Well, its just been way too long since we had a chat thread going so I thought I'd start one so we could all catch up!

As for me, well things are going good on the plan-front, been keeping up with working out and eating well. Um, work is work - there's a really annoying and rude new guy though that sits right in my area and he's driving me and all the other ladies nuts. Don't wanna get into but i'm sure you all been there before! Other than that, work's good. I'm just finishing up my Business Law course and will be starting Math in March.

The most exciting news I have is that I'm going to Orlando next month and this will be the first "real" vacation I've ever gone on. And, my first vacation with my mom and sister so I'm pretty excited. I mean I've done lots of travelling around Canada to visit friends and family, but never anywhere else so this will be great. I'm looking forward to the shopping though

So, enough about me - I wanna hear how you're doing.. Whats new and exciting in your world?

And Dana, aren't you due in only like 6 days??!!? How exciting is that?! How are you feeling? Make sure we're notified asap when the baby comes! I'm so excited for you and can't wait to see pictures. All the best to you!

Excellent idea, Celina! This is exactly what I've been looking for--just a genereic yadda yadda yadda kind of board. You can sometimes learn the coolest things about people by talking about nothing in particular.

I've only been reading/posting on this site for maybe a little over a week now, but everyone has been so kind and helpful. I've been kicking my own butt because I have gained so much weight, but now I have real reasons to want to lose (as if being healthy wasn't a good enough reason in the first place). I'm still waiting to hear from my sister when her wedding date will be (her boyfriend just proposed on Friday night!) so I'll know when I have to cram myself into a maid-of-honor dress--not looking forward to that at my current weight!

I just moved to northern Virginia at the beginning of November (to be closer to my boyfriend that I met online who lives in Maryland). I work as a proofreader/editor for a group of technical writers. I have never had a more boring job in my life and am currently searching for a new one (had 3 interviews last week and another tomorrow, so hopefully something will work out!). I want to get back into marketing and sales support. I LOVED working with the sales reps at my last job--they're a whole different breed of people.

So, yadda yadda yadda, I'm so excited to meet and learn about everyone on here. From reading other posts, I can tell it's a great group!

Jillybean - I'm glad you joined!

Celina - that is so exciting that you are going to Orlando! I am very poorly travelled myself, having only been to Houston and as far east as Winnipeg lol. We're going to the caribbean in June for our honeymoon - haven't decided between Cuba, Puerto Vallerta or the Dominican yet. And then in October my friend in Columbus OH is getting married, so I am going to try my best to make it there. Then May 2006 my parents announced they are using their hard-earned AirMiles and timeshare to take the entire family to Disneyland, because they said they've always wanted to take us there, we just never had an opportunity to go when I was a child. I'm very much looking forward to the next year!

I had an interview on Monday for a promotion, I have my fingers crossed that I did okay in the interview. I have some reservations about people's business ethics though, so I really dont have my hopes up, just in case I get disappointed. The promotion would be to the position directly above me, which is a 35% pay increase over what I make now. That doesn't matter to me so much, as this position is "my manager" - and I really don't want to report to anyone else besides the Sr Manager, who is 2 levels above me. That and I've been doing most of the job anyhow over the last few months because my manager has 2 different contracts on her plate. So I hope I find out soon.

We went and met with our wedding photographer last night - went really well. They (husband and wife team) charge $1000 for the entire day, 4 locations (brides place before getting ready, ceremony, photo shoot, reception) - and this gets us a proof album of 5"x5" photos. They take absolutely beautiful work, but now I am just stressed that maybe the ceremony and reception are too close together and we either wont get all the pictures we want, or we will be late for dinner- ceremony is at 4pm and then dinner is at 7pm (cocktails 6pm, and we are not having a receiving line at the church).

And lastly, I started my own business, I'm selling unity candles on Ebay, and actually am doing well, and every auction I've put up has sold for either the Buy it Now price or close to it. I'm hoping this can be my fallback so I don't need an officejob someday.

I just can't believe it's only Wednesday. Off to work for me!

I just joined a few weeks ago too, Jill. Howdy. Good luck with the job interviews.

Work has been a bear this week I work for an attorney, and we do computer filing (new system). Not fun stuff, especially when there's all kind o' software glitches.

Rob, my signif O, and I are planning on renting a little cabin north of here for a weekend in May for my birthday. There's a deck and it's near a little lake. We could sure use the break. It's been a stressful year so far, illness in the family.

Celina, Orlando sounds great. And good weather too, wow. My boss goes there for vacations all the time, but I've never been.

Raelynne, my family lived right near Disneyland in LA for a few years, I was lucky enough to go a couple of times when I was a kid. How great for you and your family.

Happy year of the rooster....

Good Am ya all,

I see there are a bunch of newbies. It's been a while sence I visited. Jill sent me a PM wondering were I was . I've been at JL alot lately. I once tried to start a chat thread here like they have there but it didn't work out so well. I hope ,Brooklyn, it works out this time. We're so much more then just our battle with food and I think the more we know each other and the closer family we become, the more we can help each other.

I been gone because of so drama lately and the diet went into the john for a while. I'm struggling to get back in control even though the situation is still on going.

Hello All, Another newbie here. I found this site mid-January, just a few days into my diet. The support I have witnessed here is just awesome.

I too will be visiting Mickey and Minnie next month, My son's High School Band is going to competition so me, my partner and a couple of other band parents have decided drive to Florida and meet them there. It's the perfect trip, I get to go to Disney World with my son, but don't have to buy his tickets or food.

My Grand-daughter has her 1st birthday party this weekend and the whole family is very excited. I of course have spent way too much money, but hey how often does your first grandchild turn 1 year old

Raelynne, good luck with your business venture. I am in the process of starting a business myself (hand-made baby quilts) and would be interested in how well ebay works long term

Kristi

Sounds like everyone is doing well.

