Alright, I'm trying a modified response to all...let's see if this assauges my guilt and is actually useful to everyone, too!

Bamie, TX, and LC, I'm so very sorry that things are sucky right now!!! I love Ellis' family meeting idea, and Ruth is right..."this too shall pass" is a great mantra. LC, do you have a therapist? I know mine is really helpful to me (even if I did miss a meeting yesterday ) You can usually get one for very low cost at the local social service dept. (or whatever the equivalent is in Canada) if it's not part of your health plans there...but it really, really helps. Someone with no emotional involvement who can help you put things straight in your head.

Ruth, I'm so glad you are feeling better, and I totally agree with Ellis...we need a Lucy webcam! And then we can use it for Hersh, too! Any chance of digital video of the black blobs? I know what you mean about doggie vacuum cleaner noses...last night, Lady was so intent on sniffing my finger that she actually pulled it up a nostril, then licked it. I told her, firmly, that I am not going to be picking her nose for her!

Heidi, I love how eloquent you are...good for you on staying OP!

Lauren, enjoy your time on your own...maybe enjoy a chick flick?

Ellis, I am thrilled to hear you so upbeat and lovely. And the clothes shopping sounds fabulous!!! Tell us all about your purchases! Glad the renos are progressing...do you have at least one working bathroom yet? I agree that you need to get the fam helping...and those family meetings sound amazing! We had them when I was a kid, but believe me, they were not a back-patting experience...they were HORRIBLE!!! I love your version!!! CONGRATULATIONS on staying OP!!!

Barb, you are doing SO well! WOW!!! Good for you!!! And 41 is definitely NOT old. I hope you have a blast at the polkafest! Watch out boys!

Kat, welcome! I don't think we've met yet, but you sound very wise!

Kelly, lots and lots of prayers and : and for your LSAT. You are going to do fantastic!!! Feel better!

Bamie, I know what you mean...my mom was a stay-at-home mom and I always wondered what she did all day. Perhaps at a family meeting you can share your daily schedule so they get a better idea of what is going on? You can offer to rearrange your schedule in that, if they don't want to clean their bathrooms, but are willing to do the laundry instead, you can exchange chores...that way it feels like more of their choice, but I bet they stick with their bathrooms! I know I was always very irritated at my mom hounding me to clean...I'm a swipe and go person and she's not. But now I am very grateful to her for her teaching me to keep a semi-clean house. Your teenagers will become human again, someday.

Anchor, yay on the pants!!!

Me:
I'm battling a nasty sinus infection which alternatedly makes me want to puke, and then ravenously hungry. But so far, I've been OP, totally, and the weight is falling off, which makes me really joyous. I haven't been in the gym much at all, which is pissing me off, but I need to sleep and try to kick this infection. I'm starting antibiotics today because I just don't think I can kick it on my own. Thankfully, no prednisone, so I hope it doesn't affect the weight loss.

Lots and lots and lots of homework to do and lots to do at work, too. DH actually woke me up last night to take me in his arms and whisper, "You were grinding your teeth! There's nothing to be stressed about, shhhhhh..." He's such a sweetie , but I was mortified to realize that I was grinding them loud enough to wake him up! I have a mouth guard, but I need to clean it so I can use it again. Guess that needs to happen tonight.

Still, I am in high hopes that after a weekend of some sleep and antibiotics, I can get back into my exercise routine and feel much better. We are starting Jazzercise and Yoga/Pilates classes here at work and though it will take some juggling to fit them into my work schedule, I'm going to do it...should actually give me one extra night to work on homework, so it'll hopefully help me out more.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Well, I can't believe it but I've stuck with it for a month now and have managed to lose over five pounds. It hasn't been perfect, but the good days far "outweigh" the bad ones.

Barb - That weight loss is so cool to see. It keeps me going knowing that it is indeed possible.

Little chick - You hang in there, girl. Can you get away and just do something nice for YOU? I compliment you on checking in when you feel bad instead of isolating yourself. Sending good thoughts your way.

Ruth - It is always so good to see you here every day. It will be great to see pix of the pups when they become more photogenic.

ellis - I have tried family meetings but the parrots won't cooperate. The topic always turns to "what have you done for US lately? [squawk]"

kvixen - Good luck on the LSAT. Mine was, let's see, 23 years ago! [feeling old].

