Afternoon all,
Posting from work so this will be short and sweet. The system is so slow that I can type a line befor the words start to appear on the screen. Don't you just hate that.

Annie - best of luck for tomorrows surgery. Hope everything goes okay and you feel much better soon.

Terra - thanks for being honest about you weight loss journey. It's a long hard journey for everyone and the longer it takes the more we seem to fall off the wagon.I can't stress how important the exercise is. Without it there is no weight loss. That and portion control. So pick yourself up and get back on the wagon. Is there no exercise classes you can go to close by that you can get encouragement from others?

Okay, think time is up. Back to the grind. Back maybe later tonight.

Annie ~ Your surgery tomorrow is going to go well, U will breeze through it like a champion :angel: Kiddo, I also like donating & shopping @ church's for flea market sales to boost their Food Pantry donations. Our GoodWill store is big & employs 'special needs' ppl that some other businesses won't hire, so dh & I go there monthly looking for items to 'up-style, recycle, repurpose', there's also a place called 'The Restore' for Habitat for Humanity w household items that we check monthly. I got a pr. of beautiful brass lamps that just needed polished & new elect. cords & shades replaced. I love watching some of the 'picker shows' about antiquing/flea markets; dh & I go as much as possible. Dh had a boss whom now makes a living buying & selling from auctions of unclaimed, 'rented storage unit contents'.

Ceejay ~ U r soo lucky to go to Texas, maybe while U r there for your event U will have some time to explore & see some awesome history sites. I'd go online for that area & try making some plans & look for discounts too if U can stay awhile. I hope they will b having temps in the 70*'s-80* when U r there :sunny:

Terra ~ Nobody's perfect especially w the holidays. I gained 3 lbs. in Dec. w my freaking foot injury :( There's a diet club that I know U would enjoy belonging to. U can win weekly prizes as incentives to have a weight loss, they play games, have contests, have a free monthly magazine, a yearly state rally, have professional nutritional support & a sports doctor, Plus give U great member support & it is very inexpensive it's called TOPS (TakingOffPoundsSensibly). I was a member for a few years & a officer; our Susie still belongs to TOPS & was a officer & she enjoys it & can answer questions for U. U can visit TOPS for free. It's home office is in Milwaukee, WI w clubs all over the U.S. & Canada. It also has a website to use & also locate meetings in your area. I really recommend it to get U started, many ppl have been there for +10 yrs. after they have reached their goals. Ok, whatever U decide to do U know we r here for U :cheer:

Susie ~ I was watching D. Abbey last night & missed the first half of Revenge, so I'll read online to see what happened. Do U get to visit Amish stores & pick-up some groceries, they have grains I can't buy anywhere else. I use my crock-pot to soak/cook their beans, etc. overnight & they have some amazing scratch ingredient cookbooks there & most of their vitamin supplements r almost @ wholesale prices, my Naturopath told me to compare the Amish prices w the Nutrition stores, & the Amish prices r so much lower & fresher because the Amish community uses supplements daily. While I was @ my chiropractor several times through the years, I've seen infants to pregnant Amish ppl getting a correction & booking massages from my Naturopath. They work hard & take care of their bodies. :bike2:

Shaddie ~ I hope that U hook-up w a guy/bloke to take U out for a romantic dinner while U r working there. Or get a friend to go w U to a good restaurant or she/he will take U home to share a meal w them :hungry: Only sooo much eating-out your body can handle; so how about U put on your bikini & go to the beach & have a picnic. Line a BBQ grill w foil in a park & make some delish veggie kabobs :beach:

Laura ~ I'm w U having lots of cookbooks & purging them. Now mine r mostly specialty ckbks: a Eating Light collection w different years of America’s Test Kitchen on PBS & vegetarian ckbks from watching PBS TV like the Jazzy Vegetarian & Christina Cooks & recipes from their websites what looks delish they cooked; & Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type ckbk & Diet by Dr. P. D'Adamo my Dh & I both have type O blood. Dash Diet ckbk, Smoothie bk, Fruit Infused Water/Holistic Wellness bk, Food Dehydrator bk, Canning/Freezing bk, Soup, Crock-Pot, Veggies bks. I prob have about 30 ckbks now instead of about 50 ckbks. I learned lots about food like U taking most of the acid out of tomatoes by dropping a carrot in your sauce & then remove it prior to serving to avoid heartburn, broccoli is great for women w estrogen related cancer, etc. Eating a whole egg is Healthier than eating just the white because omitting the yolk deletes important nutrients VS the minute difference of eating only the white for less cholesterol. Education is Power, read a bk, learn from other ppl, talk w a health professional.

