Hello all!

I was going to call this bloated for life, but let's be more postive!

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine had its ups and downs, but overall, I was bummed to realize that it was Monday, so it had to be okay..

Did a bunch of canning -- salsa and tomato sauce and I'm going to make mostarda this week. I have lots of dried fruit and that would be a good way to make way for the new.

It was pretty decent yesterday, so I mowed the lawn and cleaned out the car. I was going to go car test driving, but chickened out. Volvo is giving some pretty decent financing on the new v50, so its doable, must stop buying shoes for a few years...

DP is having a good time in the middle of the woods. Good thing she has wireless internet access, she can surf the web while communing with nature.

Made the butternut squash ratatouille. Its good, but too much for one person, so I have foisted it off on my friends. The dog likes the butternut squash.

I have something like 10 delicatas, 12 acorns, 3 rouge vif d'etampes pumpkins and 4 terracotta pumpkins to harvest. I have to find room for all these pumpkins!

Anyways, how was everyone's weekend? I trust Melissa had a nice time in
Chicago and Lisa spent time on the course or doing some clean up. I wish you were spending more time golfing..

Pam -- are you on vacation this weekend?

Hiya Susan!


Gotta split and take the aspirin and vitamins...

lala

Hi, lala, yes Bloated for Life sounds about right, although I did try to eat better this weekend. I have WI tonight, so keep your fingers crossed. Your talk of squash and pumpkins really makes me think of autumn. It's still very hot here, so we don't really think about it.

I did golf this weekend and it was a welcome respite from all of the hard work around the house and yard. I really needed it. But back to the yard, there is so much debris. I keep raking and picking up and raking and picking up. Now our pool system is acting up; pool is now a blue-green instead of pea soup green!

The insurance adjuster came by. He was a nice man. He said our pool enclosure needs to be replaced and the soffits. He also said that he is very busy and did not know when I would receive a coverage notice. These folks are just swamped!

I'm starting to get some estimates for the repairs (finally). It's a very slow process.

Well, unfortunately, Tropical Storm Lisa has turned up. I was really hoping we wouldn't get that far in the alphabet. I'm already getting teased at work.

Hello to Pam, Melissa and Susan.

Hi Ladies,

Yes, sadly bloated for life describes how I feel today. It's TOM time and to make it worse my eating yesterday was horrendous. I went to a baby shower for my administrative assistant's son and his wife. I hadn't been to one in awhile and I truly forgot how boring they are. Oh my god...ooohing and aaahing over diaper bags and baby accessories for over 2 hours. Well..I split after 2 hours I was told it went on for over 3 1/2. Then I had a birthday party for my daughter last night, which meant more cake and ice cream plus a couple of slices of pizza. Oh well..another day another fresh start.

Lala yes, we're leaving on Friday morning and I am so happy. I just want to chill out and take it easy, but I also need to do some serious handbag shopping. Saw a really nice Dooney I liked on Saturday but decided to hold off until I get to the Cape to check out the goods in a really nice leather store there. Didn't get a chance to make the ratatouille but it is on the agenda for this week.

Lisa glad you got the adjuster out to your place. The weather here is much cooler, on Sunday morning the heat went on!! Yikes..I try to hold out until October 1st but it's been getting very cold at night. How did you do golfing? DH and I will be staying at a resort with a golf course so hopefully we can get some in this weekend.

Hi to Susan and Melissa hope you both enjoyed the weekend.

Well off to visit my cousin and her 2 little ones. It should be fun. Talk to you later.

Pam -- I just received a baby shower invite. Sigh. Should be tons of fun.

Have you seen some of the cole haan bags? Cute... I have to admit to buying a dior little purse thingie while in Paris. My DP was flummoxed why I had to buy a new purse, honestly....

lala

Hi everybody. Been sick the past 5 days or so - combination of flu-like symptoms (but no real flu) and bad, bad allergic reaction to whatever's in the air this time of year - ragweed I suspect. Anyway, I'm back at work determined to tough it out cause I'm bored to death at home.

Here's another vote for renaming the thread. Fat for Life would adequately describe my situation. I saw the pictures from Bermuda on the weekend. Ugh! Time for some serious starvation...

