Let's try for a better month for all. I'm carrying on with my challenges and keeping on keeping on and hoping to stay more or less sane. That's my challenge for July.

Oh and to start the month off on a nice note - here's a spot to come to to meditate when/ if the going gets rough. It's the Chinese Gardens in Sydney

Okay - having got that out of the way, I can tell you that yesterday was probably the worst day of my professional life. I very nearly chucked it in but have now signed to stay for 2 more weeks. It will be one day at a time and I reserve the right to say no to anymore of the bullsh*t I had to put up with over the weekend.

I don't have anything more to say about that and hope that such events will never happen again.

On the bright side, I am going home for the weekend - and on an early Friday flight. So that will be fun.

Have a good day all of you. I am not up to personals at the moment. I'll be back.

Let's here it for a Jubilant July ladies -

I'm hoping it will be a jubilant, jazzy month where we can jettison a lot of excess weight! I came in at 5 this morning, since I have to leave at 1 to go to a doc about the procedure for my SI joint. Hopefully, he'll agree that it will help me, and schedule the procedure ASAP. I also weigh in today...we'll see how that goes since I've used pretty much all of my weekly flex points this week and haven't been to the gym since Friday. It should still be okay though (I hope).

Oh, and best of all, today is my Friday. I'm taking a long weekend for the 4th of July. Spending tomorrow with DMIL. We're getting our hair done (mine needs a cut and color) and then going out to lunch with her sister. And we plan to go see fireworks on both Friday and Saturday as some places here do their fireworks on the 3rd instead of the 4th. And hopefully we'll get lots of fishing and LOTS of relaxing in!

Shad - I'm so sorry to hear that your work still sucks. At least there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and you get to go home for the weekend! You deserve it! Savor every moment away and don't think about the job at all. Sydney's Chinese gardens are beautiful! Thanks for posting the photo. I could definitely go there to meditate! Ahhhhh.

Happy - I got a chuckle out of JOY + Us July! I also like the one about us being HOT in July! Of course, we're hotties year 'round, right?

Annie, Mel, Patty, Ceejay, Ruth, Jolly and everyone - hope you all have a great day!!

Lots of love and hugs,

Happy Jublient July to all the Worldlie Hotties............

Shad....Here is to a better day and a great "home" weekend! Try to relax a bit and enjoy yourself. Wish we had that lovely meditation place in Sydney here in Indy. What a great pix. You are the best! THanks for starting the new thread.

Chelle....today is my Friday also. Still going to St. Louis, altho it is supposed to rain all weekend there. I am hoping for a better weather outcome however. I am taking mom and dad to Samantha's hair school for a cut for dad and a perm for mom, Sam will be graded on it and it is free for M & D. THen after dropping them off at home, I will head to St. Louis.

Happy...you hottie you, July's hottie....

I am feeling a bit better today and convinced some of my health woes are financially related. Seems like you just pay a bill and wham there it is back in the mailbox needing paid again. Hmmmmmm, might not open that darn mailbox, seems to be the route of my woes...haha

Had a coupon for a free McCafe Latte this morning. THought that would be a great start to the day. The dude handed me the cup through the window and guess what, faulty cup, the bottom was leaking majorily and spilled out onto my pants, thank God I wore black today. Guess nothing is actually FREE. So it has to get better than that. ;^)

Hello to everyone.

love and hugs

Annie - How nice that mom and dad get free hair services and Sam gets practice (and graded)! Hope it all goes well, and I'm sure it will. Wishing you very safe travels to St. Louis and back and a fun visit in between. Ever since you talked about going to St. Louis, I can't get that old song out of my head...."Meet me in St. Louis, Louie. Meet me at the fair." Glad to hear you are feeling better. Sorry about the spilled coffee. I know it's no use to cry over spilled milk, but what about spilled coffee? Oh well, at least you weren't wearing white. Your day has got to get better from here on out and IT'S OUR FRIDAY! So it's gotta be good!

I gotta and I just weighed in and I've lost 3.2 lbs this week! I'm so happy! Journaling has been the trick for me this week. Even though I used all my WW weekly flex points, I still lost weight because I wouldn't bite it if I didn't write it!

I'm heading to the doctor in about an hour to discuss a possible procedure for my back. I'll let you know later today or tomorrow how it went. I talked to DH and if the downtime/rest time is a few weeks, I may put it off until next month (after DMIL goes back home) so I'm not a total party pooper while she's here.

Love and hugs to you all,

Hey peep-a-roonies

I want some candy. They had spaghetti for lunch, it looked good but I opted for a veggie plate (grilled tomatoes, grill mushrooms, grilled squash) and a grilled chicken breast for some protein. It was good but I need sugar now.

Ok, I'm hoping Shad is doing better now. I was going to set up the new thread when I got home from work. We don't have WORLDLIES in our title for the first time I hope everyone can find us.)

