Thin--Thoughts and prayers for you and your mother. Illness can be so depressing, and depression doesn't help us get well, so I'm hoping and praying that cycle can be broken for her, and that you're getting the rest and support you need as you deal with this.

Mother--Hope you got a break with those puppies!

How's everyone else?

Things are quiet here, just working from dawn till dusk and beyond, so I need to get home and sleep. Sweet dreams!

Hi everybody! I'm trying to stop in more frequently that way I keep up better.

Angela: You need some sleep in there somewhere, girl!!! Otherwise, you'll just conk out. I certainly know the feeling of not enough hours in the day. Take care of yourself.

Mother: Oh my! Don't you know "I'll take care of them" only lasts until they get out of the pet store??? I learned the hard way and now I know better.

Well girls, the word's not good. I don't have particulars yet but mom is going to see a gastro guy tomorrow and a SURGEON on Monday. Apparently her colon guy saw the results of the CAT scan and it showed "something". Not sure what "something" is, but I guess we'll find out more tomorrow.

She can't keep anything down. I checked her for dehydration and she's still doing ok. I keep emphasizing that she needs to keep the fluids up.

Gotta get a couple of reports done and get some sleep myself. Tomorrow will be another interesting day.

Good evening, dear hens,

All's well here and I have nothing at all to report! I have not been to the gym in a long time and I am feeling quite guilty about that. Maybe tomorrow.

Love,
celery

Thin, My thoughts and prayers are with you and your mother.
Lillion, great job on the WI.
Angela, keep on hanging in there.

As for me, nothing much is going on. Can't keep motivated, heck, MOTIVATED??? try interested? I can't seem to shake the "why bother" attitude. I know in my mind what I need to do, I just can't get my emotions to understand. So, I'll keep coming here and reading about allyour sucesses. Can one of you volunteer to eat healthy FOR me?

Work has been rather calm this week My friend/boss is out this week and she is the one "in the know" so if anything is going on, I don't know about it. Also HR ladie left about noon Tuesday and hasn't been back, The story is she is "bailing hay" she lives on a farm, but she was sure dressed up fancy to be going to bail hay on Tuesday afternoon!!! I'll let you know if any bomb hit later in the week.

Good Morning Ladies!

So nice to see more of my Hen's in the coop today, although I know you all have very good reasons for being away.

Thin: My thought and prayers are with you and your mother. I hope the news isn't as bad as I'm sure you are thinking. Wish I could help take some of the strain off you.

Mother: Puppies are a handful - two puppies are worse! We got my two over a year ago and they were so funny and sweet but STILL so much work. Feed your little guys a tablespoon or two of pumpkin - right out of the can - every day. (Not with spices, just plain pumpkin.) Really helps with firming up the poops! We crate ours and I'll never have another dog that I don't crate train! So nice to be able to just put them in a little cage to give you some rest. Bless your little GS heart - trying to help! Hope you get some rest.

Angela: Speaking of rest, hope you are getting some in there somewhere Angela! How long till the semester is over?

Barbara: I'll volunteer to eat healthy for you, but I'm not sure what good it'll do. Until then here's some Sounds to me like HR woman is bailing hay at an interview! With the stories you've told I don't think I'd want to be the HR lady at your office either!

Ruth: Any news on your test hun?

Celery, Karen, Mary - am I missing anyone? -

Well, I was LAZY last night. Ate, watched TV (Lost is back!) and ended up early to bed. Still tired today though! And now I must go!

Onward and Downward Ladies!

Oooo, MOTHER, puppies??? I love puppies! What kind? My girlfriend works at a vet and they get drop offs that they adopt out. She knows the kind of dog I love, and they have one right now that she keeps telling me about – that it reminds her of my old dog, Peter. Merely invoking his name makes me want to run down and rescue this other dog, but I have 2 already and really, Really can’t have another one right now. I hope your poopie puppy problem gets better soon, and that your knee is better too!

THIN, I don’t know what to say about your poor mom. I sure hope they can help her!!! I’m glad to see you coming around more often. We miss you when you’re AWOL. Hang in there. My thoughts & prayers are with you and your DM.

Hey there CELERY! Yup, the gym would be a good idea. We get so busy with other things that our health takes a back seat sometimes. I’m glad everything else seems to be humming along for you as far as your weight loss!

Hi BARBARA! Do we have to come down there and ? Sorry you aren’t feeling motivated. Been there myself, of course. Lilion was in a holding pattern for a while and just came out of it – smokin! As a matter of fact. When you break that pattern and are able to push on to just a little more weight lost, it will feel so good!!! I hope you can set yourself on that track soon!! In the mean time, I’ll be holding my breath to hear the next episode of ‘Doctor’s Office Gone Wild’.

