I try and try and try, and it's not possible! I'm an addict. Maybe someday it'll sink in not to be so neurotic about it ... at least I hope so.

i understand. sometimes those scales call my name, too. just don't let it get you down. i have been known to give up when the scales were higher than expected. that just made things worse. i am proud of you for maintaining your weight in the 140's.

Hey Chicks! We're home from dinner and our last errands. I need to go cover the pool before the rain comes. Jim gave me a lesson on letting water out of the pool if necessary. I'm just doing some laundry and am going to snuggle with Honey Lamb. I'm sure I won't be back until late tomorrow
afternoon.

Sandra, I'd love the water aerobic information. I do run in the pool and do some made up exercises. I always welcome new information.

Prayers and good thoughts are very appreciated. Thanks for being such great friends.

We love you Vickie! :hug: Good vibes and prayers coming your way! :goodvibes:


Kathy, wasn't the ebay store your friend has called "a touch of whimsy?" If so, she won ebay's "best shopping experience" award. Just thought you might like to know. :)

Yes, that's her. Gina Traversi -- she's such a sweetie. She lived on Long Island when I first met her and has since moved to North Carolina. Thanks for letting me know!

I was shopping on ebay and it was posted on the front page. When I clicked on it I thought that it looked familiar.

Well, get this. Tonight I said something to Judd about noticing that I had a little pooch above the top of my jeans and he said "I know, but I wasn't going to say anything." WHAT????? I told him he MUST tell me those things. Holy smoke, I am mortified enough to finally do something about it. I am a pudgy thin person. That's not good.

So tomorrow after work I'm going to the gym. I swear.

vickie, you and jim are in my prayers. we'll be waiting to hear.

melissa, did you get something on ebay?

kathy, i'm all dressed in swimsuit, shorts, t-shirt waiting to go do water aerobics. i honestly look forward to this. i hope you do, too.

Sandra, here's a little something for you:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...soulpatrol.gif

I wish my gym had a pool but they don't, and I'm locked in for another year. There's no way I'm going to join another and pay for TWO! Mine is women only, machines made for women and lots of cardio (which I can't do right now though). I will get on the machines and build some muscles, which will in turn get rid of the flab. Or at least I hope so.

SOUL PATROL!!!!! thank you so much. are you going to their show? i think they're coming to grand prairie.

good success to you, kathy. and have fun.

Well geez - how can a girl catch up when you're written like 4 pages in the last 24 hours?

Last night went to the concert (Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings) and it was amazing (okay I didn't the 2 'newbies' who performed before them, thank you very much!). They started with American woman - and I just loved "she's come undone" when Burton pulled out the flute - the crowd went crazy......such good classic rock. Now Randy is 'old" I must say - he can still play but his voice is shot!. Burton cummings on the other hand is pretty well preserved, lots of energy and still has a pretty good voice. It was wonderful to see all the 'old fogeys' up and dancing around.

Today was the hottest most humid day ever - with huge torrential rains on and off all afternoon. I had a deadline to meet today - we are applying for this tech award and all the paperwork had to be out of the office by 3 pm (to arrive there in the am). And the forms are the most 'unfriendliest' ever - I had all the 'info' but the way the ms word form was done you couldn't actually CUT AND PASTE from any other document - how stupid is that? So I literally had to retype the stuff I wanted to reuse.

Now for the other sections - they give you a word maximum - e.g. 200 word maximum. So you type in your 'response',...but again you can't use the word count function in their form - are they thinking people are going to sit their and count the words??? I ended up typing the response on a blank document - doing the word count - then retyping it - so are you getting the gist of my day?

Then I call our techie project officer cuz there is a question on 'technical architecture' - tell him it's urgent - says he'll get back to me by end of day - I DON'T THINK SO! So all day I'm chasing after him - he finally gets some assistant to email me something - with no explanation and it's GARBAGE!!! I am so furious with him (told him I'm not speaking to him ever again and if we win I shall poke in the eye with the award - a tall pointy glass thing!). I end up making something up and now we need to make 15 hard copies of the submission, burn 2 cd's and get the release form signed by the Director. package it all up and have it ready for the courier by 3 pm (did I mention I had to leave at 3:30 pm for dd's therapist appt?)

