Michele I'm pretty sure most cats won't tackle a rat - too big.

Dagmar

One or two of the cats next door kill baby rats but nothing bigger.

I'm at 149.9 this morning.

Yesterday I had a very strange lunch due to not having much in my fridge but being able to forage at the hotel's breakfast buffet --- scrambled egg whites and bits of turkey sausage, topped with avocado slices, heaped on top of spring mix salad greens. This sort of thing makes me worried that I am going to seed in this hotel living.

I am indeed going to take a half-day class today, so my goal once I get home is to finish off something for work, do my first load of laundry in the hotel laundry room and cook marinating steaks on the Foreman and also make a crockpot of stewed vegetables. In my regular life, when I had access to an oven, I roasted a huge tray of vegetables every weekend to eat throughout the week. I miss that, as they were handy. I miss my oven. I miss my life.

I have some familiarity with the hunting skills of cats. Ours killed mice, meadow voles, blind moles tunneling in the garden mulch, chimpmunks, birds (young woodpeckers, sadly). They chased but did not seem to catch squirrels and rabbits. They only hissed at possums. The rats I've seen are big. Startlingly big, such that they are close to possums, though with a different posture and slightly different face. I believe the fight would be almost equally matched, awful and likely to result in a vet bill for the valiant cat. This is why people bred up terriers, IMHO, since cats can't quite get the job done.

Hi all,

Shannon, I'm so sorry that he's struggling. I would have found that situation completely stressful, to be separated from all friends while starting a new school. But the fact that it's so understandable doesn't make it any easier for him.

I have had a very bad month. I won't burden you all with details. A rotten and still ongoing experience both physically and emotionally. It has been misery, and dealing with it while at a new difficult job where I have no friends or confidants has been a nightmare. Plus we've had a nonstop series of visitors staying with us, including my parents for a week. Hiding all of this from them has been incredibly difficult.

Draft deck handed into our division head, who'll probably go over it while flying eastward from Santa Clara to the main office tonight. I felt relieved to move it forward last night but I'm full of self-doubt today. It's in no shape to show to prospective clients of the new product. I'm telling myself we'll refine it further.

I'm at 150 even. That's in spite of eating TWO Quest bars last night out of nervousness while working on the deck.

Today could be a good day if I handle it carefully. Maybe I can even take a break and see a movie. I need to do some batch cooking for the week. And also to catch up on my work as a manager that I did NOT do because of working on the deck and associated project.

Hope things improve soon JayZee

Dagmar

Yes, me too, JayZeeJay.

Me three JayZeeJay. I'll be thinking about you!

The rats are big but not possum size. Maybe 6 inches. You would think my dachshund, bred to hunt badgers, would find them, but nope. A lady at yoga yesterday said her dog tussled with a skunk yesterday and it was the second time recently. At least I'm not dealing with that.

Either my allergies kicked in or I'm fighting a cold. I feel ok so I think the weather swings are doing it.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

JZJ, I am sorry to read this, since what you want out of a move is a new beginning. Are all your visitors trying to help you, or were their visits scheduled before you came under such pain & stress? If the latter, is there any way to politely curtail or cancel any visitations?

JZJ, I too am so sorry to hear about your struggles. Although we're only "virtual" here on this board, I think of you as a friend, and would be happy to offer sympathy and a listening ear if that helps.

Weight-wise, no progress due to an obstinate refusal to allow feelings of even mild hunger to linger. An unfortunate side effect of last year's experiment with Carb-Cycling is that I've gotten very used to eating frequently, and letting go of mid-afternoon snacking is rough, as is my old nemesis of allowing dinnertime to stretch into the middle of the evening (I'll be done with dinner after this sugar-free pudding...but maybe I'll have it with a graham cracker...or two...and this pear...which I now need to chase with a cup of Cheerios and a dollop of greek yogurt).

So, in yet another attempt at a reboot, I've bought a book titled "How to have your cake and your skinny jeans too," which is basically a book on intuitive eating that purports to go after the "root cause" of overweight, which is eating when you're not physiologically hungry. I imagine it's not too different from other books on the topic, but this is the first one I'm actually reading, as opposed to just having heard about the main principles from friends and this forum. If I can just re-train myself to stop when i'm sort-of kind-of full and not eat for recreation, I could recapture my 10 pounds ago body.

Andrea I'm kind of in the opposite place of where you are. I gave up on getting to goal and started eating to stay healthy, rather than to reach a certain number on the scale.

I still look at the number once a month just to "keep score" as it were. Now it looks like I might actually reach my goal weight of 130 lbs. (which is actually adjusted up from the initial 125 lbs. I had in mind when I joined 3FC 9 years ago).

I might already be at goal but I won't know until I get home and get on the scale sometime after next weekend. Not a big thing.

Good luck with the new plan and I hope you can find satisfaction with whatever you do.

Dagmar

I weighed in at 151.8, and had a doctor appointment today, so I had the dubious pleasure of hearing the doctor say, "You've gained 10 pounds since we saw you."

I told him I was bulking to get my quad muscles back. Wonder if he's heard that from any of his other female patients. It's partly the truth.

I have run from one thing to another since I woke up this morning an hour later than planned, at 5 AM rather than 4 AM, and have another hour-long product-related meeting to get through.

Excellent, saef. You tell him.

Back from the short vacation in Tahoe. We had a wonderful time. Weight is, of course, up. And now I have a new goal to reach--I've booked another cruise in May, so I'd like to be down to at least 145 by then. Very doable if I really try.

Thanks for the support all. Things are still pretty grim but not much can be done for the time being. Work is a slog, to be sure.

Saef, the guests are all finished for a few weeks. The most difficult visit was my parents who were here all last week, while most of this was happening. Hiding bad things from my mother is generally an impossible task, but I may have pulled it off. Thankfully my best friend came to town for a few days. It was a life saver, having her to talk to.