Hey ladies!! Just wanted to let you know that I made it back from my cruise ok. I don't have time to really tell you much now. I will get back on later to tell you all about it. Missed talking with you guys every day!

Yay Jenn's back! I hope you had fun! I can't wait to hear about your georgous tan. Glad to have you back!

It's Sunday morning (barely) and I have lots of work to do. I am just now getting busy. There should be more days in a weekend!

Jenn, if you came back from a cruise without gaining weight, I am seriously going to think you are not well!! Why do they do that to people? The amount of delicious food available 24/7 on a cruise is enough to make your head spin! (But, man, is it fun!!!!!!!!!) I know you had a great time, can't wait to hear the details!

I took my 11 yr old neice shopping last night. She has finally decided that shopping can be fun. She has always hated the girly-girl look, and still does. She has developed her own style which is kinda of a flower child/ old hippie look (which, btw, has always been my favorite). I held up a funky shirt and poncho, and said, Caitlyn, look, don't you just love this? She had this look of horror on her face... I then realized that the look was because she realized that she likes the same thing that her crusty old aunt does!!
We actually had a great time (and she bought the clothes that I found). We have to go to a wedding shower this afternoon, so I pulled out a funky fringy thing to wear to match her new funky clothes. This will be fun.

Have a great Sunday all!
Joetta

Good Morning Chickies !
Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I didn't feel very good! I'm running a low grade fever and my stomach hurts. Well we wen't sled ridding on Sat. and had a blast. Good thing we don't do that often my muscles were a tad sore later that evening.

Well weigh in went well this morning 158.5 that's another pound. I wish they would roll off faster!!

Jenn can't wait to hear about your trip!

Joetta, I have 3 nieces and they are all big enough now to love to go shopping. It's fun and we always have a good time!

Well I got to pack my lunch, I went to bed early last night and didn't get it done. I'll check back toninght!

Good morning!

Weigh in did not go great I am still at 150. I guess I'm doing good to be holding considering how bad I was last week with my dinner out and my birthday cake splurge.

So I am determined to get back on track and lose some more before we go to Florida.

I hope everyone is off to a good start this week. I'll check in again later.

Well, the week started out great. Got to Miami and on the ship with no problems. Within an hour of boarding the ship I had a nice frozen tropical drink in hand!! The week was great. San Juan was not the best. Maybe if we had signed up for an excursion we would have enjoyed it a little more. All we really did there was shop. We went snorkeling in St. Thomas. What a beautiful place. The captain of our sail boat told me that there is a very high demand for nurses there. If I was not married and my son was a little older, I would pack up and move there without thinking twice! In St. Martin we went to Waikiki Beach. It is right next door to a nude beach. Most of those people needed clothes on!! The water was so clear and we just hung out on the beach for the day……soaking up the rays and swimming in that beautiful warm water. The day we went to Nassau, it was sort of cool and cloudy. It rained that morning before we got off the ship and then started back up that evening when we were leaving. All we did there was shop. I’m glad we didn’t sign up for anything because it would have been too cold to get in the water. On Tuesday I called home to check on my son only to find out that he had been out to the hospital and had pneumonia. He didn’t need to be admitted or given any I.V.s. They put him on Zithromax and within a day or two he was back to normal. Well, the food was awesome!! I went to the Ship Shape Center on the second day and I had lost 2 lbs. I never went hungry but I also didn’t over do it. There were frozen yogurt machines set up and you could just walk up and get a cone whenever you wanted. I never did have any of that. I saved those calories for all of the REAL good stuff. I had more bread in those 7 days than I have had in the past 6 months!! The desserts were also awesome. I never did go to the midnight buffets. The night of the real big one in the dinning room I was a little under the weather so my husband took the video camera down and taped it for me. We had room service every morning. That was our wake up call!! They had the BEST ham and cheese omelets!! I never did make it to the Ship Shape Center to actually work out! So much for my 30 minutes on the treadmill every day!! I did plenty of walking when we were in the ports. I also took the stairs as much as possible. Well, then came the day to get off that wonderful ship. We had a 1:45 flight out of Ft. Lauderdale which is about 35- 45 minutes from Miami. My aunt was with us and her “new” friend was taking us to the airport to save us the $60 cab fare. Well, we started to get off the boat around 10:30 and stood in line for customs for over 45 minutes. I was starting to freak out. I just knew something was going to happen and we were going to miss our flight. We finally made it through customs and then had to go find our luggage. I had put duct tape all over our bags to make it a little easier to find them. About 25- 30 minutes later we finally had all of our luggage. A porter came over to help us with the 15 or so bags!! He told us to get out customs slips out because we had to go through customs one more time. I looked at him and asked him “What slip”. The first customs guy never gave us our slip back. Well, by this time I am right on the verge of a full blown panic attack. He told us that since we didn’t have the slip that customs would probably go through all of our bags. Well it is now 11:50 and I just knew we were going to miss our flight….especially if they had to go through all of those darn bags. I started to cry and just wanted out of that place so bad. The porter told the customs lady that we had a flight leaving from Ft. Lauderdale at 1:45 and we really needed to get out of there fast. All she made us do was fill out another form and sent us on our way!! We made it to the airport and to our terminal about 5 minutes before they started loading the plane! We had to fly to JFK and catch a flight from there to Washington, D.C. Once we finally made it to Washington we went to get our luggage. I jokingly told my husband and aunt that it wouldn’t bother me if our luggage was lost and we didn’t have to lug all of that crap home with us. Well, as luck would have it our luggage was lost. ALL OF IT!!! So then we had to stand in line and give a description of everything to the lady there. They told us that it would come in the next evening and then they had 4- 6 hours to get it out to us. I called yesterday evening only to find out that not all of the bags had been accounted for. The lady on the phone started asking what was in the bags. She had a list of some items and was asking if I had those items in my bag because she had a bag that had no tags on it and they needed to determine if it was mine. Panic mode set in again! I told her that I had just spent a week in the Caribbean and had no clue what all was in those bags. Long story short….I called back a few hours later and they had found everything and it would be in Charlottesville around 10:30 am today and then it would be delivered to us. When we got home I got on the scales and according to them, I weigh exactly what I did when we left. I will know for sure when I go to Curves today and weigh in. Other than the luggage problem, I had the most awesome time and can’t wait to do it all again!!!