Ya - so I made it - and yes I had a piece of the lemon birthday cake we were having at work - really without thinking - I was so stressed.

Then a nasty visit w/dd's therapist - remember dd has decided she no longer needs to go? So we tried to reason with her - but at this point if she is not motivated no point really - I will talk to her about it tomorrow - Therapist did tell her how very LUCKY she was to have parents who were so devoted and supportive in helping her get thru things!

Now I felt very sad after this appt - and wanted to just go home and go to bed - but instead I became SUPER FROUF - went into the change cubicle at the gym - came out in my super frouf gym outfit and hit those machines for 30 mins. I did feel better when it was all over!

Home to frantic dh - screeching about me eating the salmon he had reheated - I had somethingn else instead :D.

Now trying to relax and wind down - I feel so emotionally drained and tired.

Vickie - sending big hugs and good vibes your way - hope Jim's surgery goes well and that you survive it too. Sounds like you are super prepared and will make a fabulous nurse!

Paula - so sorry to hear you were not well - but glad you are better. Congrats on the new house - how exciting!

Saundra - so where did you go for dinner?

Sandra - so I guess you are moving - assuming you find the right 'homestead'? I highly doubt you will be flower free in your new place - of course you will surround yourself with pinkness!

Angela - sounds like you are so determined - good for you. Glad the froufie roast recipe worked for you - it is actually from a very famous jewish cookbook called Second Helpings - put out by a jewish women's organization in Montreal (Saundra - do you have a copy?). It has some very interesting recipes and I just stumbled upon this one when making a roast beef - and the rest is history!

Melissa - good idea about a baby-making goal....and as for the challenge? Does this mean I will NOT be getting an american dollar spending money for my trip?? :D:D My dh would have come over to help Aaron - he is really good at that kind of stuff!

Wendy - sorry to hear you are so stressed out but it can't be easy with the new 'additions' to the family. Please make sure to take care of yourself....everything will get done in due time. Glad to hear the girls are settling in.

We did end up going to a chinese food place for lunch - I had mixed veggies and shrimp - came w/white rice of course.....then that @#$@#@$ cake. Tomorrow we have our divisional meeting (read wine and cheese party) and there will be more food - I am bringing a huge fruit platter and will try to focus on that.

I am 'stuck' on the scale right now - not doing enuf and still eating too much to get it moving! Need to focus on my cruise clothes - and how I will feel when the airplane tray hits my stomach when it comes down - NOT GOOD!

Hope everyone is having a nice and relaxing evening!

Frouf

Hey everyone,
Kathy, dont forget food has weight......if you eat two pounds of food you will weigh two pounds more...same thing as liquids but its temporary. Try not weighing yourself at night.I cant stay off the scales either but I never weigh after eating anything.Its too discouraging..Your such an inspiration to us here, reaching your goal. Congratulations.

Thanks, Patti. I don't know why I do that to myself. I guess some day I'll learn? (But probably not ...)

Frouf, another crazy day for you! Get some rest, girl!

Frouf, I don't know, see if you can convince everyone else! ;) Maybe we should think of a non-monetary challenge...hmmmm...:chin: Maybe whoever wins gets to go on your cruise?? ;) :bravo: on going to the gym when all you wanted to do was go to bed...that is a major victory!

Kathy, a pooch?! You are hilarious. It was nice to hear you call yourself thin though!

Sandra, I'm so impressed by your excitement to exercise. You are going to be a skinny-minny before you know it. I would love to swim, but I am unwilling to go into public in a swimsuit! :eek: Our church has a nice gym but there isn't a pool.

