Good Afternoon. I spent the morning making a birthday cake for ds#3. He is 12 today on 12/12 which he thinks is cool. Now I just need to stay out of the cake tonight.

Lily-Sorry you're feeling poorly. Good idea on the baskets for family. I might steal that idea.

Jessica-I hope the thyroid thing gets figured out.

Kery-Don't stay too far away

Anne&Kim-I totally shopped on Amazon except for a few stocking stuffers. The reduction in stress is amazing. I even sent Amazon gift certificates to the SIL's who live in FL and MI. Much cheaper than mailing a gift.

Have a great day

Shelia - I looked up dystonia. "Movement disorder in which sustained muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures." That doesn't sound fun!

My Parkinsonian tremors (side effect of medicines) have gotten stronger and more persistent this week. I'm wondering if med 3 is also contributing to it. I'm now feeling them from my finger tips all the way up into my shoulders. They really agitate me. I find the left side of my body shakes more often and longer then my right.

My doctor keeps offering to put me on Cogen (spelling) but I'm not interested in adding a 6th med to my current 'cocktail' to keep me sane.

On the positive side, I keep thinking my body must be burning extra calories during the shaking and attempts to minimize them.

Morning. We have snow on the ground again, but only about 1-2". It sure makes it lighter for driving in these dark days. It's not really cold - in the high 20's, low 30's - so it's tolerable. (Okay, Anne, I'm trying really hard not to snicker. )

I had trouble getting to sleep last night. Could have been that I was at a 3 hour city council meeting, and my mind was still going 100 mph. But, the 2008 budget passed, my promotion (and others) are assured, complete with pay raises. It had better be a good year for the city economically is all I can say. And I know I'll be feeling like Kim - trying to stop a bunch of water from bursting through (or stamping out lots of little fires if you like that analogy better ) but it should be challenging at any rate.

Feel better, Lily. Hope Lucy is just limping for attention. I find that the cat does that, limps for awhile, then is completely normal.

Good afternoon,
After getting my 3 pound vaca weight off, I derailed sunday night and into Monday, so I am up 3 pounds yet again. Aye yi yi, I spiraled out of control and I know better, but I did it anyway. I made a post entitled my 2 day derail in the chicks in control section, ... more like this chick was not in control at all!!!! Been back on the train track for the past few days and I am doing well despite the circumstances of dealing with everything that has happened. I am happy to be back on the healthy train track, choo choo, instead of being on the bad chew chew train that I was recently on.
~Wendalyn

I can't possibly catch up, so I'll just address the last few posts!

Lily, I hope you feel better soon!
Anne, I'm all about Christmas shopping on Amazon too -- and I haven't started yet either!
Pat, it's weird to hear about snow, because it's unseasonably warm here right now, in the 70s. We're supposed to get a little wintry weather on Sunday, but it won't be much.
Carolyn, I hope you can get the right meds for your situation. Burning extra calories is nice, but I know you want to settle that situation down and feel better.
Lisa, I remember when I turned 12 on 12/12 (um...24 years ago). I thought it was cool too!

I just posted in the Support Forum in response to someone asking about when her face will slim down, and I put a before/after comparison of myself. I thought it was a pretty big change so I want you guys to check it out too. I kind of feel like I look like a different person. Well, same person but MUCH better! Like I said in that post, I didn't recognize myself when I was obese. Now when I see myself in the mirror, it's the person I always thought I was inside. I know outside appearance doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it makes a big difference to me that my face is really MY FACE now and isn't obscured by all that extra weight anymore. So check it out!

joyofseven, you can steal my basket idea. It is fun. Since Lacy and Shelbey are artistic (and I'm not at all) I'm letting them help decorate the baskets. I also let them decorate our stockings and Lacy filled mine , while Shelbey filled DH's.

I'm so proud of the girls cause they got such joy from buying for their Angel Tree kids and asked if we could make this a tradition and do it every year. Just when you think that your teenagers are selfish, they go and shock you with their love and caring kindness for someone less fortunate.

The girls are even excited that they will be baking up tins of sugary sweets for their school friends instead of buying them gifts like they usually do.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes.

Carolyn, I hope your med issues are resolved soon. I'd also hate being put on yet another med.

I told you all that Shane had broken it off with his GF that wanted to get married. They got back together on Monday, but have now agreed to not discuss the marriage topic until he gets back from being deployed. I did go ahead and buy small gifts for her and her 2 little boys. I have mixed feelings about Shane and Laura re-uniting. In one way, I'm glad he'll have a GF back home that loves him and writes to him while he's deployed. OTOH, I want him to be able to focus on the job he is sent to do without added stress.

Lisa~wow what a difference!
Lily~hope both pups will be okay

What a day I'm having (not good)
--weight is up
--forgot DD had a "late start" at school today (so did she) and she got to school an hour too early (thankfully she's not mad--she just sat in her car and did her homework)
--our server was down at work so I couldn't check the internet
--had a meeting with my insurance carrier which resulted in a higher premium (home owners), but I want to make sure we're well covered
--on the way back from the insurance office, I ran into 1500 people clogging a street (had I had internet to check the news before hand, I could have AVOIDED this street!). I guess there was some church dedication in Palm springs and these people had to walk all over the valley because of it?!?!? Here's the story (now that my server is up) http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dl...EWS01/71212018
--one of my employees came in and her car died so she had to take off when the tow truck arrived.

What more can go wrong? It's only 11 AM!