Yay Jenn!! It sounds like you had a wonderful time and you didn't even gain a pound! You go girl!! I'm glad you had a wonderful time (too bad about the luggage madness). So how's that tan look on your slimming self? I always think a tan makes me look slimmer.

I can't wait to start working on mine!

Good morning everyone! My dh and I made a mad dash to Montana Friday night and came back Saturday night. Was so exhausted when we got back, I went to bed at 8:30PM and, except for getting up three times to go to the bathroom, slept through until 11:00AM the next morning. 15 hours - what a slug! Then we had to head to Washington on Sunday for my niece's birthday. So, I didn't have time to check in this weekend. My diet and exercise suffered tremendously. My food intake on Sunday was two slices of toast with natural fruit jam, some chips, salsa, and cheese dip, a very small slice of birthday cake, and a 12" Subway sandwich. I suppose it could have been much worse, but still not conducive to losing weight. Plus riding around in the truck most of the weekend didn't help either. But I'm back at it today.

Jenn: I'm so glad you had a good time on your trip. And you didn't gain a pound! I would have had a hard time avoiding all the goodies on board. But I love the water, so I would possibly have burned the calories swimming and snorkeling. My dh and are planning a vacation for this fall after we finish our house. We are considering a cruise but he's afraid he'll get bored. Did your husband? I'm sorry to hear about the luggage problem, but at least they got it all back for you.

Kerry: Still 150? That's not so bad. You've just hit a plateau, your body will start losing again. And it's better than 250, or 350. Just keep hanging in there. You'll start losing again. I'm sure of it.

Well, I gotta get back to work. I'll check back in later. Have a great day!
Robin

Hi, all--

Things are off to a good start. I had a great, refreshing weekend, didn't go overboard at the party, went to the gym, played home spa, and spent a lot of time thinking and reading. I felt really prepared for the new week..until about 11:15 this morning I'm reading "The Solution," which deals with emotional eating, and it's really helping me think about the mindset I need to be successful in reaching my long-term goal--and not gaining the weight back.

Joetta--yeah, I'm no Bridget Jones! I'm in good place right now, enjoying being a bachlorette. There are lots of things that I miss about being part of a couple. But I have bad taste in men, apparently, and the good things were always overwhelmed by the really sh_tty things, and were ultimately more trouble than they were worth . At my advanced age, I've finally figured out how to rely on my own resources for fun, comfort and moral support.

