What we really want in a weight loss support group, boils down to one concept; we are looking for a sanctuary.

Sanctuary means different things to different people. Sanctuary is a place of peace, rest, safety, and rejuvenation. It keeps our spirit and our sanity intact.

Many of us who have a long journey down the weight loss path find ourselves in need of a break. Sometimes our bodies crave it, and sometimes the choice isn't ours, but circumstances forces it upon us. Other times, we need the clamoring throng to cheer us along our way as we breeze past milestones and overcome obstacles.

Sanctuary can be all that as well. It is what you need and when you need it. Sanctuary can be found in good friends who aren’t afraid of your truths and in an open, honest atmosphere.

Sanctuary isn’t judgmental, neither does it discriminate or ask to be censured. It is open to anyone with a desire to share, and especially those in need of and willing to offer support

Hi,

Glad you are back posting, Kat. I missed you.

I woke up this morning and it was raining I actually did go out and rake for awhile in the rain but I got soaked and then cold so I gave up.

At noon it quit so out I went. I finished raking by the house about 4:30PM and then painted one of the sheds until 7:30.

I somehow got into the shower, dressed and came here.

I should get to bed as tomorrow my raking continues along with some more painting.

How are all of you?

I have been thinking about my hurdle for next week. I was thinking of exercising in the morning for at least 3 days - that is if I can still move after this weekend.

I think I earned some couch time now, night.

You have definitely earned some couch time, Miss Lucky! I hope you're feeling okay.

We had a glorious day here...around 70 degrees and sunny. I did get outside, got lots done, even a ride on my bike. I wish I could stay and post, but I'm off to work now.

I have my gym bag packed for the morning...I'll head over right after work...If I'm not too exhausted and get an Aqua class in.

I have lots of thoughts on 'hurdles' but no time to share at the moment. Suffice it to say that the thought of them did keep me motivated all day long! Thanks again, Gloria!

See you tomorrow, chicks!

Oh, my, I had such a lazy day today! Every now and then I get hit with an unexplained wave of exhaustion. I took a nap and woke up still tired. I didn't even make supper so Greg ordered pizza. I did have one accomplishment though. My dad brought me a case of fresh picked strawberries that a friend had shared with him. I knew we wouldn't be able to eat them all before they started to spoil so I made/canned strawberry jam. I've never done any kind of canning. It turned out soooo good. I can't believe how simple it was. I think I may have found myself a new hobby. I can't wait until my tomatoes and peppers are ready! My grandmother always had huge garden so she's always done a lot of canning. I'll have to call her this weekend and ask her to send me all of her "recipes." She'll be so proud!

Alright, I am changing my hurdle challenge. I have two goals for this week. First to work out every single day, second, to average only 1200 calories this week. Greg and I will be leaving for vacation this Friday and I want to work my tail off this week so that I can relax and enjoy it. I plan to make good choices but I don't want to have to feel guilty if I spend a day doing absolutley nothing but laying by the pool and I don't want to have to sweat over every single morsel I put in my mouth.

I am going to hit the sack. Hopefully, I will wake up tomorrow feeling more like myself. Check in with you all in the a.m.

Tricia

Worms have started attacking my tomato plant so last week i trimmed it back really good, and now it looks like the tomatoes have doubled in size, plus i have about twenty more blooms coming in. I know what's going to happen though, when Carl and i go on vacation in two weeks, thats when my tomatoes will turn red and ripen on the vine and my neighbor or mother-in-law will pick them. I don't mind sharing but after all the fuss and care I've put into my tomato plant, i want to be the first one to pick a tomato. Anyone for fried green tomatoes?

How did you enjoy your bike ride Kat? What kind of bike do you have? Old blue is just an old girl we got about twenty years ago and has been sitting in our garage. She looks all spiffy with her brand new seat and as long as i give her air in her tires, she takes me where ever i want to go.

Carl is still sleeping and the house is all still and quiet. I can hear the birds singing outside and as i look out my window there is a sea of greens and browns. Spring is officially here and it just feels good to be alive. Carl said he was taking me to iHop for breakfast so i better go and get him up.

Have a great Sunday and i hope you enjoy your vacation Tricia. Talk to you soon.
Gloria

What a beautiful day! I've already been to the gym...I had my bag packed last night, and just headed over right after work this morning. I spent about 10 minutes on the treadmill to warm up, did my weights and took an 'Aqua Run' class...you know, the one with the guy that never shuts up! Still there. I just had my bowl of Fiber One cereal with some raisins. (don't laugh...1/2 cup is 0 points because the fiber count is so high! It's almost a free breakfast!) I'm feeling good again. Back on track.

