Morning all. Raining out by me, wearing my Chooka’s again today. I told bf he might need to go to Home Depot and buy a pair of those rubber boots they sell for doing concrete work. Yup, they sell very plain tall rubber boots for that purpose, under $20…. Anyway, it seemed to be coming down as rain and then slushing up when it hits the cold pavement. What a mess things will be – rain, slush, melting snow, and then it’ll all freeze up when the temps drop in a day or two.

Michelle – Sorry you had a headache yesterday. Not a great way to begin the day. :no: Thank goodness your ex-SIL’s cancer was discovered early enough!!! Best wishes to her in her treatment and recovery. How great to have those long-standing friendships! I’m so glad you’re able to have close contact with your friends once again. :) Being back in CA has done wonders for you girlfriend!! :whoo: And what better motivation to get your back better than the allure of hikes in gorgeous areas in beautiful weather!! You can do it!

Ceejay – A twin size bed will serve you well as a daybed. Good for you for doing more purging and reorganizing. Sometimes it’s fun to find new spots for small knick-knacks – you can store some and just have one or two somewhere, and occasionally rotate different ones to other spots. I have some little shelves above my kitchen sink that are the perfect spot for little knick knacks. I also switch out some of the items I keep on our fireplace mantel in the living room. Sorry you’re dealing with the valve issue at work (where's that trainee when you need him??), but try to focus on the fact that you’re getting good exercise going up and down the stairs!

Susie – Good for you getting the workout in at the Y! OMG, I thought I was the only one still seeing leaves! Our tree out in back was late to lose them, and believe it or not, there’s still a few on there that are falling down one by one. Crazy. Oh the fun of cleaning up wet leaves – NOT. That would be the only reason I wouldn’t want the snow to fully melt – there’s some wet leaves underneath!

Annie – glad the ankle is a bit better today. What’s with your company and these reorganizations?? It’s so disruptive to be constantly changing things up, how does anything get done when you’re so busy reapplying for jobs??


Happy - Very interesting about why turkeys eat stones. Thanks for passing that along – learn something new every day. :D I hope the dry needling brings you some pain relief. I’m not sure I ever bought into how acupuncture helped people – positive chi, energy, whatever they say. But I do believe that it helps people, somehow. The explanation about twitching the muscles…now that makes sense to me. :) I was ROFL at you picturing your PT pulling out the knitting needles to get to your muscles. :rofl:

I’d love to see the Northern Lights! Not sure when I’d ever be in the right part of the country to see them, so right now I’d settle for seeing a star-studded night sky. I did try it on the cruise, but it just so happened we had a very bright moon in the sky the night I remembered to look, so not many stars were visible. I agree with you re the multiple types of winter boots needed. I have a decent pair of lace-up short boots, but need taller ones for all this !@#$% snow. I’m glad I have the rubber boots now – they are taller than my other ones and good for my brief jaunts into the backyard to pick up the dog piles, and for wet weather in milder temps, like today. But they aren’t warm enough for typical winter temps. I haven’t gotten around to sewing my fleece wellie liners, but I doubt they’d make them warm enough for winter wear anyway. Gosh, you’ve got some nasty weather coming your way – too bad it’s going to interfere with your yoga class and your shift at the shop. Fingers :crossed: that the race can still go off as planned.

Shad – What kind of cake did you bake?? :hun: I liked the FB photos your nephew posted – you looked great, and awfully happy about your salad, LOL. It did look tasty, as did the grilled meats! I can’t wait for some warmer temps so my appetite for salads can return. I ate a decent number of salads on the cruise, but really enjoyed all the fresh fruits. Yeh, I certainly hope spring is coming soon – this winter has been a real bear for everyone around here, to put it mildly. It might be more apt to say it’s bringing people to the brink of I don’t know what - insanity, desperation, hibernation, LOL. Just wonder if we will keep this in mind when we are complaining about temp and humidity levels in the 90’s….Love that webcam – aside from the fog, it’s nice enjoying that bay view!