Murph and I went for a shorter walk tonight while DH was at a meeting at church. I won't go into the whole story but he is very stressed out about his job right now, today has been rough for him. But we'll get through it. It's just not good when we're both having job anxiety! ;)

Poor guy! I hope things get worked out for him. I'm glad you got to go for a walk though. That'll help with the stress.

Now I'm starting to wish I hadn't promised to go to the gym tomorrow. My foot hurts and I know it's going to be a rough day at work because I just got a brand lesson to work on, which doesn't mean much to you -- believe me when I say it's a huge effort and will need to be ready for testing within the next few months. I'll be working on it night and day for a little while. The good news about that is that maybe I can get some OT. Anyway, about the gym. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Well as good for you as it would be to go to the gym, you also don't need to hurt your foot! So be careful and take it easy. Plenty of time for the gym.

Good night all!

Good Morning Chicks! I'm sitting here choking down some breakfast because once we leave there will be NO food options besides junk at the surgical center. I have a bottle of water to take with me and a granola bar. Actually, my stomach is sick with nerves. I can be hypoglycemic so I didn't want them having to worry about me when I just want to be strong for Jim.

Thanks for all the prayers. I'll try to post and let you all know how it went later.

Vickie:hug:

I'm on my way out again, this working for a living is a pain.;) Actually, that will be it for a while.

Kathy, morning and night weights are never the same, so you have to pick a time and stick to it. Like Patti said, things change. I've even noticed that if you don't eat, the scale still fluctuates. I've become a creature of habit, and first thing every morning, it's off with the nightgown, and on the scale. This way I know what's happening. I still don't freak the small fluctuations.

Okay, later dudes.....

Vickie, you'll be fine. Don't fret so much! :hug: for Jim (and you too).

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... :lol: I know I was weighing my day's worth of food; still it freaked me out to see the number. I guess I was weighing because that little pooch discovery had me upset. It was back to 144.0 this morning, which is a little high, but still on track. I should know better!

Everybody have a great day and I'll see you in a bit.

Kathy, you weren't obsessing were you? :lol: 144 is so awesome...you are doing great! I don't know if I'll ever see you there, but hopefully I can get a little closer. ;)

Vickie, we're all here supporting you! :grouphug:

Saundra, you working woman. Have a good day!

I'm trying not to dread today too much....it is my long day at work and there are some kids coming tonight that we have to provide childcare for...they are terrible. Really. Of course what can you say? Their mom and grandmother are schizophrenic and there mom is a drug addict. I guess you can't blame the little rats. :)

Have a good day everyone!

Good morning Chickies, what a day yesterday. I was watching my neighbors son who is my ds' age, so I took them in the back yard to play in the sprinklers and little pool. Before I go out in the yard with the kids I always check to make sure my door is unlocked because I have the central air on so I close the door. Well, when I needed to get back inside my door was locked, my ds decided to turn the knob for no apparent reason. I call dh and he is over an hour away, he is working at the end of Long Island. He finally comes home almost 2 hrs after I call him and I felt bad becuase he had to go back to work because 2 guys called in sick. My dd the whole time wanted to go back in the house, I tried to explain to her we have to wait for daddy. Needless to say I will take keys with me for now on.

Vickie Big hugs to you & Jim :hug: :hug:

Kathy on Monday I went to a nite time weigh in, I usually go first thing in the am but since school is out I need to go at nite, I was op the whole week and my weight was up 2lbs. I knew that was going to happen because I always weigh more at nite.

Froufy good for you getting to the gym after all that stress at work, Way to go !

Sandra you are the exercise queen, throw some motivation my way :D

Saundra have a good day at work.

Melissa sorry to hear you are both stressed at work.

Good morning ladies! Vickie, I'm thinking happy, relaxing thoughts for you and Jim. I'm sure everything will turn out fine.

I'm still OP, and sticking to my menu. TOM is looming, so my weight isn't moving much, but I know it will.

Angela

Good Mornging Everyone!

