Good morning chickies!

Been up most of the night studying for a midterm today. It's going to be a loooong day.

Lilion, I just wanted to apologize if I offended you. It was not my intent to be mean. I was just teasing. You are the furthest from "dense" that I've ever seen and I appreciate you being here.

Have a great day everyone!

ANGELA, What was the interview about? I wish we’d known about it.

THIN, That’s your… baby??? He’s… a surprise. Great costume! It think you did super on the make-up for him.

LILION, I hope your DS has his candy stash hidden away and you’ve been able to keep your fingers out of it. I’m so glad there isn’t a stash around here. I just can’t take it when the stuff is within reach! The peanut butter balls would definitely be deadly! ** Hey, the suadecloth jacket sounds really sharp. Hurry up and out shrink it, and I’ll hurry up and downsize into it. Then lemme know when the garage sale is!

TERRI – – You totally cracked my up. The horse is a great idea of course – it’ll spook to tell you that you’re about to be murdered by a shadow monster and then drag you half way to the next county to save itself. Yup, I’d say the flash light or the treadmill is the way to go!
**As for the trainer being cute, um, I dunno. I didn’t notice. I’ll check tomorrow and get back to you. At least he didn’t smell as good as the 1st trainer from the school – HE was downright distracting!

KAREN, I hope that midterm goes far easier and quicker than you expect, and that by the time you read this you’ve already Sssssmoked it!

Well, I made me exercise goal for October, which I’m hoping is the start of a new trend. At least I’ve started November out well with 90 minutes in class this morning. It’s going to be a weird month though, with starting the new job. I just MAY be able to get back from work in time to do my workout class in the evening some days. We’ll see. I’ll be spending so much time away from the boys – both dogs and horses – that I hate to take what precious few waking minutes I’ll have and spend them somewhere else as well. As hard as that is on me, it must be harder on them. I’ll just have to get intimate with my treadmill again.

If I didn’t mention it already, my trainers “weekend” is Tuesday & Wednesday, so after working Monday I had two days off already. I go back tomorrow (Thurs) morning. I’m so sore through my arms and back since the workout class routine changed this week, at least I have a little time for that stiffness to heal before I go drive.

Well, heavens. With all that talk about peanut butter balls, I’ll have to have an apple with peanut butter with an apple for lunch.

RUTH? BARB? MARY? EVERYBODY ELSE? Where y’all at???

Later Ladies!

Good Morning Ladies!

I'm gonna have to change my avatar back. Pity, I really like that pumpkin!

WI this morning was 236.4! How did I do that? I'm beginning to believe my scale is an evil being that wants to make me LOSE MY MIND! I've gone from 240 to 239 to 236 to 238 to 240 to 238 to 236...So, what will it be next week? 234 or 238? Anyone want to place a bet? Ah well, I think I'll just leave "the Count" at 90 until next weeks WI. Maybe if I change him every two weeks it'll actually mean sonething?

Karen: I don't recall being offended - and I called myself dense! I must be too...since I still can't figure out why anyone would want to "visualize" world peace!

Valerie: Gosh, that's my kind of job. Work one day, off two. Granted now you have to work five...but it was a nice start! And yeah...the peanut butter balls are Satan's own candy. (Actually it's my MIL recipe and she's a really nice lady! ) So simple...peanut butter, powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs and almond bark to cover them! So bad for you! Thank God for WW pts. I knew I could eat 2 without going over and so I had 2...not six or seven...which is what I wanted! I suspect that by the time that coat doesn't fit me it'll be ready for the dumpster! But if you still want it then feel free!

Terri: I think my dog would have to die if he did that to me! But instead I have little monsters that think it's cute to stand out in the yard when they are taken out (on a leash since we have no fence) and bark at all the dark shadows! CREEPS ME OUT! Have I ever mentioned my totally childish and very serious fear of being outside alone in the dark? Yeah...those 25 lb dogs will really stop me from being eaten by monsters!

Valerie said: I second that! Post ladies!!! You are missed!

Hi all! How are all you lovely ladies this evening? I did get into the candy a bit these past few days but haven't eaten alot of other stuff so the scale is still behaving. We had quite a few trick or treaters last night. Got rid of most of the candy that I bought. There are a bunch of Smarties left, and although I do really like them, they are not calling my name this year so maybe I'll just throw them out.

I took mom to the Endocronologist today. He said the Adenoma was only 2.2 cm and that they don't really do anything with them until they are 6 cm. He wants mom to do another 24 hour urine collection after she's been off the Prednesone for 6 weeks and then come back and see him in a year. He said that most of these are found, just like mom's was, by a random CAT Scan that is done to find something else, and that they are very common. We were pretty happy that he confirmed what the surgeon said, NO surgery! Mom's having trouble with her appetite as she weans off the Prednesone, but the doctor says that this is pretty normal and to give it a few days once she's off it completely before she panics. I stocked her up with smoothies, yogurt, Ensure and South Beach snack bars that appear to have a decent amount of protein in them. Hopefully that will tide her over until she can look "real" food in the eye again.

