Wow, Terry! I wonder how's she's doing. I'm going to try very hard to exercise again. Life is a tiny crazy right now but certainly I'm worth it?!

BTW, Sandra, I'm making your friend's lemon pop cake for the Fourth. It'll cost me some points but not as many as if I ate regular desserts....and there will be plenty of those.

Mmmm...those meatballs sound good!
I've been out shopping this afternoon with my mom. She spent too much money on me as usual.

Vickie, I'm so glad that Jim is doing well enough to go to the store for you! And it's probably good that he learned that he needs his meds. Yes, our yard sale did poorly but it was not a neighborhood thing. I don't know if there was another yard sale very close at all. We still sold quite a bit of stuff. And either way it's outta here!

Sandra, you are doing so amazing. You're very inspiring. I'm going to reach my july exercise goal. Oh look, yours is higher than mine. Maybe I should try to keep up. I should probably count all of my shopping walking, but I won't. Thanks for recommending the meatballs and sorbet. I'll have to try it. Do you think we'll ever get "there?"

Kathy, I hope that you are thoroughly enjoying your days off. You definitely deserve it.

Saundra, Natan is so cute!

Well ladies I know it is a silly thing to say but I think that I'm going to actually try to do core again. I haven't really been doing any type of diet lately (well, more core than anything, but not following the rules at all). So tomorrow I'm going to get back on the wagon. Just wanted to let you all know. And I'm going to post whatever I eat, good or bad.

You know, Melissa, I had that same realization last week. Core works, but you have to actually live the program. You can't do it halfway. You have to just tell yourself, "I'm going to control what goes into my mouth," and then do it. I know that if I go into it thinking I can "work" the program a little, I don't succeed.

Good luck...I know you can do it!

And Saundra, Natan is adorable!

Angela

Thanks Angela, I really appreciate your encouragement!

I just made fresh guac with avocados (of course), purple onion, jalapenos, tomatoes, and my new minced garlic that I bought yesterday. I put out the Guiltless Gourmet Black Bean Spicy Blue Corn tortilla chips -- and I must say, it is quite addicting.

I have hamburger patties, hot dogs, Italian sausage, and spicy hot links ready to be put on the grill. Also made baked beans and sliced/diced all the vegetables. I think it'll just be 4 adults (unless Shaun comes downstairs, then it'll be 5) and three 10 year old boys. It should be good though, and we'll have plenty for leftovers for the next few days. Tomorrow, however, I must cook the salmon that I thawed out last night. It's in the fridge.

I probably won't be back til morning because I must get in there and play hostess.

vickie, you are most definitely worth it. let me know how you like the cake. i think you will love it. you're right. these ww desserts are definitely much much lower in points than most "regular" desserts. i'm glad jim's able to get out and about, too. that will do wonders for his mind. your dinner sounds delicious. enjoy!

melissa, i think you're smart to keep your goal low. i know what you mean about thinking about upping it. i thought about upping mine but not for long. i need to be successful and to feel like i'm going "beyond". i can't explain what meeting the 4th's goal has meant to me. and water aerobics? i give it 95% credit for my success. i finally found something that is fun. something i look forward to doing. find you something fun, too. you'll be amazed at how much easier it is to do. i'm not going to count shopping either. i was even hesitant to credit my time at the archery range. that's why i counted 20 minutes instead of the hour we were there. the plan for this week is to do water aerobics 3 times and do some biking. curtis got our street bikes out and ready for us to take some rides down in a local park. life is good.

melissa, we are going to get there. we've just been on the scenic route.

angela, you're right. i used 3 wpa's today. sort of felt guilty even though i shouldn't have. this is the perfect time of year for lots of fruit and veggies. we can do this.

kathy, your menu sounds delicious. i know you're having a good time with your friends. makes me smile.

Hey Chicks! Aren't we all just enthused. This is good! I finished dinner and cleaned up. While I was cleaning up the sun came out so I hopped into my swimsuit and ran outside. Jim fretted because he couldn't help me with the solar cover. But, I got it off and back on by myself. He had to come out, though, when I was putting it back on to use the pole to help me. He just wants to take care of me like he always does and it's making him crazy. So I got to be in the pool for about an hour. I was able to jog a bit and clean and vacuum the bottom.

Jim didn't drive to the store by himself. I drove him and he went in because he didn't care how he looked and I did!

I've showered, taken out the garbage and recyling and I'm about to do a load of towels. Then I have to sneak out to the curb with a bag of cat waste that I forgot about. I have my nightgown on and don't want anyone to see me!

Kathy, your guac sounds so fabulous that I could drool. It's one of my weaknesses! Have a great time. I bet you are an amazing hostess.