I made it on plan yesterday. I wanted to have a candybar but I did not.
I came home and had some WW Cereal and Milk. Killed 2 birds with one stone...Sweettooth and Milk requirement.

Saundra, I dont use a hand mixer just a small whisk or fork, it does not take long to beat the eggs, You dont need to make them white, just a little of bubbles on top of the surface and so that when you run a fork through them they completely run through the prongs. Not together anymore like they are when the come out of the shell. It is very good though!

Vickie...I hope everything goes well.

Well I am going to go...I am hungry. Have to go fix lunch. Talk to you all later!

Good for you for sticking with it Wendy - you will surely see good results. You too Angela - TOM may temporarily 'hide' your weight loss - but you will eventually see it!

Kathy - I am like you - sometimes weigh myself at night - almost like a 'warning' for the am weigh in? If it's less at night then it was the night before maybe there will be a loss in the morning? I am too obsessive I guess.

I agree - absolutely no gym if your foot is hurting you!

Vickie - hope you are okay and survive the surgery stress - before you know it it will be over and you'll both be home recuperating.

Niki - I think that happened once - a freak accident of patio door locking while outside - not fun esp with little ones! Glad your dh was eventually able to rescue you!

I am trying to stay OP today and forget about the cake I had yesterday! My big challenge this afternoon is our divisional team meeting - which we turn into a wine and cheese food fest! (god we love to eat here!). There will be wine, cheese, pate and crackers, fruit, lemon loaf, veggies/dip, and other goodies. I am now eating my lunch so I will hopefully not be hungry (meeting from 2-4 pm). I know how easy it is to start nibbling and then never stop (this has happened in the past).

I am not planning to have any wine but will bring water or diet pepsi with me...I myself have brought a HUGE fresh fruit platter (pineapple, canteloupe, honeydew, watermelon, strawberries) and will try to position myself near that so if I HAVE to eat something at least it won't be too damaging. If anyone else has any other strategic advice I would love to hear it!

Dh is marinating chicken breasts for dinner ( in this mexican mole sauce we found at grocery store) - I am looking forward to trying those. And I am planning again to go to the gym right after work. I need to focus on shedding at least a few lbs before my cruise- not that I'll be skinny - but getting back to onederland would sure make me feel better!

later,

Frouf

Yes! :high: You understand why I sometimes weigh at night! There are times when I can weigh either the same or just 1 pound up from the morning, and that's when I know I'll see a drop the next morning.

Hectic day today. I worked the desk and then there was a meeting at 11:30.
After that, it was back to the desk. I had to do separate sets of paperwork for each thing. It was a bit frantic, but all worked out in the end. I think that I'll be doing Tuesdays until the fall starting in August. I've also volunteered to cover a few shifts too. Did I mention that I loved retirement?

Melissa, hope your day isn't too bad. My heart goes out to the kids of these disfunctional families. What chance do they have? My sis works in day care for the city of Toronto in a pretty bad area. She deals with them all the time.

Niki, one time when I was looking after Natan on a Saturday, I got locked out. I screwed up with the garage door code. My purse and car keys were in their house. I managed to get to a phone and call the daycare lady, who lived in the neighbourhood, and we went there for five hours so Natan could nap. I was so upset and embarrassed. I can imagine how you felt.:)

Kathy, you just weigh yourself whenever you want.:D It's good that the numbers are going in the right direction. BTW, my foot is a mess, and even a long walk kills. I'm really frustrated at this point, and have given up on the therapy.

Wendy, thanks so much. I will try it tomorrow. It's going to be good not to have to rush out then.

Sandra, you've inspired me to look into water aerobics. I figure that it might be the best thing for my tootsies. There is a facility really close by, so I'll have to do some research.

Frouf, I was so surprised to see the sun. I know it's hot and humid, but I prefer a blue sky. Hope you had fun at the meeting and ate lots of your fruit, which sounds really good right now.

