Hi, ladies! I'm having some very long days of meetings, and am just popping on to say hi. I'm making pretty good food choices, but no time for exercise. I can't wait until Saturday morning! Hope everyone has a good Friday. I'll check back in soon.

judy

Girls I am having a lot of trouble getting on this morning. I usually just go to Search and put in Daily check in. Today it says I need 4 words etc. Wouldn't let me do it. So finally after great frustration I put in new post and had to go all the way down to get it. Crazy and too much time. If someone could send me a private message to let me know how they get on I would appreciate it. Time is important these days.
Well yes Penny I am getting so excited. But it doesn't seem possible its next week. The couple have their passports and as you have heard on the news that was not easy. It was one of her hardiest things so far with many phone calls and one to the congressman. Then the gov't lifted the whole thing and on came her passport after the future SIL paid 40.00 extra dollars for a faster del. service. Many tears had come for this one as she felt her trip crumbling. So off to Mexico they go. Hey Judy our traveler is this wear they get jewelry cheaper ? Or am I thinking of a different location? Just wondered? At any rate I have increased my exercise this week and feel better for it. I am trying to beaware of my cals too. Got away from that a bit and now trying to gain some control back. Life gets stressful and we tend to let little things slip in and then regret it afterwards crazy moves we make sometimes. Well I am off to buy lots of groceries today to stock up my cupboards for the kids coming home. I already purchased my sons favorite ice cream choc. w/ peanutbutter. Its nice to have things that they enjoy and coneys too. We will be doing some camping after the wedding. I am looking forward to kayaking with them too. All the grandkids will camp with us for at least one day. Then I think we will take them for a weekend in August just Grandpa and I give mom and dad a little break. Well off to work I worked late again last night so I won't have to use as much sick time for therapy appt. today. I am also off to the hairdressers for highlights and color. Hope it comes out nice I am keeping it longer than in the past. I can pull it back when its hot. I did get to talk to my sister and asked her to not touch a drop of wine or anything til she does the poem during the wedding. SHe promised me and I said if you don't I will be extremly upset. I don't care how much she drinks afterwards but not before. Oh such extra stuff I need to think about!! Mom's stressing can yah tell? Take care and hope I can find the site again. I am still concerned over Marie.

Carol - Getting your hair done will be a nice chance for you to relax - at least for a while. I hope your therapy appt. helps. That was kind of funny about your SIL and the wedding poem . So many details for you to think about but it will soon be all over. I''m glad the passport situation worked out - it must have been very worrying. It's good you can have something else to look forward to like the kyaking trip with the grandkids. I'll tell you how I find this page - it may not be the best way, but it works for me: I just bookmark the current page and when it goes to the next page (like now it's page 7) I delete the old one from my bookmarks. I rename it 3FC so I can find it easily on my "bookmarks toolbar". I have a Macintosh iBook, so it may work differently if you use a PC.

Judy - Good going on your food choices.

Carol-Sounds like wedding plans are in fulll swing. When is it?

Penny-Hope everything is going well.

Has anyone heard from Marie? I am getting concerned.


I'm still on induction 1 week with no cheats. My TOM is due any moment so I feel icky. I'll speak to you all on Monday enjoy your weekend.

Nikki

The wedding is next saturday at 4. Your right soon it will be over and just a lovely memory. My son and daughte in law fly in on 5 right before rehersal dinner. We are attending another wedding today. Our daughters next week and then the following week were invitd to one in N.C. its never ending. But good times out weigh the bad. I may kill my sister whom is to do the poem by then but everything else is going smooth. My hair came out good a bit lighter than I wanted but I will deal with that just a little change. I will work in my gardens today before the wedding we are attending. My therapy is going well and I think I will continue for a bit. I feel better than in awhile and the goal is a good one. Getting back to the workout I was doing last August before I hurt it. So far I am keeping up with things she is giving me to do at home and then the exercises at their gym. Foot press yesterday and the nustepper which I was up to 1,000 steps in less than 12 min. So not to bad. I can tell in my walk that I am getting back to normal a bit more picking up my faster speed. That feels really good and I have missed that ability to do so in the past few months. Learning to bend differntly too. Well food intake is going well. I will becareful this a.m. to just have cereal with a few strawbetties then something lite veggies to munch on and maybe some yogurt before the reception. Have a good day everyone.

Oh, hooray, hooray, hooray, this past week is over. I feel like a new woman, now that I got through all the meetings, socializing, and work. I didn't lose anything, but I managed to just barely maintain, so I am pleased about that, too. It felt great to sleep a little later this morning, and then do a leisurely workout.

