Good morning. The sun is still sleeping in but The Girls and I are up and about. Coffee and breakfast first and then I'll be back.

Good morning, Chicklets

Weatherman says it's going to get up to 92*-95* here. Days this hot and humid used to be called "sultry". The kind of day where you just want to lie back on the sofa and sip iced tea. Sounds like a good idea to me. Think I'll make a pitcher and take some to work with me. Though there won't be any lolling about on sofas.

The butterflied leg of lamb turned out absolutely scrumptious last night. But as usual, we ate too late and now I'm retaining water.

Sunday, I spent my birthday money and bought a portable CD player/radio. It's nice to be able to listen to CD's at work. Especially when Clark Howard starts getting on my nerves. For anyone who's unfamiliar, Clark is a consumer guru. He's got a lot of good ideas but his voice tends to grate on my nerves after a while. Much more relaxing to listen to "Surf Guitar" or Jimmy Buffett.

Ok, gotta get my shower and get ready for work.

You all have a great day on the Beach

Mamacita

Good morning girlies...

Mama I hear you on the heat! We had a week of really pretty weather here in Dallas- now it is just miserable.

Barb I am sure your gain is water retention. I have not been pumping enough water and feel bloated myself. The heat is going to make us retain it.

Ruth Morning! You must be so thankful for some time to rest and relax.

Not much to report- this is our final work day before the kids come tomorrow. I am about to tell my team to leave me alone, quit asking questions, go away.... No, I really like them, it is just hard to get stuff done.

Have a great day chickies!

Quick . Hersh and I are off to town for her bloodwork.
There is a terrific thunderstorm happening right now and the lights have flickered a few times. I need to unplug so I don't get a fried modem! Catch you later!

Good Morning to all you lovely ladies :

Well we are up early again Now I remember why I hated school and working the getting up early. But my daughter seems to be handeling well well see how she is by the end of the week.

Got on the scale this A.M. :and lost another pound. Wish it was more but I'm glad I did not add to it!!! :smile: I am moving on to phase II today. A little scared just because I want to keep losing and I can see where I could go overboard on it! But will start slow. I am having yougurt for breakfast boy is it nice not to have eggs!!

It is another scorcher here today. I can't wait till it cools down and then maybe I can walk with my DD around the hood after we take big sister to school. Have to figure a way now to get a little exercise into my day. I know this will help with the loss and tone up those flabby place.

Well check in with you later. Have to get DD2 out od bed and fed 9am to chiro today.
BFN

Just a quick hello to everyone! I need to find something to wear for work that isn't going to kill my sunburn. I'm peeling already! Just 2 days after the burn. Ugh I'm miserable. I know, I know, it's my own fault for forgetting to put the lotion on (for some reason I just got the quote "It puts the lotion on itself, Clarice" in my head.) Anyway, I need to get ready for work and pack a lunch, because I have to be there in an hour to train my new assistant. She's WONDERFUL! It makes me happy. Everyone have a blast today!

Congrats on the great new asst., Weezle!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Clovey, how is your dear kitty? Lots of prayers going out to you both!

It's actually beautiful here...but hot and humid. I'm not fond of humidity. Not sure if it is affecting my weightloss, but so far, so good. The weight is dropping again and not as fast as before, but almost. In the meantime, with the extra carb every other day, I feel lethargic, have more cravings, am more depressed, and my IBS is back. *sigh* I'm just not sure what to do. I certainly enjoy the extra carb more than I will another fruit, but I might need to try that and see how it goes. I'll wait until TOM is over so I can see if that is what really aggravated the IBS.

Lots to do at work today, and more than a bit stressed trying to manage all these projects at once. I really need to calm down and just work on one until it is finished.

We had those zucchini patties for dinner with the Bolivian spiced pork chops (good, but spicy!) from the SBD cookbook last night. The patties are to die for!!! I posted the recipe...think it's in Phase 2 side dishes. My coworker found the recipe, and I was thrilled to try them. If anyone else is Jewish (or cooks Jewish food), this makes a great SBD safe replacement for latkes! I'm going to mail the recipe to my 93 year old Bobie (grandmother), who is Jewish...she'll get a kick out of them!

Had a hard session with my therapist last night. Good, but hard. I'm just frustrated by all the meds I'm on and trying to figure out my health alone is very draining. I know I'm definitely not the only one with health issues, but sometimes I'm just exhausted under the weight of trying to figure them out alone. My doctor has left town, and so has my nurse practitioner, so I'm between doctors. Still trying to find a nutritionist. I'm sure things will be better, but for now I'm frustrated and tired!