Lisa: Good to hear you at least saw the insurance adjustor. I can only imagine how backed up those guys are. The only good thing in all of this destruction is that the clean-up burns calories

Pam: Baby showers - yuck!! The only ones that are any fun are when they wait until after the birth and bring the baby along.

lala: Got the invitation to my sister's wedding in the mail yesterday. I don't know what she was thinking. They're getting married at 2, dinner's at 5 and the dance at 9. It's gonna be the day from ****.

Hi Melissa.

Hi, ladies. It's rainy and windy here today. Believe we're still getting remnts of Ivan the Terrible. The FEMA inspector came to the house yesterday. He said I may get some money from them for clean up. They don't give a hoot about my pool enclosure because it's a luxury!! He did say that debris removal, i.e. my enclosure, may be covered. We'll see.

Ah, yes, baby showers. Pam, I can't believe that the shower went on for 3 1/2 hours! What did they talk about??

Susan, sorry to hear you've been ill. I hope you're back on track soon. Sometimes photos can be very motivating! What a strange schedule for your sister's wedding. That is a long day.

lala, well, what's wrong with a new bag?? I guess it's as bad as wanting more shoes.

Hi, Melissa, how was Chicago?

Whoops, it's me again. I must have had a senior moment!

I tried to go to WI last night and did not realize that my WW center is still closed from Hurricane Frances. Now I have to find another place--it's not very convenient.

Good morning everyone!

The flight to Chicago was bumpy because it was terrible weather here so the first 20 minutes of the flight was spent being tossed around. I did some serious praying. I haven't had a flight like that in all the times I've flown. Thankfully the 2nd leg of our trip was smooth! The Oktoberfest was fun--drank way too much Weiss Beer and enjoyed eating schnitzel, sauerkraut, pretzels, and bienensticke (a wonderful cake with a custard type filling and honey/almond glaze on top). My tummy couldn't handle the rich foods and ended up with bad intestinal cramps later in the evening *sigh*. Anyway, we had a good time.

Yesterday I shuffled off to Buffalo to see the Duchess for a super meeting. It was refreshing to hear her talk and to actually see her in person. She is stunning and very down to earth. She doesn't use a script so it's not a "canned" presentation. Afterwards we stopped by a shopping center and had lunch at Johnny Rockets--they have a great boca burger called a "streamliner" and it's wonderul! Bought a new pedometer so we'll see if this one works better than the WW one I have.

My eating wasn't bad yesterday until later in the evening when I ate a candy bar and then broke open the bag of baked cheetos. Today is a new day and with new resolve. No major plans/trips coming up until mid-October when DH and I head to Norfolk VA.

Hi everyone,

Its sunny here and so is my disposition. (NOT). I had a great day yesterday. Why? Because I took a step aerobics basics class last night and was soo exhausted I couldn't eat anything afterwards. Note to self : eat around 4 pm before the class. The great thing is that the class was hard, the best thing is that I'm not sore or anything.


Melissa-- I was hoping you wouldn't encounter weather problems. I'm sorry you did. Sounds like you had a great time! I understand the cravings. I am going to reconsider baked tortilla chips as a food item.

Pam -- did you ever find a Lance bracelet?

Domina -- Sorry to hear what the inspector said. Can you get hurricane insurance? I know that we carry supplemental EQ insurance for California and Washington. I can't believe that your center is still closed, but then again, there are lots of people who still don't have clean water and shelter all over the SE and Atlantic.

Susan -- get well soon. Please don't look at your pictures and get cranky. Remember all the great things about your trip. Hmm, maybe that is why I take pictures of buildings and doorknobs and not of myself.

Okay, my multigrain oatmeal mush with baked apple is cold and holds no appeal to me. I'm going to dig into my office drawer and pull out a luna bar (4 WPA) and eat it. It will be much better.

This making oatmeal the day before is not working for me.

Going to a really swank place for dinner tonight --Supreme for a cheap, prix fixe dinner with some friends from work. I looked at the menu and I think I should do okay with the starter and entree, the dessert may kill me.

Okay, gotta split.

lala

Hi Ladies,

A very beautiful sunny day today..hope it doesn't get too cold this evening since my daughter has a soccer get that starts at 7pm. Once the sun goes down, it gets kind of chilly this time of year.

Melissa welcome back! That plane ride sounded pretty scary. I read an article in the newspaper today about the Dutchess' 8 city weight watcher tour. It said there were 700 people at the NY meeting..that must have been awesome. Sounds like you had some yummy food at Oktoberfest.

