Good morning,

About to head out to the Senior Center for a couple of hours this morning. DH went out to capture some early morning pictures. I hope he didn't take my car since I was blocking his!

Ceejay - I'd be nervous that kitty would try and bolt when I opened the car door but if she laid down and let you pick her up when she escaped, that's a good thing. Your reunion sounds like fun - better not wait too long on the hotel reservation less there are no rooms left!

Enjoy the day - I'll check back later.

Happy
That's what I was concerned with the kitty being loose in the back of the car. She only does this at the condo so far. I'm not going to be able to make it to the commune this year. My niece is my primary concern right now. Good for you in going to the pool to exercise.
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I went to the RecPlex with sis last night and rode the bike for 25 minutes. It felt good.
I need to take a fluid pill as my feet and ankles are swollen but I'm going to wait till later on in the afternoon to do so.
This is about it for me.

I read in the South Beach diet group to keep up with miss Ruth. It seems she has passed. No details were given.

I googled Miss Ruth and found an obituary from Canada. I knew she had married So I'm sure this is her. She mentioned her new husbands name as Bruce.

Hi Ladies, I am eating lunch at my desk while I read your posts and post back.

Anne: I'm sorry to hear you are feeling down. If you want to text, or call, and yell, cry, scream....please know I am here.

Ceejay: I hope the tooth continues to feel better. Enjoy your time at home.
Also, don't wait to long to get the hotel booked.

Happy: I hate getting in a cold pool, however when I did water aerobics it would get very warm quickly because of the workout.

I'm glad you joined a TOPS Facebook page. I am a member of one to and I find it very fun and inspiring. I hope you can get a group going.

Laura: I'm so happy to hear you like your tops from JC Penny. I would still love to go shopping with you.

I have an idea. You and Anne can come to Cincinnati for a mini vacation. We can go to Kings Island one day, go shopping one day and even do some fun things downtown. The JC Penny & Kohls store that I shop the most are close to Kings Island.

Doesn't that sound fun?!

Hi to Shad and to Dee.

Oh gosh, I'm so sad to hear that Ruth has passed away. I'd lurked on the south beach thread for a while, but not recently.

Ok I went looking - appears she passed away this past Saturday after a short illness. Very sad to hear that - she was such a ray of sunshine! I didn't know she had gotten married either - it seems like she was having a good life. RIP Ruthie from the Delta...

I checked it out too. I met Ruth when I came to the States and Canada some years back. We chatted occasionally on Facebook. I last spoke to her when I figured out she was getting married again. We joked about the speed of the engagement and wedding and she assured me she wasn't pregnant ��. I'll miss her on the threads. She was always so helpful and friendly and funny. Rest well Ruth. You've earned the rest.

In much brighter news, I went for my 6 month cancer check today. It seems that if you score under 35 on the C125 test you are considered in the normal range. Mine came in at 6. It was 8 at the last test. So I'm doing okay.

Howdie!

Yes, I believe it was Ruth. Her pic in the obit and the pic here on 3FC matched. I really enjoyed her upbeat posts. She will be missed.

Going to try to make this day about others to get out of my head. If it is not positive I am not going to say it. Of course this will start directly after this post. lol. I had a long talk with my sponsor last night. The conversations do not have to be AA related. It helped a lot.

I made fried cabbage in BUTTER and browned smoked sausage and onion to add to it. Wasn't paying close attention to one of the sausage packages and purchased hot smoked sausage. Sam and I love it in the fried cabbage but C couldn't eat it. Good for him as we had leftover mac n cheese with hamburger from the other night. I would say hamburger helper but it was actually hamburger browned mixed with a box of Kraft mac n cheese. lol. Easy quick dinner. Everyone was happy with that. Ro ate mac n cheese and Jacob had something I don't remember but not either of those.

Have any of you made it to Starbucks lately? Of course not. Anyway they have a iced strawberry fused green tea that I get unsweetened and put a half packet of the fake stuff in it. It is so yummy and very Keto. Very refreshing. It is my happy place when I am drinking it. I did get some of the freezed dried strawberries for home however they have a LOT of carbs, weird. Made some sun tea (black)over the weekend and by Monday evening it was all gone. Very delish. I put some of the FD strawberries in my serving. I can drink this tea unsweetened. I guess iced tea makes me happy. I will have to remember that when I am especially down.