Chelle ~ I mainly eat veggie style & add some poultry, fish & pork. Yummo, :p TY for the delish recipe; ok my next Amazon purchase tomorrow will b a 'spiralizer for veggies' I love gadgets & that's a good use for my garden veggies. Losing lots of pounds in a way that is different to your body/muscles/nervous system has gotta have some sort of hormonal impact on your system; it's like losing a little friend inside U that enjoyed pie/candy/ice cream/chips/snacks. You've prob lost the body weight of a toddler, in a short time. I was feeling down today too & almost started to cry because I'm so angry @ myself that my foot hasn't healed yet (happened Dec. 4) & it's my fault for going down the stairs so quickly @ my doctors building breaking my foot. I tried wearing the odd 'boot' my doc ordered, but the 2nd day it was twisting my hip & I quit wearing it so I wouldn't mess-up my hip-flexors which is a side-effect from wearing the boot on our foot. I 'heard' Happy saying 'suck-it up Buttercup'; then I played 'Greater', by MercyMe & other tunes while making myself a spinach/raspberry smoothie w plain yogurt in my Nutri-Ninja & I got over my blues. I do agree w Annie that food is a mood-maker & a mood-breaker. U made a Life Changing decision to have surgery to Live a 'Better Life with a Healthier Body' :hug: Life is full of Baby Steps & some days we All get emotional w the blues :hug: Life IS Good :cloud9:

Hap ~ "What U talkin about Willis -18* :lol: I did not know U r living @ the North Pole :brr: I watched Downton Abbey after I watched the new silly 'Gallavant' @ 8 pm, it was like watching the musical Spam-Alot :D I had the balance ball chair in my Amazon shopping cart w a purple fabric ball cover for it & my Dh saw it & deleted it :( From now on I'm ordering my stuff ASAP so he can't empty it & tell me I'm wasting $. So I may order the round inflatable balance cushion w nobs $15, it says U can sit on it in a chair & also stand on it?? For my little buns & maybe use it on hard stadium seats/bleachers. Give me a review on how U like using your ball chair.

Make This a Great :yay: Week

Morning all,

Afraid I have no time for personals this morning. Just finishing up the coffee and I have to hop in the shower and get ready for my stint at the Thrift Shop. Stayed up way too late last night gathering things to take with me including going through the old newspapers and separating out what is to be recycled from the longer sheets of newsprint we use at the shop to wrap things. I only got about 5 hours of sleep - not enough so I am dragging this morning. Doesn't help that it's so cold you don't want to get out of bed anyway. :^:

Have a good one and I will try and get back here after supper.

Just a quick post...

Annie - Wishing you a very successful surgery and a speedy recovery. Sending hugs and prayers to you. :hug:

Ceejay - Bravo on the 25 pushups and riding the bike. Good to hear the pushups are getting easier. I totally forgot about starting the challenge last night.

Happy - Have a good stint at the thrift shop. I hope you can get a second wind to get through it despite not enough sleep.

Dee - I donate a lot to GoodWill, Salvation Army, and battered women's shelters. Sometimes the women and their kids only get out of their abusive homes with the clothes on their back. I'd never heard of putting a whole carrot in tomato sauce, but I have heard of people adding grated carrots to add more veggies. My ex-DMIL also added a teaspoon of sugar to cut the acid. Thanks for the kind words about my blues. Oh no! I missed "Galavant"? Dang! I'm going to have to see if it's On Demand. As for Downton Abbey, I'm going to look for the prior seasons at the Library. I enjoy marathon watching TV. Well, not really marathon since I watch one or two episodes per night. Right now, I'm re-watching Grey's Anatomy (one of my fave shows).