My bike is an oldie but a goodie, Gloria! I bought it at a garage sale, years ago for $25.00. It's a three speed ladie's Schwinn, no frills whatsoever, but like you said, it gets me where I want to go! I may have to invest in a new seat too. Even with all my padding....OUCH! I do love riding it though. We have a bike trail nearby that I like, but I think I may load it into the car tomorrow and head down to the beach. We'll see.

SO...Hurdles. I managed to jump over quite a few yesterday. Hurdles that have kept me inactive and depressed. Just stuff around here that I've been meaning to do and somehow felt that I just didn't have the time. A lot of little things that added up to one big headache that rendered me totally useless. I felt as though there was too much to do and simply no time to do it, so I did nothing. And stuff piled up higher. And so did the feelings of worthlessness and self hate.

The concept of jumping hurdles just tickled my fancy. I decided to pick one, just one, thing that I wanted to accomplish and did it. It took practically no time at all. So I picked another task...again, I was done quickly and looking for more. Slowly, I realized that the hurdles are not the tasks themselves, but what I build up in my mind about them. Soon, I was zipping through the house, making a game of it, thinking of you all and how I couldn't wait to tell you how much I had accomplished!

Sometimes it's the littlest things that yield BIGGEST results!

I'm starting to fade now...Gonna grab a little nap so that I can still enjoy most of today...outside, of course!

Have a good one, all!

Ow, Ow, Ow. I think I went too far today. I painted a bench, the chimmeny, raked, and dug up some marble slabs and hauled them up by the house. I want to use one as a top for a table in the yard but am not sure on the other one yet.

This weekend whizzed by and I am happy to go to work tomorrow - MUCH easier work!!!

So my hurdle for this week is going to be 3 days of exercise in the morning when I get up - I have been slacking on this and snoozing for that extra time. I feel better when I get up and do yoga - my body needs stretching - the way if feels now if I stretched I would SCREAM!!!!

I can do this - three days of AM exercise between April 18th to the 24th. It doesn't SOUND difficult to accomplish!!

Off to do my dishes and read a little before Desperate Housewives - and then BED!!!!

I don't really have anything to say - just trying to move us back to the front page where we belong!

In laws will be here Friday and I have a TON to do. I'm cooking today trying to get a few things in the freezer so my MIL won't have to cook unless she wants to. And then there is the housework - I don't even know where to begin. This is my problem for letting it bother me because I know he doesn't mean anything by it but my FIL is one of those people who "notices" things. It makes me a nervous wreck. The funny thing is that I don't care what he thinks so much as I just don't want to hear it. LOL. I mean, I KNOW how much work we have to do - but we are going to make our own priorities, not someone who doesn't live here. Oh, well. Like I said, he means very well and I appreciate that. Lord knows I could have it a LOT worse. I count myself lucky to have the inlaws that I do. They are really good people and care very much about us and our family. I can't ask for much more than that!

Okay, off to make meatballs.

Tricia

My mother-in-law is the same way, Tricia. I try to have her over for a meal once a week but when she walks in the door, i see her looking around to see if anything is out of place, then she checks the bathroom. Oh well, what can i do at this stage in her life.

When i first thought of the hurdles challenge i wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not, but after going out for breakfast with Carl yesterday, i now have bragging rights to jumping over the hurdle of not eating pancakes with lots of sugary syrup. I did have am omelet with, onions, green peppers and ham. Very tasty and i wasn't hungry again till late in the day. I feel good about that so i guess i will have something to report at the end of this week. I cant talk long because i have to go food shopping.
Gloria

Today's hurdle: Get some exercise in. The day isn't over yet!

Kat - there is still time for all of us! I know I'll manage at least a walk after the kids are in bed but my hurdle for the week was an intense gym workout every single day. My problem? Will earning his orange belt in karate means that his class schedule has changed. I am having the darndest time trying to work around the gym class schedule, his class, and our family dinner. I actually looked at the schedule last night and decided I would head to the gym right after dropping him off at school. This morning, though, I remembered that Addie has speech therapy on Monday mornings - a relatively new addition to our calendar. Blech - it is all starting to sound like a bunch of excuses. I'll get there - but I'm not going to get to do the classes and routine that I had planned. Oh, well, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Still no housework done. Well, unless you count taking the clothes out of the dryer and putting them on a chair. I have gotten lots of stuff in the freezer though so the day hasn't been lost. I think my problem is that I know if I clean house now I'll just be doing it again the night before Greg's parents get here. Nothing stays neat around here for 4 days in a row.

