Welcome all from every kingdom, province, monarchy, duchy, federation, or ------------------( please fill in the blank)......

To the AMAZING AUTUMN ROYAL ADVENTURE!!!!!

This adventure promises to lead us to places we've never been but have longed to see ... this adventure promises to teach things we thought we knew ... this adventure will be amazing!!

So, call your coachman, the adventure awaits!!

And as most adventures are written by the adventurer....

YOU decide ( and who better??) what direction you shall fly your colors!!

This adventure is a shared adventure... with other royals who will share and support ....

Open the blinds! Let down the drawbridge! Sound the trumpets!

WE ARE AFOOT!!

The Amazing Adventure Continues!!!
__________________

Hello all!

Weighin shows nearly 2lbs up..... in all honesty, its not water ...I've not been journaling, not been climbing stairs, ......

This is part of the reason for the PART II beginning ....
I need to grab the compass and at least become more involved in my own journey than I have been the past few months....

In fact, what I HAVE been doing ( as of yesterday) is realizing for the first time, if I let myself feel whatever the feeling is, I am not grabbing the food....

This is a new experience for me. Very uncomfortable frankly. I am not used to feeling the full effects of sadness, disappointment, etc.
But in sharing it now, I suddenly felt much of the feeling lighten.
Interesting... we are always so quick for a "solution" to our emotions...
could it be we need more to just "feel" our feelings???

Interesting how when I finally "get" something its directly related to how much it effects my feelings.....

I imagined, that getting this close to goal (now a few pounds further) would be full of confidence, walking tall, ...( imagine skipping)....
Instead, it seems as though I am a bundle of nerves and prone to tears....

Yes, it is the beginning of the holiday season when I typically get nostalgic...

Yet, I still have to go back to this ephiphany this morning when I literally felt the sadness I felt when I awoke lift when I named it as I shared with you.

******
Thought of the day :

"Every person that comes into our life comes for a reason,
some come to learn and others come to teach."

---Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


Question of the day :

"What do you know as well as the back of your own hand?"

********


Till later my friends... thanks for being here ...

You are all the best!


KETTLE IS ON!

Ah, thank you Kaylets for the new thread. Always appreciate new and Fresh starts.

I too have noticed in recent times that sometimes I eat out of boredom. Now this is not news to many but I have always said I'm never bored, that I always have too many interests or responsibilities to ever be bored. Yet, occasionally, I have acknowledged that food is calling me because I don't feel like doing those other things. Once that calling is recognized, it's easier for me to say nay.

Sunny day today. DH and I did a 35 minute walk around the neighborhood this a.m. Off to the dermatologist shortly. Another decent food, water, exercise day yesterday. Nekkid weigh in was @200.2. Sigh - I'd love to be safely in onederland - safely meaning clothing doesn't put me over. It SHOULDN'T take so much effort to get rid of that .2 and a bit more - should it?

Eydie, I'll keep you apprised when we get to the decorating. I have a two story with red brick first floor and white second. Shutters are black. I usually put an evergreen swag w/red bow at base of each window (alack no longer fresh cut by my own hand as in yore) w/single candle in each window. Four outside lamps on front of house are done in wreaths and bows as are both sides of mailbox post. This much is a given. And is very attractive if I do say so myself. Plus wreath on red front door. Am still working on what else. Depends on whether tree goes in living room or family room which depends on whether dh wants to do train set or not. Nice for grandkids but they do have one of their own at home. I confess to have played our two new CDs of Christmas music. After all, I did have to hear if they were ok or not

Thanks to Kaylets for starting the bright shiny new thread! Gird yer loins, Kaylets, 'cause we're going into a time of great nostalgia and we can let it overwhelm us or we can seek out the really good juice of the season [and I don't mean mulled cider! ].
At this time of year, I anxiously await seeing how gracefully I move thru the holidays, or how un-gracefully!
I'm telling you, start planning now----the sugar plums [what ARE they?] and little sausages and cheese balls will be lying in wait and only too happy to attach to our thighs.

Don't worry, Anagram. Nekkid weigh-in is so close! Your decorations sound lovely. I LOVE red doors---good feng shui!

Amarantha/Athletea, I plan an expedition this afternoon to your neck of the woods. Maybe I'll lure away a sugar plum faery for my holiday companion!

Hello all!

