Francie! Be safe!

Sassy- Congrats on the unemployment...what a relief, huh?

Cristina- I think Fitday takes a lot of time, but it does help to see the calories. I find I look up things before I even decide on dinner more often now.

Susan- What a way to spend the holiday..moving!

Katy- I am jealous of the beach trip. A last hurrah of summer?

Tammy- I get tired just reading what all you do. I too would like to hear your experience with Alli. I have been tempted...but the "accidents" kind of made me shy away.

Asia and Jules. Where are you? Hope all is well.

Sorry about no post yesterday. I missed everything, including exercise. DH announced in the a.m. that we should get away, so we went South to the river. Spent the day at the casino boat. It was fun and really was needed. We didn't get home until 2 a.m. and I am dragging today. I ate fairly well, except for some fried shrimp. Had lots of veggies and a sugar free cookie. Trouble is only 2 meals and it was a longggg time between, so I kind of felt bad. I chewed lots of SF gum...lol.

Today I am back on the wagon..although it was too hot and humid to walk when I finally got up the energy. I will do that later or else WATP. Food has been okay so far. Tomorrow is a card game at SIL's so I am taking a bag of veggies to munch on. There is always too much food...and not much of it healthy. LOL. I might as well NOT weigh on Mon. and wait a week...I am sure I am not doing well now.

Okay...off to finish yet another load of laundry. Then I might get a nap!

Ooops, Sassy...I forgot to post a picture *slaps forehead* I will try to do that when I get back!

Also, forgot to mention that today is day 7 of no eating out! But...it is killing me, lol. I need some junk! Okay, I don't, just sounded good, sort of.

I'mm outta here

Ok, this is the picture Cristina wanted me to post for her. Her favorite Friday pix!! yee haw girl.....lol

lol

I am FULL of coffee and I have no time to chat!! The lady FINALLY approved the townhouse! I emailed the school district man and I am sending my signed request in the mail and he will fax Monday and he said to go ahead and enroll her in Astoria , even before the paperwork is cleared. Yee Haw....

Francie - How are the kitties!! Geez lousie girl, I need a kitty update!

Cristina - I finished Sam's letters to Jennifer, it was very nice, surprised Patterson could write like that. lol I didn't get my hair done yet, today at 12:30. I did put the amber shimmer in and here I was trying to get rid of the papricka and ended up with more red tone, it is ok though...the rinse made my hair more soft and oh so manageable.

Sue - haha . I have been on a vacation for over a year! I am so anxious to get back to work and back on a schedule. I figure 2 hours tops and I wil be all set up in the new place. If not I am throwing everything still on the UHAUL away. lol Heck w/ that....I am going to the beach on my Labor Day. haha

to Sassy and Mindee and Everyone!!! I have to go....way too much to do now.

I think it is safe to say that that picture has gotten the weekend started!!!!!

I gave in and dyed my hair this morning! For the first time dying my hair myself, I think it turned out perfectly. I will change my avatar here in a second. I will also post the letter here in a second as well.

the mail truck just went passed so I am hoping that in the mail box is Brandon busing and schooling information!!!

Tommy doesn't have to work tomorrow, so this weekend we will be going through every thing! or at least as much as we can get through!

The owner is supposed to be in today, so we shall see what comes of the letter. And from what I was told, we are not the only ones that are sending a letter in regards to getting our things fixed!

brb in one second with the new picture and letter

Dear Lakes Management,

My family has lived in this complex for almost 2 1/2 years now. We were first in an upstairs unit, but now we are in a lower unit. When we lived in the upstairs unit, we never had any problems. Now that we are in the lower unit, we have one major problem......our bathroom floor!

Your head maintenance man, Cheelo, has seen the floor and has told you that it is not dangerous enough to do anything about it. I have talked to you personally about getting my bathroom floor fixed. Your response to me was "give me two weeks and I will get back to you." It has now been a month and a half, and my floor is getting worse! I have three small children, as well as my husband and myself, that I worry about either falling through the floor or getting hurt, and all because my floor hasn't gotten fixed yet.