OH, OH, OH! I was pulling a couple of weeds out of our little vegetable garden. Daisy came up and peed in the grass so I reached over, still bending over to tell her she was a good girl. Not two feet from me and eye to eye was a yucky, scary SNAKE. Alright, it was just a garter snake - but I fear them still. And it was right by my house, near the garage. EWWW, I just keep thinking what if it gets in the storage room and has babies. It gives me chills. Greg thinks all of this is pure entertainment. I know it is an irrational fear but I can't help it. Snakes, frogs, lizards, all make me squirm. It is not helpful having two fearless young boys always on the lookout for a new pet to put in their pockets. The funny thing is that when I was their age we lived next to a soybean field. My mother eventually stopped cleaning out my pockets before she did the laundry because she never knew what she would reach in and grab - field mice, frogs, you name it. My dad also has a fear of snakes. I used to catch them and chase him around the car yelling, "look daddy, Nak!Nak!" Bless his heart, I guess I get it honestly. I remember we were leveling our backyard one year and he was riding a great big tractor. He saw a black racer but wouldn't run over it because he was afraid it would get caught on the tractor tire (which was so big the top of it was near the driver's seat) and end up too close to him. My mom had to come out kill it with a hoe before he would come down. We still tease him about that one.

One of the ONLY times Greg has ever really, really, fussed at me was when I was pregnant with Will. I had gone home for lunch and gone out the back door when one of those nasty, sticky, green tree frogs got in the house. I tried to catch it in a cup but just couldn't bring myself to get close to it. I called Greg, who was having lunch out with friends. He didn't answer his cell phone so I called the resaurant and had him paged. When he came to the phone I spit out, "Oh, God, the WORST thing has happened!" He came home and got the frog but boy did he chew me out for scaring him so bad. Of course, he was worried as soon as they paged him, and then what I said just nearly caused a heart attack given that I was pregnant and all. Suffice to say that I now understand that a frog in the house isn't EXACTLY the worst thing that could have happened.

Look at me, rambling again. Damn, I don't want to fold those towels!

Good luck on those hurdles!

Tricia

You are right, THE WORST is a snake.

I had a snake in my apartment once. I was sitting on the couch watching TV and it went slithering across the floor. I nearly passed out - the only thing that stopped me was the knowledge that then the snake could slither over ME!!!

I go my neighbor and she put on giant gloves and came over, found the snake and picked it up.

Every night for some time after that I would think how a snake could just crawl right into the bed!!!! It still gives me the willies.

Well, on that happy story I had best get my stuff ready for tomorrow, eat and maybe have a little time to read.

I need some ME time today - I was offered another job and am trying to slow my mind down!!!! Pros, cons, change, change, change. My life keeps changing - no wonder I have a rash on my neck from stress!!!

Hey everyone

I love the hurdles! What a great idea, Gloria!
Just to catch everyone up before I fall asleep at the computer, I've been doing really well here. I started my food plan again and I am beginning to feel better already.

My hurdles for this week would have to be exercising 3 times minimum and journaling my food consistently.

I'm super exhausted. I'll work on getting a good night's sleep tonight and be back to you all tomorrow.

Andria

I just wanted to pop in and say 2 days down, 5 more to go! I am very pleased with myself that I've gotten myself to the gym for the past two days. Keeping my calories down (my hurdle is a 1200/day average this week) isn't a problem but exercising every day this week is another story. It isn't so much that I'm not motivated, I WANT to go. We have so much going on this week and it is hard for me not to put my needs on the back burner. Of course, that attitude is a good part of the reason I found myself at 214 pounds in the first place.

The kids were already asleep when I got home so I'm going to hop upstairs and sneak a kiss before jumping in the shower. Talk to you all in the morning.

Tricia

P.S. Lucky - I WOULD HAVE DIED IF A SNAKE GOT IN MY HOUSE! No, really, I would have ACTUALLY died.

In my part of the country we have big sand turtles that are on the endangered list. One year we had a pair in our backyard that decided to make a nest there. When Carl mowed the grass he always mowed around the nest, so right in the middle of my backyard there was this small area where the grass grew very tall. When we looked out our sliding glass door we could see the grass shaking back and forth. You know that old saying, "If you see the van a rocking, don't bother knocking? Same principle only grass instead of the van. The turtles are very large so there is no danger of one getting into the house.

I had a very good day today with food and exercise. Didn't go to the Y, but did ride old blue to the produce stand thats about three miles each way. I can feel it in my legs now but its a good feeling.

Getting very sleepy so i think I'll get a quick shower and hit the hay.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Hugs to all.
Gloria