YAY Marge is alive and well!!! :woo: :cp: That's so good to hear--we can stop worrying and wondering!

Well, I came in to work this morning to about 20 emails from various bosses and clients. I thought that meant I would have a TON of work to do--but I already got it all done :smug:

I was planning on working late yesterday to finish editing a 200+ page document, but it ended up that almost the entire second half of it was nothing but tables and charts (most of which are copied directly from client resources, so we do not have the authority to change them at all). So, I ended up only staying bout a half hour late instead of the 2 hours I had anticipated. Since I thought I was staying so late,I hadn't packed my gym clothes, so I just went straight to job #2 and hung out till my shift started. Today, though, I packed my gym clothes and will be there between jobs if it kills me! There's an eliptical machine with my name on it...:ebike:

Well, nothing much new and exciting here. We apparently had REALLY bad thunderstorms last night, but I was home, showered, and in bed by about 9:30, and once I was asleep, I did NOT wake up--no thunder, lightning, or torrential downpour was going to deprive me of my beauty sleep! ;)

I ended up having a cup of corn chowder from the office cafeteria yesterday for lunch. I still ate what I had packed (except the yogurt--I gave that to someone at job #2 who wasn't feeling well and hadn't had any lunch), so it was really just extra calories :mad: Hopefully, it wasn't too bad--after all, it had a lot of veggies in it (saw some red peppers, corn, an occasional potato, and lots of green things), and despite the name "chowder," it wasn't very creamy at all, so I'm hoping it didn't kill me for the day. No more walks to the cafeteria for me--I obviously can't handle it. Or at least, if I do go (I like going for the walk with coworkers to get away from my desk for a few), I won't bring any money, so I won't be so tempted.

Aimee--hope your computer gets better...what a pain!

Kylie--I too wish my boobs stuck out farther than my stomach :lol: However, being only a B cup, I think that'll be quite some time from now...

Heather--good to see you here! We know you're busy, but it's great to hear from you, even if only to say hi!

Kimberley--I do have a good man :D He's insanely patient with me and my emotional ******edness--this high level of patience leads me to believe he will be a good father someday, too...(doesn't hurt to imagine, right?)

Diana--as much as it sucks to see no inches or pounds gone, you've got to remember that you are doing AMAZING things for your body! I bet your blood pressure is lower (even if it wasn't necessarily high to begin with), and your good cholesterol (HDL) is higher (I don't know how, but apparently exercising helps to increase your HDL :?: ), so you've decreased your risk for about a million different ailments :D

I LOVE boot cut jeans--I think they make my legs look longer and slimmer, especially with just the right shoes. Of course, I don't have very many pairs of jeans that I wear normally anyway, since I have to wear jeans every night at the restaurant as part of my uniform (straight leg, medium-dark color, not too long, not too baggy, not too tight, blah blah blah), so wearing jeans is no longer a comfortable kinda thing. I'm usually wearing khakis, capris, or even sweatpants on the weekends (good thing Jeff doesn't care what I wear).

Well, off to dig up some more work to do, I guess. I'll catch you all later!

Good morning everyone... glad to hear everyone is alive and well (except for Aimee's PC!)

Finally I get a day off from work! (actually 6) I had a ****-of-a last few days... too many storms here in northeast Wisconsin. And people get really crappy when their cable tv is broken! So I was able to read but no time to put a thought together to post.

My mom is coming over today (lives about 45 min away). Not sure what we're going to do yet. Probably stop at the organic food market that I have a couple miles away from my house, we both really like it and unless it's my day off I can't go. They aren't open very long during the day 9-6 I think.

As for jeans, I will not EVER own another pair of 'relaxed fit' jeans again in my lifetime, I look aweful in them. I prefer a low rise with a boot or flare leg. I have thiner thighs so relaxed fit makes me look like I have clown pants on! yikes!!

I'm hoping that My mom can take some pictures of me (and Sam and Lexi) today and I'll have to figure out a way to get them posted on here. I don't have a digital camera or a scanner though...

