WELCOME !!!

We want to invite everyone to join us in our journey.
We share laughter and tears.
We share what works for us and what doesn't.
We recently started a Topic of the Day.

Monday........Motivation Monday
Tuesday.......Tuesday Tips
Wednesday.....Wednesday Weigh ins
Thursday......Thankful Thursday
Friday........Friday Facials, Fingernails and Fun
Saturday.......Sit-up Saturdays - any physical activity
Sunday.........Soup and Salad Sunday - recipes

These are not required topics ...just ideas to share. We have found them very helpful. We also share heartaches and fears...joys and celebrations.

WELCOME!

Well ... here I go again. Starting a new thread again.
I have soooo much I want to write I don't know where to begin.
I did not want it to be lost at the end.

First... some sad news.
My husband's neice was MURDERED yesterday. Her husband came home from work and found her strangled with their telephone cord. She was somewhere between 35- 42 years old. We don't know any details. We are all in SHOCK !!

Second ... I want to share I stayed PERFECTLY on program again today.
I only got about 45-55 oz of water in... but that is up 30oz as of late. LOL
My goal is the recommended 64 oz minimum.

Third... I was PRODUCTIVE today too. I ran errands, did chores, and worked on our contest/game.

Speaking of our contest/game ..... I almost have it ready to go.
I am going to be mailing it out to everyone.... so if you want in on the fun I will need your address NOW. If I mailed you a Christmas card last year or you came to the Spring Fling , I have your address.
Others can PM your address to me like you did Thin for the card exchange.

I am even working on Decembers contest too.

okay... back to November's contest.
You probably won't get your game piece before the 1st.... so ....
You need to keep track of the following so you can mark it when it arrives.
Here are some possible examples.
Each day you will mark your ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

1. Drink minimum of 64 oz water
2. Exercise minimum of 20 minutes
3. EAT within your food plan ALL DAY
4. Eat 2 or more servings of fruit and/or veggies daily
5. Repeat a phrase or affirmation OFTEN throughout your day.
6. Journal your food

There may be more... plus some BONUS points so just keep track of everything. LOL Like NO SUGAR ... Weight Training ... Weight LOSS !!!

We all weigh the 31st for the end of our 2 week challenge ... so we will start this competition on the 1st. I still plan for us to do the two pounds in two weeks challange. That seems to be a good goal for most of us.
Oh yes... There will be a PRIZE for the winner !!!
------------------------------------------------------
Okay... don't have time for many replies.... but

Thin... I loved your daily bathing/motivation slogan.
That will be a good one for the contest. LOL

Chris... Your JOY has made ME a SOX fan.
I am TRULY happy they won... and I am a Cardinal fan. LOL

Angela... Self Acceptance. That can be a hard one sometimes.
I learned a lot while attending OA about self acceptance.
This first step is to MAKE A DECISION to change .....
change the way you talk to yourself, look at yourself, and TREAT yourself.
That includes every aspect of your life. When you find yourself belittling yourself... you STOP !
You stop in mid sentence .. or mid thought. You say to yourself....
"I have made the DECISION to not do this to myself anymore. I refuse to continue this negative behavior."
Sometimes I was able to replace the negative with a positive action.... other times ... just stopping myself from the negative was the best I could do.
It is like a baby learning how to walk. They fall down often... but they get back up and try again. I love the phrase...
Practice makes Progress.

Andria... I want to thank you for your tips on metablism. GREAT !!

Kat.... FAITH .... Faith is simply "Belief without Proof."
Faith in God... Faith in your doctors... Faith in the Red Sox
It is easy to believe in something that happens regularly_ You don't need faith. But something that you have no proof of... Like your ability to lose this excess weight.... IT REQUIRES FAITH ... belief without proof.
Before finding this site.... I felt HOPELESS. I felt doomed for life to remain FAT. The first thing I found here was HOPE. Hope that if you and others could do it... then MAYBE I could too. I did not have FAITH... only hope. But once I found a food plan that fits me... and some great people who shows me what they are doing to succeed.... I found that FAITH. Belief without proof ... that I too can lose this weight.