Jenn--welcome back! Congratulations on reaching your goals and having a (mostly) great time, too.

Kerry--Don't worry about the numbers, we're all bound to stall now and again. You have the right attitude, don't let it get you down!

Hey, there, Lori, Paige, Robin....Hope you're having a great day

Off to the gym. Bye! Keep making good choices!

Hi Judy Thanks for the encouragement! Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend.

Robin - that is quite a BUSY weekend. I think you ate well considering being on the go go go!


Lori - I hope you are feeling better. It's really been going around. 3/4 of my nieces were sick this past weekend and now my SIL has it. I sure hope we don't get it.

Well, I hit the grocery tonight after work to try to plan some lunches. It's so hard fitting a short lunch in during the day. I got a few things that will spice it up a bit more than my lf peanut butter & honey on low cal bread & Apple day after day after day. . . I get into ruts esp when it is stuff that is easy to store at work and eat at my desk.

I need to get back on the green tea though. It is the one serious thing that was missing the weeks I haven't lost. Either it works in aiding weight loss or it's my good luck charm.

Just checking in and catching up. Not much to say today. I feel like crap! My throat hurts and I hope I'm not getting strep throat! Yuk!!! On top of that I came home and had a cracker binge. I don't know why, I wasn't really hungry! Now I feel sick and quilty.

I think I am going to fix dinner for the family and then I am going to bed early!

Jenn- Your trip sounds terrific!! And to top it off no weight gain!!!Yeah, way to go.

Paige

Evening all!

Lori, Paige, hope you are both up and kicking again soon!! Being sick sucks!!

Jenn--a BIG pat on the back for you girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad you have all your luggage back! The most frustrating part of our cruise in leaving was that a couple in the front of the customs line had packed a TON of fruit from the boat--so of course they had to search everyone....But, like you, the rest of the trip was so cool!!!! Robin, there is always something going on during a cruise--you get bored only if that is what you want to do......My hubby loved the sports bar (maybe because I didn't go with him there????)

Kerry, is there something to the green tea/weight loss thing?? If so, I'm gonna fill the bathtub and start soaking!!!
G'nite all!
Joetta

Joette - Green Tea is supposed to in fact aid in weight loss. It helps speed the metabolism and triggers the body to burn fat. Here's an article that will explain it much better than I can. (says the librarian )

All the weeks that I lost, I was drinking green tea faithfully. I'm not messing with luck or science. I bought a box of mint green tea tonight - I even went to a particular store to get the brand I like. It is Bigelow Green Tea with Mint .

I just got home from a late night (parent meeting at work) and thought I would get on and see how everyone was today and nobody has been here!!!! Must have been a busy day for everybody!!

I'll check back in tomorrow!!

Paige

Good Morning Ladies! Yesterday was a busy day! I worked 12 hours and went home exhausted. I'm putting in extra hours this week to pay back my time for next week when we're going for Florida. Oh the woes of being at temp status - no pto, no insurance, so sick days, etc

I'm really trying hard to stay on plan this week. I think part of my problem is that I'm getting too many of my calories in the evening so I'm trying to eat more throughout the day. I'm also back on the green tea once a day and feeling good about that too. Now if I could just force myself to exercise. I haven't done pilates or yoga in weeks now. I'm bad.

Yesterday was a fiasco at work. We have some serious geriatrics still working here day after day. One can barely walk and has incontinence issues as well as memory and performance problems. It takes her 8 hours to do 2 hours of work. Well yesterday she was wreaking very foul and then there was an altercation with the boss and her over her not doing her job right. My poor boss is about to lose her mind. She comes back to talk to me desperatly saying - what can I do She's been working on building a case against her, but I know deep down she just wants her to retire and leave with dignity so she doesn't have to fire her. It is obvious to everyone but her that she is not able to do her job anymore. Of course you see this is a personal gripe with me since I am coming in here and pulling more than my weight, making less $$ with no benefits so that the old timers can hang on and on and on. I'm probably going to **** for thinking and feeling all the things I do But I can't help it.

Well, I hope we have some of you check in today and everyone is doing ok. This place has been quiet lately. I know we're all SO busy - hence our title! TTYL!