The scale was my friend again this week, down another 3 pounds to 252. I've really got to start getting quotes on my hot stone massage! It's quickly approching!!!

Alright Ladies... I'm off to a fabulous day, already have my 2.5 miles of rollerblading in, and it's supposed to get up to 85 degrees today! Tan fat here I come!!!

I'm so glad you got a reply from Marge, Aimee; I've been really concerned about her.

Our kitty's at the vet right now. It's our grand old man, Elliott the Siamese, who's' 16 years old. Poor fella has lost a bunch of weight this last week, plus is deyhdrated. He also has bloody urine. The latter's happened off and on for a while and we struck it up to stress since he'd had a problem with that before. The vet's keeping Elliott and giving him fluids, then doing blood tests and a urinalysis. He might have a bladder infection or it could be renal failure -- hard to say until tests come back. He's just been lying around all the time, obviously not feeling well. I've had him since he was about 6 weeks old, so this is rough.

Yesterday's garden workout was pretty thorough! I got a lot done, and there's more to do this afternoon. Someone on Freecycle is giving me some goldfish for our pond, so I'm driving over to her house to get them, then hitting the yard work again when I get home. Right now, though, it's A/C for Kimberley. LOL

i'm so sorry to hear about Elliott, my Molly is my baby and the only kid I am likely to have, I know how hard it is when your furbabies are poorly.

Aimee I am really bad at taking my own advice. Since I have been exercising my left leg has been so painful. I have a varicose vein (at 33!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I know I probably need surgery, i was so hoping that losing weight would help, but it's making it worse!!! Less fat to hold it up perhaps!!! I will get to the doctor eventually, it is so hard getting the time off to attend to that sort of thing.

I am so glad Marge is alive and well, I was so worried, like everyone else. I miss her!!!

I feel so good, I have exercised every day since Friday! I so love doing it now, I was listening to Yngwie Malmsteen (heavy metal guitarist) at the gym, having a lovely time! I am feeling quite rebellious as the cute gym instructor always has boppy dance music on, and I can only take it in small doses. If I hear Akon and the deranged chipmunk singing "I'm so Lonely" one more time, I am going to smash all the mirrors in the gym with a baseball bat!!!!

I bet THAT would get everyone moving! LOL!!

I stopped by the vet's to drop off some food for Elliott. We should all be so picky as this cat - obesity would not be an issue, I assure you! Poor fella was sitting hunched over in the cage with his back to the door. When I said his name and petted his back, he did his petulant meowwwww. When I opened the door and scratched his head, he rolled over on his side and offered me his belly for scritches. The IV fluids definitely have him feeling better. I so hope the tests show something antibiotics will cure, and not a chronic illness.

Hey all!! I got called into work today and missed my morning of coming online.. but I am here now! ;)

Kimberley - I sure hope your cat is alright.. I hate it when animals get sick :( My mom's cat is SO picky with her food as well, it's very cute. I'll keep my fingers crossed for him :)

kykaree - I just have issues finding a good doctor, I found a good doctor in my home town, but I get there MAYBE once a year, and thats just not often enough. I'll find someone out here... eventually. I have a few issues I need to get worked out, namely IBS, Vestibulitis, and this silly nose thing. I know I can control the IBS thru diet, and I had a REALLLLLY good gynocologist a few years ago who showed me how to control the Vestibulitis. I really believe I can control most of the things wrong with me thru diet, I'd rather not take drugs unless it's REALLY bad. I like dance music when I'm working out :( But I like DANCE/TECHNO music, not that new pop crap. However, I am a teeny bopper in a 25 year old's body.. heh..