Carol, I'm so excited for you and your family. I have several relatives like your sister, they can be the wild card in any public gathering! Yes, Mexico is the place for silver, especially in Taxco. But you can buy some lovely high-quality jewelry at great prices all over the country. The good stuff will be stamped on the inside with a tiny number to denote the percentage of silver (.925 or higher) and "Mex." Tell your daughter not to buy it if it doesn't have the "Mex" stamp. To find our 3FC thread quickly, I have it as a "subscribed thread" in my user control panel. That way when I come to the site, I just sign in under User CP, and click onto subscribed threads.

Penny, maybe you can hold off on the surgery until you lose even more weight...then either both sides will match, or you can try to get a two-for-one deal from the plastic surgeon. I hadn't realized that the procedure would be so costly. I've always told myself that if I got down to 175 or under, I'd so something about these huge ropey veins in my legs, and I don't think this is something my insurance would cover. I guess one of the benefits of losing so slowly is that by that time, medical advancements should make this this a simpler and cheaper process. Hey, I'm always trying to find the bright side of any situation!

Nikki, a week with no cheats is really good. You have willpower, girl, give me some of that! If you stay on track, I bet you'll see a little whoosh once TOM comes and goes.

judy

Nikki - I hope you'll feel better and start losing again as soon as TOM is gone.

Carol - This seems to be the year for weddings for you! I hope you had a lovely time yesterday. You are doing great on the step machine. I'm glad that you're starting to be able to do more again now that the therapy is helping. I hope your sis behaves - relatives can be a pain but we love 'em anyway!

Judy - I hope you're enjoying a relaxing weekend after your busy, busy week. I'm also hoping that maybe the surgery will get cheaper for me in the long run as I will be on medicare in 7 years - about the time when I have to get my implant changed out anyway. I can't get the other side made bigger to match as that might interfere with my mammograms, which would not be a good thing. As you say, it's good to look on the bright side - this gives me 7 years to lose the rest of the weight and at the rate I'm going, I'll need that much time! My legs are so awful the only thing that might work would be leg transplants! Thank goodness for long pants. I will not be wearing shorts again in this lifetime.

I pm'd Marie - I hope she's ok. We miss you Marie!

Have a great Sunday everyone.

Well girls therapy is really helping and worth every cent. As I seem to have started to get back to my normal ability with dancing and yard work without an awful lot of pain afterwards. I wish you had all been there to boogy. It was fun I danced with a friend which has moved away and was up for the wedding. But they played anything from the oldies to country. Now the country they played was real hoe down country. My friend was trying to teach me good thing I had a few wines cause otherwise I most likely wouldn't of been trying it. Now that did hurt my back a bit all that stomping stuff and kicking your legs out. At any rate I burned away some calories that day and the next with gardening. I just did my push ups from therapy and they weren't too bad this a.m. Bear has to get kicked out as he feels I am on the floor to play! Silly dog! So I sent him out to chase birds he never gets them but its also good exercise. The squirrels haven't been around this year too much because of him. Now thats a good thing. My flower beds are looking great a little more work and they will be done. So exercise has fit back into my life nicely a little forced if you know what I mean. At therapy she has gotten me on the stepper and the press leg machine and adds a floor exercise as well to be done daily at home. I would of never thought this would work out so well for me. But as I said things seem to be improving. Saw my sister yesterday and no mention of rehersal dinner. I will call her thursday to ensure she knows where to go and the time. Someone mentioned something about doing another thing when we were together and I mentioned I am stressed to the max and can't take anything else on. I thought maybe she would get the hint to back off and just go with the flow. My intake of food wasn't bad this weekend being I attended a wedding and all. I guess the hrs. of yard work would balance that out too. I actually can see my flat slate walk through my big garden path now. It looks really nice. I think we are going to have around 30 people after the wedding reception at my house. So I will have to get real organized this week being I only have friday off and we are spending hrs. at the spa. Well Judy I know what you mean about work weeks ending and meetins etc. This week I only have about 8 people left to see then its paperwork crunch. I need to write up each visit and log all my progress notes for my supervisor. She will be handling my caseload while I am off playing. I am off from the 21st til the return date of the 3rd. I took one extra day then I had planned. Still need to put the trim on my dress no big deal just need time. Well gotta go and clean a little before work today. I figure if I tackle something each morning a little I will be farther ahead. Take care oh saturday will come quickly and boy do I know it.

thought i lost this?

Morning Ladies-

Carol- Sounds like your time off will be rather hectic. Have fun with it !!!

Penny, Judy...Hope all is going well.

I'm still doing ood on eating. Although I did have 1 bite of a burger bun this weekend. Otherwise I have not cheated ans am hoping to dip below 150 once my TOM leaves.