--
I did my pushup challenge last night. I could only do 2 standard pushups, not the 3 called for. And they weren’t in the perfect form I would strive for. Bf said, I thought this was the easy pushup challenge. He thought it meant doing the knee (i.e., easy) version. I said it meant that by day 30 you work up to 20 pushups, which would be easy/doable for someone who could already do standard pushups, or had done them in the past, or already had good strength in their arms, chest & core. Him: Aha. Then he commented that it was surprising that I found the standard ones so much more difficult to do than the knee version. I responded that they are much harder. Him: I bet you can’t even do 10 of those, or even 5. At which point I did my 5 knee pushups. :D Anyway, bf has decided to join me in the challenge. He's not exercising much lately, but he's done a lot of pushups in the past, so this shouldn't be a problem for him.

And since several of you sound interested – how about joining me in the 30-day easy pushup challenge?? I'd love that!! Modify however you need to, as long as it’s still challenging for you. Here’s the link again: http://30dayfitnesschallenges.com/30...-up-challenge/

Since I’m having trouble with doing standard pushups, I’m going to have to do some of the reps with the knee version. But I also might try to do the standard pushups with my hands on my exercise step or our weight bench to make it easier for me. That’s a middle ground between a full standard pushup and the knee version.

As for tracking my eating…I struggled mightily last week and fell off tracking mid- to late last week. Today I'll get back to it. I chickened out of my WW meeting on Tuesday, but I might just face the music today at another meeting location near the office. I’m not giving up!! I’m still at a loss of 25 pounds, and I’m not letting that hard work go to waste!!

Okay, I once again have spent more time than I intended on my post, and have been interrupted way too much, so I better just finish up and get this posted. TTFN!

:coffee2::coffee2::coffee2:

Morning ladies,

OMG what a mess. Right now at the moment it is quiet but we are due for a whopper of a storm to hit around noon time. 8 to 12 inches of wet, heavy snow. And today is the start of the ski race. The weather is supposed to deteriorate rapidly (as will road conditions) later this afternoon when they have the opening ceremonies and 10,000 plus skiers will be coming to try and pick up their bibs (numbers). I was not planning on going out - even to yoga this morning and had already spoken to the volunteer coordinator about not going into the shop this afternoon. Got a call early this morning from this amazing volunteer. She and her husband are VERY active in the community and they are supposed to be handing out bibs this evening in the very worst of the storm. They are planning on overnighting it at the shop which I can't imagine. She said they are campers but they are much older than me and I'd be so crippled if I slept on the floor I would not be able to stand up straight. God love them for their dedication but ... all these people are coming in to town people are depending on the volunteers - there's about 2,000 volunteers who help out. I think this will be one of those races that gets talked about for a good long time. I was debating about helping at a spaghetti feed tomorrow but I think I won't be able to - my knee is really bad and I don't think I can stand for a minimum of 6 hours plus clean up time. Neither can DH - he's having some after effects from all the snow clean up he did the other day. Just a couple of gimpys we are. :no:

Annie - Limpin' Igor - I love it. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that shot was. I hope it gives you some relief. Tell me again, is it arthritis from an old injury? As for skinny birds - it's actually a misnomer to say someone eats like a bird because a bird typically eats twice it's weight in a day - that's a lot of food for us, not so much for them as they are little puff balls and quite skinny under all those feathers. Be careful walking around - wet on snow makes for super slippery conditions. I'm sorry about what's going on at work. :( It is really stressful in the corporate environment today - sorry it's a hot button for me. I keep seeing them squeeze more and more of the worker bees who are doing the work, yet the people in management are reaping the benefits. My old place had "managers" that managed 1 or no employees. How can you be a manager? We didn't get raises because of some corporate b.s. about having to conserve funds yet that didn't stop them from having a 2 day off site meeting for the managers where they all rah rah'd and patted themselves on the back about how wonderful they were. My husband's job was cut and moved to India and he was told (after 25 years with the company) that he could re-apply in India if he liked. I just think they speak one thing and do something opposite and think the sheeple won't notice (although we are afraid to complain). I hope this does not adversely affect you - I know you work very hard and living under the sword not knowing if you'll have a job to support yourself is the worst kind of torture over and over again.