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My friend Bob got some very bad news yesterday. A few days ago the doctors noticed he had fluid not in his lungs but they could hear it around his lungs, making it a little difficult to breathe. He had a CT scan yesterday and the cancer has spread to his lungs. This particular cancer is VERY resistant to general chemo, so the next steps are to: (1) determine if a targeted chemo would be effective, and (2) determine if the tumors in his lungs are operable. If both of those can happen, the prognosis is very good and he could live for a few years. If not, it could be weeks or months. :cry: After all Bob has endured, to learn the cancer has spread is heartbreaking for everyone and has really broken Bob's spirits.

Cancer just effing sucks! I've lost too many loved ones to that effing disease!

Hugs to all,

Morning all.

Happy – Hope you get a good night’s sleep tonight – it’s important! Stay warm! I’m interested in the balance chair.

Dee – I find that the more that I read, the more confusing and conflicting information is out there! I think the air cushion with the nubbies you ordered is the same thing we’ve used in the Pilates classes I’ve taken – they add a bit of instability to the movements and make them more challenging. Sorry your foot is still not healed. Too bad the boot didn’t work for you, but you’re right to be concerned that wearing it will hurt your hip flexors.

Shad – That’s really annoying when you’re typing and nothing shows up on the screen for a while.

Ceejay – Good job on the exercise. Definitely challenge yourself if the counter pushups are getting too easy for you!!

Annie- :hug: :goodvibes :grouphug:

Michelle – Nice that you’re still on 4-day workweeks. I can only imagine how fabulous it is to have great weather most of the time and not have your outdoor activities and plans so limited like we do here! Enjoy!! I hope getting back to work raises your spirits. Interesting what Annie said about depression being an aftereffect of the WL surgery. Between you and Annie posting about shrimp, it makes me want some!! :hun: Re your comments to Terra - you are so right about the eating part of the weight loss equation – it can’t be ignored because the overwhelming majority of us can’t exercise enough to balance out overeating of the wrong kinds of foods. Just read your post about your friend Bob – I’m so sorry to hear his cancer has spread!! What horrible news! I hope chemo or surgery is an option for him.

Hi Susie! Hope the snow/cold isn’t affecting your commute today!
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Nothing much to report. We only had about 2-3 inches of snow last night. My train was on time today.

Didn’t do much last night except watch my dvr’d episode of Downton Abbey. Did NOT set up the fitbit. Steps were 6,698 for the day. I didn’t get out at lunch and bf picked me up from the train after work, so I didn’t get more. I won’t be getting many steps today because I got a ride to the train this morning and expect to get one tonight. Same for tomorrow, when it’s supposed to be very cold.

I did Day 1 of my easy pushup challenge last night. I’ve decided I will start off doing as many of the full pushups as I can and then do the challenge number of pushups on my knees. Last night I could only do 2 full pushups and I didn’t even feel like my form was all that great. Day 1 only called for 3 pushups, and I was shocked that even that small number was a challenge for me doing the knee version pushups (after I did my full pushups). But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised – I haven’t done pushups for a while – in over a month I’m guessing - because bf had the front bedroom (my daily pushup spot) filled with the tools and supplies he was using for the half bath re-do.

Speaking of that half-bath redo…we couldn’t use the half bath on Christmas Eve because bf didn’t have time to get the new faucet hooked up. By the time New Year’s Eve came around, the sink/faucet were completely done, along with the new medicine cabinet, light fixture, TP and towel holders. All that’s left are the glass shelves that’ll go above the toilet tank, as well as some paint touch-up where the walls meet the ceiling. The plaster patching was by far the most challenging part of the project for bf, and there are definitely spots that need more work/re-work. If I could get bf out of the house for the better part of a day, I wouldn’t mind doing some more sanding and touch-up in those spots. Actually, that’s not all that’s left to do – now we have to buy a new window treatment to complement the new wall color, and we also need to buy some towels, rugs, and wall decorations/knick knacks. But at least that’s the fun part.

