Blahhhh, I hate emotional eating! I was stressing out about some issues at work and got into it w/Rick yesterday--BTW, working w/your spouse SUCKS big time! I need a new job. Then I got into the Easter candy while filling some plastic eggs for Michael's class. You know those little (smaller than bitesize?) mini-chocolate candies like Twix, Milky Way and Snickers? Well, I ate a whole big bunch of them until I felt like i was going to be sick, I was shocked when I saw the wrappers. Yuck, what a disgusting binge. Now I am kicking myself because I have to WI tomorrow at WW. I don't care though, I am still going to the meeting because if I don't, that will just put me in the "I can goof-off til next week" mode. I am so sick of this. It doesn't help that it's totally PMS time too. I am feeling cr@ppy but so far all I've had to eat today was a cup of coffee and a grilled chicken caesar salad from Wendy's. I better get my head out of my @ss and think positive thoughts. end rant. Oh yeah, I was so emotional that when I went to the school liturgy and stations of the cross, I was getting so teary eyed that I almost had to leave the church. I think I've got to just let it all out.

Karen, I'm glad your son made it to his destination safely. I can't imagine having to be responsible for all that equipment and to have to drive through weather conditions like that. The kids will be happy to have him back. I'm wishing you good vibes for a good WI tomorrow

Virgo, thanks for the music recommendations, I could use some cheering up. I love Mahalia Jackson, talk about soul! I will send sun rays to you guys in the cold parts of the country We've been getting into the low 60's at night so that's cold for us. Today didn't even crack 80 during the day, it's a little cool for us

Dips my girl, I've been wondering where you've been. I'm guessing you're all done w/spring break? So did you go out and party? I'm sure you did. It's back to the books eh? Did I tell you what my crazy 18 y.o. niece did? She got back from basic training, then decided she wanted to go full time. She is now in Ft. Leonardwood awaiting transfer to somewhere up in Alaska. She's nuts I tell you, but I'm proud of her for just reaching out for what she wants and getting it. I sure hope she doesn't get shipped off to combat too soon. We're all praying for her safety and for her maturity to catch up to tame her impulsiveness. Anywho, glad to hear from you.

Kempy, how was work today? Were you able to get an adjustment from the chiropractor? Hope you're feeling better and coming out of your funk... we can't have too many of us feeling funky Tell Joe to cut it out, if he loses anymore too fast he'll be so skinny you'll be able to kick his butt

Cal, any plans for Easter? Egg decorating or egg hunts w/Ashley? Enjoy!

Hi to cw and everyone. Hope you all have a better evening than I'm having. Chat more tomorrow.

Hello There,
Gosh! I don't know what is going on with "men" right now!! Is it global warming??? Are the moon and stars our of whack?? Mine has been just a "grumpy old man" ever since he got home tonight. So much so that I went and checked our marriage license to see if there was an expiration date!!!! Must be something in the air!

Oh well, I just thought I would pop in for a minute and see what was going on. Not much here (for sure!!!!) I'm hoping for a great weigh in tomorrow. I'll be back to let you all know.

Take care, Karen

Karen, that's a CLASSIC about the expiration date on your marriage license. I think mine's definitely gone sour

Karen: You made me actually laugh out loud for the first time in quite a while. Thank you.

Noelle: The city where I live is having an 'Eggstravaganza' on Saturday. I'll probably take Ashley out to that. It's like a carnival over at the stadium and always a lot of fun. Hmmm....come to think of it, I should invite my sis and her heathens...uh...er kiddos.

Dips: So good to see you again. We have missed you here. Hope school is going well. We have 9 weeks from yesterday until our last day....10 weeks from today until we leave on our cruise.

Kempy: Hope you are feeling better. I sure know what you mean about men. Mine weighs 147 and wonders if he's fat. I finally got to where I ignore him.

Have a great night everyone.

Cal

Good Morning!
Despite the fact that "Grumpy" woke up still grumpy this morning--- I'm happy!! I lost another 2 pounds this week!!!

It's a cloudy murky day here today.. I just looked and our temp. is 30 degrees. But I've decided to not even let the "yucky" day outside spoil the day for me!

Noelle, I hope your "cold" weather warms up!! I'll be happy when we don't get below 40 at night again!

Noelle and Cal-- Glad that you guys got a laugh out of the "expiration date" Sometimes I think there should be so you can really think about if you want to "renew" it or not!! This coming from me who married him twice!!! What was I thinking???

Hello to everyone and I hope to see you on here to chat.

I hope everyone has a good day and I'll check back later. Karen

Great job Karen!!! I swear you are just melting away. Look at those numbers! Awesome! Is there a reason why your grumpy Tim is grumpy? I'm glad you can keep your humor about it.

