here it is. now we have new pages. if ya'll get a chance, hop up to "ww core members" "new to weight watchers, new to..." and meet momu.

Hi Chicks! I ran errands all afternoon and just got home from dinner. We went out to have healthy food and when we walked in we learned it was a smokey bar. It was a new place we were trying. So we ended up with veggie pizza because I was starving! Oh Well. My eating has been great and it's just one meal, right? Anywhoooo, I'll make the cola chicken tomorrow night.

Melissa, take heart! I'm sure it's just hormonal. You are one the cutest, sassiest chicks I know! I sure would wave a magic wand over your head if I could.

Niki, I LOVE the dress. My 5 year old Great Niece would love it too.

Kath, you do sound depressed. Vacation can't come soon enough for you, can it?

Frouf, Saundra, Sandra, Melissa, my light and love to you too!

Thanks for all the support you guys. I'll be back to my normal annoying long posts in a couple of days.

I've got to run. No pool for me today. I've got to go call my GF. I couldn't reach her all morning and I'm a bit panicky.

Oh no, I'm hormonal!

Vickie, I hope that everything is okay with your friend. Please let us know how she is doing. Is there anything we could do to help? I know you are super busy but you sound like you're in good spirits and that you are gettings lots of good food and exercise. Good job!

Sandra, you're probably out paddling in the water. I know you're having fun! Thanks for being worried about me, but I'm fine. I'm learning to deal with what God has given me. I should say I'm learning to be grateful.

Niki, what a beautiful dress!! She will definitely be feeling like a princess. I think that's a great idea. Oh, I don't know if you need dishes for adults or children, but I made the taco salad (dip) on our board the other day and it was awesome. I layered ff refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, shredded mexican cheese, shredded lettuce, and picante and had tortilla chips and scoops for dipping (yeah, not core!!). Anyway the dip was really awesome and held up well.

Kathy, We miss you and hope all is well. I'm looking to your vacation for you!

Well I haven't been home too long so I'm going to get to either doing something or relaxing! Which do you think will win?

Here I am!

Melissa - hope you are recuperating from your day and can do something nice to make yourself feel better? I have had a few of those 'days' myself recently - just stay positive and try and count all your blessings!

Vickie - glad your pool (and you) are getting a workout! Veggie pizza is probably not such a bad choice - hang in there!

Niki - the dress is adorable and I'm sure your dd will look like a real princess! How's your weather today?

patti - holy crow - you were pretty close to the action I guess? We saw the warning banners going along the bottom of the tv about tornado warnings - which is such a rarity - glad you all came out of it okay! How was your ride home?

Kathy - hope you do get some time to unwind if possible - 12 hours days can't be fun!

Sandra - did you go to water aerobics today?

I had another 'database nightmare' day - but at least things are getting fixed - each day we 'play' with it - then the developer comes by to 'fix' things - then of course we 'play' again - find other bugs...and so it goes.

My manager and I spent most of the morning together in the IT office going over and over everything - and ended up with 6 pages of notes on all the bugs and changes needed - reminded me of the 'good old days' when we were doing our MBA (okay not really that long ago - 2002) - and had to work on projects together (Did you know my 'manager/boss' and I are school colleagues - met while doing our MBA part time - did many projects together - a very good team (she is very bright) - then I was off to another gov dept and she kept calling me and trying to recruit me to Health Canada - and the rest is history!).

Anyhow - we shall again be trying out the database tomorrow - hopefully getting closer to the pink champagne!

Had no breakfast (too busy as per above), early lunch (had a 12 noon mtg w/consultant) and left at 2:30 pm for dentist appt - so day felt very hectic.

I am proud to say that I did go the gym after the dentist (stopping on the way to get a nice fresh bottle of water) and then home for dinner - I think I again ate a little more than necessary - have to definitely work on this.

Got some of my packages from my ebay purchases - I am obviously too short to wear long skirts! One of the skirts (peasant style) works - esp if I roll up the waist a bit - but there is a lovely knife pleated chiffony black one which is way too long: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1. If anyone is interested in this skirt let me know and I will send it to you! It is a very generous 1x or 2x (elastic waist all around so very flexible fit) - about 35 inches long (not good for 5'3 froufies!).

Now another problem - I bid on a 4 piece quacker factory weekender outfit - and only 3 pieces came!!! I DON'T THINK SO - have written to seller to find out what happened? Anyway - that skirt is too long for me too - lovely black pique cotton material - very generous 1X (again all elastic waist) - with tiny red lobster print around the bottom - anyone want this (again you should be taller than me!) - let me know! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1 (scroll down to see pic of striped t with the skirt).

Tomorrow's issue - so cruise buddy and I are practicing our trivia skills so we can win many trophies on the ship. So I (stupidly?) suggested going back to that pub (where dh played last weekend) cuz they have those bar/trivia game things gonig on there and I thought it would be fun (also while this is a bit of a drive for me -she lives very close by). I told her probably thurs night but now I am stressing cuz of the food there.

If you recall my weekend fiasco at this very same pub (greek salad, ds' leftover fries, fried zucchini with dip) this is a dangerous place. Most menu items are not diet friendly at all! I presume we will order something? So what to do? Cancel? Go and try not to eat anything? Other option is "east side mario's" (my neck of the woods) - I think they also have those game things - but again is the food any better? (well probably?). All suggestions appreciated!

And I think I shall skip the gym tomorrow? Should I be going every day? I was there 3 days already this week - and today I did feel it a bit - not that it was super hard - but my muscles felt kind of tired? Might take a 'break' tomorrow and go on Friday - what do you think? ( or am I just wimping out?)