HAPPY...glad to hear you are adapting to eating somewhat keto. I will tell you tho eating a few things off keto plan DOES STOP the advantages of eating on plan. Did I send you my Keto information yet? I cannot remember. Sugar stops the advantages of reducing inflamation and joint pain. I will attest to that as I have been eating things I should not and my joint pain is horrible. I finally made it one whole day-yesterday strictly on plan keto. Going for day 2 as I do not like feeling this way. My ankle and knees are just killing me right now. Wish me luck! DH is posting a great amount of absolutely beautiful pictures on FB. I truly enjoy seeing them. I am so very proud of you for doing your pool walking. That is awesome and it is great you are not letting "blabber mouth" stop you from going. Can't wait for our commune visit and hope it works out for everyone. I have 7 unplanned PTO days I am saving up. So I should be able to spare a few to head your way.

LAURA...glad you got your commuter bike back. Repaired brakes beats purchase of another bike. Surely BF has to agree with that. Not a fan of shopping. Don't like crowds, parking or any of that nonsense. The concert next week on the 15th (Steve Miller Band and Peter Frampton) will be challenging enough for me. Both my kiddos will be with me so there is that. Are you enjoying the rowing machine?

SUSIE...a get together in Cincy sounds great however I am not a shopper. I supposed I could drudge through one day of it. Mostly I just don't like spending $$ on myself. The boys don't need anything, especially toys and the rest of the family is on their own.

SUSIE...so happy to hear Genny is feeling/getting better. I just mailed my check for the Team Genny t-shirt. Probably Sam and I will fight over who gets to wear it. May have to buy her one also. Yahooo on the loss at TOPS. You rock sister. Ok I am going to ask, what is your grand total now? I figure as long as I am working on losing I won't get to complacent at goal weight and start eating things I shouldn't. These 7-8 lbs I need to get back off are a struggle for me. Trying to get back with it is awful.

CEEG...little Miley is adorable. Saw the pic on FB. At least I think it was your kitty. Hope niece gets back with the program and finishes up her classes for YOUR sake. Yes I believe it was Ruth from 3FC that passed. How is the gums feeling?

SHADDIE...hope you are feeling up to par and keeping up with your "yard" of gardens and such. Depression sucks and feel badly for your neighbor. Did you hear back from Carla49 yet.

HELLO DEE...

That's a wrap for me. Hugs ladies.

Yahoo SHADDIE on the C125 test! OH HAPPY DAYS!!

Good morning ladies,

Quick post for me as I have to go fill in at the Senior Center shortly and I have to be there early instead of my usual trotting in whenever... Also it's storming out - big blob of red and yellow on the radar so there's no escaping the heavy rain before I have to leave. Will probably be chilly in the office too.

on the good news on your cancer marker test Shad. Must be quite the relief for you - now you can attend to all the other demands on you. I'm glad you will be around us for a long, long time to come.

Ceejay - Miley is adorable!!! She resembles my Bimmy a bit. Miley looks more calm though

Annie - I'm glad you are talking to your sponsor. Sometimes it helps to have someone listen while you decide for yourself how to sort out your head and life. This is a tough month for you, isn't it? - extra hug. I'm glad you like the Keto iced tea however is there a reason you are using freeze dried strawberries instead of fresh? I have used sliced fresh to flavor water and they work quite well - they just have to sit there for an hour to infuse the water. Freeze dried removes the moisture which concentrates the sugar - that's why they, like dried fruits are so intensely carby. I do realize you can't be part keto but for me, I need to wean my tastes down from the sugary stuff and while I can't do it cold turkey and completely - this gradual cut back is working. In fact I made a fruit salad of berries, kiwi, watermelon and grapes to eat with the rotisserie chicken last night. I almost gagged when DH put a big spoon of brown sugar on his as the fruit was very very sweet. But it's his tummy not mine. I am wishing you luck on getting back completely on plan - in fact I am wishing you WILLPOWER because that's what we both seem to need.