Melissa and Angela, you know that you're both right. When you REALLY follow the rules of the program and exercise, you lose weight. We have all proven it at one time or another.

Sandra, what do you think about putting poppyseeds in the cake? I've got a hankering for lemon poppyseed muffins and thought that might kind of taste like those.

I'm gonna go hang out with Honey Lamb.

Hey, all. I'm done now and they're all gone. Jon just left and he was the last -- but I thought he was going to have to stay because we couldn't find his keys! I finally found them down the side of the recliner, where I guess they fell when he was watching golf earlier with Judd.

Kate and her friend Beth came over too, and Erin got home from the lake, so there were a few more people here. We had plenty of food and have lots of leftovers too, which is nice because it'll be lunch for tomorrow. At least it'll be lunch for the rest of them -- I'm up to 148 tonight and not happy about it. I'm sure it'll be a little over 146 in the morning; still a far cry from the 144 that I was this time last week. Ugh.

I'm going to bed now; tomorrow's a new day. I hope everybody's having a good evening.

Vickie, you have a cat?

Sandra, you're right. I need some sort of fun exercise. I'm just not sure what. I thought I would really get into those dance videos...maybe I need to give them another shot. Congrats on all of your exercise plans. And yes, we're on the scenic route!

Kathy, glad you had fun tonight. I wouldn't worry too much over the scale. It's a finicky little creature.

Good night all!

Hi there,

sounds like lots of bbqing going on this weekend?

Vickie - glad you got out to the pool for a jog and hope that the late night news does NOT carry the store of the kitty poop bandit - running around at night in her jammies leaving kitty poop on the roadside! ha ha ha

Hope your fresh new froufie roast turned out yummy!

kathy - I love having LO - no more cooking? sounds like everyone had a nice time at your bbq!!

Saundra - natan is a real cutie - so did you see people trying to drive up the 'lawn' to get back on Carling instead of going the 'right' way? We saw that last year - as people had no patience to wait their 'turn' to drive out (we were parked on the lawn near the marina of course!). Sounds like you have a great party planned too!

Sandra - good for you for sticking to the exercise goal! I too shall have to make the same commitment!

Well we were back at the pool today at sil's place. My Mil (sil's/dh's mom) was there yesterday and she is a real 'queen bee' - tends to put a damper on most family occasions as she has these 'rules' that are in her head and if we don't adhere to them - well she gets all mad and usually leaves in a huff. Yesterday she was of course invited to the family pool party - when her grandaughter showed up (dh's niece) with new baby and handed baby over to her mother instead of her grandma - well that was a real 'faux pas' and she was 'punished' for doing that! Then later on in the evening I got in trouble since I was talking to niece and her dh and mil was sitting a few feet away and could not hear the conversation (instead of moving closer or saying something she just sits there stewing and then gets up and announces she's leaving!). Very cranky pants in our opinion - and just seems to be getting more bitter with age!

So once she left niece/dh and her kids left - then dh and I and ds left (around 8:30) and sil was upset I guess cuz her mom kinda broke up the party? So she called us last night at 11 insisting we come back for the day (and her mom was NOT invited) and her daughter/etc were also coming and we would do the fireworks tonight!

Once again this morning we packed up all our gear (luckily I had thrown all the towels, bathing suits, t-shirts into the wash last night) and off we went (with our burgers, salad, etc). The problem was I was so tired and not in a real social mood today so it was very hard for me to socialize and be chatty (highly unusual for this frouf!).

Oh ya forgot to mention my 1 am ride in the rain last night to pick up dd who was not intelligent enuf to realize that walking home in the rain at 1 am from gf's place (they were going to have a sleepover at our house but stopped elsewhere to pick up dry clothes) was not SMART! Sleepover was cancelled and I had to get dressed and go out to pick her up....so did not get to bed til 1:30 am!

The day was gorgeous but amazingly windy - we could not even open the umbrellas as they were almost knocked over. The sun was strong in between the clouds rolling over tho and I did my own froufie roasting in the sun! I ended up going for a short swim (maybe 10 laps). Tried to be social but just felt so crappy and depressed today? Not sure why? Of course reflected in my eating (2 hamburgers w/buns, tossed salad, potato salad, pasta salad, 1 cookie). Had that around 4:30 pm and nothing else after that! Scale was up a bit today as well which I think added to my depression.

We stayed very late tonight so that the mosquitoes could feast on us after the sun went down. We had a wonderful backyard fireworks display around 9:30 pm (the kids loved it) then hauled out sil's telescope so everyone could see the moon, etc. I was in a worse mood now as I was freezing cold despite having changed into long pants and jacket, and called dd who was at home and she was just as nasty as ever - she had the option to come with us but didn't want to and I was sorry I did not force her to come with us!