Sara - relaxed fit just doesn't look right! I don't know why women want that type of shape for their body.. I guess they get used to it. I am trying to convince the world, one woman at a time that they need something that has a straight line from the thigh down. So far, so good! Most people agree with me, but I also show them in my pants, and I actually have larger thighs.. 6 days off, I'm jealous :) Enjoy :)

Jill - "chowder" sounds sinful.. but it sounds like yours wasn't too bad :) Of course, I am one to talk, I had pasta with pesto on it. It definitely WAS sinful.. but everything else I ate today was 100% perfect.. so it's all good :)

So my computer works.. we THINK the virus isn't on it anymore.. but neither of us is really sure. So hopefully things work out alright with that. I heard from Marge again today, she's still working hard at work. I will pass along a little note saying how you all miss her.. it's scary about the internet.. how would any of us really know if anything happened?

Today at work I was approached by the manager and told that the full time employee quit.. and that she wants to sit down to talk about me taking her place. Hopefully it means a raise :) I doubt it though... but I guess the fulltime hours will help out my pocket book! Well I am off to veg out, have a great night gals! :)

-Aimee

Alrighty, I need to vent... I'm having ISSUES! I've been sticking to a low cal, and low fat diet, aiming to not have bread/pasta for more than one meal a day, and not having processed sugar. So doing that I lost 4 pounds, sounds great, but I've stalled. It's WAY too early on for me to be stalling like this. I just don't GET why weight loss has to be SO fricking hard! My calories are under every day, my percentages look good, I'm eating a fruit or veggie at every meal, and am getting enough fibre! It seriously baffles me! My weigh in isn't until Thursday, but I got on the scale yesterday and was CONVINCED that I had lost a pound, but nothing. Okay, I'm done. I'm hoping to feel more motivated tomorrow, it's just tiring to have to work SO hard for weight loss when so many do less than I have to and lose big every week! Guess I wasn't done just yet... heh..

-Aimee

Yeah, Aimee, I hear ya. I look at others who started out at about the same weight as me in January, and here I am still at almost 300 pounds while they are down to like 250! How not fair is that?! I count every calories of every food I eat during the week, I drink lots of water, I eat lots of fruit, and though I don't eat many veggies, I get plenty of fiber through cereal and such. I also have milk every day (they say calcium helps you to lose weight--I don't know why). I know my problem has been the weekends, but even back when I was doing really well on the weekends, I wasn't losing like others. There were weeks when I would go to the gym 4 days a week, eat sensibly over the weekend, count everything during the week, and only lose like half a pound. How insanely frustrating is that!? But we've got to remember that this is a long-term thing--even if you don't lose ANYTHING this week, it'll show up in a big loss in a few weeks, ya know? We have to be patient and know that no matter how frustrating it is, it's the right thing to do for our bodies. I hate saying that because I know if I were at a point where I was really p!ssed off and frustrated, that wouldn't be the answer I'd be searching for, but I don't know what else to tell ya. I've only lost 13 pounds in 4 months--imagine my frustration! :tantrum: And yet I keep going because I know that, at the bare minimum, I need to KEEP those 13 pounds off! And damm!t, Aimee, stay off the scale!!! I weigh myself on non weigh-in days sometimes, too, but I keep in mind that on Thursday, it will always say something diferent, so I don't get worked up about it. I think you should just completely get rid of the scale so it's not there to torment you ;)

So yeah, I've lost so little weight that it hasn't even made a difference in my clothes yet. I need to got more focused. I went to the gym between jobs yesterday--30 minutes on the eliptical, burned over 400 calories :smug: I also found someone to cover myshift on Thursday night at the restaurant so I can go to my TOPS meeting (since I've only been to I think 3 since I joined). The group os mostly older women, but they are kind and supportive nonetheless, and I think I need that weekly accountability, ya know? So I am going to change my availability at the restaurant and not work Thursdays anymore so I can go to my TOPS meetings every week. I think having to get on a scale and tell the group whether I lost or gained for the week will help keep me in line. I'm also pretty competitive, and the top loser each week gets a basket full of goodies (everyone contributes a trinket, healthy treat, or money to the basket at every meeting), so I think making the weight loss a more competitive thing will be helpful to me, too.