Speaking of kiwis - usually ours come from Chile and have quite the fuzzy skin on them. Yesterday I saw some smooth ones and noticed they were from New Zealand so ... if you're going to get a Kiwi - shouldn't it be from New Zealand???? I did notice the NZ kiwi was yellow compared to the green from Chili. But it was quite sweet and delicious - and just the perfect ripeness.

Hello to the rest of you lot. I need to get myself presentable and out the door. Will be back later to catch up on personals.

Sis had an early blood draw so she left about 7 this morning. Came back in just now to get her phone. Said her blood pressure was a little high. This is someone who hasn't been to to the doctor in 3 years.
I realize that Atkins is an old diet but it worked well for me so I'm using this to structure my eating. 20 net carbs first 2 weeks and 40 net carbs the next two weeks and then I can gradually add some more carbs back into my diet.
Thanks for the comments about Miley. She can be a sweet heart.

Annie
Hope things will straighten themselves out. Told my sis last night that I don't think I could open up to a counselor. I've always been a private person.

Happy
Hope you don't get wet getting to work.

Shad
What a good report! Hope those numbers stay low.

Hello's to Laura, Susie and Dee.

Morning all from the train.

Ceej - At least you got a break from chauffeur duties last week. You and the rest of the family need to chat up the niece about how good it'll be to get the classes done, get her motivated.== Glad the cat made it to Branson without an escape. What a cute photo on fb.

Happy - Good job on the water walking - In spite of the women who just go there to chit chat! That seems to be a universal thing with pool exercise!!! == Yyp, same kind of conversations I have with my mom. Need to send her to an aqua fitness class, hahaha. == The networking was fun, just internal women from the office. Nice to meet people I don't normally come into contact with on the job.

Susie - Love the idea of a get together by you. Maybe not a whole day of shopping...of course it would probably fly by with you guys as fellow shoppers.

Shad - Awesome news re that great test score!

Hi Dee! Hi Annie!
==
Did the BE workouts on Monday. Rode to/from the fc and did 35 min of rowing and some abs.

Gotta post, we're near the station.

HAPPY....I keep freezed dried in cabinet as MY strawberries get eaten by everyone. No matter the size container I buy. THere is never any when I want some.

Shad, I am so excited to hear about your cancer blood test number!
That is terrific for sure and I'm sure a load of your mind.

Laura & Anne: We don't need to do a full day of shopping....there would be getting breakfast, then hitting a store, then maybe a stop at Starbucks, then hitting a store, then lunch, then browsing through the mall, then maybe a nap, then dinner. Same sort of thing when we did a tourist thing of things downtown Cincy and or Kings Island...and there are shows at Kings Island and a waterpark too.

I would love to get this planned with you two....it would be so much fun!

Anne: I think it is a very good thing that you talked to your Sponsor. I believe in having someone to talk to when things get to us or we are struggling with something. It is why groups like AA and TOPS and other groups like them are there...people know they need to get it out if they are going to get on with anything.

I have added to my arsenal of not using food to dull my senses; I am working with a Health Coach through work. We meet once a week and she is really helping me to put into place goals that are not about not eating or working out but rather my frame of mind and how to use that to help me overcome using food as my "feel good" drug/drink/etc.

Last year I lost a total of 60 bls from my height weight. I went from a size 26 to a 18. I have put a little back on..some muscle I think and some just plan fat. I am still in my 18's and they don't feel to tight and I have kept it all off with the exception of 8-10 lbs, that I keep yo-yoing with. It is more than time to stop that and get this 40 to 48 lbs off in the back half of this year....six months. I can go it.

Ceejay: Saw your kitty on FB this morning.....such a cute kitty! Regarding the Atkins diet, if it works for you then do that. That is my motto. I think most diets works as long as we work then.

Happy: I hope you didn't have to drive, and get out in two heavy of rain. How was the Senior Center today?

Hi to Dee!

Helloooooooooooooooo

Today is about good vibes and positive energy. Trying to be positive on this sad day for me!

Return later!