Work is work for me as well. I'm in the process of putting together a little newspaper for one of the local Chambers right now. I'm supposed to have it printed by the end of the day. Luckily I just lack a couple of pics I need to find on old disks and it should be done.

Lilly has been relapsing on her potty training so if anyone who's been there done that has any tips, I could sure use some right now. William woke up 3-4 times last night screaming. We're not sure if he's teething, had nightmares or what but after the third one (about 2 a.m.) we gave him some tylenol and he settled down for the night.

Oh and the back doors on my Durango locked on me this morning on my drive and now I can't get them open. The locks come up and down but the door handles won't open the door. I'm sure I looked pretty funny climbing in through the front seat to the back to get William and then in through the back hatch to get Lilly. If they don't unlock by tomorrow, I guess Jeff will have to take it so he can swing by the shop to see what's wrong with it.

Pam--I was about to add your name to Tammy's and moon pies as those who haven't been back in a bit. It's good to see you still out and about. As for a chat thread, I've noticed they come and go. Some weeks there will be tons of posts and then it will dwindle down and stop. Then they come back again.

Potty training? I'm the expert. I used Bowel and Bladder training like they do in the hospitals for stroke patients. I took a week off of work when I noticed Eddie's diaper was dry in the mornings. I put him on the potty every 2 to 3 hours and stayed with him the whole time. I would read to him. When he did something I prased him and when he didn't I'd encourage him by saying he'd do it next time.It took only a few days for him to get the idea and after a week he never had an accident and I never bought another diaper.

We've actually done that. Now she is more or less peeing (and sometimes even pooping) on herself out of spite (for lack of a better word). She's pretty much been potty trained since about 20 months old (she's now 25 months). We usually have about 1 accident every other day or so in the evenings but I had been catching them.

See what all of you who are pregnant get to look forward to in a couple of years

Dawnyal, sounds like you had one of those Murphy days when everything goes wrong. It's been so long since potty training (my youngest is 21) that I'm out of the loop on that one. I do remember following the advice of my friend with five kids and just waiting until the kids were nearing three years old. At that point, it took maybe two days and they were good to go (no pun intended!). Now if Lily were a dog or cat, I'd have lots of advice. All I can say is that this, too, shall pass.

Kristi, welcome, and what a fun trip you have planned! And economical, too. We did that on a trip to Hawaii that my DH went on for business.

Pam, good to see you back. Raelynn, sounds like you have an extremely busy schedule. Hope your unity candle business goes well. I've had to light two of them in the past five years. I like the symbolism, but hate "candle duty."

Stressful time at my house. In the past three weeks, we've moved my Dad to assisted living, made all his doctor's appointments, got the house ready for sale (which included some painting, lots of cleaning and packing), sold the house, traveled to Oregon to find an apartment to rent (with four pets that wasn't fun!), looked at houses to buy, and in the next week I have a doctor's visit, we go to say goodbye to my half-sister, have to pack up the rest of the house, and then we move on February 19. Incredibly stressful and my eating is suffering for it, and I developed a nasty cold that will hopefully be over soon. My pants are getting tight and I hate that. I've taken to spending a good portion of the day in my PJ bottoms. But I'm still committed to making it to goal this year, and I look forward to joining a health club in my new town. Hopefully it will be the kind with free personal trainers. So that's all the news from me.

Wow, Sheila - you've accomplished so much in so little time. I know its all very stressful, but soon you'll be in your new home and you'll have peace of mind knowing your dad's in the best place for him at this stage. I'm sure you'll get back to business with the food thing once you've settled in - I have faith in you!

I can't offer any potty training advice Dawnyal, its all so long ago, but persevere and I'm sure it'll all work out "in the end"

Good luck with the promotion Raelynn, I'll keep my fingers (and eyes) crossed for you.

So many of you have exciting vacations planned - isn't that just what we all need to escape the winter blahs? Yeah, I know, I'm going to frozen Moscow in a couple of weeks, but I'm sure there'll be nothing blah about it!

As for Dana (Charbar), she's been quiet the last couple of days...I know she had a feeling the baby would arrive on Feb. 8, do you think its happened??

Welcome newbies - always happy to see enthusiastic new "faces" - keep on posting and let us get to know you better!

Sheila--It sounds like you are holding up fairly well despite all the stressors in your life. Like Jill said, I have no doubt you will get back into the swing of things as soon as you get settled. Who knows, maybe this will help you to jumpstart your losses for this year.

Jill--The trip to Moscow sounds like tons of fun despite it being cold. I want to see lots of pics from your trip

Well, we put Lilly back into diapers for a couple of days. Jeff washed the wrong load, the forgot to dry the other one. Well last night she went poo on her own without being asked. This morning she didn't put up as much of a fight getting on the potty and went right away as soon as we got to daycare. I hope it was just a testing of the boundaries thing and is over.

I got all my tax stuff in order and Jeff took it to the accountants office this morning (We usually just use the tax software online but since I started the home-based business I felt it would be better to have an accountant do it this year. Plus the the people who own the paper are accountants so we get a discount )

As of yesterday, my sister and her fiance are planning on a March 11 2006 wedding. THANK GOD! That gives me lots of time to look better in my maid of honor dress. If I can average 2 pounds a week loss, that'll be at least 100 pounds! I can't even remember how long it's been since I've seen those numbers on my scale...

I'm going to stick wedding photos and bridesmaid dress pictures on my kitchen cabinets and refrigerator as motivation. That way, when I go to reach for a snack or seconds, I will be reminded of why NOT to do so!