I haven’t even wanted to discuss the half-bath with bf (or here) because he was really, really touchy about it and discussions about it generally turned into arguments - quite a sore subject. Honestly, I wish we’d gotten someone in to deal with just the plaster repair because that was the big stumbling block - the rest was a piece of cake for bf. But no, once he started in with obtaining a quote from the one contractor, he just added in all the other miscellaneous work around the house that needed to be done. So the quote comes in and of course it’s more than you wanted to pay. So then bf decides he’ll tackle the whole project himself. Add in him dragging his feet a bit and me being anxious to have it done before holiday company came and it wasn't a happy situation. I'm glad the bulk of that project is now done.

Tonight I’ll take the ornaments off the Christmas tree. It's time.

That’s it for me. TTFN.

Shad ~ Yeah I too believe that you have to do portion control and exercise in order to lose weight. I'm gonna join Just Ladies Fitness, I have an appt. to go talk to them and look around on Friday.

Dee ~ Yeah I'm gonna join TOPS next month, Thanks for telling me about them.

Laura ~ Yeah I'm glad you believe the eating portion of weight loss is important too. I wish I could just exercise and lose weight or just diet and lose weight but I have to do both to see any results.

Thanks Michelle for letting us know about Annie. Been thinking about her all day.

Annie
Rest, rest, rest. Sending good healing vibes your way also.

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Did my push up last night and rode the bike for 23 minutes or 5 miles.

Get well soon Annie.
Need you back to keep us in order.

Annie ~ Sending prayers your way

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I woke up at 5:00 this morning, Its now 8:06 a.m. I just got done having breakfast. I'm gonna do my 40 min. Chair Exercises in an hour and then at 11:30 a.m. I'll do my 30 min. walking dvd and then at 7 tonight I'll do my 40 min. evening chair exercises. Scott and I have appt. at 1:30 until 3:30 p.m. today. Those are the only plans I have for today.

Good morning ladies,

Work went well yesterday and after work, I went on an hour-long walk with a friend of mine. He commented that I must be in better shape because we were walking at a pretty fast pace and prior to surgery I wasn't able to walk anywhere near as far without a sitting down break. :D A bunch of people from my Friday night support group are going to hike up one of the areas taller mountains to take in the views. I'd really like to go, but it's 8 miles each way and has a 2,000 foot elevation gain, so I'll take a raincheck and start off with shorter hikes. Today after work, I'm working out with my trainer and either doing yoga or cardio after that.

My friend Bob is doing as well as could be expected. He has decided that after the Stanford Board of Oncologists meet on Friday, if it is determined that tumors in his lungs can be removed surgically or that targeted chemo would be effective, he will fight the cancer. If the oncologists determine that all that can be done is palliative care to "keep him comfortable", he wants to be released to go home as soon as physical therapy determines he'll be able to take care of himself. It's just so very sad. He's such a great guy.

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Annie - I hope you're doing better today. Sending you lots of love, prayers and healing wishes.

Laura - You mentioned about the air cushion adding a bit of instability to the movements to make them more challenging. It's so true. I've used those and Bosu balls (which look like 1/2 of a balance ball with a flat plastic bottom). If you stand on those, it really challenges your balance. I've used them in the past to add difficulty to planks (back in the day when I could do 60-75 second planks). I have heard that depression can happen after WL surgery because it's not possible to turn to food for comfort, which was my go to coping mechanism for years. As for the pushup challenge...I forgot about it yesterday, so I'm going to start tonight. I'll be at the gym anyway, so I can ask my trainer to check my form. It's so dang cold in the midwest, I'm impressed you got nearly 7,000 steps in. I've heard a lot of schools are closing (at least in Milwaukee) due to the brutal cold. Stay inside and stay warm, girlfriend. Glad to hear that the half-bath is nearly done. Bummer that it was a contentious subject.