I have mentioned to Donna, the office manger, numerous times, and she has filled out work orders for the bathroom floor. But they haven't been filled because the remodels are more of a priority over the units where tenants already live.

I would like my bathroom floor fixed by September 5th, or I will take my money to the court next month and place it in escrow until something is done about my flooring.

Thank you for your time and consideration regarding this matter.

Sincerely,

Thomas & Mindee (our last name here...and then I put in our building number and apartment number)

Hey ladies...things have been past insane. Classes start Monday and I havnt been to college in like 2 years. I am really excited. I ham just glad that I am getting things back on track. Anyhoo...I am really sorry I havnt been on in several days but I have been constantly going. Andrew had to go to the doctor this week because he had a virus. I went with him and we were there for like 3 hours right ater I got off work. I just feel so ugh because I am just going and going. Its only gonna get worse. Petsmart is upping my hours which I am def not complaining about. But its gonna be School, 8 hour workdays, chores, Homework, and my social life. Argh. I can do it though. My goal is to make it through this semester still on the wagon. Forget how much I lose this fall I just wanna keep my good eating and exercising habits. Weight loss is finally going great. I am no longer on a plateau. I am down to 163. In 4 more I will be in the 150s. I am so excited. Andrew has lost 5 or so pounds. We arnt sure. He was fully dressed when he weighed and he was 3 pounds lighter than the last week when he was in his undies. He is doing very well. We have grown so much through exercising together. We get to really talk. I am just scared that this semester we wont be able to as much because this is his last semester here at the college before he leaves me to go to Texas a&m. I just really want to help him get healthy before he gets there. He was to join the corps cadets. Anyways.....I am def gonna try to post more often. I missed yall. It may not be huge long posts but I will try to post often.

Okay, finally! Geez, what a pain to post a picture! Too many to choose from but I thought this was silly.

Thank you SUSAN! That is exactly the picture I wanted, how did you know,

SUSAN...glad to hear you got the townhouse, woohoo! Bet the color looks good on you!

MINDEE...can't tell much from the avatar so I will check your myspace. But from what I can see your hair looks good. So you're a haircolor virgin eh? Ummm, rather was, lol. Hope you heard something about Brandon's schedule.

ASIA...there you are...was wondering what happened to ya. Try not to do too much and get stressed. I know DS does what you just said you will be doing and he gets so tired sometimes. So remember to take care of 'you'!

So got everything done that I wanted to. Had to get some cereal containers from Target, mine are falling apart and not very tight...don't want to waste money on cereal for it to get stale. Then bought some water bottles. DH finally got the reverse osmosis thing for our drinking water. It's a filtration system that supposedly makes faucet water taste like drinking water. It goes thru 3 different filters and is supposed to take all the impurities out...we'll see. We just spend too much money on bottled water and then there's the recycling. I will still recycle but it definitely will be a lot less. Anywho...that's about all I have for now.

Hope everyone is enjoying their day. Have a good one, what's left of it!

I am still running behind but wanted to chat for a second!

Cristina - ok, that pic ......while cute kind of freaks me out. If I saw that guy coming at me I would be screaming, he looks like a perv. lol I like his vaccum though, reminds me I will need to get one w/ the new place. Wall to wall carpet up/down.....in the dining room too ,ugh. I hate carpet in the dining area, I will eat in the bathroom. haha. Funny about the peanut butter! btw, I thought you told me that was V in that beach picture??? hehe

Mindee- I liked your letter, well written. I hope that puts fire under their butt. What color did you do for the hair?? Mine was just a rinse, should wash out in 28 shampoo's at least that is what the instructions say Did you get the school info??

Asia - take it easy. Excited about you going to school, enjoy it. I am sure everything will work out.

