. I hope we don't get busted.

Peace. Tiki.

Very Sweet, Very Thoughtful and I am sure she did NOT make a mistake in saying Oui!

Tiki.

Good morning from steamy Pittsburgh! When I get in the car to go to the gym in a few minutes, I’ll have to turn on my wipers because it’s a sauna out there – hot and wet. The water will be streaming off my car (even though it hasn’t rained).

Have fun with your friends, Robin! It sounds like it will be a blast! I’m a big packer too, much to DH’s chagrin, and a lot of it has to do with shoes, like Mel said.

Hey Tiki! Sounds like you’re having lots of fun in Tennessee! Are you anywhere near Memphis? My baby bro lives there and it’s the only place I’ve been in TN. A few years ago he got married there in a fabulous church with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Mississippi River. Just gorgeous! While we were there, I got to go to Graceland and see the women with roses sobbing over Elvis’ grave – not to be missed. Also not to be missed – the Memphis in May BBQs!

It was a low-key 4th of July here, spent cleaning out my file cabinets. Exciting, no? I’m in one of those ruthless housecleaning moods so want to take full advantage of it by tackling the garage today. Every so often I get bitten by the “to heck with it, throw/give it all away” bug and do several years worth of de-cluttering. If I didn’t have children, it might actually stay that way for more than three minutes.

I skipped the gym entirely on the 4th and did cardio yesterday and chest. Do any of you do dips for chest as opposed to triceps? I was trying to lean forward to hit my chest but it really didn’t feel right and also was killing my shoulders. I may have been doing them wrong or just may not be strong enough to lean forward enough to put the emphasis on my chest. In any event, they weren’t so successful. I AM sore, though, since we did heavy DB presses, incline bar, and flat and cable flyes. And abs. More cardio today and probably arms?

It’s been awfully quiet around here. I know Cindy has a new sweetie, but we miss you! And of course, I’ve been thinking about Dip and her hand … and all the rest of you. I'd love to hear how everyone's doing, whether it's good, bad or just plain ugly ...

Morning!

I'm here, I've been to the gymn and I've got brilliant definition on my forearms. I'm telling myself that I've got brilliant definition all over my body ... so all I've got to do is get rid of a layer or two of fat and then I can check. I'll let you know.

Things are coming together a bit, at last. Last day of term today, thank goodness. Goodbye to the hopeless kindergarten teacher who cannot keep four-year-olds in order. I'm looking forward to nice, pleasant, friendly summer holidays. My knee's improved so I'm going to get back to the hula hoop project.

Good to see you, Tiki. You have a great time in Tennessee. And you are a star for telling us the worst in the confessional. Onward and upward (should that be downward?) now. That's what I'm telling myself too.

Love, Silverbirch.

Happy Tuesday LWL!

I must admit that although I'm busy, I've been lurking a bit due to my lackluster food and workouts as of late...

In fact, we were supposed to do pictures - in fact I finished my 5th Challenge on the 27th, but I'm not motivated to do so at all - with the time off from lifting due to my tendonitis and the sloppy eating, I can tell my bf% is up a bit... Then again, maybe photos are just the thing I need to shock myself back into getting on track!!!

I had a great, relaxing and yet productive holiday weekend with the man. Spent Saturday with him and his three kids, which had it's trying moments for a childless woman, but I survived... or maybe not - if you read the confessional!

Missed this morning's workout due to just not being able to get my butt out of bed on time. Will try to squeeze something in tonight, along with mowing the lawn.

Getting food back on track today - it's going to be tough as I'm tired and I'll be craving carbs, but it has to be done!

Hope you all are adjusting back to the grindstone after the holiday, and having a great day! Hello to everyone!

Robin - have a great time with your girlfriends!

Jack - great engagement story - she is a lucky woman!

Catch up with you all later!
Cindy

Cindy -- great to see you back and here's my two cents on the pictures (so take it or leave it ): Take the pictures, just for yourself. You don't have to post them, you don't have to show anyone else, you don't even have to look at them yourself if you don't want to (leave them in your camera if they're digital). I think some day you'll want to look back and remember and compare the old and new Cindys. These past weeks have been a little time-out for you and I'm sure you'll be able to get right back on track. You know you're going to keep going and finish losing the weight -- no question about it. When you reach your goal, you're going to want to look back at the whole journey and marvel at how far you've come and this is a part of it.

My big regret about the process of losing weight is that I don't have more pictures as I was losing, so I say the more, the better!

Hi ladies!

I'm back from my wonderful vacation to England. Ready to start losing all those vacation pounds by going to the gym this morning and I woke up SICK. My throat is swollen so I can't talk (Oh the Cute Boyfriend is in heaven!) and a mild fever (saying that I'm still contagious). What a bummer.