Well, I thought I would be released from therapy today....but it turns out I have one more week . They increased my weights again and gave me a whole new circuit of exercises--oh joy! But recently I have been able to get out of bed and on my feet without pain so that is a big improvement. Rick is home from work early today since he's not feeling too good. I might take the boy to a movie this afternoon, don't know just yet. We are planning on coloring eggs tomorrow evening, and I got two coloring kits--one with SpongeBob and the other with Hello Kitty. They are those plastic shrink wrap type of kits that are really cute. Of course I will do the old fashion color dye w/vinegar and then do more plastic eggs in yard for an egg hunt on Sunday.

Cal, I can't believe only 9 more weeks of school. Why is it that when we get older the days go by faster? Wasn't it just Christmas? At least your cruise will be coming up fast too.

I am trying to plan my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party for next year with two of my sisters. I am trying to keep another sister out of the picture because she is a big bossy grouch and we don't need the grief. Anyway, gotta go and meet with the office lady who manages the hall we want to use. Chat more later. Have a good evening. Oh yeah, I didn't make it in to WW today because the therapy office was only open half day and the times conflicted. But I PROMISE I will WI tomorrow morning. post results later.

Ladies!! I got my weight-tracker up & running! Would you believe it's the first time I ever "cut & pasted"? I'm so proud! That's me on the stationary bike, trying to make sure I keep my heart healthy--and make my interim goal weight by my 6-23 HS reunion! Have a blessed holiday, one and all!

what's poppin' babes...


Noelle- My dear sweet Noelle, I think we all have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster this season. What happened happened, don't beat yourself up over it. and good for you on resolving to got to your meeting despite your candy trip BTW spring break wasn't the party week you may think. i had to work. i'm holding off vacation until after school lets out.
Have fun with the egg painting. you do the coolest things with your son. You're such a good mommy And i think your neice is going to be fine. there is a lot worse she could be doing and she's doing something constructive.

Karen- You are well on your way! I am so proud of you. Very funny about the marriage license. who knew men could be as moody as us You reminded me that i should make the appointment to have Niko groomed. he is looking like wild child these days.

Cal- Hey girl!! I have like 7 weeks before school is out for summer. i can't wait. i really wish i didn't have to do work and school at the same time. it can be exhausting!

Virgo- You are a funny girl. And i love your positive attitude! Way to go on the cut and paste


Okay ladies, in my effort to get back to sexy i have kept with my salsa lessons until i felt i could mambo with the best of them, well, i went to my fist salsa social last night and was thrust right in the middle of "the best of them" and it knocked me right off my self-made pedistal. i did well but I am still a beginner and I have quite a few lessons to go before I can really toot my own horn. in the meantime, i'm going to continue my lessons until I get there. i'm going to miami, baby! i gotta move like i got it going on!!!

I will say this though, i'm the flyest beginner you've ever seen!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend and am looking forward to hearing how everyone did!!

I told Tim almost a month ago that I was giving him a heads up and that I wasn't going to cook on Easter this year!! So that gave him about a month to decide what to do or where to go. He still hasn't said anything about if we are going out to eat or not so he may be having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich tomorrow!!! And I'm not going to fix that either!!! He just isn't much of a person to want to go out and eat and I like to once in awhile so I just made up my mind and this time I'm sticking to it!!

Dips, I'd love to learn to salsa dance!!! That sounds like so much fun but I'll bet it is a lot of work too!! I enjoy watching Dancing with the stars and they sure go through a lot!! The only thing they have close to us is a jazzercise class and that is still about 30 miles away!! I KNOW!! I could walk it and then I wouldn't need the exercise after that!!

Virgo, good to hear from you. Glad you got the "tickers" figured out.. They are a lot of fun to watch.

Cal, I'll bet you are getting anxious for the cruise!! I know I would love to do that. We keep talking about it but who knows----- maybe one of these days.

Kempyd, I hope you are feeling better. Sometimes the little things pike up and then all of a sudden you just don't feel good and can't really figure out one thing in particular that causes it. I know I get like that once in awhile too. I hate the feeling though. But things will get better and then you will wonder why you felt so bad in the first place.

Well, I put a couple pictures in here of Ginger and Sissy to Wish You All A HAPPY EASTER!!! Take care, Karen

We're off to my sister's house to color eggs. I know we're a little late, but we just ran out of time yesterday. The Easter Bunny hid the plastic eggs for the hunt this morning. Ashley loved what he brought her. The Easter Bunny remembered that we don't like her to have a lot of candy, so he brought her a stuffed rabbit, a Bratz doll, a cd, brush, dvd, a beach towel, and uno cards, a slim jim, a fruit roll-up, and a balloon. She said she prefers the gifts to candy.
Hope everyone is having a great time with family and friends.