Well, last night we moved our entire office of 17 people to a new building. I was there until 1AM telling the movers where to put things [we had to move after business hours]. Now I have to go face what it looks like in the light of day. I also have to face the reality of being on the 19th floor of an office building (I've never had an office above the sixth before). The view is nice, though, the Hollywood sign out of one window and the ocean out of the other.

Hang in there, everybody. . . TGIF!

I went shopping last weekend and bought a new pair of jeans in size 14 (used to wear a 20) so I will probably wear those to the party. They fit me great!

Barb nothing like a lil cup of "Hey look at me know!" You go girl! If I wanted someone to "see me" I would wear good fittin jeans as well! Let us know how it goes!

Hi chickies I am just checking in again before we head off to the play ground to have a little burn off the energy session. I want to Thank you chicks for the well wishes and the great advice. I had a great interview and got the job I will be starting in Nov and will be called in two weeks for shift picking and a training session. Yes I do run my own daycare and have been doing so for 11 years I wanted to stay home with my girls but I feel now I need to be an Adult again. I am actually going to be doing both for awhile as this job is just seasonal I am not sure when it will end. If all works out well and they keep me on then I will give up the babysitting. I have a friend who is going to fill in for me if I pick up a couple of day shifts but I am going to try for eveings and week ends to start. I headed off to the drug store after my interview and got some primrose oil which my DR had suggested and some stress vitiams I am hoping that will get me out of this slump. I love the idea of a family meeting and I think that the getting up earlier to give me a few minutes to myself will work just nicely as well. I think that is half the problem we always seem to be rushing in the mornings and that is what sets off my bad mood and gets me and youngest dd in a screaming match. Well I must get going again I have to meet the bus. Sorry I did not post individually but I will try to do that later. Thanks again chicks you are very good for my soul.

congrats! That must feel good.

Little Chick, congratulations on the new job! Everything will fall into place for you again, you'll see. Have a good weekend and rest up.

We're enjoying a glorious fall day here, and I've spent most of the day outside tidying up the yard and flower beds. I gave Jake a hand, too, with draining water off the pool cover. We got so much rain from Jeanne that the cover was sinking down into the pool! The yard is still pretty "spongy" in spots. I had the little ones this morning and took them back home with mud splattered clothes and mud-caked shoes, but they had fun!
Gotta run, I told Jake I'd only be here an hour, and it's been longer than that now with reading all the new posts.

Well, I have gone to the local Sherwin-Williams sooo many times that my head is spinning. So, I think I am going back to the gold (my original choice) and I plan to have my in-laws bring the Benjamin Moore color I liked, since they don't sell it here anywhere. But, there is a gorgeous green dining room in my Chris Madden book that I want! Maybe one more trip to Sherwin Williams woudn't hurt? This is the most indecisive I've been in a looong time. I don't think my TOM is helping any!! WIth my weight and my bloated feeling, either -- blech!

I will be sure to let y'all know once I decide! Maybe I'll even post pix once the furniture comes in!

Lauren

I think I painted 3 or 4 colors before I finally decided on one for my livingroom! I would just get a quart and try it. Whatever you do if you have more than one gallon make sure you mix them before you start to paint. DH didn't do that with the 3 gallons it took to paint our livingroom and one can was different. I tried to tell him but..... So we had to buy 2 more gallons and paint it for the third time! I hope you find what you are looking for!

I have to admit that I have read all your posts the past couple of days, but have been in too big a funk to write anything. Life is going well here, on the surface - I have just about lost all my weight, we have bought an apartment for retirement, the kids are moving out. However, I found out yesterday that I have cancer and that is putting me in bit of a depression. Now, the cancer isn't totally unexpected since there is a family history of cancer and this particular one is generally very slow growing. I just haven't heard whether it is the normal kind, or not yet, and not knowing, I think is worse than having to face the problem head on. I should know more in a week, so, please keep me in your prayers. I will need a lot.

LC - Congratulations on the job. Way to go. What kind of work will you be doing that involves shiftwork? Hope everything works out well so that you are able to give up the babysitting.