Ah well, the sometimes the wheels turn very slowly and then, w/o realizing it, the "crisis" moves beyond us.....
And then sometimes, we say, "gee, I guess I overreacted ".......
Short story... DH made did lend the money but w/ a limiitations.....
I am still sorely tempted to call her privately and let her know how this affects his health but then again, I am also wonder if I should have SIL do that for me.... But since she doesnt really know how stress affects diabetics I wonder ......


EMPRESS!!!! I am clapping!! Yes, I believe in fairies and pigs flying too....

Anagram! Your walks sound great.... Dh and I should do the same...w/ dogs in tow... we all could benefit...

Other royals??
How goes it?


***********

Thought of the day :

"You know more of a road having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world."
--William Hazlet


Question of the day :

"Name your favorite cartoon."

*******



KETTLE IS ON!

Of course, I believe in faeries (and fairies too) but I don't know about pigs.

Lovely day - drove "halfway" to meet up w/friends for lunch. And my tummy now is empty. That's even w/pumpkin pie. Hmmm. But in a lovely, restored old place (we've been there before and last time the owner took us on a tour of all the bedrooms, etc. - it's an Inn - lovely and all done by these lovely people) w/ lovely menu items so of course I thought of Eydie. So lunch took up most of today. OK so I counted and I used "lovely" five times in five lines. I must be braindead too.

I don't know that the phone call would help, Kaylets. Sometimes when people feel they need "help" nothing matters but the cash. And, no, you didn't overreact. At one time we had this problem w/some of dh's family members and I could have told them our house and car were being repossessed and it would not have made a whit of difference. He was accustomed to "helping" because that got rid of the "noise" but once he married me and then, much more so, when we had children, he gradually got the idea that no matter how often he helped or how much, things weren't going to change until he changed his response. I understood wanting to help family but I did not understand being taken advantage of nor did I understand that I was being frugal and others were very definitely not being and I told him if that's the way it was going to be, I could waste money too. Long story short, he was able to help these people at later stages of life because he is good hearted and by then we could afford it better and by then the emotional blackmail had stopped and he was doing it on HIS terms, not theirs. Some of the reasons for needing "help" you'd have to be very creative to come up with. I've saved some letters just because if I didn't have them, I'd have thought I dreamed it all. One of the people eventually straightened his sorry self out (and eventually even repaid $300); the other, I'm sorry to say, never really did. But she did stop asking for money when it became fruitless. (Again, he picked up a lot of tabs for her later in life.) Anyway, that's how I know how fruitless it can be to expect people to understand YOU or DH may have a need.

Off soapbox.

Hello all!

The "feast day" at work will continue thru Friday I am sure....
Because many entered the Bakeoff, there were duplicate offerings from many...
All in all, must have been at least 8-9 pies, frozen, bakeoff, etc, etc, a 3 layer peanut butter german choc cake, Turtle cheesecake....
All I can say is, I had none of that....
I brought a fruit salad and found a Ceasar salad as well as the peas and carrots someone else brought... Also enjoyed an Asian Veg bun that a new coworker brought... She is a youngster and bought them which is great because we shop at the same Asian store and now I know I'd like to buy more.
I think at least..
They are made in China... Makes me wonder ....


Anagram-- yes, you're absolutely right of course. I knew I wouldnt call my SIL as SIL enjoys playing devils advocate just for the drama and who knows where it would've led.....
And you are 100% right about it wouldnt matter what our financial situation was ....... DS will not eat what we do and we got tired of providing, especially since he has given up washing a dish or any chore his father requests....just 2 days ago, he left us a greasy nasty fry pan to find. The trash showed he had cooked a $10.00 steak for himself. Angus beef mind you.
And don't even get me started about the heat and the bedroom window he opens ... the only thing that got thru to him was DH literally waking DS up at 5 am ( very loudly!) to have the bedroom window closed ... This was the 4th day in a row of us waking up to the heater running like mad because DS's window was wide open to the nearly freezing night air....

Ah well, there I go again.....

All I know is, DH's blood sugar # this am was over 200 and its because of stress....

And btw, DD's money was wired to her last night. DH called her w/t eh confirm # so she could pick it up. DH got an email from the wire company that the money had been picked up about 20 minutes after DH called DS.
That's all we've heard.
But you know for sure, if there was a problem .... we'd have gotten a call right away....

anyway...

as far as I am concerned, this is it. No mas.