I hope this day only gets better...no one gets wet, and everyone stays OP happily!

Good morning, ladies.
Well, once again I'm reminded why I live up north. I mean, I like snow and all, but the real reason is that it just doesn't get that hot up here. We're going to be in the 80s for much of this week, and the weatherpeople are talking about it finally being summer!
My husband is from Mississippi - he calls this early spring!
Ruth - are the puppy pregnancies confirmed yet?



We had a real boomer of a thunderstorm last night about 1 AM - A pathetic whimper from the crate in the family room woke us - Foxy Dog feels much more secure when she's with her peeps when there are loud noises - on the 4th of July, she lived under my feet - We let her sleep in our bedroom last night - at least, after we threw her off the bed a couple of times, and convinced her that the space behind the bedside table wasn't big enough for a dog to hide in (actually, it would be tough for a cat), and we had untangled her from the alarm clock cord, she settled down quite nicely. ;>)

I've been swimming with my husband several times a week, since he got back from the aunt's memorials down home. I'm swimming about a third of a mile, and am working on increasing my time, rather than how long I swim. Sort of like speeding up my walk.
Swimming makes me so aware of the aerobic nature of working out - since how you organize your breathing is so central to the activity.

I had a planned treat last night - I had two ears of fresh corn for dinner last night; I know it's not OP, etc, etc, but fresh, locally grown produce is always going to be part of what I eat, and nice, early, sweet corn is summer magic.
I have enough weight to lose that I'll still be at this next summer, and I may revisit my decision then, but I missed local strawberries on Phase I, and I don't think that missing the most joyous parts of food are going to make me like this life style choice.
I'll have to be careful today, to make sure that I haven't set off my sugar alarms, but I guess, as long as we don't do this every day for 2 weeks, this is going to be OK.

Take care all - will be trying to post more regularly

Sue
278/264/160
SW/CW/GW

Laurie - we crossed posts, or I would have responded to your message in my previous one -
Boy, do I relate - I have a really hard time being "chronic", and changing health insurances 4 times in the last 6 months (job changes, from COBRA to a new job that I didn't like, to a temp company for a job I liked, to permanent at the "temp" job) has made me nuts. I've managed to keep husband's and kid's providers in our plan, but I didn't like my dr's practice - loved her - hated the office - so I'm really between providers. My allergist is the closest thing I have to a regular provider, although I do go to a gynecologist, but I really should be seeing an internist.
I'm starting to realize, though, that, despite all the slogans that companies put on their stuff about "seeing a physician before starting this, or trying that, or WHATEVER...", that, really, we are responsible for our own health. I have a really good allergist, but I'm responsible for managing my asthma - noone else can possibly know what's going on - she can test my blood to confirm my suspicisions about dosage levels and such, but I am responsible for getting enough sleep, getting exercise, and eating properly. Until a few months ago, the only thing I was doing well was sleeping!

Sometimes, I wish I came with a checklist:
issue one - right solution for me
issue two - right solution for me
issue three - right solution for me
instead of having to figure the whole thing out for myself.

I guess the important thing is that we have to pay attention to ourselves. So much easier said than done.

Sue

Morning ladies.

Back to Phase 1 for me! TOM is coming (I think as I type, OH NO!). So far so good. Had breakfast this am and a snack, all OP. Only, I didn't get to the grocery store to shop last night so after the gym I guess I will go pick up some P1 approved fixins for meals.

I don't know what to do about lunch though. I guess a salad from the expensive place down the road a piece.

Mamacita -- it's going to be that muggy and humid here today too. Yuck! Stay inside

Kiko -- hope you get all you need done, with no distractions.

Ruth -- no fried modem for you! Hope you have power!

SKherb -- yay for the weight loss! Keep it up.

Weezle -- try some aloe vera and keep your skin hydrated! And yay for the new assistant!

Laurie -- I didn't know you had health issues (too). Hope all is ok! Are they weight related at all? I only ask because maybe there is some solace in the fact that ask you lose, maybe you can lose meds too!

Sue -- I love swimming AND corn I wish I could do both. I don't want to get into the bathing suit until next weekend when I go to Albany to see the aunt, then on the 26th when I leave for Puerto Rico!

As for me, well, I am going to go drink my second liter of water so far, take some Advil and get to work. It took me all too long to even post! Darn Board Members coming in this weekend

Good Afternoon everyone!