Susie - hope you get some quiet , catch up time in the office now that the knots are worked out. My Mom is having the same problem with leaves she pushed them to the street in anticipation of clean up but - the city didn't pick them up and then it snowed and then a neighbor shoveled them back on the parkway so that my sister could come and have a clean spot to pick up my Mom for doctor appointments and shopping. There's a big mess to clean up and my Mom is trying not to stress over it. But nasty, cold, wet and rotting leaves are physically hard to pick up and yucky to boot. Good job you did! As for physical therapy - it won't do anything for the knee itself but may release the tightness in the larger leg muscles which pull on the knee when they tighten. Will let you know how it goes. How long have you had issues with yours?

Michelle - I'm very sorry to hear about ex-SILs cancer. Hope she will be fine after treatment - always encouraging when they catch it early. I am really surprised at how it seems to run in families - more than just a random chance. Thanks for the info on the knee surgery. I've heard it's a difficult surgery and recovery takes work. I was on Mobic for a while - it really did a good job on the pain relief but it had some side effects so I weaned off of it when I got through the worst of the pain. I'm glad it's working for you.

Shad - I agree that your nephew looks much younger than his age! I'm glad he took pictures because they came out very nice. Looked like everyone was having a great time. It's nice to see you having a good time with friends and family because some of your assignments have been rather stressful.

I'm hungry - going to go fix that. Hello to Ceejay and Terra. Talk to you later.

Hi Laura - typing over me again as a couple of you were. :D

I would encourage you not to give up on the food tracking even if you miss a day - I have done the same. All to easy to get off kilter and as you say you have worked sooo hard to get the weight off, don't slip back as it happens so fast. Very funny with DBF and your push ups. I hope he makes it to the end - good for you for gently pushing him to do more. And yes, there is a big difference between acupuncture and dry needling. The acupuncture is based on energy flow and the dry needling is more physics and biomechanical principles on the muscles. So different things - the PT was very clear in explaining the differences and I appreciated that.

Ok, just wanted to post quick when I saw you. Have a great day - don't envy the mess you are dealing with. All that water will be horrid when it freezes again. Do you get dripping in the front of the house from the snow loaded gutters? Our house in AH faced north and the snow would melt, refreeze into huge blocks of ice and then drip back down on the front patio. Got so that you couldn't use the front door for about 6 weeks as the ice was so thick. And you couldn't really melt it or get it out of the gutters!

It's Friday!!!!! Yeehaa. About an hour from going home time.

I wanna GO HOME.

Let me outa here.

happy2bme ~ The walking is coming along pretty well, Thanks for asking.

Michelle ~ Thanks for commenting on my dog. Thats cool that there are alot of chi's in your area. Thats neat that you've had Santa since he was 2.

annie ~ Im doing good, How are you doing today?

Laura ~ Yeah Clyde is pretty old but for some reason he is still kicking lol. My walking is going good, Thanks for asking. Yeah I am going to make sure to get outside more and enjoy the nice weather while its nice.

Shad ~ *H~E~L~L~O*

I didnt get to get my walks in this morning or this afternoon but I am going to walk before bed so I'll at least get one walk in today.

Shad
When I first saw your post I thought of Mel.

Happy
Did you get more snow. I know it's still winter but good grief ya'll had your fair share of snow.

Susie
Sounds like you needed some quiet time away from the boss.

Hi Terra. What's new.

Michelle
Sounds like you are looking forward to your week end as well.

Laura
I did 10 counter push ups this morning and 10 squats.