I can relate to the problems that you are having with the youngest. I am long past the time that getting kids going in the morning was an issue, but I can relate to needing to get the kids going for school. I don't know how old your girls are, but here is a solution that worked in our house...

It started with the kids really, really, disliking me getting them going in the mornings because I insisted that they be up, have breakfast and be ready for school before DH and I went to work. At one of our family meetings they proposed a solution to us...they would set their own time frame, be responsible for getting themselves out of bed (with their own alarm clocks), getting dressed and being ready for school when the bus arrived. I agreed that it was worth a try, but wanted to know what the consequences of not meeting their commitment, if they happened to miss the bus, and someone had to come home to drive them to school. I always made them settle on a penance that, individually, was important to them, so they each chose something important that I could use to keep them accountable to their commitment. The other resolve was that, if I had to impose the consequence, they would serve their penance cooperatively and that I would begin once again to make sure that they were out of bed in time for school...and the agreement was that there would be no more complaining because they weren't old enough to manage getting up by themselves. In the 7 or 8 years that they agreed to the solution, I didn't need to impose the consequence once. They did miss the bus a few times, but were able to arrange for a neighbour (on his way by the school) to drive them once, and the rest of the time, they phoned a cab and paid for it themselves out of their allowances. (I didn't find out about it until they were grown, though) The thought of having me get them up in the mornings was just waaaay too awful for them to falter on that one. It may work for your youngest dd...you just will need to bite your tongue on a few occassions when you think she is falling behind schedule. Let her be responsible and most importantly, accountable, for herself.

Ruth - It really is time to at least let us all see the black blobs. We want to see Lucy and her babes. Come on, you can do the pic...

TxMom - Do take care of youself. There is nothing worse than trying to work through the pain...and don't forget that you will pay dearly later on in life if you injure yourself. My mom had severe back problems when I was a child, so it was up to the rest of the family to pull it together to get the household work done. My dad was great...he did a lot of the heavy cleaning, all the cooking, and kept the house running. My brother and I were responsible for the light dusting, folding laundry, putting it away, and making sure that things were picked up around the house. I'm sure that the quality of the work was not what my mom would have like, but it was a family effort and, as kids we felt like we were helping the family through a difficult time in some small, but improtant way. Don't discount the contribution that your children and DH do, and don't set your expectations too high, either. You can get through this...

Heidi - It is funny that you mention your mother today. I have a similar relationship with mine. I have confided in her in the past, only to find that she will use it against me at some future time. I just don't discuss anything personal anymore...the hurts have run far too deep in the past and I will not expose myself in that way anymore. When I have confronted her about some of the things that she has done, she throws a temper tantrum and quits talking to me until I apologize, or go grovelling back. I am just not about to do that anymore, so we also skirt around the weather, what she ate for breakfast/lunch/supper, her health (certainly not mine), etc. It really is sad to be in that kind of position, but it is the way it has to be for me...probably you, too. Take care and don't let it get to you. There are many relationships like that out there.

ellis - WTG on the clothes. I am sitting at work reading your post, wearing my Value Village leather skirt. I bought the skirt about a year ago, it said the size was Size 12 (which I was at that time), but it did not fit. I tried it about 2 weeks ago (I am around an 8/10 right now), but it was still too tight. Sooooo, I thought that I would try it this morning....it fit. Even many ladies have told me that I look 'hot' today. I love that store. I get soooo much stuff so reasonable there.

Bamigirl - Beat them and make them pick 40 acres of cotton? And mine thought I was bad. I was the same way when the kids were little. And you have to realize that it is much more difficult to give kids the chores and expend the constant energy to make sure that they are completed, than it is to do the work yourself. My DH used to always says that I could even give a woodpecker a headache. However, on the bright side, the kids are now grown and the one that I had the most trouble with thanked me for raising him with the values that I did and for teaching him to be disciplined in everything that he does...or serve the consequences. But more importantly, to make the choices wisely and not to blame others when you make the bad choice and pay consequences. We started with them cleaning their rooms...after they knew how to clean and to do a proper job, I would let them know a couple days in advance that they needed to have their rooms cleaned by a certain day. Then tell each of them that, if their rooms weren't cleaned, then............would happen. And I always stuck to the consequence. I always chose a consequence that was personal to the child, also...our daughter loved to go to church, so her consequences always involved staying home from church (I know, pretty odd, but that was important to her), one son was really into sports, so his involved missing practices and'/or games, and the other son was the social butterfly, so grounding him was very effective. I generally took once, or twice, then they figured out that they better get it done and do it willingly. I just didn't hassle them...they had been asked in plenty of time, they were given the responsibility of doing in their time within a reasonable time frame and they served their consequence if it didn't get done. As they grew, it was so much easier to manage because they knew that I wouldn't nag, but there would be a result if not done...