Gee...I better shut up.
I am going to be called "motor mouth" soon.

2Cute - Wow what a shocker about your husbands neice. I'll keep your family in my prayers! Good job on staying op even with all that going on!

No time for more replies - I need to get ready for work. Just wante to pop in and say "Hi." Oh, and that I exercised yesterday! Wasn't very long, that machine is hard, but it got me sweating and my legs are SORE today! So I know that it did something!

Gotta scoot - ttyl and see you Lucky and Terri tomorrow!

Oh my goodness, 2Cute. I am so sad for your family and will keep you in my prayers.

Off to load up the car and head for work.

Tomorrow I meet the - Keep your I survive!!!

2cute--Wow, these sudden deaths can be so hard, and then to have to wonder why and how it happened--I'm so sorry for you all. Thanks for your words of inspiration at what must be a very trying time for you.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts.
Even though she is DH's neice we have only seen her twice in the last 25 years.
It has been probably 7-10 years since the last time we saw her.
When she was a little girl... DH and I were going to adopt her and her younger sister. We were 19 or so and she was like 5. Her mother wasn't very ..... well .... a very good mother. I can't give you all the details... but trust me... it was not a pretty picture.
Anyway.... although it is TERRIBLE... we were not close to her anymore. The family that took her moved her away and we never see her.
It will be hard on her mom I am sure. I can't imagine burying my child.

I am busy finishing up the last details on the contest. THE TURKEY DAY CONTEST !!
Do you sense a theme there.
I will get them in the mail in the next day or two.

I had a guilty little snack today My co-worker's wife made me "Worms in Dirt" a little cup of it, and I ate it. I regret it now cause chocolate really doesn't settle easy on my tummy (even a little 6oz cup!) but oh well!

I haven't been eating too much lately (oatmeal for dinner last night, Chick-Fil-A Ceasar Twist for lunch, nutrigrain bar for breakfast), one night I had two pancakes (completely bare, I hate syrup and butter) for dinner. We realllyy need to go grocery shopping.

Last night I didn't work out either I fell asleep (kinda, mainly just layed in the dark dozing in and out while talking to my boyfriend) around 9:30pm! Oh well, maybe nightly pleasures made up for it

2cute - I'm sorry about your neice Makes me almost want to only have cordless phones in my apartment! I'll be PMing you my addy soon.

I can't remember the entries from the other thread So I'll just say this:

Congrats to all of you who stuck to their diet and have been working out!

I hope everyone has an awesome night and weekend.

I'll be going to a concert tonight and seeing the movie "Saw". But now I gotta clean the entire house, decorate, and study boo.

Hey all...I'm just taking a wee break from the massive cleanout that's been going on around here. Yesterday, I got two closets cleaned out, weeded through dh's stuff to donate to charity, tore the computer room apart, so that dh could install three more shelves to hold his MEGA collection of dvds and videos. I intend to go through them all someday, and get rid of the duplicates! I'll post a list...if you want it, it's yours! It's like Blockbuster in here...but nicer now that they all fit on a shelf...I can't even describe the piles we had going before! I won't even get started on the cds...a project for another day. And the books! OY! I'm tired just thinking about all that needs to be done. BUT...much the same as this weight loss business...it can be done.....ONE STEP AT A TIME.

I think that's a good note to leave on...

See ya!

Evening ladies - I just had to pop in here and let y'all know that I stayed OP today - and I got in almust two full litres of water!!! Way more than usual. Didn't get much for exercise, but I will tomorrow - all that walking at MOA with Lucky and Terri.

Oh, and we had a TORNADO warning tonight - in my county - FREAKY! 13 years ago it was a Blizzard this weekend, this year it's Tornado - weird!!!!

Gotta run - hope everyone has a good night!

Hi all--Hope all's well. I did keep my cal. count where it belongs and ate three meals--YAY! Still have to exercise, but I will do that before going to sleep, since that's where I'm headed right now. Long, long day. Tomorrow's goal: do the same thing as today.