Bank is closed.


anyway....


How is everyone else doing?? Got to be more interesting than what's been happening in my kingdom!

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!






And DH and I are

Hello all!

As the Empress says, "In brevity mode"..... I know, must be a relief to know I will be short and sweet this time....

****
Thought of the day:

"Change your thoughts and you change the world."
--Norman Vincent Peale

Question of the day:

"What is the most annoying commercial you've ever seen?"

****

KETTLE IS ON!

and thanks again all for allowing me to vent....

I have settled down a bit and am trying to remember that although I cannot change the situation, I can change my reaction....

Thanks !

Hello, my dears.

Well, what do I say? I could fill pages of why I was gone and how badly I feel I've done by you in doing that. I don't know why I stayed away, my dears. The death of my friend in June isn't really the reason, though the repercussions were larger than I'd expected...I've been going through a bit of a depression, actually, and unfortunately communication is the first thing to go when the blues knock on my door. If it's any comfort, all of the friends I regularly correspond with were also callously deprived of my sparkling conversation.

I missed you all - reading your posts for the first time in months felt like coming home to me. Can you forgive my long absence and let me stay?

I'm seeing a counselor for a while. I've had two sessions with her. Of course I won't ever get rid of my highs and lows - it's part and parcel of being a Gemini, among other things, but at least she's helping me work through my low periods where nothing gets done and all sorts of things (not least of all my dear long-distance friends with whom I cease to communicate for alarming periods of time) fall by the wayside which shouldn't.

Anyway, I'll leave it up to you to decide whether I'm too much of a liability to the group or whatever...I realize that leaving with no notice and then popping in with a splash after a long hiatus is not good for your collective psyches.

Health-wise it's S-O-S. Same weight, same eating habits, same fitness level.

Glad to "see" you again, ladies.

Dear Cerise! Welcome Back! I'm sooo happy to see you again and have thought about you so many times. Tried to e-mail you, but it didn't work. But no matter, you're back so let the feast begin! [Something very healthy but yummy, of course.]

'A liability to the group'----never! That's crazy talk and I know I'm speaking for all the queens. About the depression, don't isolate--it seems like the reasonable thing to do when you're depressed, but don't do it. We're still here and we never stopped wondering how you were. If you went back thru all the posts since June [yikes! that'd be a chore!] you'd see your name come up quite a few times.
How's the counseling going? Isn't it just the best? I wish I had a counselor living in my spare room so every day I could get a little 'tune-up'!

Cerise, I don't even know where to start. I want to tell you every teeny little detail of my life over the past 6 months [riveting! ], but let's just pick up where we left off. PLEASE keep posting!

Oh, poopie, poopie, poopie. Dammit, if only I'd THOUGHT. Even a note saying "I'm OK but don't want to talk" would've at least assuaged your collective worries. I'm such a chump and I apologize for just running off and making you all imagine the worst.

Eydie, I'd like to hear the riveting details, you know. And no worries about not continuing to post, luv. I hope at least that the isolating habit is in hand now. We'll see, right?

TRUMPETS BLARING!! FLAGS FLYING!!!

SO GOOD to see you back Cerise! Eydie is right ( never a doubt!), you have been missed and thought many times ...

I wondered if it was us but kept hoping things would smooth out enough for you to stop back .....

There is so much to tell you, I feel just like Eydie does....

Did you notice Frogger pops in every once in awhile?? She had the baby!!

I got a job at the company that downsized me and am working w/many folks I worked with in years past.
Finally got to Speech 10 in Toastmasters too!
In fact, you have perfect timing, I promsised to post it...
nearly forgot!

Can't wait for all the other Royals to see you've come by!


This is exciting as when Punkin came back from her sojurn!


And ps, am almost on Day 5 of no sugar!!

Hey, Cerise is back! It is so great to hear from you! Don't think for one second that you are a liability. That's just not acceptable. You are back and that is all that matters!

I've been wayward myself. I've been working on this getting healthy thing and doing what I needed to do for myself. I know you all understand such things...at least I hope so. I have been keeping something of a journal in the land far away. If anyone is really bored, feel free to browse. http://www.diettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44277

Right now I have to scoot to get to the gym on time, but I will be back. I promise!