Terra - I haven't heard of Just Ladies Fitness. If it's a gym just for ladies, that sounds really good. I hope they affordable and are close enough to be convenient for you.

Dee - Since the boot didn't work for you, can you wear or do anything else to help your foot heal?

Ceejay - Well done on the exercising! :bravo:

Well, I've got to sign off for now. My coworkers (and bosses) are starting to arrive at the office.

Here's to a great day for all of us. Let's all make the best choices so we can reach our healthy goals.

Much love and many hugs,

Michelle ~ Yeah I've seen the commercials for Just Ladies Fitness before but I never thought about joining until now.

Morning all.

Finishing some cinnamon-orange tea right now. This is the 2nd time this week in which I filled my mug from the coffee maker’s hot water spigot and got only lukewarm water – and didn’t realize it until after I'd tried to brew my tea in it. Either I’m not paying close enough attention to see that the green “ready” light is lit, or something’s wrong with the machine. It’s probably me. :dunno: After I discovered that my tea bag failed to brew today, I dumped out the water but kept the tea bag, and added a 2nd tea bag as well. Of course it’s too strong now. And this has turned out to not be a tea I would ever buy again because the flavor is to strong and has a sweetness I don’t care for (although the upside is that no added sweetener is necessary). Anyway, I’vwe been trying to use up the 50 tea bags in the package I’d bought for quite a while now. When I originally bought this tea, I put about half of the bags in a glass jar and brought them to work. As I used the bags, there was more air in the jar and the orange oil in the tea bags went rancid and so I tossed out all the bags in the jar. So now I’m trying to use up the other half of the bags – which are still fine because they were stored in the bag they came in. I keep the bag in the jar to ensure the teabags stay fresh. Never again am I buying tea that will “go bad”! It’s one thing for it to get old and less flavorful. It’s another to have tea that spoils and tastes bad. Ick. Not giving it away - who'd want it?? Okay, rant over!

Last night bf and I took down the Christmas tree and got the rest of the bins in order and stowed them in the attic. How nice it was to not have to cram the tree through the attic access opening – this new, slimmer tree went through just fine. :) The new storage bag is nice – it even has wheels at one end. The only thing left to store is the dish towels, which need to go through the wash.

Also, I realized after we’d finished that we also didn’t store the spruce-scented candle bf’s mom gave us and my Tall Book of Christmas. Are any of you familiar with this book? This was something I grew up with. It’s a tall skinny children’s book filled with wonderful Christmas stories and poems, and the most wonderful illustrations. Our family’s original book got old and tattered and my mother purchased a new book and gifted it to me – probably because I was the youngest at the time and still interested in it. I’ve had this replacement book ever since and sometimes I put it out at the holidays and sometimes not. This year I didn’t. However, when my family came over on Christmas Eve, my sister told me that she’d looked for the book with the intent of purchasing it (nostalgia, LOL). She was shocked that it was now hard to find (not available new) and, therefore, very expensive (over $100 online!). So I brought it out for her to look at that day, and have had it in the living room ever since. I probably won’t put it back up in the attic – the temperature really fluctuates up there. I also learned a few years ago not to store my Christmas candles up there either, LOL. Especially if they aren’t upright, hahaha.

After that I did my pushup challenge and that was it. BF and I watched an episode of “Breaking Bad”. Steps ended up at 6,392 because I went out at lunchtime.

Very cold today – the wind is what makes it so bad. However, I was so warm (with the exception of the exposed skin on my face) when I got into the office I ended up removing my long undie top and bottom. Of course, right now that I’ve cooled off I wish I still had the bottom piece on. I’m glad the train was on time today. Last night, I got to the train station and learned that the switches at the nearby train yard were frozen and there were some delays. My train left about 15 min. late, so that wasn’t too bad. At least we could wait in a warm spot. I feel bad for folks down the line at stations that have no indoor area in which to keep warm.