Hey LILION! As for that 5 minutes of weights last night, you’re right! 5 is way better than nothing!! Can you play with the weights a little in front of the TV? I don’t watch much TV, and when I do it’s often ‘Loser’ so my motivation is up, but I do crunches or leg lifts on the floor sometimes, especially during commercials, because I’m thinking that even that little bit helps. I’m SO excited for your weight loss getting back on track!! You are SO close to that 100 marker! I’d race you, but you’re gonna ssssmoke me!

As for myself, it’s time for breakfast. I’m hungry, but I want someone else to cook. I just can’t decide what to have, but I better do it quick so I can go see the dog that I can’t have and get a workout done in the a.m. I also have to replace my SS card, make some calls and run some errands. Yawn. Busy day compared to… well, compared to a turtle I guess. Employment is going to be a shock to my system. Maybe I’ll buy a lottery ticket today so I don’t have to worry about work.

Yesterday I added plums to my menu. I thought they were really high cal & carb, but I was wrong! For a 2 1/8” diameter plum, it’s only 30 -40 calories. Heck, I had two!

Oh. I almost forgot! I saw a new number on the scale this morning that I haven’t seen in years. I’m a scale addict, so I won’t change my ticker until I’ve seen a number for 3 mornings, but it said ‘275’. This is the promise of good things to come! Ten pounds until I'm at the weight I was when I got married (isn't THAT a funny marker) and 25 until I weigh what my license says.

Valerie - I'd do crunches and leg lifts, etc, in front of the TV if I wouldn't have two hyperactive dogs eating my head when it's down at their level! The little monsters just would NOT leave me alone...heck, when I'm on the Infernal Machine they do everything but hop on with me and last time I used the weights in front of them they tried to jump up and get them! Devil dogs, that's what I have! Seriously, I could crate them or make DS watch them when I work out, but they are crated all day so I hate to do that to them and DS was out riding his bike most of the time last night. Excuses, excuses!

I hear you, LILION! I can see them now! My two only go nuts if I start puffing doing rapid crunches, but then Simon jumps on my head and even Max climbs across my belly. What's he trying to do? Resusitate me or say - "stop doing that - it's making you puff, mom!" Aren't they funny, our fur-babies?

Good morning...er...afternoon! How's everyone doing today? Thank goodness it's my SATURDAY!

I noticed last night after I’d had a bad day, “I needed something”. It was very frustrating and stressful at school, it was late, dark, and everyone was pissing me off on the road because it was raining. PEOPLE ARE STUPID ON THE ROAD WHEN IT’S RAINING!!!!!

My first thought was of wine, and then it was food. What could I eat that would pamper me? It was just a couple of days ago that I wrote a post to someone about not letting a bad day make her feel like she needed to “pamper” herself with food. Ok, my turn!

I went through my options of exercise to get rid of the frustration. I thought about going for a walk, but it was raining. Then I thought about going to the mall and walking there, but being rainy, it was scaring me being on the road. I thought it would be better to get out of the car fast before I had some sort of accident and made my day even worse. I came home and since I was hungry, I had to get something quick. Funny, after I ate, I felt much better. I must have been getting especially grumpy because I was hungry. After that, I calmed down and was satisfied; there was no more craving that said I “needed something”. Yea me!

Today I got motivated to clean out some cabinets. I still have a bunch of food that I won't be eating any more, but it was such a challenge letting them go. (So much money, so much waste, yada yada) I've been getting rid of a bit at a time. Seems the longer they are there and i'm eating like this, the easier it is. I've got a couple good cases that i'll offer to a friend and then to the food bank. Now I even have space for more STUFF! So win, win!

Then I got a dozen eggs boiled, a batch of hummus made, couple big pots of italian flavored beans and savory Kashi grains cooked up as well as a couple heads of broccoli steamed so that i'll have more food cooked, portioned, bagged and ready to go.

Thin, I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. That poor woman...if it's not one thing it's another!

Angela, please get some sleep! Who's going to take care of everything if you keel over?

Mother, good luck with those puppies!

Celery!

Barbara, I may have missed it, but was there something that triggered the "why bothers"? I know I've gone through it at times and was usually able to pinpoint something that happened. Mine came down to I was tired of being in pain all the time. I'd had other goals and interests at times that kept me losing weight such as a doctor, a boyfriend, the whole health thing, but they always fell away. I'm not a very ambitious person myself, but if i'm going to have to be on this planet a while longer, i'd rather to it being pain free.

Lilion, wow, I never heard that about pumpkin...wish i'd known that years ago! Hey and way to go on that loss!