Laurie - Hope the sinus infection is better soon. Yes, you make sure that you get some sleep this weekend and that you take the antibiotics. I am a horrible teeth grinder, too. I am having to get crowns now because of the grinding...my teeth are fracturing. Get that guard out...it will save lots of pain in the future.

Barb - Congrats on the weight loss. 50 pounds is an awesome start. You can get the rest off...you are soooo close. It won't be long now. Take care.

Anchor - WTG...must be great to have the pants fit. Like you, I don't try things on in the stores, either. But being in security and working with CCTV, I take a good look at the surroundings when I go into dressing rooms, or change rooms in rec. centres...but how about public toilets? I'm familiar enough with the equipment on the market to know what they are hidden in and what they look like. They can always be missed, though, so I don't usually like to take chances.

Well, gotta go. DH just called and is just about here to pick me up from work. Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll try to stop in to chat, but can't promise anything. Take care.

Oh, ****, Peggy. I'm so very sorry, sweetie. Yes, you will be in our prayers... just going to PM you...

Sweet tooth... you have to be one of the most giving unshelfish people I have ever been in contact with. Here you are going through a major thing and yet take the time to try and help us all! My problems seem so trivial now! I usually do tell them in advance or write down and post it on their door. I just happened to realize yesterday was Thurs. and my DS was goin to his dad's for the week. They only have to clean their rooms and bathrooms and they each take weeks doin the dishes. Well ds also has to do his own laundry. He popped off one time to many about something not being clean and I told him from now own he will do his own and he does! Now if I did not do laundry often I could see but I usually don't even have full loads I do it so often. I am not good at stickin to my word! I will tell them over and over and give them chance after chance and they know it. Now my DH will not and does not and hates it that I do. I know I really need to be more firm. My DD is sloooow when it comes to cleaning and when she was little I would just get so frustrated that I would just go "help" her. I mean it would take her hours. DH would get so mad. He would tell her you have one hour and then I'm cleaning it out not up! She always seemed to get it done then!
Thanks for the great tips! You must be an awsome parent! I am sorry to hear about you and your Mom. That is one thing I am so thankful for is a great relationship with my Mom. She is truley my anchor! We did have our rough times in my teens and such but overall it's been great. I will keep you in my prayers and I will also send an email to a friend of mine that does like an online prayer chain. So take care and know that when prayers go up blessings come down!

Sweet tooth, I'm so sorry about the cancer. I'll pray that this is a slow growing, early detection.

Hey there all! So glad that it's Friday! I'm hitting the hay soon but wanted to say hi to all. Hey KVIXEN, my brother in law is taking the LSATS tomorrow morning too in Amherst, MA. Good Luck to you!! Weird coincidence! Anyway, DH, DD, DS and myself are all off to Fanuel Hall tomorrow in Boston to watch the UMASS MArching Band play there...whoever is in the area, it's a fantastic short show and they will probably be there around 7pm. And I have to say, I plan to eat a cannoli tomorrow night. I was OP all week and hit my September goals ...if I am good all day, it shouldn't do too much damage excapt for some cravings and I can handle them.
Anyway, night to all, have a great one!

Elaine

288/223/199/155
HW/CW/Mini goal/final goal

(((Peggy))) lifting you up in prayer.

Little Chick congrats on the new job.

For you ladies with house cleaning issues have you tried the Flylady at FlyLady.net? Her system sure helped me. Her book is "Sink Reflections" by Marla Cilley.

to all of you who have lost weight and are dropping those dress sizes!


to all of you and have a great weekend!!