I'm sorry you are having such a rough go at this stint Shad. Sounds like the frustrations are getting more and more frequent. Things are getting more off base in the corporate world and with you travelling as much as you do - I'm sure you see more examples of the insanity. Loved the Chinese meditation gardens. Looks like a great place to recapture your calm. I hope the next 2 weeks are just dig in and get it done - no more drama from the peanut galleries.

Michelle - better jump on those suits. At least swimsuits for all is turning them over fast. I got one yesterday on clearance and it must have been the last one left because they removed the picture right off the website. Good news is that they restock with new styles fairly quickly. That place takes about 2 weeks to ship. I ordered yesterday, should get it by the 10th of the month. Just My Size charges alot for shipping. I ordered a few things, paid $14 for shipping and then had to pay another $6.50 to return the stuff. So I mostly just get bras from there. The fastest I got a suit was from the place that I showed the picture. I think that was less than a week. I also looked at the reviews people did of different suits. Almost bought a couple and decided against based on what people said (flimsy material, sized way small). I hope you can find something you like. You're right on the prices too. Seems like they are asking $100 in the stores. Yikes. You weekend sounds like so much fun. Have a good time with DMIL. Hope your hair comes out great.

Annie - what a bummer about the coffee! Didn't McD's already get in trouble for that? You'd a thunk they'd a fixed it by now. My company makes beverage cups, I wonder if they were ours :O I know what you mean about the money flying out faster than it comes in. I never did find an answer for that, particularly when it's not the extras you're spending money on, so how do you cut back then?

I forgot Mel - are you shopping today? Or can't you find us? Or are you still waiting on that swimsuit to load up? I hope you get some sun your way. Moldy tooties are not the way to go.

Not much else to say. I still want candy. Had a good swim yesterday. I got home much later, checked on some things for DH and it wasn't until 7pm that I got into the pool. Wasn't going to because it was very cloudy south of me in Mississippi and I wasn't sure if it was going to storm. But the thing about exercise is, after you do it a week, you start to feel bad if you skip it. So I did 30 minutes of hard work. Didn't eat dinner until 8pm. And it was some frozen White Castle hamburgers. I love those things. Can't get them here. When up north DH steadfastly refuses to stop in the restaurant. His choice of excuses is quite varied and imaginative. So once a year or so, I have to indulge with the frozen ones. I was a bit worried that it was maybe not the best choice late at night but I was ok. DH also fixed the light in the pool for me so that means NIGHT SWIMMING!!!!! Let me tell you, its scary to swim in a dark pool in a dark yard. But with the light now, the pool is a beautiful aquamarine. Sometimes I like to sit up on the deck at night on the swing with the pool light on. The gurgling water from the filter is actually quite peaceful to me. I am an Earth sign but I love the water. Now if I can just keep the skeeters off me

Time to get back to my spreadsheets and charts. Hello to those I didn't get to Happy Humping - I mean Hump Day.

Way to go Michelle on another good weigh in That's great news. The journalling and write it / bite it really work. Also checking things out BEFORE you bite them because sometimes they are wayyyyy more than you think.

Chelle...rock on sista...you sure make me proud and ashamed of myself. You are my idol.

Happy....leave the lights off at night and go skinny dipping, we used to in our pool after the kids went to bed. Man, you will not believe the freedom you feel with no suit on. Try it. You will like it.

Hello Ladies,

Shad - thanks for the new forum... Another month has gone by...

Mitchellez - WTG on the 3.2 loss. I hope you get good news from the doctor.

Annie - Be safe on your trip... lots of idiots on the road

Happy - Good choices on lunch.. Have you tried that Crystal Light drink..When i crave sugar that sometimes hit the spot, I crave the sweet taste.

Not much going on here weight wise. I'm so ready for the weekend.

So here we are at Thursday. The Americans are getting ready to celebrate 4th of July. Come to that it might be lucky I am going home for the weekend - otherwise I might be tempted to do a Guy Fawkes on this building.
I hope it all turns out to be a great weekend for the nations birthday.

Michelle - congratulations on the weight loss. It's amazing - what is that 7lbs in a week or so??? How nice of MIL to cook for you - hang on, was that on the other thread??? Hope the hairdos come out well for you both.

Happy - well done you on the eating as well. Moonlight swims sound quite nice. Does DH get in there and chase you around the pool as well?? :blush:
Unfortunately I think there will be more drama - however I am determined to stay out of it. Achieve my deadlines and just get on with the job. Leave it to those who are supposed to know about these things, but I will pose this one problem which is going around and around in my mind.