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Annie – Feel better soon!!! :getwell:

Michelle – Definitely a good idea to build up to the longer walks/hikes. It’ll happen! :yes: Friday’s a long time for Bob to wait to learn what his options will be. What a horrible disease! :( Re the Bosu ball – yes, those really make exercises challenging! It was one of the gifts I asked for from my family’s Secret Santa, but I got the Fitbit instead. One of these days I might buy one for myself. Re the pushup challenge – that’s why I like to print out the sheet and keep it on the end table by me – helps me remember to do it! Yeh, the Chicago Public Schools have no classes today, though the schools are open for kids to come if the parents or someone can’t be home with them. I know some other area school districts are also closed today.

Terra – I hope Just Ladies Fitness would be a good match for you. A long time back, I used to belong to a fitness chain called Women’s Workout World. I really liked it. (Happy – too bad this isn’t an option for you – no grunting men, LOL!) We don’t have any near the house, though there is one right across the street from my office. I can’t stand working out on my lunch break, so I will never join a gym or fitness facility near work again.

Hellos to the rest of you Worldlies! :wave: Have a great day!

Morning all,

Though I didn't get back in to post I was thinking about you Annie all throughout the day and hoping things went well with your surgery. Hope you heal up quick - the cramps thing is awful - rest up and get back on your feet soon. I hope you get a good bill of health.

Baby it is COLD outside. :brr::brr: Sometimes it doesn't matter so much if the sun is out - we generally don't get terribly strong winds here thank goodness but it is frigid. We are in dangerous wind chills, especially overnight. I am limiting going out of the house to only what is needed. It's really cold by the windows - I am glad I made the investment in good "honeycomb" insulated shades but it's still quite frosty from those big windows. I wonder how it is with some of these big expensive "show" cabins that have walls of windows in them. And a giant fireplace that pushes all the heat up to the cathedral ceilings rather than on the ground where you need it.

Did my stint at the Thrift Shop yesterday. Usual drama. I did get this really neat framed picture of a black bear print that says "beware of bears". I saw it just recently at one of the furniture stores we were at. This print is a cheaper plastic frame and not the best mat job - kind of a homemade matting if you ask me but you can't beat the price and no one will much know once it's hanging on the wall. I plan on putting it on the big stairway leading up to the second floor. DH measured yesterday and I think it looks great. Slowly we are transitioning out the southern decorations and moving to more of a "northwoods" theme up here. No stuffed fish or deer heads on the wall though. :no: :nono: :no: Just nice pictures of wildlife.

I'm staying in today. I am going to try a recipe from The Pioneer Woman (Food Network) for Tomato Soup. I am skeptical as I find the Pioneer Woman like Rachel Ray are tv "personalities" rather than actually foodies and their dishes look good but lack in the taste department. DH saw the recipe and asked if I am going to try it so that sealed the deal. Last year I froze some garden tomatoes I had roasted with onions and garlic - I might use those instead of canned tomatoes which will also help me get more stuff out of my freezer. This is a precious bounty so that soup had BETTER be good! :lol: I have the last of the Christmas stuff to put away and then will go through the box of books I have and see what goes in the new bookshelf and what goes back to the Thrift Shop. DH was kind enough to pick up 2 of my videos from the library so I now have 4 of Peggy Cappy's yoga videos to compare. She is quite young on a couple of them :lol:

My balance ball chair arrived yesterday. I had to leave it out for a few hours to thaw out. The ball is very heavy duty plastic. Fortunately I read the reviews ahead of time so I knew that the first fill of the ball is not nearly enough for it to fit properly in the chair (too small). They said let it stretch out a day or two and keep forcing more air into it until it gets to the size it needs to be. It also looks like it will be too low for my computer desk but it might be a good size for the desk in my hobby room (now that I have already purchased 2 chairs from the Thrift Shop. :rolleyes: If nothing else, I can also leave it on the main floor and do balance exercises while I watch tv. I will let you know how it goes.

Let me post before the cat ruins this. I'm not sure if it's her or my computer is petering out but I am having issues with all sorts of things including the video, keys sticking and not typing and other annoying stuff. I do not want to go to Windows 8 with a new computer. And it is not a good time for us to be purchasing 2 laptops either. :(