We didn't go out for dinner last night, as Bernie was really tired. We came home and had leftovers, which was fine. We'll make up for it tomorrow.

Well, I better see what I can have for dinner. It's solo tonight.

We're home chicks! Jim is resting and was able to have the arthroscopic surgery. The Doctor was able to repair his tears in the rotator cuff and shaved away a significant amount of bone. Once the PT is over, Jim should be feeling great.

There was a scare but everything is ok now. While they were administering the anesthesia and the antibiotic (Ancef), Jim had a huge allergic reaction with hives all over his ENTIRE BODY! They gave him benadryl and then, through the IV, cortisone. They kept us for an extra 2 hours to be sure that the allergic reaction had passed. They told me to buy some Benadryl and watch him. If they start to come back given him Benadryl and consider taking him to the emergency room. Sheesh. So far, so good. They don't know for sure what caused the reaction since they were doing two things at once.

He also had a pain block called an inter-scalene block. It works for 3 to 24 hours. His arm and hand are completely numb but the Surgeon said "Yep, that's what it's supposed to do". Ok then! Tomorrow he goes for therapy at 1:30 and then the Doctor on Friday.

The patient wants pizza for dinner but I'm going to root around and see if I can find myself something else. Believe it or not my stomach feels too sick for pizza. It's was a long stressful day and I did not have enough sleep. My eyes feel like someone through sand in them. I've fallen asleep twice already but he hasn't slept at all. What a hunk of Man!

I've lots to do since I'm the chief, cook, and bottle washer now. I must walk the pup and get some laundry started. Thanks for all the support. Jim was tickled that you all were praying for him and thinking good thoughts.

Yeh Jim and Vickie

It's over and all is well. :hug:

Vickie, it is so great to hear that things went well. The allergic reaction sounds scary but it seems like they were able to take care of things efficiently. I wouldn't blame you if you ate an entire pizza for dinner tonight. :) I'm so glad that you came by to tell us that things went well. :hug:

Saundra, I didn't realize your feet was still giving you so much trouble. I'm sorry that the pt doesn't seem to be working.

Frouf, how was the cheese and diet pepsi party? ;)

I'm FINALLY home from a pretty stressful awful day and now cooking my tex-mex rice and beans for supper. I hope to get a few things done tonight and then crash!

Good evening everyone. I am taking a break from packing....I hate packing. I have so much stuff! Anyway, we are hoping to start moving in a couple of weeks. We go for the paperwork tomorrow!
Vickie, glad to hear all went well with Jim's surgery.
I am still trying to catch up from the last few days on the previous board.
I guess I better go pack a few more boxes. Have a great evening everyone.

I am FINALLY home after being gone for the last 12+ hours. UGH! Worked my 9-1/2 and then had to go to Costco for work snacks, grocery store to cash in all the coins (I get about $60-70 every few days so I'm not about to roll it myself), and then to Neighborhood Market for more work snacks. I'm not inclined to cook now since I still have some laundry to do for tomorrow.

Vickie, I'm glad it went well. We knew it would -- now get some rest so you can take care of the patient. It won't be as bad as you're dreading to do everything around there. Heck, I do everything around here and Judd gets to relax and watch TV! :lol: It CAN be done!

Saundra, it sounds like such a fast-paced place there! At least if you get to stay busy, the time goes fast. What on earth are we going to do with these feet of ours? Mine still won't bend right.