Honey is done with his cardiac rehab. He decided not to move on to Phase III ($87 a month, not covered by insurance). He said with the holiday time off and another week he has of vacation he thought he would try the equipment we have upstairs and see how that goes until the first of the year. He has asked that I plan dinner for a 1/2 hour AFTER he gets home from work so he has time to work out before dinner. We'll see how long this lasts.

Terri: I'm so glad you took the time off. Re-grouping was probably EXACTLY what you needed. I was just teasing. I'm happy that at least SOME of the pressure is off. *It's great that Phoenix is getting on so well with your niece. Maybe she'll get more comfortable and won't be so scared.

Valerie: I'm glad you new job is proving to be good. I like the schedule: work one, off two. Now you're sounding like me. I hope, if you're still not sure what shape your marriage is in, that you're protecting yourself with this new job and new income. Sorry, I'm probably butting in where I don't belong again. Yup, that's the "baby". He's 25 and a laid off engineer. You'd never guess from the outfit. Yes, thank God he doesn't dress like that all the time.

Lilion: You got done this weekend what I was supposed to do, yard work. It was absolutely lovely the weekend and 65 on Monday, 60 on Tuesday. Do you think I got my butt out there and did anything? NO!!! I know I'll be sorry. We're getting colder now by the day and that's exactly what happened last year and my flower beds were a REAL mess in the Spring with all that dead crap in them. I never learn. *Your scale acts just like mine, up down, up down. There is no rhyme or reason to it. I think it just gets up in the morning and says "I'm gonna REALLY screw with her this morning!"

Karen: I'll have to check out Trader Joe's. There really aren't any on my side of town but the next time I get cross town by my girlfriend's I'll have to check it out. I also found a spice store when I was meandering one day that I'll like to peruse. I'm actually hoping that they have a way of sampling some of the spices (wouldn't that be fun?) before you buy them. *Hope the mid-term went well and that you're over with testing for awhile.

Jett: Well, I see you haven't checked back in. I hope we didn't scare you away.

Angela: I'm glad the money woes will soon be over. I'm sure that's a great feeling to finally have it out of the way. * I applaud your new commitment. Your goal seems very manageable.

I was just checking out my little calendar book where I've been keeping track of my weight and I'm only down 2.2 for the month of October. But I'm down 20.5 since July 7 when I finally decided to start losing again. Not GREAT, but better than I've done in several (read MANY) years so I'll take it. I had told my new doc that I wanted to be under 300 by Christmas. Hmmm, that's not going to happen. But at least I'm making progress and I've got 3 more weeks to work on it before I go back. Guess I'll have to rev up the engines and get going.

Well girls, I have an early warehouse club shop to do in the morning so I think I'm going to hit the bed. See ya all later. Love ya bunches!

Hello, I am a new chick on the block...actually, i ve been reading for a long time but i havent posted anything. I am miserable and fat and tired of being miserable and fat!!!! I had been down to 250 (if you can consider that down) and am up again to 285. my pants are too tight and so is my skin.!!!!! I started again yesterday, I do south beach mostly, but i just turned 43 and you all seem like friends...can I join in? I am a single mom of an almost 14 year old girl, 3 dogs, 2 lizards, 1 snake. I teach preschool and love it. I was going to taekwondo but i hurt my kneeat work. I had an mri yesterday so i will know more on monday. exercise is really tough right now but maybe i can control my food...

Hi Annie! Yes, You can certainly join us. We'd be happy to get to know you. I can relate to the knee pain. I hope you're able to somehow get some relief. That has been a major excuse for me to not do the big "E". I really just need to bite the bullet and find some things that do not put so much pressure on the joints. I have options, I just still procrastinate. Maybe we can be cheerleaders for each other.

Everybody else: Where the heck are you??? Geez, it's not even the weekend yet and everyone's disappeared. I guess you're all going about living your lives.

I worked a bit today but didn't feel real well. Not sure what it was all about but my tummy didn't like me very much. Nothing drastic, just felt icky which made me not want to finish up the jobs I was attempting, even the easy ones. I was really jammed up for tomorrow, but I went in and re-scheduled some of those as well. I'll still be gone most of the day, but it would have been HORRIBLE if I didn't postpone a couple of them.

Hope to see some more action later. Love ya bunches!

Hello ladies,

I'm here! Just been a busy week. Too many meetings. Plus with the time change, I have been going to bed early.

