Another gorgeous morning is coming up! September has been a fabulous month of sunny days, unless you live in Florida or the southern States!

I am just in quickly this morning and will check back later. I am meeting Rob at 8 for breakfast and then we are going to deliver Fair schoolwork and the prize envelopes to the are schools. We split them up - not as much fun as doing them together but certainly faster.

Lucy is still being a perfect mother with her puppies. I try to see them every day and notice that they really have grown a lot. We weigh them daily and they have all put on a few ounces. When I get home from handling the pups and petting Lucy, Hershey is really interested in sniffing my pants. I guess she's getting to know her grandpups!

Gotta dash, have a coffee and do my doggie duties. I'll check back in later today.

Good morning, Chickies~~

It's a rainy soggy, windy Monday morning, here. Just glad it held off for the weekend.

Saturday was busy. Got up early to head north to the farm. We got there just as the shearer had finished with the very first lamb. Had a great time skirting and chatting with some other handspinners who'd come also. After the midday break we stayed for another couple hours and I spent that time taking the sheared fleeces from the shearing station to the skirting table. Skirting is where you lay the fleece out and separate any vegetable matter from the good wool. VM can be anything from straw, burrs and little twigs to sheep poop.

From there DD dropped me off at the mall to meet DH for the concert. The group, A1A, a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, was VERY good! Had a great time.

Yesterday, I spent my time just lazing around, spinning and watching TV. Made a yummy tequila lime turkey tenderloin and beans for dinner.

Ruth--Glad to hear Lucy is doing so well with her babies. Now, you'll be bringing them home after a while, right?

Hello to all you Chicks to come! Hope everyone has a great day on the Beach!

Mamacita

A quick pop in this morning. I think I will go have my coffee on the deck this morning. Yesterday I strung lights around the handrail and it looks so cozy out there now. Looks like it will be another nice day down here. Busy w-end and a few off meals. Nothing real bad but enough that I know I was in the parking lot and not in the sand! haha Have a great day Ruth and Momma and the rest of you lil chicks to check in. I'll probably peck back in later.

Yes! Lovely weather, Ruth! I'm glad Lucy is doing well. I wonder if Hershey is getting anxious to see her own babies...

Mamacita, sounds like you had a great weekend! You SPIN!?!? That is so cool!

Bamie... ... get in off the sidewalk, girl!

I'm just getting ready to see my psychiatrist. I have no idea what I'm going to talk about today. While other days, I could talk for hours.
Yesterday we ripped off a good part of one wall in the kitchen. Scary looking wiring underneath it all. Once we get the ceiling down, we'll call in our electrician friend.
It's going to be a beautiful kitchen! If only I knew how to cook...

Have a wonderful day, Beach Girls!

Mornin' Ladies - Friday is the day we check in for our Sept. goals. I'm close, but no cigar. Maybe in 4 days - LOL. I've got tilapia fish thawing for the next few evening meals, and going to make a batch of Spicey Black Eyed Pea Soup for lunches this week. I had a British style breakfast this AM with eggs, (turkey) bacon and sauteed mushrooms & cherry tomatoes. Very yummy.

Hubby has decided to go on the Atkins diet (which won't be much of a stretch since all he likes is meat anyway, and some pasta too!) so he was busy all weekend cooking up a storm. Last night as he was cooking the last of his masterpieces, a batch of terriaki chicken thighs, he spilled some of the liquid on the bottom of the oven. He mentioned spilling something and I could smell it burning a little, but it was late so I didn't check it until today. MY GOSH! It looks like a gopher tunnel in there. The spill was in a V shape and all puffed up and of course carbonized and went all the way from the front to the back. First I scraped, then used oven cleaner, then scraped again, then used vinegar, then scraped again and am now waiting on the oven cleaner, again.

Mamacita, it sounds funny to hear someone say their DD dropped them off at the mall, instead of the other way around

Guess I better go check it try to finish up. Have a great, and on-plan day chickies.

Good morning ladies! Well, I am back in town again -- and this time to stay!! I will be here for two and a half weeks straight, until my next out-of-town wedding. I hope to make lots of progress with my program during that time. I ended up kinda transistioning to Phase 2 this week, I had a few glasses of wine, a little fruit, and a couple of pita chips, sooooo....my loss will likely be smaller when I weigh tomorrow, but I think it will still be a loss.

I bought new athletic shoes yesterday! I am SO excited! I plan to do the exercise a lot while I am actually here, as well!

Hope everyone has a great Monday!!!