Anyhow I am home now (doing another load of laundry) and hoping to get a good night's sleep so that I am in a better mood tomorrow!

frouf

Good Morning Chicks! I'm up early again. Jim and I were both awake at 4:50 and I talked to him. I know better, because once I talk, I cannot go back to sleep. I laid in bed until 5:30 but it was no use. Of course, the thunder storm isn't helping. It's been storming hard since about 4:15. I just looked at the radar and it's all orange and red over my house. Still quite a bit of rain coming behind it too. I'm still tired but I'll just have to nap later. It seems as though it might be a good day for napping.

I got so much done yesterday that I can take it a bit easy today. Jim has therapy at 4:00 and I'm going to Bath and Body and Sam's Club. I got some fabulous Michigan blueberries there about two weeks ago and I'm hoping that I can get some more. I have an hour to kill while he's having therapy. Then we'll get our Chipotle dinner and come home. I love their grilled chicken and guacamole.

I do have to make Core ww rotini pasta salad today and Sandra's friend's lemon pop cake. I guess I better do that before Jim's therapy. I've noticed that I don't enjoy doing that stuff in the evening anymore.

Ok, I'm going to start a menu thread. Today is Monday. Today is Monday......

Kathy, you had all those extra people and still have food leftover? Wow! I'm sure your weight will be back down this morning. Do you have to work today?

Melissa, I DO have a cat! She's a beautiful straight earred Scottish Fold named Cameo. She's 10 years old and healthy as a horse except for the annoying hairballs. I'll try to attach a picture.

Frouf, no kitty poop arrests here! I did have to have Jim go out in his pajamas because the neighbors would NEVER go into their house! I waited until dark but was getting tired and cranky and just wanted to get the cat poop bag out of my attached garage! What a couple of days you had! Anyone would feel bad spending time with a MIL like that! It sounds like your SIL and DH even have a problem with her.....which is probably good for you since it doesn't just make you against the MIL! I'm sure that you'll exercise off those couple of burgers in no time flat. I hope you are still sleeping off the effects of MILitis!

So Chicks....what are your plans for today?

Here's my Sweet Kitty!

Good morning, it sounds like everyone was busy yesterday.

Vickie, what a cute little kitty? How does she get along with Cassie? I see you like Scotch animals. We've got sunshine here this morning, and again, I'd love to have a pool. Bernie goes in from 1:00 to 9:00, so it will be quiet around here.

Frouf, I know what you mean about those "types", they can bring everyone down. It does sound like you had fun on Saturday. It was so hot and windy here yesterday. I was outside reading and when I came in, I was almost sick to my stomach from the heat. Natan and I stayed inside most of the afternoon. We had a great time. I also made lots of extras yesterday, and have enough for another dinner.

Kathy, your glauc sounds so good that I'm going to get a couple of avacadoes and make some. They'll be perfect with the leftover burgers. I (my tummy) can't have chilis, but the rest of the recipe sounds great. It sounds like you had lots of fun yesterday, good.

Melissa, if you were closer, I'd love to do the dance videos with you. That's my favourit kind of exercise, and yet I don't feel like doing it alone. I'll have to try it one of these days.

Sandra, you're teaching skills come out when you talk. I bet you were a favourite. If shopping were something to count, I'd have so many AP's. You are an active "little" gal.

Yes, Angela, I also realize that in order for core to work, it has to be done all the way. If we start mixing it up, too many calories are being consumed. I know that my WW supervisor goes between core and flex on different weeks. There might be times that counting is a better alternative.

Okay it's 9:00 and no breakfast yet, later

Good morning chickies! Boss isn't in yet, so the morning is feeling fairly relaxed.

Vickie, yes, when I see her face I remember! I guess we talk about our pooches so much that I had just forgotten about Cameo. She's a cutie! And a cute name too. It sounds like you have a good day planned, I hope that all goes well. I wanted to go to Bath and Body yesterday but ran out of time.

Saundra, yes, I'm definitely going to have to start trying those dance tapes again. I didn't give them much of a chance to be honest. I like doing exercise with DH and he won't do that with me.

Frouf, bless your heart with a MIL like that. I can't imagine. Is she very old? Or just super cranky? I hope that you have a better day today and enjoy yourself.

Every 4th of July my aunt (who I was very close to as a child) and her family come to visit. DH and I really just wanted to stay at home and do nothing on the 4th, but I don't really have any other time to visit them and they only come 2x/year. It stinks, I wish I had another day off or something. Oh well. Hopefully I can visit for half the day and still get to hang out with DH. In fact, I'll just have to make sure that happens.

Well chicks I guess I should find some work to do, though I don't want to. Working stinks!