I've done pretty good with exercise this week. Not everyday but I've done better at cardio than I have been doing. Its a start.

Today, DH took me to work. We left the house at 6:15 so I could try to get in early and accomplish something. He picked me up so we could go to Bed, Bath and Beyond after work. We always spend way too much money. But we needed a bed for niece Hollie this weekend. We looked at one of the aero beds because I didn't want a permanent bedroom for guests when people just don't come to stay often. We hemmed and hawed about whether buying the expensive queensize or less expensive twin. We decided on the twin. I just couldn't see spending $299 (less 20%) for the occassional guest.

Annie - Welcome to the group and yes! you can join us. Looking forward to getting to know you, the kid, the dog but not the snake!

Thin - Great job on being down 20.5 pounds. Hey, go pick up four five pound bags of sugar and see how heavy that is. Just keep working on it. I got a big laugh out the scale screwing with you! That must be a built in function of all scales because mine does the same!

Lilion - I'm betting on 234!

Time for dinner and watch Survivor. See ya!

Good Morning Ladies!

I've been rather scarce due to a drama unfolding with my best friend's daughter - 16 yrs old and apparently totally screwed up. This is so sad because this was a GOOD girl until like the past two months. I suppose all the warning signs were there…withdrawal from her family (but she's a teen and they do that), losing weight (but she's always been thin), disobeying her parents (again, teen!). Then she started failing at school, lying about where she'd been, finally she literally failed this quarter, her parents found she'd spent 4800 minutes on the cell phone in one month, they discovered she'd been skipping school…they grounded her and she ran away – for just a few hours. They got her home, went to one counseling appt and the next day she ran again…27 hours this time before they found her with another girl that ran with her. She gleefully admits to drinking, smoking pot and taking pills (cold medicine apparently, but maybe worse) and was adamant that if she was taken home she'd be gone again before they could blink. She's now in a private psych hospital for up to 30 days for rehab and counseling. It's truly unbelievable. This is the girl I've posted pictures of, who's babysat my son and been his best friend since she was 7 and he was 2! It's just terrifying how quickly this all developed. I had to sit my 11-yr-old son down and gave him his first real "drug-talk" last night. Seems my friends did the right thing by taking her directly to the hospital for drug testing and psych eval…the other girl when home with her mother and downed 30 ibuprophine and is now in the icu for a suicide attempt. Horrible and so STUPID! These really were good girls and at least my friend's dd has NO reason to run or behave this way…they are good parents, loving parents. Senseless.

I've eaten like a pig through this…Blew all of my flex pts on Wed and Thurs! So now I have none until next Wed. At least that means I have five days to make up for the overeating…so maybe it'll be allright. I just have to watch it for the rest of the week.

Terri: We thought about a aerobed…but in the long run just got a normal old camping queen sized air bed and electric pump. Surprisingly comfortable. Thanks for the woohoo! I hope your bet is the winner!

Thin: Glad your mom's test was good. Yep…an MRI for something else is how they found the adenoma on my pituitary gland too. Hope all the other tests are good. The big "E" continues to elude me too. The infernal machine is once again gathering dust. I just don't seem to have ANY motivation to do anything physical. At least I did a TON of walking on Halloween night..taking my little monster around for his candy. I'm pleased to report as of now I've had only one fun-sized and two bite-sized candy bars from his "stash". There's certainly no reason to be down about -20.5 lbs! You could be UP 20.5 you know….that would be a bad thing. Down is always good. Keep it up!

Annie We're a pretty nice bunch! This thread goes a bit slow, but when we do say something it's usually good! I'm 43 too, with a 11 yr old DS and one cat and two little monster dogs. How's the knee? My ds took taekwondo until his school he was going to closed. I always thought it looked like fun, but never got to it. I'm considering finding him another school and this time joining up myself. Hey, if I'm paying for it, maybe I'll do it!

I should trot now. I do have work to do after all…in fact, I plan on doing it all weekend…working Sat and Sun! But what must be done, must be done. At least there isn't any food at work but what I bring with me!

One more cry out to our MIA Hens! Barbara? Ruth? 2Cute? Mary? Celery? Mother? WHERE ARE YOU!!!

Hello hen friends, How are Ya? Sorry about the lack of posting. I seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place these days. My Mom is going to have to go into a nursing home (breaks my heart), and we are trying to get that taken care of.

As if things were not bad enough, the therapist worked her leg too hard and strained a muscle in her thigh. Now she can't walk without a lot of help and is using a wheelchair most of the time. My sister just can't keep pulling her up and picking her up off the floor! She keeps trying to get up by herself and falls. Did I ever mention that she is hard headed..LOL! The only solution is the nursing home for now.

My surgery is scheduled for the 1st day of Dec. Don't ask me why it is taking so long. It is driving me nuts too. I just want to get it over with.