I can't believe it........the sun is out!!! YAY!! Well at least for a little bit...they're calling for a few downpours again sometime today....It rained cats and dogs last night it seemed...I think we got about 2-3 inches of rain last night...the news said we've gotten almost 2 feet of rain since June! ack...We can't take all this water...this happened last year with us and when Hurricane Isabel came last year all the trees just fell over cuz the ground was so wet from before they just uprooted.....so now there's hurricane Alex...hopefully it won't come inland....and hopefully it won't do too much damage to NC in Nags Head.....We're supposed to leave Sunday for the beach...not much is going on here...waiting and hoping i get a phone call from that company this week....I've been strict op the past week or so...I think my mom has quit the diet...oh well....How is everyone doing? Yikes Weezle...I know how it is to get a bad sunburn...I had sunpoisoning one time back in 1999 from my senior trip...fell asleep in the sun...not a good thing....when i got home after a loooooooooong bus ride i went to the dr and they gave me some burn cream....it was not fun....I hope it gets better soon! Everyone have a pleasant day!!!

Well, it's hot and humid all over. We finally turned on our AC last week. I'm from Florida, so I don't mind the heat during the day, but I hate sweating in my sleep! Gross! DD and DH seem to be sleeping better too, though the wee one is pretty congested. Can't seem to find an appropriately sized air filter, we may have to special order one. Sigh.

My supervisor is relatively new to the position and he's been running around like a maniac for the past week and a half. He looks like a deer in headlights. The poor guy's gonna have a coronary. Worst of all, we work with his wife and apparently, he's been taking all his work stress home with him. Tsk, tsk, tsk. If I were a psychic, I'm sure I'd see spontaneous combustion in his near future. Certainly makes my job more stressful. My previous supervisor had it all together...she was organized and she could firmly tell her superiors when their expectations were too high. This guy is trying to please everyone except himself. ARG.

I can't say I'm looking forward to a very In-law oriented weekend. Birthday parties Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And I really haven't recovered from eating poorly this past weekend. I hope no one will be offended if I eat before I go and skip the cake.

I forgot that I was gonna weigh in today. Darn. Just as well, I suppose, as I'm feeling bloated and I might get rough with the scale if it's uncooperative. I never remember having PMS this badly before.

Hum, the bright side, where is the bright side of this post??? Not sure, I'm feeling unchallenged, uninspired and all-around blah today. Ah, now I remember, the bright side: we're having kabobs for dinner if it doesn't rain. Yummy. I'd love to have some sweet corn, too, but it's too late to make a special trip to get it. Maybe next time. Umm...kabobs!!!

Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel more like myself. Until then, ladies, enjoy your day at the beach!

Not too much going on here. Washing windows and painting trim. My hubby is finally starting to eat like me. He doesn't need to lose the weight, but he's seen how much better I feel and how good my labs were, and he would like to come off lipitor and accupril.

Warm day today and I love it. My kids start coming home this week. My daughter is coming from Texas on Saturday and my son will be here from Tennessee on Sunday with his wife and 3 kids. I'm so excited!!! The big event will be seeing my son who we haven't seen for 2 years. He'll fly in from Japan on Wednesday. It's going to be a huge party! I'm going to be cooking up a storm. I'm going to need strength for that but it will be OK.

Well, off to paint some more. Have a great day everyone!

Hello all,

I had a weird experience last night when I went to the grocery store. I got quite excited that spinach (in the bag, prewashed) was on sale and I bought a few bags of it. They also had strawberries on sale but since I'm just at the beginning of Phase I, I didn't even want to go near them. Today, as a snack, I had a spinach salad with my own dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and it was pretty damn good. Last year, I was having such a hard time eating vegetables but for the last 6 months or so, I have really learned how to enjoy them but I would've never imagined that I would get so happy about finding spinach on sale.

Work has been pretty busy lately, I worked late last night, went home, work called me at home. I didn't get a chance to exercise yesterday because of that so today I will definitely exercise. I am feeling pretty tired and wish I could take a nap but I'll be ok. A good thing today is that I am wearing jeans that used to be too tight but now they are too loose and I'm also wearing a silk tank top that was too tight when I bought it so I only wore it once but today it fits pretty nicely so that makes me happy.

Just quickly jumping in to say for the well wishes, and to say congrats to RNMom on that amazing loss and be soooooo close to goal! Enjoy your family get together!

LaurieX, I'm so sorry you are having a blah day! Sending some and your way!!! : Yay for kabobs!