Later,

Frouf

This stinks, I read everyones post and was all caught up and my post vanished into thin air.

Ds now wants to wear a pirate costume for his sisters birthday since the theme is Princess & pirates, I think that will be cute.

Melissa I am also feeling very hormonal today, TOM will be here any minute, feeling all bloated & crampy, hope you feeling better. Thanks for the recipe sounds delicious, I am looking at recipes for adults, I am going to check out Krafts also they sometimes have easy quick dishes.

Vickie glad you are enjoying your pool and getting exercise at the same time. I hope you got in touch with your gf and all is well.

Froufie the weather today was beautiful, I believe it was around 84 degrees. Why don't you check out the menu for East Side Marios and see if they have better choices, or maybe they could make you something a little closer to core friendly even a Greek salad is not too bad if you have the points for the cheese and use oil & vinegar. Just a thought

patti wow, what a frightening storm, we had a really bad one last night and there were trees uprooted all over the place in different towns, my front yard had broken branches and my hanging plant ended up in my vegetable garden, so I should count my blessings. Glad you are all ok

Kathy bet you can't wait for your well deserved vacation.

Sandra Hope you are enjoying your evening, did you go to WA today.

Saundra hope you enjoyed your day and got some rest, we did go to the lake yesterday. We went at 10:30am And came home aroung 12:30pm before it got too hot, the kids had fun.

froufie the skirts are real pretty but I am barely 5'4, they will probably be too long for me also

Niki, that would be so cute, your son dressing as a pirate. I like Kraft's recipes too, they have some great ideas.

Frouf, another manic--well, Wednesday! I hope that you get everything at work figured out soon. And a big on going to the gym after your busy day!! I'm really very impressed. It's going to pay off for you in a big way.

Sandra, thanks so much for starting! I have closed the other thread.

Where to start? OMG, I have had such a freakin' DAY! Just now got home and I will try hard to get back by 5:30 tomorrow morning. I must STEADILY work 12 hours tomorrow at as fast a speed as I can ... and hopefully I'll get it all done. I am working Friday morning too, but now we have decided to leave Friday afternoon instead of Saturday morning. We will drive halfway and spend the night in Amarillo, then continue on Saturday morning to Colorado Springs. Judd's brother will still have to work next week and so we wanted to spend as much weekend time with him that is possible. We will leave next Thursday morning to drive home. I'm campaigning for a stop in Santa Fe, NM because they have a Trader Joe's and it's only 3 hours off of our route. Listen to me ... ONLY 3 hours!

Let me go read for a while and then I'll be back.

Kathy, I hope that you will be able to enjoy your week off. Heaven knows you (over) deserve it! I hope that you will be able to let go of work and enjoy yourself. Leaving straight from working so hard, it might be difficult. Or it might make it really easy!! We'll miss you while you're gone, btw.

What a sweetie you are! I'm taking my laptop and Judd is taking his -- we should be able to check in because his brother is supposed to have his internet hooked up by then. They aren't as addicted as we are. Good grief, and I think I'm bad? Judd goes to like 4 different boards!

Well nothing for me for dinner. I am just too darn tired. I made a shrimp fettucini thing for dinner for the rest of them. It's one of the Bertolli dinners and smells just terrific, but I am not hungry.

So here's what I'm thinking. After I get back, I'm going to do an experiment. I will probably be around 145-146 after vacation (hopefully not more). I'm going to make myself the "Almost to Goal/Trying to Break a Plateau and then Maintain" guinea pig. I think I'll make a sticky thread and post my progress. You know, as the mod for the Core board, I should be a better example for the program and I am SO not! Anyhoo ... it would be so near to the first of August that I think I'll start then and go from there. I'm thinking about doing two weeks of strictly Core with no exercise (what's new, huh?) and then two weeks of strictly Core with 30 minutes of walking at least 4 days a week. We'll compare and see what happens.

I must go check my other areas for a bit but will be right back!

I think you'd be a fantastic guinea pig.

Hey, who are you calling a pig?? Okay, nevermind. I said it first, and I think being a guinea pig is different than being called a potbellied pig, don't you think?

So I might have big news. Shaun just told me there's a chance he might go next week. Wouldn't that be awesome??? He would start basic but finish three weeks early, and go on to Pensacola where his school will be. He would then just "hang around" ... they would put him to work in an office somewhere to pass the time. My fingers, toes, legs, and eyes are crossed in the hopes that it happens.

Off to potty dogs and water outside plants on the back patio.

Hey Chicks! I'm off to bed but wanted to stop in and tell you all that I reached GF and she is feeling a bit better. They no long think it was an infection so she's off all antibiotics but is now on steroids. They think it might be "sweet" syndrome and/or something else with a long name she couldn't remember. Bottom line is that it was her own immune system attacking her own body where they were injecting her with the chemo and where they were trying to insert needles for IV's. I know.....TMI. I made her laugh and cry tonight which is pretty typical for us. We're the girls who cry at the Folger's commercial every year. You know the one where Peter comes home and surprises the parents. Anyway, I'm now exhausted and I'm going to bed.

Sweet syndrome, also known as Febrile Neutrophilic Dermatosis.

Sweet syndrome is a rare skin disorder characterized by fever, inflammation of the joints (arthritis), and the sudden onset of a rash. The rash consists of bluish-red, tender papules that usually occur on the arms, legs, face or neck, most often on one side of the body (asymmetric). In approximately 80 percent of cases, Sweet syndrome occurs by itself for no known reason (idiopathic). In 10 to 20 percent of cases, the disorder is associated with an underlying malignancy, usually a hematologic malignancy such as certain types of leukemia. The exact cause of Sweet syndrome is unknown.