Susan hope your feeling better. I've been sneezing quite a bit today and I'm sure it's allergies.

Lala no I have not found a Lance bracelet. If you see one in your area could you pick one up for me? Good for you for taking the step aerobics class. I have been taking a class on and off for the past year. I wish I would do it more regularly. Have fun tonight at Supreme.

Lisa we got some Ivan remnants over the weekend and it was terrible.

Ok ladies I'm off to pick up a sweatshirt so I don't freeze tonight at the game. Hope you all have a nice evening.

It's still very windy here, but the temps are down about 8 degrees which is more pleasant. I'm going to WI at lunchtime today. I hope there is at least a small loss.

Pam, I can't believe you are talking about wearing sweatshirts. It just doesn't seem possible that it's already fall. Of course, in Florida, we don't see any real changes till November.

Hi, Susan, Melissa and lala.

It's a beautiful sunny first day of fall and a little on the nippy side. Some of the trees have started to turn colour already. Allergies are better today. I have been bombarding my body with eye drops, nasal spray and regular use of the inhalant and so far, so good.

DH and I are on a new regime. We both lost 5 lbs on vacation, and we think it's because we did not have second helpings at dinner and ate only healthy snacks (duhhh). So we've decided to adopt that approach at home. So far, so good, and I feel lighter already.

I'm off on a short business trip today -- will be back tomorrow night. We have a busy weekend planned too - going hiking at a provincial wilderness park about 3 hours from home. We'll be staying overnight in a chalet near the start of the trail on Friday nite and getting an early start Saturday. The couple we're going with will be staying in one of the campsites overnite and coming out on Sunday; we don't have the necessary backpacks for carrying all the gear, so will do the shorter version.

Susan

Susan, your hike sounds great. I love to hike. Ohhh, beautiful autumn colors.

Great discovery about the eating. Keep on doing what you're doing.

Susan, great revelation. Yeah for you.

Autumn colors are happening here too. I love to see them on the trees, but I hate those leaves when they are down on the ground.

A hike to see color, now that sounds like fun.

Good dinner last night at supreme. I had a campari/soda, a piece of bread, some clams in a wine/tomato broth with lots of garlic, dijon encrusted salmon on a bed of du puy lentils (yum), a tiny scoop of espresso ice cream (2 T) and the same of lemon semifreddo. Coffee to end. With tax and tip, it came to about 38 bucks pp. We would have tipped the guy better, but he wasn't very outstanding. They were slammed, but the company was good.

Tonight, we're getting an estimate for hydronic heat. I need to get another estimate or two before we plunge into a huge project like this, but the return on investment is good and we'll be warmer.

Other than that, I am famished. I ate my lunch already. Yikes.

lala

Good afternoon!

Pam: Our weather is a lot like yours--beautiful warm, sunny days and cool nights. I've been pulling on the jeans in the evening because the night air is cool. The Buffalo meeting didn't have 700 people thank goodness! It looked like about 200 so it was just right in my opinion.

Lisa: Glad to hear the temps are going down a little. Hope your WI went well!

Susan: The temps here have been nippy in the morning and the afternoons are gorgeous--fall is my favorite time of year. The leaves here have been changing for about 3 weeks and the forecasters say this is due to the cool summer we've had. Sounds like you & DH had a "lightbulb" moment in regard to eating meals/snacks. Your weekend trip sounds wonderful! I love being outdoors with the fall colors. Allergies are starting to kick up here as well so I'm dosing up with my meds and hopefully won't be struck with any symptoms.

Lala: Your dinner sounds wonderful--mine consisted of a grilled chicken sandwich and some cottage cheese. Topped that off with 3 chips ahoy. Oh well, today is a new page in the journal.

I'm really liking my new pedometer (it talks!) and so far it's pretty accurate. I counted the steps I took and then looked at it and it counted each step...woohoo! Finally one that is accurate! I went to my meeting at noon and really didn't want to WI but couldn't do that--I needed to know where I was at so that I could make a plan of action--surprisingly I was down .4 which is great considering the eating/drinking I did over the weekend and the lack of following the 8 good health habits of WW. I can always tell when I don't get my water in and this past week was one of them. Goal for this upcoming week is to drink my water and be more aware of my snacking.

Hope everyone is having a good day!