Hi to everyone!! I still have some indy's....if I am on the computer too long my family feels a need to fight, so I better go before WW3 begins. I like my hair cut, she did a great job. Feel good about the Gabsters school , I can't do anything else til next week when I go down - maybe Monday or Tuesday.
bbl

Just got in from a long 12 1/2 shift at work and I thought I'd update ya'll on the Alli... It's day 6 and I've done really well all week. This stuff literally scares the crap out of ya!! I'm going to give ya'll probably a little more information that you want but remember, this is a nurse talking and we will talk about the grosses things even if we are eating. Nothing bothers us. Ok, here goes.....The first two days, I was scared to death to go near any fat grams and wore a overnight thin long pad nearly up the crack of my arse. You know that they warn you of oily leakage, oily farts, uncontrollable urges to go poo etc. Well after two days of pulling those pads out of my crack, never once experienced any of the above. I don't take a pill with breakfast because I only ever eat a cereal with about 1 gram or no grams of fat and skim milk and then have some fruit. I have strictly kept my fat grams to under 15 (as suggested) with lunch and dinner. Now my usual problems with a very low fat diet is horrible constipation. You know that you have to have a little fat in the diet for adequate digestion. Well, lets say that I've had the opposite. The bathroom and I have become best buds I make 2-3 trips a day, leisurely, not hurried, to the potty with soft, not diarrhea, results. Alli is supposed to rid you of 25% of the fat you consume. I really believe that the scare of bathroom mishaps is what keeps you on program. At dance on Wednesday night, I made a salad from the salad bar using the least amount of salad dressing possible. I got a huge fried chicken breast (yes fried, only thing they had) and cut the meat out from the middle and put that on my salad. I had about 1/3 cup of rice and some sort of seafood/tomatoe based concoction on top. I munched on pretzels and took one bite of my DH's dessert (ok, maybe the only cheat, but it was only a nibble). I think I tossed and turned often that night in bed with worry of how many fat grams I had eaten and sure that I would be awaken with an explosion in the bed and not making it to the bathroom....but again, nothing happened. I really believe, beyond all the fear, that I'm going to do OK with Alli. The weekend is going to be a challenge because we plan to eat out tomorrow night and this is not something like WW where you can save up points for one nice meal. You are seriously limited to only 15 gr of fat. Hopefully I can get to WW this Sunday and get back on that program along with limiting the fat grams. This has been a good experience this week with making me stay OP. I think with adding the WW guidelines to the diet along with increasing my exercise, hopefully I can get these last lbs off before my DS's wedding.

Well, ladies.....I hope this was informative. I'm pooped , seriously meaning I'm tired and heading up for a long shower. I'll get back with everyone and do indies over the weekend. TTFN

I am really tired and so ready for bed, waiting for Rach to watch The Hills (??) at her fathers and after that is home!
Still trying to catch up on post...

Mindee- aww, ash brown....do you like it? Was it a rinse?? I was tempted to go back and get a warm brown shade but this amber highlights is kind of growing on me. What are your plans for the weekend?? When does school start for Brandon? Was Logan going too? Nosy, ain't I?

Sassy - You are not an ogar! Good luck on that soda drinking. I really like the lemon flavor water with no calories or sugar in it. Cute kitty picture -lol

Francie - I will have to go check out the myspace page and see your pictures! I bet Montana is beautiful, what a great road trip

Sue - What lake did you go to? In Nevada somewhere? It sounds nice, I am glad you guys were able to get away

Cristina - I so love pancakes! I just can't eat them all the time. When pancakes are all you have in the house it kind of takes the fun out of eating them. lol on the weight loss

Tammy - Thanks for the info on Alli, sounds like you are doing great on it so far.

to Katy (what beach did you go to?) , Asia and Jules!

I managed to go from 155 to 149 this week, yay me. I think it was just TOM and fluid gain, it is nice to get back down though. I have been eating my yogurt and fruit for breakfast, I might have oatmeal this weekend though. A lot of chicken, tuna and veggies. Taco Del Mar is calling my name though.....I love that place. I want to lose the weight more so I don't want to do that.

Anyway, time to head home! No real plans for the weekend, I guess I should start packing. ...and I do plan on a trip to the coast Monday.

k- enough of my ramble....night

This non blond is back! Ok, so I was only a partial blond from the sun, but it still counts! I have natural brown hair with red highlights in the winter/fall/spring. But then in the summer time, the red highlights turn blond! Go figure!

I will have to see if I can attach a picture here in my post that will show it off better!