Valerie, sorry that the job hunt hasn't been more fruitful. Speaking of fruit...you do know that plums are just fresh prunes don't you?? Congrats on the loss! Oh and when you mentioned the weight on your license, I just had to run and pull mine out to see what it said! Hmm...210...only about 40 more pounds! I think i'll make that my next mini goal!

to anyone that I missed!

Well, off to get ready for a meeting...sigh...has to be my only day off.

Have a great day everyone!

Hi girls! Have I ever told you you're the GREATEST!!!

Mom saw the gastro guy today. He prescribed some compazine for the vomiting and prednizone to try and fix the rampently running whatever. He's scoping her tomorrow. The "something in the CAT scan is with the adrenal gland and he's not sure what the surgeon is going to say about that. He didn't seem TERRIBLY concerned and I got the impression he didn't think that was causing her problem. More like doing the CAT scan found it, but it wasn't a cause. I could be numb at this point, but that's the impression I got.

And just when you think life is through tossing curve balls, my "baby" just got laid off from his job as an Engineer!!! LOVELY!!!

Well that's my 3 tragedys in a row. Maybe we're done now.

I've gotta run. As you probably can imagine, I'm shuffling the best I can. The first week of every month is usually my busiest and of course, all this drama is happening THIS week. I'll be back when I can. Love ya bunches!

Hi ladies,

Hard to believe its Thursday already. Its been a whale of a stressful week.

On Tuesday, the big shot was in from the mother ship. This is the meeting that my boss tried to prepare us for last week. Fortunately, our one-on-one's with him were cancelled and we had a group meeting after the meeting with the department. I felt somewhat encouraged after the department meeting and his part of the following meeting. He talked to each of us about what we do and what each of our areas is responsible for. Then his cohort took over. It really wasn't a meeting to get to know us as a management team. It was a meeting to see which of us is leading the areas that they plan on cutting out of our department. It was plain that they were angry that we wouldn't commit to how many jobs will be eliminated by their integration. That is because they don't know exactly how we operate and aren't really bothering to understand. I did not feel encouraged after that meeting. The new Chief Operating Officer (who is the lead of integration) asked me what I thought of the visit. I said, since you asked, I'll answer you honestly. I don't know who to believe and I don't feel any better about my job than before. Actually feel worse. On a strange note, my boss is still there so they must have rejected her request of a package and said that she can just take retirement in December. I know she was hoping for the 2 weeks per year of service package because she would have gotten a years worth of pay.

DH took one of my nieces shopping today for a homecoming dance dress. Boy did she hose him. She kept talking about IF she gets a dress and IF this and IF that that we asked her why she kept saying IF. She is waiting on her dad to take her because she has no money and her mom told her that she hadn't done anything to deserve it. Yes, her mother is a complete And the other niece, who is 19, kept telling her what she should and shouldn't do. So DH felt sorry for her and said that he'd take her and he'd buy the dress. And she was determined to have a long dress. And a strapless bustier and shoes. $300. He is such a pushover. However, he said she has a beautiful dress that she looks just gorgeous in. And no one else would have gotten her anything close to that. I'm still a little flabbergasted that my husband helped my niece buy a dress.

I will be pretty much out of commission this weekend. This is mom's auction weekend. I'm going down early on Saturday morning and a whole bunch of us will be there to get her stuff all ready for the auction on Sunday. Then I'm driving home Saturday night to go have dinner with the former neighbors and see their new baby girl. Then Sunday morning, I'm driving back down to mom's for the auction. This is kind of bad, but I will be glad when she's four hours away. But I'll only be glad for a little while until I have recovered from all her move trauma. I really should be working this weekend but this has to have priority.

Food has been pretty decent this week. I had my "official" weigh-in yesterday. Last week after vacation, I weighed in at 265.5 ( ) and yesterday I was down to 260.2. Really just trying to focus on keeping portions small and healthy without worrying about a plan, points, calories, and such. I did go out and walk one evening. Amazing how long that driveway is and how my legs have lost stamina for walking at night.

Thin - I think that may sound like good news for your mom? Just keep encouraging her. My own mom hates doctors now and was complaining about getting roped into seeing another doctor (which her daughters made her do) and I reminded her that it was for her health that she was going and without it, there wasn't much else. Its so hard on them when the doctors can't find an answer. for your mom! And for your "baby" too. I got this wonderful slideshow in email today - it was about how you ask for roses and butterflies but sometimes God gives you thorns and caterpillars and how you suffer through the thorns and ugliness to get to something better.

Karen - Great job on thinking through your cravings and not caving in for just anything. And good job for getting all that healthy food prepared. That is a large part of the battle.