Wow, Lisa! What a difference. And you look nothing like what I had pictured It's always interesting to see what folks really look like!

Allison , sorry you are having a bad day. I have an appt. at 4:15PM today to take Lucy to the vet. She still acts like she can't walk at all on that one leg. I think it might be a soft tissue injury. She was fine til last night and acted hurt after jumping down from our footstool. Surely it couldn't have broken that easy, could it? But, that is when she buckled and acted like it hurt. My only dilemma now is how I'll be able to heft her into DH's jeep, since my son took my car to work today.

Lisa, your pic's are great and they do show a really big facial difference.

Hi all,

I've been out doing field work all week. It's nice to get outside and away from my desk! I started a personal "boot camp" of sorts Monday afternoon and workouts and eating have been going really well. I actually got to run yesterday and am sore!

My stitches came out Monday and I got the ok to resume all activities. Yay! The podiatrist then asked me about my bunions. "My what?" My feet have always been oddly shaped, so I never thought anything of it, just that I had a weird foot shape. They don't cause me pain but knowing me, the worry wart, I will constantly be worrying about future foot problems. But it does make me wonder if foot pain I had in that area of one foot in the spring was from them (I solved it by doing no cardio for a month, and it hasn't come back). I guess they are genetic, since I wear good shoes. Aren't I too young (25) for this to happen?

LisaMarie, what a different 'before' and 'after'! You have a lovely smile.

Allison & Kim, hope your afternoons are better than your mornings.

Wendalyn, glad you got yourself back on track.

Pat, oof, hope today is a little less hectic.

Anne, I'm sure my cold tolerance (and Shane's) here in NoFlo is about where yours is. I'd snicker too if I was in Pat's position.

Lily, I hope your cold goes away quickly. You can resist those sweets!

Jessica, I'm glad the thyroid test was able to pinpoint something for the dr. to work on. I hope that the dr's can figure out how to treat your thyroid and you will be feeling better soon.

Hello to everyone else.

LisaMarie-You look great.
Allison-sorry it's such a bad day.
Wendalyn-hang in there.
Pat-20-30's sound good here too, lol
Megan-go boot camp

Hello from frigid Boise! It's warmed up to almost 30 degrees today. I'm hoping to avoid more sky dandruff until after we leave on Saturday.

Allison, I hope things got better for the rest of your day!

Megan, always nice to hear that you've got something "wrong" with you and you didn't even know it, isn't it? You know how some young people are "old souls?" Maybe you just have "old feet."

Lilybelle, hope your dog didn't injure herself too badly. I'm right with you on the vet expenses. My petsitter called last night about one of my cats. She ended up taking her to the vet. After X-rays and blood work, it appears she had a $375 upset tummy. But the vet did find a growth on the back of her tongue so it's a good thing she got sick otherwise we never would have known. I, too, love the idea of those gift baskets. Stay strong with the sweets!

Lisa, what a difference! You can really see those cute dimples even more now. Thanks for sharing those great photos--those side-by-side comparisons make everything so real, don't they? Did you have to get new glasses after you lost weight? My glasses were really tight at the start of my weight loss, then became too loose. One of those unexpected results of weight loss.

Yesterday I spent several hours at the animal shelter helping test dogs. I used to volunteer when I lived here, then worked there for a couple of years before we moved. Since I became dogless this summer, it was fun playing with the shelter dogs and giving them lots of attention. It's kind of amazing what you can discover about an abandoned dog--several knew obedience commands and one would even roll over, crawl, and high-five as well as the basic sit/stay/heel. Shelters get a surprising number of purebred dogs, too--there was a gorgeous Golden Retriever there. Gotta put in a plug for animal shelters whenever I can!

LisaMarie! You are blond!! Wow. It is really cool to see how people really look. You look fabulous, BTW.

Sheila! 30 degrees! I would just die. It was 39 for our low this morning and I was ready to crawl back in the hole.

Anne

Oh Sheila, I'd take that golden in a heartbeat! Of course, I'd have a sulky kitty for awhile, but she'd get over it.... I have a real soft spot for goldens.

I made it back from taking Lucy to the Vet. He couldn't feel any broken bones or dislocations. He felt it was just "jammed" in her shoulder region from jumping down off the furniture. He put her on Rimadyl for 10 days and if she isn't improving in a few days I will need to take her back for X-rays. I had never heard of this med. but am assuming it's like a muscle relaxant cause it sure is making her sleepy.

Sheila, Wow, $375.00 is expensive. My vet charged me $47.00 for seeing Lucy today and is charging $120.00 this Friday to have Molly spayed. I don't know if that is considered cheap or not. The spaying cost was based on weight and Molly weighs 100 lbs., so I'm guessing a chihuaha would have been much cheaper.

It's kinda ironic that Lucy is hurt right now. With Molly's upcoming surgery I was wondering how I could keep them separated since Lucy is always hyper and wanting to wrestle with Molly. But, right now Lucy is hurt and isn't doing anything but laying around.

Sheila, I also had found where there are a lot of purebred dogs in shelters. I have adopted 2 dogs from shelters before and they made great pets.

Megan, it is possible to have foot problems at a very young age. My 20 yr. old niece has already had 2 foot surgeries. I had surgery for ingrown toenails when Lacy was only 4 months old. On my postop appt. , I had to take Lacy with me to the doctor. I thought it was so odd that he took her shoes off and examined her little baby feet. He told me then that even little kids need to have their feet checked when they are very young.