Asia~ Holy smokes girl! You are half way to your goal!!! You are doing great!! Now, can you send some of whatever you are taking over to me? I see that working out together with Andrew has helped you. I have been afraid to exercise around Tommy so I try to do it after every body has gone to bed. Once we get things settled with the yard sale and such, I will see what he thinks about working out with me. He has a lifetime gym membership, but hardly gets there because we live so far away from his gym.

where do you ladies find all these pictures??

Cristina~ I was indeed a haircolor virgin, as in doing it myself, until today. I have dyed my hair at least three times prior to this time. Once with a one of the kids' godmothers, and the other two were at my parents house. I was really worried about doing it myself since I had never done it before, but once I got it all set up it was smooth sailing!

Oh yeah.......we did get a letter from Brandon's principal at his new school today! It was a letter with the date for his open house/orientation so we can meet his teacher and see the classroom. My MIL is going to come and stay with Logan and Marissa while me, Tommy and Brandon go to his school. Since we got that, we should be getting his busing information as well! He is going to be in the afternoon class. So, he will be in school from 1:02 to 3:32, Monday through Friday!

SuzieQ~ I got the light ash brown for my hair. Nope, it wasn't a rinse, it is a permanent. I went in to ask the office manager something and she goes "did you dye your hair?" I said "yeah I did actually, I was tired of all the grays!" then she said that she needs to do that to her hair. Later on I had to go back and talk to our friend (yes the one guy that used to work here that I think is cute.........heck I think he is HOT) and she said "did they even notice?" (our friend and the owner's BIL were standing outside) I said "are you kidding me? they are guys, they don't notice that kind of thing! Ben, (our friend) only notices something if it has boobs or food." To which the other guy said "yeah. that is true for him." Then I went and talked to our friend and showed him my hair, and he just got this blank expression on his face. (so I proved my point in that guys don't notice anything like that!)

Tammy~ Now, you really have convinced me to try Alli. Now, I just need to find the money tree in order to get it!

SuzieQ~ When I was watching the dye sink into my hair, I didn't really notice anything different. When I rinsed out the dye and was looking in the mirror, it looked like my hair had turned black! But alas, it has settled into being a light brown color. Now, my next step will be getting at least the split ends cut off! Our plans for this weekend are to go swimming since it is going to be really hot on Saturday, AND going through all of our stuff for the yard sale! School starts officially for the district on September 3rd, but Brandon goes in for an open house/orientation that day, then starts officially on the 4th. Logan isn't going this year. I have the paperwork sitting on the bar halfway done. So, I will try and get that finished up and sent out and maybe they can still squeeze him in.

oops! I forgot to add a picture to my last post!

so here ya go:

Mindee...are you watching Dazed & Confused?


Well..HELLO from South Dakota!!!

The rest of Montana was soooooooooooooooooooooo boring!!!!!!!!!! Same goes for Wyoming. Good thing we were so close to the state lines between Wyoming and South Dakota, otherwise, I would've lost my mind, lol. Seriously..I rather take the desert than all that open farm land any day. Although, I did enjoy seeing the horses and cows, lol.

So ya..today, my tooth broke off I just couldnt believe it. It happened while I was eating some lunch. It will have to be pulled or something when we get to Annapolis. It totally ruined my day too. I was crying and everything. So Fonzo decided to take me to see Mt. Rushmore to cheer me up, even though it was an hour out of our way. But we didnt get to see it..yet. It took us awhile to find a nice hotel that accepts pets. But we got to walk around the boardwalk place they have here. And see some shops. And tomorrow, we're waking up early to go to Crazy Horse, then to Mt. Rushmore. Oh..and theres like a billion other things that we wanna see here too. So we're gonna come back at another time when the cats arent with us. I think I like South Dakota, lol.

The cats are doing really good. They hate being in their carriers..but dont mind exploring the car. We let them out at every other rest stop..then once they go back in..they all take naps in their carriers. Oh man..before we even left the house in WA..April had chewed up her carrier. So thats why she has the plastic one, lol.

Anyways..I uploaded some pics from today. So check them out if you want...

Nighty nite!!!