Valerie & Lilion - re: dogs keeping you from exercising. What wusses. Try having a 165 lb rott lay on you when you get down on the floor to exercise. He has learned however to lay somewhere else when I'm doing pilates. He learned the hard way about getting in the way of leg kicks.

Valerie - Yay for the new number! So what kind of dog is this?

Lilion - I missed Lost last night because my brother and his two daughters came for dinner. I thought I had the VCR recording it but didn't get the right button pushed. for getting back on track.

Barbara - Not sure what to say about the attitude problem.

Celery - Maybe you can work out a schedule where you hit the gym once or twice a week. With your studying, maybe that is all you can manage and it would be better than none.

Angela - Aren't the students supposed to be the ones who are working from dusk to dawn because of the instructors????? Get some sleep and hopefully some time to relax!

I think i am going to go to bed and watch TV for a bit. Have a good night!

Wow, everyone's so busy.

Thanks to all for the wishes for sleep. That's where I'm off to again, in just a few minutes (with luck, before midnight).

We're half way through the semester!!! Well, sort of. 7 weeks out of 15 done, not counting the week off for Thanksgiving and finals week.

Thin, I hope the news for your mother turns out to be less dire than it seemed at first!

Terri, Work sounds nuts! Hope the auction goes well.

Lilion, The count!!!! WOO HOO, GO LILION GO!

Sorry to those I've missed... have a happy Friday.... I must away to bed.

Oh, I *really* do have to go, but I have the funniest story for you all... someone remind me to tell you about the student with the umbrella and the enemy, it's a great one.

Good Morning Ladies!

Terri: on the 5+ lbs DOWN! That's great! Your job being so stressful and your mom stuff too, that's when I tend to be "bad" and gain! You don't sound bad at all about your mom moving 4 hours away. You've had quite a load and it's very understandable.

Thin: to you re you mom and baby! I feel so sorry for your poor mom, this must be so stressful and hard on her. And as for baby – especially having just bought a house, not good. I see so many people in my hearings that have been laid off in downsizing and companies moving and what have you. Makes me glad I'm working for the state – I know they aren't going anywhere long-term.

Angela: Tell us the one about the student, the umbrella and the enemy! (This student with an umbrella walked into a bar….) Hope you got a good night's sleep.

Karen: Funny how sometimes wanting to eat just means you are hungry, huh? I've learned over the years, and my poor husband has learned too, that I HAVE to eat! I get VERY grumpy when I'm truly needing food. (poor hubby) You had quite a busy and productive pantry cleaning! If you donate it it's not really going to waste – and it isn't going to waist either!

Well, I had a very OP day yesterday and did 11 1/2 minutes on the infernal machine. Actually slept with my husband as he was sick and went to bed rather than stay up...not really sick, just a big wuss! Men are such babies when they don't feel well. Today is blue jean day and I'm wearing the 18's again, which fit better right out of the dryer than they did broken in a few weeks ago! I know I haven't lost much weight since I got them, but I think all the walking is shifting things around. I'm going to lunch with a friend today - and very NON health concious friend who gets to pick the place...wish me luck! For now I better run!

TERRI, my mom has lived in Florida for, um, almost 20 years? and I still don't think it's TOO far away. I love her, but she's a crazy-maker. Her #1 topic of conversation is how soon her current hubby ( a very dear man ) is going to die. My good sister can't even bring herself to call anymore, and my evil sister only calls when there's a bad hurricane or she wants money. So the 4 hour thing? I'm glad your DM will still be close enough for you to drive to. And the ROTTIE? Well, I hear you. Simon is only a 15 pound Dachsie, but all those German dogs have big personalities, and know how to get what they want. My other dog is a border collie sort of mix. Is that what you were asking?

LILION, Good luck at lunch!! Awesome that you're kicking some I.M. butt again these days!!!

ANGELA - What Lilion said, or tell us about the enemy - Whatever - let us hear it!

As for me, I think Peanut Butter is the new Chocolate. It's got to be one of my favorite OP treats. I love SF popsycles, too, but this week I bought a cheaper generic brand - yuck! I'll stick with Popcycle brand next time.

I actually rode my old QH last night for a few minutes. He's gotten kind of grumpy with only little inexperienced kids riding him for the last few years. I finally couldn't stand it and climbed on to 'tune him up' a bit. We're both so out of shape, it isn't funny. His previously powerful, balanced jog was neither. He's lost so much condition through his back and hindquarters due to age and lack of work. I didn't help much - I felt like a loose sack of potatoes on his back. Still, it was good to be up there for a few minutes, especially since I had previously decided that I'd never ride him again. He was an awesome horse in his day.

Errands to run, calories to burn - talk to you later!