Kat--What the heck is "Worms in Dirt"?

Last time I looked, they were these squiggly creatures that crawl around in the soil...

I believe what CD was referring to is a Halloween time o'year treat... something with gummy worms crawling out of crumbled cookies over pudding.

Is that it, cd? Oh that's right, she's out seeing, SAW. I don't think I could sit through that. Once upon a time, maybe. Too old of a scaredy Kat now! But I do want to hear about it...give us your review, cd.

Believe it or not, I'm still cleaning the same room I was working on, HOURS AGO! Well, I did have a bit of a break when my daughter came in, bearing many pictures of her trip to Ireland. We had so much fun, drinking tea and hearing her re-live what sounds like a fantastic trip. We talked about the two of us going someday. Oh...I'm ready! Then I got back to work, trying to dust and toss and rearrange and vacuum...oh! the vacuum! I go to change to the hose and attachment mode when it dawns on me that the bag has somehow become detached, apparently for a while now, so all the dirt and dog hairs were being sucked into the zipper compartment and not the bag itself. Gross. Then I was dusting and getting the bookshelves tidied up, and came across a few photo albums that we haven't seen in a while, so the two of us took another trip down memory lane! I'm getting there slowly. As God is my witness, <shakes fist at ceiling> I'm not going to bed tonight til this room is finished!!!!!

So what the heck am I doing back here?

See you all tomorrow...And girls in Minnesota? I want to hear lots of details about the shopping day....pictures too. please!!

I just saw those on TV yesterday! they were little dixie cup size things with crushed cookie crumbs and gummy worms for a gross Halloween treat. I have made a dirt cake like kat described withthe pudding etc...made it in a flowerpot type container and it was supposed to be served with a garden trowel. amzing how much crushed up oreos look like dirt! a good thing to remember before popping one into one's mouth!

My physical activity today will be more unpacking along with my home version of PT program. (for arthritis)

You are all such good encouragers! I appreciate all the commitment!

GOOD MORNING
I am babysitting today so doubt if I will get here often... PLUS

It is OU GAME DAY !!!
Today is the BIG GAME between the two Oklahoma rivals ...
Oklahoma University and Okla State University.
It is really a BIG THING around here. LOL

My food has been good... hopefully good enough for our 2 lb challenge that ends TOMORROW !!! If I didn't have to lose those lousy pounds I gained first I would have it made. I still can't believe how just one day of endulging can ruin one months worth of work to get it off. Life just is not fair. LOL

I have the contest all ready to go ... except addressing the envelopes.
I need everyones address if I don't have it. I don't know if I will get to it today since I have the grandbabies and the OU game. We will see. But it will be out Sunday for sure.

Today is Sit-up Saturday. Hmm... I think I will have to sit and think about that one.
I am actually looking forward to the contest because exercise is a part of it.
It will FORCE ME to get out the Richard Simmons tapes.
I really want to focus in STRENGHT TRAINING.
The only muscle I have in shape is my MOUTH muscle.
Oh.. yes ... and my fingers. I work hard at keeping them in shape.

Okay... I am out of here without replys. My grandbabies are waiting for me.
Don't forget to get me your address TODAY... in fact NOW. LOL

Yes, Worms in Dirt from what i Know ( i used to make them in grade school!) is smashed oreos, either cool whip (what we used) or pudding, and gummy worms "crawling" through out. The lady at my work didnt put any pudding or cool whip so it was pure oreo crushed with wormies.


I've been cheating a lot today cookies. Ive been so stressed and I know I do it as a sort of "you're doing good" (with homework, cleaning, etc) so here's a snack to be happy since I'm so stressed. Oh well I've been cleaning and moping and I'm worn out.. plus I walked home today from my test - which is about 3 miles. It was beautiful out though.

I LOVE fog! I love fall/winter. I want to start possibly walking to work every time if it gets cold enough.

Can't type much more! Still have to clean my room, shower, get dressed, etc.

Have an awesome weekend girls!