Hi Annie
Enjoy these warm days as we get them. We had so much wind yesterday that I didn't want to get outside. Today is cooler but sunny.

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I worked in my home office yesterday and did some rearranging. I'm still debating on getting the twin bed. Just something extra that I will have to move when that time comes. I bruised my little toe and the side of my foot yesterday. I was stepping over the vacuum cleaner and my foot grazed the top of the vacuum. I thought I'd broken my little toe but thankfully only bruised and sore this morning. It's blue and not black. I put ice on it last night.
I also watched the Olympics last night. I love down hill skiing and figure skating. There's some extremely young figure skaters this year.
I text the friend that stayed with me for a week yesterday but have heard anything. I've learned to use reverse psychology on people like her. She was to lazy to get out and get the ice off her truck and then wanted me to take her places, I said no. I left her do all the cooking in which she replied I'm going to gain 10 pounds if I stay here. And after the ordeal with the tablet she left the next day. I really don't expect to here from her.
It was storming yesterday when it was time to go get my pay check. I text B and told him I would pick it up this morning. T. brought it to me while ago. Now I need to run some errands.

ceejay ~ The only thing that is new with me is we are going to get our new deep freeze when my mom gets off of work, Its gonna be so nice to have more freezer space.

I walked last night and Im gonna do my best to walk this morning and then walk again later on tonight before bed, I would walk at 2:30 pm today but we have to go somewhere at that time so I wont be getting my 3 walks in today but at least I'll get 2 in.
__________________

Good morning all,

We got over 10 inches of heavy, wet snow overnight. They had to cancel the juniors race this morning (ages 8 - 18) because volunteers and participants can't get around. The trees are heavy and bent down with snow - we are concerned about how many branches we will lose (big ones affect the overall health of the tree). I'm sure the roads are a mess too although with as many people as we have in town, I'm sure they were cleaning all night long. Off areas like our street will probably not get plowed out for 2 days though... I am about to head out and help DH clean up so will be back later for personals.

Morning all. TGIF!! :carrot:

Happy – Wow, sounds like the race will be an interesting one with all the snow you got. That’s a lot of skiers and a lot of volunteers!!! Had no idea it was such a ginormous event. I hope all goes well with the rest of it. Re ice on the roof and gutters: We had gutter covers installed with our new gutters some years back, and so now we will get a buildup of snow and ice on top of our gutters, and this results in icicles. We have a roof rake and bf rakes the section of roof over our front door stoop and that does the trick, otherwise we do have iclcles dripping onto the stoop and ice on the stoop as a result. So we don’t really have much trouble with that at all. Before we had the gutter covers, we didn’t get icicles…but the covers are soooo worth it – no leaf-clogged gutters to clean out!!! Re the pushup challenge – I have no doubt bf will complete it – he’s very confident with those. It was the squats that he balked at. He’s had knee injuries in the past and is very cautious about them now.

Shad – Hope you’re enjoying your weekend!!

Terra – Alive and kicking beats the alternative. :D Enjoy the new freezer!

Ceejay – Whoohoo re the squats and pushups!!! Ouch re the toe, glad you didn’t break it. LOL, the reverse psychology seems to have worked on your friend. Plus I think she knows now that you won’t put up with playing maid for her.

Hellos to Susie, Annie & Michelle! :wave:

++
Nothing much to report. BF and I did the challenge last night. I did mine against the weight bench in the basement and it was challenging but not impossible. I guess I will try to mix it up and do some of the pushups on the floor at first, then move to either my aerobic step or the weight bench for the remainder. I was actually sore from the past two days – I'd been focused on squats and abs and before that my Pilates/Barre classes, so I haven’t done any real upper body work in a loooong time.

I came across “Inside the Actors Studio” on TV last night and thought it would be a rerun (I haven’t seen that show in so long, I thought it was no longer being aired), but it was a new show, with Matthew McConaughey as the actor being interview. I DVR’d it and look forward to watching it.