Lauren

I weighed in and posted my new weight in my signature!!! WOW this diet does work! I realize that a lot of it was probably water but who cares! It's not my water anymore I'm re-engerized for the new week. I didn't exercise one speck last week so I'm hoping to try the suggestion (can't remember who posted) about the 30 seconds easy exercise and 20 seconds hard exercise. I have a recumbant bike that would work good for that.

I almost cracked on Saturday at the art fair, my DS was soooo unbelievabley naughty that I was terribly embarrassed and stressed out. They have all these wonderful food booths with homemade stuff for fundraisers and I almost caved but I was so distracted by his behavior that I stayed away from the food. However, I was ready for a bloody mary made from fresh tomatoes by about noon, and I don't even drink very much. I was really cranky (power broom style) but I made it through the day without fail. I normally wouldn't bring a 7 year old to an art fair but his dad couldn't take him for his weekend. I didn't even buy anything I always buy something!!!!!

Have a great day on the beach!!! When you guys get ready to post goals for October please let me know. I don't know how all this SBD stuff works yet.

Hello Ladies!

Good to see that everyone survived the weekend - me also! Was very busy. Took my DS to a couple town fairs! He loved all the kiddy rides (he’s 2 years old) and I couldn't get him off them without a little temper tantrum! . This boy has no fear!

I was good at the fair and I had just turkey (they were selling turkey on a bun!) and no fries - that was hard!

We have the wedding this weekend in Barrie - hope the weather is nice!

Well better get back to work! Good luck everyone this week...


Buckie
ST: 234 lbs
CW: 225 1/2 lbs
GW: 180 'lbs

Good morning, chicks! Hope everyone is having a very OP day!

I'm putting it in writing now: today I'm going to restart Phase 1. After a very bad month of being off plan, it's time for me to get down to business again. Thank goodness I've been working out, so I may have minimized the damage. We'll see today when I weigh in at the gym. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I may still meet my weight and exercise goals for this month. That would be a miracle.

We went for a family bike ride Saturday morning in the Brandywine Valley Park and it was fantastic. We passed some ladies on their HUGE horses and DD was so excited I was afraid she was going to squirm out of her baby seat. She was amazed by how big they were! When we finished our ride, I let her down and she started running back down the trail squealing "Ho-sey, Ho-sey, where are you Ho-sey???" Too cute. Hopefully, we'll get to hike the park in the near future, it looks like they've got some cool trails you can't bike on.

Ah, time for yet another meeting. Fun, fun, fun. Have a great day everyone! Hope everyone in Florida has made it through the storm alright.

Happy Day Off to Me! I have to work an hour at Job #2 tonight (last night there) but besides that, I have today freeeeeee. I'm going to lay on the couch and watch All My Children and then the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. My brother bought it and left it here for us to borrow.

Last night, he came over and he, Terry, and I sat around and watched Family Guy and Simpsons. It's nice to get together with my kid brother....we laugh a lot because Homer is a lot like our dad.

I was naughty with beer and such during the weekend, but I don't feel too badly about it. I was REALLY craving some Pepper Jack Cheese Wedges from O'Charley's, but Terry wouldn't bring me any. (grrr.) I'm not allowed to tell him how to eat, but he can tell me what I can and can't have. I even offered to pay for them. They sound soooooo goooood. Oh well. It's Monday. Back to vegetables and hummus.

I'm going to go start the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. You all have a good day!

Good morning everyone. It is good to be back at work. I can't believe how busy the weekend was. However, another one will be coming soon, so that we can perhaps sit down for a few minutes to enjoy the day.

Ruth - Have fun today giving out the fair prizes. It must be a lot of fun to see the kids when they have won a prize, especially when it's money. Give puppies a hug for me...and we still need some pics.

Mama - Wow, you had a busy weekend. Sounds like it was a lot of fun, too! Have a good day. Take care.

ellis - I can soooooo empathize with you on the renos. We have been renovating for, I don't know how long, and we aren't finished yet. Three years ago, we were forced into our kitchen reno. We were away for over a month and came back to find out there was a water leak behind one of the cupboards. The next morning, DH and I go up (still suffering from jet lag) and ripped the kitchen apart. What a mess... Hope yours goes well and there aren't too many problems.

abroad - Men in the kitchen, my goodness. I love to have DH cooking, but not that enthused with the clean up most times. I just hate letting him in there just after cleaning the oven. I don't think there is much worse than chipping the junk out of the oven.