See? Are you sure you wanted to hear from me? I only have depressing news lately. I am not going anywhere on the scale. Staying pretty much the same. I promise to do better about keeping in touch once all of the drama is over. Take care my friends, see Ya later. Ruth

I've got my starting date. Though I know some stern 3FC members that would caution against picking start dates, I've done just that. A coworker (and suddenly close friend) of mine started on a "stop smoking" drug. She was told NOT to stop smoking during the first week of the drug. She stops smoking Tuesday. I told her I was proud of her and asked if there was anything I could do. To my surprise and amazement, she asked me to start dieting on the same day she stopped smoking. I was startled, thought about being offended (pshaw Java, you're getting close to 300 again!) and then I felt honored and grateful. Though we've joked about ending up in a huge fight and/or killing each other .... her waggling a Snickers bar in my face and me blowing cigarette smoke in hers..... it may end up being a good thing. Maybe not. But we'll see. Tuesday, I'm back in the turtle saddle. Yeee HAW! I'm going to do WW's Points because for me it's the most "user friendly." I'm too cheap to join again, but I've still got all my books. I'll go to the grocery store on the way home from work tonight or tomorrow. Whew. Here we go!

I'd like to welcome our newest member and apologize to every one else for my abscence. Please keep after me. PM me, email me, poke me with a sharp stick, what ever you like. I want to be a part of this group if I have to be drug kicking and screaming and hissing like a snapping turtle.

Love and peace and turtle hugs to all who roost here.

Mary! My favorite Turtley friend! I think your friend is WONDERFUL! How nice to have someone as eager to help you as you are to help her! I agree, I love WW points. I was lucky and DH did it with me so I've had support, but sounds like your friend will support you, even if she doesn't want to lose weight. Also, maybe you being OP will help her keep from the almost inevitable weight gain that comes from quitting the nasty smokes. (I speak from experience here!) You know, I don't actually "belong" to WW in that I don't go to meetings or anything, but I do go to their website and I spend time on their forum and use the e-tools. You have to pay for e-tools, but it's not too terribly expensive and you just have to use a code from the 1st book you get to "prove" you go to meetings to sign up. I personally love the recipe builder, but I liked the site long before started using the tools for the recipes and such. If you go though, stay FAR away from the Daily Thread - those people are witches with a capital "B"! Horrible people!

Ruth: Honey of course we want to hear from you, you silly thing!!! I'm sooo sorry to hear about your mom. You know, my folks were "older" - Dad was born in 1911 and Mom in 1927 - and they both passed away while I was fairly young. Still, I did go thru the nursing home question with Dad just before he passed away-and he was only in his 70's! (I was actually looking at homes when he died.) It was a very difficult decision, but the only good answer to the amount of care he needed. My brother and I could never afford live-in, full-time nursing, which was the only other answer. The family members who had been looking after him could not meet the level of care he needed. Don't feel "bad" or "guilty" - you are truely doing the best thing for your mother. I'm sure you are tired of waiting on your own health concerns. Are we talking the laproscopic-type surgery or the real deal? Either way the waiting has to be nerve wracking...but at least it maybe gives you time to get your mom settled in first...that's a good thing, right?

to you both!

I'm guessing that i will figure everyone out soon...
about the nursing home, its not really so bad if you look carefully. A big tip: when you walk in, how does it smell? that will give you an idea of the kind of care they give. If the smell is really overpowering, just leave. but a little "hospitally" is ok. There are so many bad stories, but not nearly so many bad places. trust your heart and realize the care level will be more thanyou could do alone. You can always visit... And why are you having surgery?
about the teenage girl..wow! I hope she is better. That would be so scary. You should probably have the sex talk with your son too...they start really early now!
What are DH and Ds? i am really new...
How many times can I possibly start again, and why do I? my friend at work just arrived at her goal -116 pounds, she looks great so i said I would go for it yet again........

Annie: THE SEX TALK! I totally don't think I'm ready for that! (Besides, that's why I got remarried - so I'd have a man to pawn that one off on! ) DH = Dear Husband, DS = Dear Son (can be Dear Sister depending on the context), DD = Dear Daughter, DB = Dear Brother, FIL = Father in law, BIL = Brother in law, and so on and so forth. You'll get the hang of it!

And as to how many times you can start again? As many times as it takes dear. So long as you keep trying you aren't a loser! Or maybe you WILL be a loser! (As in "to lose weight" - if you'll pardon the pun!)

I don't know what my problem is. I think I'm afraid to succeed at this weight loss endeavor. I knowingly eat the wrong things during the week, watching the countdown to weigh-in day. "I will not give in tomorrow." I tell myself. I am still losing weight but want to be in control of this urge thing. Any advice?