It’s back to the colder temps today, and it’s been really windy since last night. Bleh. Bonuses were paid out today, so that’s nice. The boss is back after having been on a boondoggle for a committee on which she serves plus some more vacation days. Must be nice. My next vacation day is in 2 weeks because I have a doctor’s appointment. Whoopee. Actually, a friend from MN is going to be in town that day and a couple of us will try to get together with her then, so it won't just be a ho-hum day off.

My weekend will feel short because I have a conference out of town next week on Monday and Tuesday, and I fly out Sunday afternoon. Nice short trip, but I still have to prepare for it.

That’s about it for me. Everyone have a wonderful weekend!! :)

Howdy All....

Nothing new today, just got all my crap in the talent software to apply for jobs here on Monday. I updated my resume, it looks quite nice if I do say so myself. I am really not upset this time. It is in God's hands, what will be, will be...

My brother's PSA level is down to 8.2 from the last time 13.4, prior to that was 87.7, the lower the better, meaning the meds are slowing the growth down of the cancer. It is not a cure, just slowing it down. Prayers are still needed.

Sissy is 2 weeks and 4 days from delivery. We are all excited and can hardly wait to meet Royce Michael. Her internal sonagram from yesterday indicated he is about 6 lbs 5 oz at the moment. May gain another 1 to 1 1/2 lbs more. Nice little baby. She has no more room in her belly and he is all scrunched up in there. Wall to wall babe.

Will do personals later, maybe if I get back.

Hugs

Happy Friday ladies,

Busy day today. We decided on the new webhost and now I'm in the process of migrating the new website I'm building so that development and testing can be completed on the new host. Moving a WordPress site from one domain name (what comes after the "www") to a new one is no easy task. Lots of backend convoluted database stuff to contend with that requires LOTS of concentration.

Happy - I hope the snow doesn't take down any branches. You and DH be careful when moving the wet heavy stuff. Hopefully the snow won't impact the rest of the race/racers.

Laura - Good for you for doing the challenge! I plan to start it tomorrow. You're smart to have the gutter covers. I tried to talk my ex into getting them, but money was too tight.

Ceejay - Well done on the squats and pushups!

Shad - I got a laugh out of the "let me outta here" post.

Terra - Good for you for at least getting some walking in.

Annie - I'm so glad to hear that your DD is doing so well with her pregnancy. I just saw the ultrasound photo of my eldest niece's baby girl due in early July. Her name will be Audrey Kate. And I'm glad to hear your brother's PSA level is going down. My dad took meds to keep in PSA levels in check for around 13 or 14 years. Sending prayers for your brother.

Gotta get back to it. Have a great weekend everyone!

Much love,

I bought a twin bed. Waiting on it's delivery. I actually just stop to browse but my state income tax was in the bank this morning and I found a really nice one.
I need to run a couple of more errands.

Huh, thought I successfully posted, but nope.

Michelle - Good luck w/ the migration.

Annie - Yay for the lower PSA level for your bro. Won't be long now for Royce!!

Photos of Costa Maya, Mexico - shoreline by the pier/doc and one of the temples at the Chocchoben Mayan ruins. Lovely to look at the blue water, green land. I'd misplaced my photo cd's for a few days and was sort of panicked I'd lost them, but they turned up today, in my purse, where I'd already checked 3 times. They were jammed in my checkbook, which I didn't actually pull out of my purse until today.

Laura - Thanks for sharing the lovely photos. I'm so glad you didn't lose the CDs. The migration took most of the day, but it seems to be mostly ok. Still lots more testing, tweaking and downright developing to do.

Ceejay - Good for you for getting a bed. I know it's more to move, but at least neither you nor your houseguests will have to sleep on the couch. :D

it's 3am and I am awake. This is getting old. Happened last night as well. Seems I get to Friday, can't stay awake, then at stupid o'clock an alarm clock goes off in my head. Grrrr

Now I can't think what else to write. Guess a drink and back to bed might be easier