Nikki

Time is flying thats for sure. I have been on target with the exercising the therapy helps as that is 2 times a week 45 min. at least. I have been trying to do the exercises on the side she gives me and introduces a new one each time I go. I have been doing okay on the food end too. I did cheat and have a bite of cake but then regretted the calories I had. An egg roll but counted the cals in. So at least I am aware of my intake and portion control. It is to be in the 90's today then cooling off. Nikki it is so hard when we try to control the intake but you have done well. I think having a bite is better than nothing at all. So good control habits your building. The girls at work were saying oh your so good I said you don't see me when I am being bad. The therapist added leg curls yesterday. So I did them as well as the other equipment. I feel really so much better and I wasn't really going to go to get this service. Now I am glad I did and its paying off. Take care and keep up all your good efforts I figure in the end they have to pay off sometimes it takes more time than others. My future son in law just started a month ago to go to the YMCA and I think he is very pleased with his results. They did the family package and really are using it. Hopefully it keeps up cause he looks good and must feel so much better.

Carol-I am glad you feel better. I would not be surprised if the therapy helps your weightloss. It is added exercise after all.

Yesterday I had a good day. I had lots of protein and got all of my water in. Hopefully all of my eating well will show on the scale soon.

Carol - Leg curls are what saved my knee. I've found that since I started working out at Curves, my knee pain is totally gone. Before, I could hardly go up and down the stairs without a lot of pain. There are several machines at Curves that focus on the leg muscles and that has really helped. I'm glad your therapy sessions are helping you.

Nikki - I'm sure you'll soon see a loss as you've been really on track with your plan.

Marie & Judy - I hope everything is well with you.

I went for a free acupuncture session today with a friend who is a licensed acupuncturist. Another friend went with me and she did acupuncture on both of us - me for my ankles and my friend for her hand arthritis. I managed to walk around town quite a bit afterwards without any pain. Hopefully it lasts. My friend and I took the opportunity to go for lunch and we had a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant. I had the poached seafood salad and she had ravioli with bolognese sauce. We shared a bit of each and it was delicious, without too many calories. I'll have to make a point of going downtown more often as it was really fun to look around all the shops and see all the "different" types of people!

Nikki time is flying by did you have an interview? My daughter is looking around for a job with better hours. Her company doesn't want to lose her and is checking into having her work the same hrs. needed but from her home or a lap top. That would be very good as she makes pretty good money and any job for her will be a pay cut. Time will tell. She had a second interview at one job and she isn't going to take it. They changed the job description since the first interview a bit with no more money and she would be salary without any adjusted time and a demanding position. So out the window that one goes I think. Well our time is flying by with the wedding coming qiickly. My intakes have been pretty good. Last night I did have a BLT for dinner but that was it. And cooked the bacon on papertowels in the mic. to obsorb the fat content more. Then naughty Bear got the rest of the bacon on the dish and a tomatoe slice. He got in trouble naughty thing he is. We don't give him table foods but if we drop something and he gets it before us. And he is fast. I swam yesterday and that was about it for exercise.
Judy you must be busy. Marie you are really missed here and I pray all is well.Penny your walk to in the city sounds wonderful and yes sometimes we don't take advantage of where we live etc. So check it out and if its like me things are there I had no idea about. My friends daughter now owns the little diner in our town. I had no idea it was hers. We will have breakfast there this saturday with our kids. Hair appts at 11:00 dressing at my house at 2 and wedding at 4. Think of us and pray all goes well. Your lunch sounded interesting I was careful yesterday but did have lunch out of the office at a chinese resturant. Didn't eat only a few noodles with sauce and 1/2 the rice and left on some of my food. Better than I normally would be so I took it as being good. Has anyone tried the little green tea packets to add to your water. Oh so good. I stick a bottle of water in the freezer at work then a little later go add one of those it is so refreshing and in the 90's I needed it. We had quite a rain storm last night but the yard and gardens needed it and much better to have it today instead of saturday. She is hopefully getting married on the large deck at the lodge. It is called Arrowhead Lodge and now I hear its getting quite popular to get married there. Everything under one roof wedding and reception beautiful setting. I will post a few pictures afterwards. Well off to work I go and this will be a stay on program day. I have poached eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch, grilled chicken for dinner with veggies. No snack grab only healthy. Oh a health bar and a few dried apricots. Lots of water, tea and coffee too. Stay healthy and every once of goodness must bring a change in our future. Were looking good girls lets keep it up.

Penny - Is the accupuncture still effective today? When I went for accuuncture someone told me you don't realize how helpful it is until you stop going. I believe that.

Carol- I had 1 interview which was not good the woman who interviewed me seemed like she wasn't even interested in me and bad talked the executives in the company. Not someplace I would want to work.
You will be in my thouhts this weekend.

As for me I had the worst weigh in. I am showing a 4 lb loss. I am wondering if somehow I am sabotaging myself. I eat usually sausage for breakfast 2 patties and a cup of ice coffee with 2 splendas. Luncxh has been a hotdog or burger no bun. and dinner a burger or chicken with brocolli. I also have plain turkey roll ups for snack and 90 ounces of water minimum. I cant understand what I am doing wrong.