Now to find something for dinner.

frouf, sounds like you had a very eventful day. what would we do without stress? do you think we'd be bored?

melissa, there are all shapes and sizes in our water aerobics classes. you wouldn't be embarassed at all. i am sorry you and aaron are upset with your jobs. that's sad. i hope things change for you two soon.

kathy, i hope your foot's feeling better. you've really had a time of it, haven't you? i'll be watching to see if you got to go to the gym.

i'm not going to water aerobics tonight. i may tomorrow night. i'm not sure yet. we were gone all day looking for land. when we got home, there was a message from my doctor's nurse. results were in from the liver ultrasound i had last week. she didn't say anything about the liver and i forgot to ask, but she did tell me it looks like there's a cyst on my left kidney. i go in tomorrow am for a c t scan. what next?

saundra, i don't know if i could go on a work schedule again or not. i'm spoiled to retirement. but curtis is retired, too. if he worked, i might, too. you're going to love water aerobics. makes you feel young!!!

nikki, what a horrible experience that must have been. have you thought of hiding a key outside somewhere?

angela, my weight's not moving either. i think i'm building muscle from all the exercise. you've been exercising a lot in the garden, haven't you? maybe you're building muscle, too.

wendy, congratulations. you're doing great.

vickie, i'm so glad jim is all right. that had to scare you to death. pizza? he's my kind of patient. get yourself some rest tonight. you need it.

paula, i'll bet you're excited about moving. makes me smile.

Sandra, I have a cyst on one of my kidneys. My guy says that alot of people have them. They just need to check with the ultrasound to make sure yours is the benign kind.

Kathy, I am no where near the woman you are! Plus, I'm spoiled. Maybe if I didn't know better. I'm just doing the important stuff for now.

Vickie, I'm so glad things went well. Yes, I agree, just do the important things, and let those unimportant ones slide until you can better deal with them.

Another OP day for me, although I had 2 extra reduced-fat graham crackers. I'm counting that as a success though. :lol: I didn't get my morning snack, because we were at the eye doctor way longer than I expected. My dd, (the one with the bifocals, remember?) has been blinking a whole bunch, so I took her in to get a recheck. They ended up dilating her eyes so they could truly see her prescription. They haven't done that before for her. Turns out her eyes are a whole "click" worse than her current prescription, so she's getting new lenses soon. Good news though, is that it looks like the bifocals are working on fixing the one eye that was starting to turn in. So she will stay in bifocals for a while, but just with a stronger rx. Probably more info than you all wanted, but whatever. :)

I'm planning on a relaxing evening spent fishing on my computer game (Yes, you can fish, cook, even sew in-game) and sipping diet soda.

Later,
Angela

Oh, Vickie, you totally underestimate yourself! I'm serious! But like Angela said -- for the time being, do what HAS to be done and close your eyes to the rest. It's not going anywhere, and at least you started with a sparkling house! :hug:

I also have a cyst on one kidney. They checked it every six months for a while, determined that it wasn't going to be a problem, and said I was okay. I also have another on one lung. Both were found when I had a full-body scan in May of '04. I was in the hospital with what they thought was a heart attack, but turned out to be a few narrowings in some arteries. They didn't think it was bad enough to put a stent or even angioplasty. Anyhoo, it's surprising what all they can find when they look at everything.

I should go to bed now; have to work 10 hours tomorrow and I'm not happy about that.

vickie, thank you for sharing that with me. i have to confess i went into a bit of a panic. i hope to find out soon---and be done with all these medical tests.

angela, i'm glad you got dd some help with her vision. congratulations on your choices you made today.

kathy, thank you, too, for sharing. you're right. it is amazing what they can find. i'm glad you're all right.

Sandra, I'm sorry that you got some scary news yesterday, but it sounds like from Vickie and Kathy that it isn't too much to worry about. It's never good to hear that something's amiss with your body though. :hug:

Kathy, I'm sorry that you are working so much. I hope that today is a good day for you.

Vickie, you're going to do great. We know it! :D

Gotta get off of here and get to work. Last night was so draining and awful that I really just don't have the energy today. But I will, and hopefully get to relax tonight.

Good morning all, I usually weigh on Thurs so I decided to bite the bullet and weigh....I lost 2 lbs!!!! I have been really trying to stay on plan and I guess all of the packing and moving boxes has been exercise. I better get going, I have to go get my hair cut, rent a strorage unit and move a few boxes before we go to do the paperwork this afternoon. Have a great day everyone.