Here's the scenario:
I have a presentation, a set of exercises and some online simulations to do for a specific subject. Lets just call it XXX. Up to and including today, I have not been able to access the consultants and developers to determine the process and procedures. I do know (mostly) what transactions they will be expecting to see in the lessons. The paperwork etc is due in July 7th so it can go to the printers and training will begin approx 1 week later. The consultants and developers have not been able to get the system to work properly, the way it is meant to, the way 'it' (magically) should.
So we all troop off to a meeting last night. Some boss type D*ckhead gave us the spiel about hard work and expectations and thanked us profusely for putting our lives on hold and to continue to do so. Then he announced go-live date has been put out 3 weeks. Hallelujah - at last someone has seen sense. BUT... there is always a but. The deadlines might be pushed out for the developers, but not for the documenters like me. Now does anyone else see a sort of problem here?? I will leave it to group discussion. Let me know what you come up with.

Annie - glad to hear that you are feeling better. Money and/or the lack of it contributes to a great deal of stress and strain. We are all going to have to budget very carefully from now on. Here we have power, water, transport, rates, all government costs all going up or through the roof. It's not a happy feeling.

Patty - good to hear from you too. You an me both on the wait for the weekend. I've just done 12 days straight of at least 10 hours per day and I'm pooped. This weekend is physical and not mental strain.

Okay - back into the fray. That reminds me of the old joke about the difference between the cavalry horse and the cart horse. Guess you all know it.

GM ladies,

We get out early today and then it's a 3 day weekend

I was struggling all week with some new reports for another group and the numbers kept changing on me. I blamed the tool and just as I was getting ready to leave last night, I figured out the problem. Now I need to re-do everything I worked on this week so I'm not so sure I'll be getting out early. I also would have liked to take today off and make it a 4 day weekend but that won't happen.

So... no time for personals this morning as I need to hit the Maybe I can sneak in at lunch. If not, will get on later tonight. Happy Thursday all...

happy Thursday ladies -

The doc appt went well. Long story short....I've got issues in my SI joint and a couple discs. He said, let's try and fix the non-spine stuff first. So before he goes about deadening the nerves in the SI joint, he wants to be 100% sure it will help. Best way to do that is to give me another cortisone shot in the SI joint. If I get relief from that for a few weeks to a few months...then the nerve deadening should work. So, much to my surprise, rather than schedule another time for me to come in for the cortisone shot...he did it right there. Good deal as the doctor's office is not close to either work or home. So far so good. He said it will take a couple days for the steroid to fully kick in and I should keep a pain diary - how much pain, what I'm doing (walking, resting, etc.). So I'll be doing a little walking today running errands with DMIL, and I'll do more tomorrow when we go see fireworks (yes, they do them here on July 3rd and 4th). I'm keeping my fingers . BTW, I'm loving having these 4 days off. And the weather is supposed to be gorgeous...warm, but not too hot or muggy!!

I have an appt with my personal trainer this evening...so gotta get to the gym. Gonna do 1/2 hour of cardio, followed by his 1/2 hour strength training class, followed by a 1/2 hour (or an hour) appt with him. But no worries about my back....he knows all about it and will INSIST that I take things slow.

Happy - Good luck with the reports. I hope you get them done so you can get out early. Good for you for passing up on the spaghetti. Did you get some candy? I get that way after I eat, so I keep hard candies in my desk (they aren't too many calories). I'll take a look at the suits today after we do errands, thanks for all the info. I can just imagine how lovely your pool is in the evening. Ahhhhhhh. I'm an Earth sign that loves water too.

Annie - Hope you have a wonderful time in St. Louis and safe travels! Give the little princess an extra hug for me.

Patty - Great to hear from you! Thanks for the tip about Crystal Light instead of candy. I'll pick up some at the store.

Shad - It's 7.2 lbs in 2 weeks. yay! I know I can't expect to continue to lose at this rate, but it's a great jump start! Crazy that the developers get 3 extra weeks, but not the documenters...whose documents/training DEPEND on the developers. Don't the bosses (or anyone over there) understand critical paths (Step A has to be done before Step B, etc.)? Enjoy your weekend at home...and try not to stress or work too much.

A big to Mel and anyone else I may have missed.

Gotta go or I'll be late for my hair appt!

Love and hugs to all,

Hi every one
It's been a BUSY two weeks. The heat took a toll on some things at work, everything is back on line and doing good.
Went to the gyn last week and today it's the boob squish and bone density. I'm dreading it.
My week end is here.

Michelle
Congrats on those 3 pounds lost. Hope the cortisone injections work.

Shad
Sorry you are having such a hard time dealing with this job.

Happy
I don't set outside much due to the psky flies and mosquito's and gnats.
Those moon light swims does sound like fun. I'll get to do this next week on vacation. I'm going to my sister's who livs in the DFW area.

Annie
hope all things are well in you corner of the world.

Mel
for you.

To all the others I've missed.

Ceejay - I sent you a PM and gave you my mobile #. I hope we get a chance to meet, have lunch/dinner etc.