There is nothing on TV right now except Nancy Grace harping on and on about how guilty Scott Peterson is, so here I am!

Thinlizzie, how I envy you your climate in Michigan. Even though we are not really that far apart you have a much longer growing season than we do here in Kitchener. I have a cousin in Three Rivers and many years ago I went to visit her around the end of September. I was surprised to see the petunias and other annuals were still blooming and it was much, much warmer than it was back home.

I was thinking about what you said about your friend getting cramps in her legs. I have a friend at work who has a heart problem, well actually he has cardio myopathy and eventually he will need a heart transplant or else it's curtains for him. Anyway, he has a wealth of medical knowledge and I once complained to him about the terrible leg cramps I would wake up with at night. He said that I might have low potassium levels, because that can cause leg cramps, and this made sense to me because I drink a lot of diet cola, and I once read that this can remove potassium from your system. He told me I should eat bananas and the problem would correct itself. Now, I am not a lover of bananas, so I instead bought some multi vitamins containing potassium, and I haven't had this problem since. Maybe this information could be of help to your friend.

How did the deck sealing go? I had planned to stain our deck, which is on the front of our home, but whenever I had the time it was either blisteringly hot, or raining! I painted my kitchen instead, and it is now a bright pastel blue. I also painted my pine corner cupboard. It used to be a dusty pink color, and it clashed horribly with the butter yellow walls of my living room. It is now a dark blue color called deep blue sea on the outside and the inside is painted a deep red color. I painted bouquets of lilies and daisies on both the lower doors that were inspired by the stylized flowers on the upholstery fabric of the sofa. Wow...does it look good now. It's a whole new piece of furniture. My husband was really leery of the colors I chose, but he thinks it looks great. You would think that he would trust my judgement by now, but sometimes I suspect that he thinks I'm a few bricks short of a wall! Btw...where in MI do you live?

[email protected] am not 100% sure exactly how much weight I've lost because I didn't have a scale when I started working on this. The first time I weighed myself I was 186 lbs., but I'm sure I was well over 190 when I made the decision to get it off. I was wearing size 16 and some of those clothes were getting tight. Officially I have lost 20 lbs., but it is likely closer to 30. This may not seem like much, but I was carrying most of that blubber between my hips and breasts, and losing it has made a huge difference in my appearance. I have gone from wearing mostly baggy stuff to clothes that show off my figure, and I actually have a discernable waist again! I would say that since I bought the trainer that the weight has come off with greater regularity because prior to that I was dependant on getting out for a walk, which of course is subject to the whim of Mother Nature. One thing I can say for the trainer...it has really got my legs in shape.

Now some catch-up on other areas: my step-daughter found a car with my DH's help, bought it, dinged it three weeks later, and a week after that had an accident that, we thought, was the end of that car. The car was sold to a friend of my DH's who owns a body shop. My SD didn't even have her full driver's license at this point so she got charged for not having a licensed driver in the car and failing to yield. A few weeks later she was after dear old dad to find her another car, and after a fruitless search we discovered DH's friend was fixing up the old car! So she's buying it back. She's been driving it now for about a month and I'm hoping she learned a lesson from all this. Unfortunately I have a suspicion that the car is only going to last until the first snow and then it will be history. *****My step-son has announced that his girlfriend is pregnant. He will be a father at 19. Gosh, I hope he knows what he's getting himself into, but you know, neither he nor his sister would ever listen to us. Hopefully we can now convince him to finish high school so he can get a decent job and support his child.*****I don't know if I ever mentioned our cat. I spent big $$$$ on that animal getting it declawed, wormed and fixed, not to mention the kitty condo and other various cat accessories.....and the dang thing ran away! It got out one night and never came back. It always came back before, so we figure someone thought it was a stray and took it in. I wasn't so sad though, because I was always stepping on the poor thing. She couldn't seem to clue in to the fact she should avoid our feet, and I started to fear that someone would end up injured when she cut us off on the basement stairs. So, bon voyage, Sparky! Btw, we plan to adopt an already spayed and declawed kitty from a cat rescue shelter sometime in October. Hopefully we'll have better luck next time.

Hi All,

Happy Tuesday! Tomorrow's hump day...you gotta like short weeks and long weekends

I weighed in tonight and I'm happy to announce that I'm down 3.6lbs. I'm very pleased. I went to the gym yesterday and did 30 mins of cardio. What a rush!

Halgal- Thank you for your warm welcome. You're right, this is a great group. I'm very happy to be apart of it.

Tambolite- Congrats on your weight loss. I love reading about people's success, I find it very inspirational. Keep up the good work.

Thinlizzie- Welcome back. Glad that you had a good weekend. How did the driving test go?

Nita- How do you handle the heat? I think I would wilt...lol. Congrats on selling your car.

1 Day- I hope your feeling better. Allergies are such a pain. I've been waking up stuffy for the last couple weeks. Must be something in the air.

Catlover- Sorry to hear about your computer problems. My DH just formatted and reloaded ours. So I can relate to having a cranking computer.

Have a great Wednesday!

Hugs,
Jodie

Quikc check in to take us back to top--
CAtlover

Paul will manage okay, but will his mum survive the journey??

Hello Ladies,

Jodie - WTG on the 3.6 loss...

Chacha - I bet that was a sight to see all those harley's. I can't believe your daughter just started school yesterday. I think some schools here started back the first week in August.

Thin - sounds like you got lots of exercise working on the deck. I bet that was a beautiful sight to see the bald eagles. Those are sights we don't see here.

Nita - I'm sure you'll get to your goal. I agree, you don't need two vehicles if your the only driver.