Lauren - Congrats on the losses. You can stay OP while travelling and away...just takes a little thought and planning. WTG.

anchor - Woohoo!!! Give yourself a pat on the back. You have done a great job so far. Keep up the great work. Just imagine the art fair - not only did your DS keep you away from buying off program foods, he gave you added exercise. You go give him a BIG hug and thank him for keeping you honest...

Barrie - Good to hear that you stayed OP this weekend. Have a great day. Take care.

Laurie - So great that you are getting back on track today. You can do this. If I can do it, I know you can. Take care.

Weezle - Have a great lazy day. You need to do that once in a while, especially with the number of jobs that you are carrying. Did you fit in a trip to the Y on your lazy day? Hmmmm.

Me - It has been a really busy weekend. DH had meetings in Calgary on Friday, so I went with and decided to start to look for a condo there. We have planned to retire there (I was born and grew up there), so now is the time to get into the housing market. I looked all day Friday, and we both looked all day Saturday. Then, yesterday morning, we found the condo that we want. We have put an offer on a small penthouse condo in a heritage building. Now, remember, the heritage buildings on the west coast are not anywhere near the likes of heritage buildings in the east and there aren't very many of them, either. Anyway, this building is the first apartment building built in Calgary and has the first self-service elevator (still operable) that was installed there. It is within walking distance of almost everything and really a quaint place. We should hear this week whether the sale will go through, or not. We are really excited that we have finally found something.

While we were away, I stayed completely OP, but only exercised once. I was really concerned about eating out, but chose my meals carefully and only ate what was OP. I also took breakfasts with me because I knew that the hotel in which we stayed did not have anything that I could eat. I am close to meeting my September weight loss goal, so should be able to do it by Friday.

Hope everyone has a great day on the beach. Take care.

Anchor weight--I posted about the exercising this weekend, and I have since learned it is called interval training. I talked to my health instructor friend today, and she was kind enough to give me a name to put to it. She said that, as you get stronger, you can also increase the time length of the intervals. Be sure to keep hydrated. I have been SUPER thirsty since starting those exercises. And I've decided to only do the interval training every other day, alternating it with weight-bearing and stretching exercises, so as not to get my metabolism too fired up.

Back to work for me today. Sigh. My boss and my office mate are out for the week, so it should be quiet, I hope.

I was a little bad this weekend. One of the small towns close to us has an Apple and Pork fest every fall, and DH and I went on Saturday. I had a foot-long brat on a real bun with sauerkraut (LOVE that stuff) and mustard AND a deep-fried apple wrap with powdered sugar on top... I totally justified it by telling myself I needed to slow down my weight loss after losing 4 pounds in three days. I will be living off the memory of that apple wrap until next fall, I think.

Alrighty, then. Back to work for me. Have a great day, girls!

Hi everyone, you all sound like you behaved so well! I was fine until yesterday. Having worked two all nighters in a row (which I rarely do) really wrecked havoc with my circadian rhythms and will power. I did fine all night Saturday night, didn't eat anything, came home went to church, fixed dinner, was with the family, decided not to go to bed because I wanted to sleep last night and then all of a sudden, some food found it's way into my mouth . I had a few cookies, new red potatoes, chicken legs???? What's with that?

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how to make this WOL work for me now. I thought maybe just having Sunday be a day off, but it makes it harder to refocus on Monday morning (couple more treats for breakfast.....). I know I want to be able to have an occasional "normal" meal but I'm just trying to figure out what will work for me. Phase 1 last week was so hard, but worth it. 4 pound loss made me happy but stopped the day I decided to Phase 2 and enjoy some oatmeal.

I know I needed to drink more water all week, but I'm not meaning to sound like I'm whining or complaining because I'm not. I'm not worried about not reaching my goal either because I know I will. I do want to have it firmly in place before the holidays though, I'm worried about getting through them with my zipper intact

Anchor weight! Way to go!!! You should be very proud of yourself.

Ellis, remodeling....yuk. We're getting ready to do my bedroom, I'm not looking forward to the mess.

Abroad a broad, maybe you can get a new oven. What a nasty mess.

Well, all you other ladies, thanks for the posting and inspiration! You are all great!

Glad to hear of all of the successes from anyone! That is FAB!!!

I found some great frozen shrimp at the grocery store last night and we had that for dinner and it was scruptuous!!! One question: What do you all do about cocktail sauce?

I, too, would like in on October goal-setting. Since I am new as well I don't really know how it works yet!!

Lauren

Morning ladies --

Just a quick hello to you all! Hope all is well with everyone. I leave for Portland in 2 weeks...I am nervous!

I'm still trying to figure this life change out. And darn is it ever hard!!!!!!!! Smooches to you all!

Jenn