Cal

Good Morning,
I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter. Tim did take me to the "Texas Roadhouse" to eat and it was so good!! I had the country fried chicken with fresh veggies. It was really good. I really debated about ordering "fried" but I never fry anymore at home and it just sounded good!! Then we went and visited my oldest son. He is 34 and has never been able to speak, and is in a wheel chair now. He had 5 grandmal siezures in 5 hours when he was 16 months old and didn't walk until after he was 2. Then when he was 8 years he had a stroke which left his left side partially paralyzed. He is in a home down in Colorado Springs where he lives in one half of a duplex with 2 other guys with similar disabilities. The other half of the duplex is 3 women with disabilities. They have trained staff to stay there 24 hours a day 7 days a week. He is always happy!

Then went and visited my cousins for a little while. They are going to MO. the end of this month to a "Surprise" birthday party for my Aunt who will be 80. I didn't think that I would be able to go so I went ahead and dropped off a gift for them to take to her. Had a nice visit there with everyone.

Then went to my youngest sons and visited there with them and the 2 grandkids. Of course, the grandkids were all hyped up on the easter candy so they couldn't sit still long enough to really visit with Grandma and Grandpa!!

I am adding some pictures in here. The one of me in the gray sweatshirt was taken the beginning of January, The second one of me in the blue/green sweater was taken yesterday morning. Can you guys see any difference with a 23 pound weight loss?? Then the third one is myself, Tim and Michael at Michael's home.

Well, I guess I'd better get in there and walk away that meal from yesterday!! You all have a good day and I'll check back later. Karen

We had a very quiet Easter this year. We went to the 8 am (earliest) service, which did not have any music, but was very quiet and contemplative. That mood was fitting with the gospel of going to the grave and finding it empty ("Why do you search? He is not here"). There were maybe 12-15 of us in the congregation, which felt very intimate in the large space. Most people would have come to the 9 am or 11 am, both of which would have music, especially the 11 am. Having sung in the choir for two years, I know all the work involved by the musicians. I was the one who suggested we go to the earliest service; I felt like the plainness was what I wanted this year. We enjoyed it; still, I found I missed not even singing hymns. So now I know.

Dear Karen: It sounds like your Easter was a very satisfying one, spending it with so many people you love. That's a nice picture of the three of you. And you got to see your cousins, and your grandkids: what a full day!

As to the fried , a very occasional treat is not a bad thing at all!
The fact you wrote about walking it off demonstrates your commitment. Especially since those pictures showing your 23 pound (!!) weight loss confirm how much you're doing RIGHT!! Keep it going, girl!! You are full of the RIGHT STUFF!!

And calnative, you are, too! Look at the good choices you made for your niece! (Heck, if I were a kid again, and your niece, I'd prefer all those terrific gifties to candy, too!) Way to go!!

Dear Kempy: Hope you found at least one of the songs I recommended. I tried to find "Come Sunday", in order to link it for you, but the only site I found that featured it had it 'lined out' (I couldn't find it here, but you know what I mean, where there's a line drawn through text), indicating someone somewhere had made them take the music off their site (prob for copyright reasons). Go to your library and look for Duke Ellington's "A Sacred Concert". It's part of his "Black Brown and Beige Suite". It starts out as an instrumental, but once Mahalia starts singing, you'll know why I recommend it. Good luck--and hope you're feeling better, anyway!

Mele, I think next year we'll go to the Easter Vigil service on Easter Saturday. I'd forgotten how wonderful it is to be in the darkened church (which is special enough!)--to light our candles from one another, spreading Christ's light--and then to have the lights go on! It sounds like you had a very spiritual Easter, which is the very best kind.

Dear Dips'n'twists, my new friend: Your very name bespeaks"la dance", so I am certain that with your attention and practice, those folks in Miami will be appreciating your style, not knowing just how hard you're working here in April! They'll just see the results--and know you're fabulous!

Okay, ladies!! We had our holiday. (And indulgences: All the E.Bunny brought to our house was a lamb cake--but I made sure I had a couple slices of that & got the glazed head.) So now we have to WORK IT OFF!!

LET'S GO!!!

HEY Virgo,
Thanks for the nice comments. I really did enjoy the day yesterday and I was super tired when we got home. It is about 50 miles to go and visit everybody. So we left here at about 11:30 yesterday morning and didn't get home until about 7:30. Both Tim and I were still so full that neither one of us ate anything after our lunch yesterday. So at least all my fried chicken was early in the day!

You have a good day and I just looked at your ticker---- Good going on the 7 pounds lost. I am so hoping to be down at least close to my goal by August. Lots of work ahead of me on that!!

Take care, Karen

Hey I just wanted to pop on and say I am here still. I have not had a chance to read the posts. I am running out the door to run some errands but I iwll be back to post more.