Mooz - Wow... Sounds Paul is having a wonderful time. Will keep him in my prayers for a safe return.

Tambolite - Sorry to hear about your step-son. I sure hope he finishes high school.

I have not started the South Beach Diet, I have just been reading about it. There is a good article at www.prevention.com on it. They also have some good recipes. It is somewhat similar to Adkins except in the beginning you are allowed vegetables. The biggest drawback for me is no fruit. Now I don't know why i'm saying that cause I haven't had a fruit in 3 days, but when I think of what I can't have, then I seem to want it. Now does that make sense. I am preparing myself to start. I keep looking at my calendar thinking I have lunch plans with a friend on saturday, so I don't want to start til sunday. But I guess I should start tomorrow & then if i go off plan, just go off plan for 1 meal.

If you get a chance look at the site.

[B][COLOR=firebrick]Hey, gals - has it ever been busy here! Took me a while to catch up.

I have been soooo busy at school that i haven't gotten much of a chance to breathe, let alone keep up here. Two full days with kids in now, and i think my class looks like it will be OK. Just trying to stay one step ahead of them at this point!

DH pretty depressed - we haven't had any rain to speak of in well over a month and the crops are starting to look really bad. Then other parts of the country have too much, which sends the markets to heck, too. Happy for them, but boy, do we need rain!

So happy to see so many of you being successful right now. Anyone heard much about the Dr. Phil thing coming up? Think there is a prime time special next week.

I would try to respong to you all personally, but dog-tired tonight. Hopefully things will slow down in the next week or two and I can get going again. Guess Michellez must still be busy with work and DH's new job too. Great to see what all of the rest of you are up to. Will try to check back before the end of the week.

Hi again....just as I was trying to get back on track here I lost my hard drive and have been without it for some time.... finally figured out that it was the mother board and had it replaced....just got it back today....was I ever going through withdrawl... So I am going to try this again..... I need my fc chickies... I have missed everyone....hope all is well I have not even all the post it is late here after 11 I just got finished re installing my software and by the time I finished with my emails I really don't have time for much else other than a Hello I will get back in here tomorrow.... that sounds just like that last time... I hope I don't curse myself. Well my friends have a great night...well probably a great sleep and I will check in tomorrow when I have more time. Which in itself is quiet funny for the ones who know me from before know that I am the queen of the land of I can't say no and sit on more committees than the Queen of England. And yet again the new school year begins and so does my endless meetings and driving my children to their activities. But I have promised myself that I will try to take some time for me. Well I have rambled on enough...Good night

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick "hello" before I get ready for my first day on the job after being gone for 4 months. In a way I am looking forward to it, esepcially when I will have a 6-day weekend. I am also attending the WW meeting this evening and will probably be about 2 to 3 lbs. over my goal weigh-in, however I will benefit from finding out about the new program. My eating this week has been quite good, however, I still plan on trying the 1st two weeks of the South Beach diet. I also made it to the gym yesterday and that was a good experience as well. Now that we have sold the little car I am seriously thinking of getting another piece of exercise equipment to put in my garage, along with the treadmill. Hopefully it will be cool enough soon to go out there and exercise.

I hope all of you have a "great" day and enjoy life--because remember that's what life is all about!

Anita

Hello Ladies

Nita - I did not realize you were going back to work. I thought with all the sewing projects that would keep you busy. Are you going back to your previous employer?

LittleChick - Glad to have you back. Maybe you will be able to say "no" to a committee or two this year.

Mooz - Hope all goes well with your mammogram appt.

Mej - Hoping you all will get some rain. This past weekend we had a steady rain. I need for it to dry out so I can mow the yard. If you find out the date for Dr. Phil program let me know. I would like to see it.

nothing changed with me, my toe is starting to feel better, but I have been taping it up. Still thinking about the South Beach diet..just trying to figure out when is a good time to start it.

Thin, Mitchellez, Cat, Hal, Chacha, Jodie, Tambolite, - Hope you all are having a OP day.

Oh, Mooz....how I wish I could go to Australia for a vacation! Your son is on the trip of a lifetime. I hope he has a wonderful and safe journey. My husband's friend Mike and his family were in Ireland last week visiting his sister Rose. It would be lovely to have a sister who would pay for you, your spouse, and your two daughters to come over to Ireland and stay for a week. I don't have any relatives like that! They sent us a postcard from Galway Bay, and it sounds like they had a wonderful time. All these wonderful vacations I've been hearing about lately, and where am I going? To the Ramada Inn in Belleville for a weekend. I don't know if any of you have been there, but Belleville (to me at least) is one of the least exciting towns in all of Ontario...oh well, at least I'll get to do some shopping.

Still stuck in the 166-167 lb. range. Frustrating but at least I've gone down a bit from two weeks ago.

My BIL is getting custody of his son this week, we hope. The boy's mother pulled him out of school last spring and they disappeared. Recently Randy discovered his son was living in Kingston, about a 4 hour drive from here. My BIL decided to have his custody agreement enforced and drove all the way there to pick up his son for the last week of summer vacation, and when he got there she had disappeared again. Randy had her served with papers to appear in court this week, and when she ignored them the judge awarded him custody. Now the police are going to have to find our nephew, collect him, and then my BIL can go pick him up. I am hoping all goes well because I truly think his mother is not mentally well. We used to talk a lot and I am more aware than most family members of how angry and bitter she is. Time has not healed her wounded feelings, and I fear for my nephew's safety. My daughter misses her cousin terribly, so we all hope he is back home safe and sound as soon as possible.

I hope everyone is doing well. I hate to say it but my husband has brought me a cheeseburger for dinner! I'll have to work extra hard to burn off supper tonight.