Doesn't mean that food can't still be on tho, right???

My bone spur in my left foot is bothering the heck out of me. Which means training for the running part of the trialthalon is out of the question. However, I'm seeing the doctor about getting an orthopedic surgeon on the 20th. It does me I can still swim tho and lift weights. So, I'm planning to get right back to that.... if I tell you guys, then I have to do it.

I've missed you all and I promise to post more often now that I'm back.

Jack - What a sweet proposal!

News from the DIPTER --- The surgery went well and she has feeling/numbness in one hand but she is still typing with only one hand. She has also discovered with this, that as she put it “I have a screaming case of carpal tunnel syndrome." She’s had the symptoms for about 2 years and didn’t know what it was until she mentioned her symptoms to her doc at one of her appointments, it has gotten to the point that it is keeping her awake at night too...So needless to say she hasn’t been lifting but she has been using her treadmill to walk... She hasn’t been on the computer at all and even driving is difficult for her...

Dip said:
I thought it was very sweet of her to take the time to answer me and she specifically said to relay the message to LWL...

If you’re reading this Dip : WE LUVS YOU!!! GET WELL SOON !!


Meg ---“Every so often I get bitten by the “to heck with it, throw/give it all away” bug and do several years worth of de-cluttering. If I didn’t have children, it might actually stay that way for more than three minutes. ” that my dear is an UNDERSTATEMENT ... I turn around every day and say WTF to myself because it looks exactly the same as when I started!!!! Argh!!! And I’ve been in that “to heck with it, throw/give it all away” mood too... and 99.9% of the time when this happens I’m looking for something I got rid of in about 2 weeks

Jacques – Bonne et heureuse anniversaire mon beau!!

Silver – BRILLIANT IDEAS!! Sit up straighter Ilene!! Keep posting my posture will be perfect soon... Just a heads up on teachers, 80% of them you will NOT like, so this is something we as parents just have to get used to... They will get some teachers that should get the Pulitzer Prize for the best teacher, and then there are the OTHERS that should NOT be in that profession at all... It's driven me crazy all these years too but we can't change our kids school every time a teacher isn't up to par... but I have known parents who do!! And I think this is not good for the child at all... Just my 2 cents as usual

Tiki – S’il vous plait, is the right way to write it but, you got your message across no problemo my girl and on this board it’s the main thang!!

Cindy – I was supposed to take pics on July 1st, too!! NOT to happen for moi either!! ... How’s ‘bout we aim for August 1st??

Meg, again – as I’m going down reading the posts, here YOU go and make me feel guilty with the picture thing... GUILT in this case is a GOOD thing, trust me... I just may take them on the weekend... Sigh...

Godess Jessica!! How are ya? How was the England trip? Welcome back, your posts and that cute av of yours always makes me smile ...

Today I had a GRRRREAT (as Tony the Tiger would say) workout!! Did legs, worked on them for a good 1.25 hr. then I jogged lightly for 30 mins... felt soooooo good ... Workouts with DS are not great for me so since he goes only every 2nd day I hit the weights hard when I’m alone... I’m probably overtraining a bit because I end up doing a light workout with him, but I’ve got to do something!!

Anywhoo... TTFN ...

Jack -- Down 11 lbs. in June!! Way to go !! Your nutritionist is spot on with the food, I agree with his 6 meals/day! It's the best way to keep those ink:-outs at bay!!

It's a gorgeous day here in Eastern Ontario...no big plans but the to take DS to an interview this morning!!!! I can't believe it!!! The Boy may get a job yet this summer!!! Just working in a kioske at a garage/carwash/car rental place, but it's something other than GameBoy to keep his mind occupied...

Anywhoo gotta go get ready for DS's interview... I do still have to drive him there... Can't have a shabby driver taking him to his first interview... *sigh* my baby is growing up!!!

TTFN...

Good morning LWL!

Today's a new day, and I had a great workout this morning! Yesterday's food was good until dinner time - still too much crap around my house to tempt me. Tonight I'll be purging the place and dumping stuff in the garbage...

Ilene - I think I'm going to take Meg's advice and do photos this coming weekend. It's my TOM right now and I'm a bit bloaty, but I'm going to bite the bullet and do it this weekend, as painful as it might be. That's the point, right - to shock myself back on track?!?!?

So glad to hear something from Dip - I miss her terribly!

Jack - congrats on the 11#! I'm so jealous! I've really got to increase my cardio!

Welcome back Jessica - sorry to hear you're sick - get better soon!

Hello to everyone else - have a great Wednesday!
Cindy