I have been doing pretty well so far this week, but today, I forgot to pack a lunch :o I packed my bag of food this morning, and it was full, so I zipped it up and left, but all I packed was dinner (regular salad and fruit salad), breakfast (a bagel and ff cream cheese since I got up late and didn't have time for my usual cereal), and snacks (a yogurt, a string cheese, and some fruit). No lunch to be found! So, now the dilemma is: do I get a salad here in the cafeteria for lunch (I'm afraid I will get SICK of salad eating it every day and TWICE today), or do I get the pot stickers at Ruby's or fewer than 500 calories? I was also thinking of maybe a 6-inch sub from Subway (sweet onion chicken teriyaki with lettuce --YUM!), but I don't think I want all that sodium (about 1200mg in the 6-inch!), plus I doubt I will have time to hit Subway after the gym and before my Ruby's shift. Hmm...I think I just talked myself into the pot stickers :p

So tomorrow, I plan on leaving job #1 at 2 as usual, then having a POWER workout at the gym--at least an hour [I know that's what we're supposed to be doing almost every day, but I don't normally have 60 minutes for the gym (plus I have to run around the restaurant all night, so I count that as some exercise, too, since I'm usually working up a sweat!)]. Then I'll come home and take a bit of a nap till about 5:45, then off to TOPS (before I eat dinner!). I hope it registers a pretty big loss from last time since I ate dinner before my last weigh-in (I thought I had to work that night, so I had dinner, but then someone came in and picked up my shift, so I went to the meeting even though I'd already eaten), plus I'm hopefully down at least a tiny bit for this week. We'll see :crossed:

Alright, now I'm just babbling for the sake of babbling--I'm gonna go eat my breakfast and do some work now. Catch ya'll later!

OH, and I'm so sorry about your cat, Kimberley--I hope they find it's a quick fix, and he'll be good as new in no time!

Good morning all.

Jill - Yes, I very well can imagine your frustration! I've been on that side of things too. This time I'm dead serious about losing though. I stay VERY strict with myself so that I don't have an option of relapsing back into crappy habits. I've lost a friend at work over losing as much weight as I have. She had lost over a hundred pounds 2 years ago, while I just stayed the same, and shes gained almost all of it back! I can't talk about my success when she is there because I know it'll hurt her feelings. So, anyway, here is my appology to you for starting at the same weight you did and losing more. Differances between us as far as I can tell; I don't have 2 jobs fighting for my workout time which is consistantly 6-7 days a week, I very rarely ever eat out, and I don't have any health issues to be concerned about.

Kimberly - I hope Elliot is feeling better! My friend at work just made the decision last week Fri to put her siamese cat (15 y.o.) down because he had liver failure and was not able to make it to the litterbox anymore. Her husband was taking the Felix to the vet and he died in the car on the way there. She is very upset, not that I blame her!

I'll be back in a little bit... gotta get some htings done and take Lexi to the park to run before it gets too hot!!!

'see' ya later

Hey all...aww, ss about the kitty, Kimberley, I hope all turns out well...
I too, know how it feels to see some people have lost a ton of weight, and others have to struggle to lose a few pounds. some people it just comes easier for and that's all there is...About relaxed fit jeans..l.well...I have very long legs, to be honest, and not overly large thighs either. so, for me, they look the best. They do not make me look manly in the least, and every time I have ever attempted to put on a pair of boot cut or flared leg, or low rise jeans, I leave the dressing room lookin like a big ol dweeb...lol..We all have different shapes, and some look better than others in different types of pants and jeans. Shorter women look sort of silly in the type of pants I like wearing, and I look silly in pants that shorter women look good in. I have a figure, not hourglass, never have, but, not manly either. But, then again, most shorter women look silly in long skirts, and taller women look great in them, so I guess that is that...lol...enough said...Hope you all have a great day...Am off to walk the dog b4 the black flies, and heat get out of control! :)

Goodmorning! I'm not sure how I'm feeling this morning about weight loss, I wish it didn't have to be so hard.. and I know if I REALLY buckle down and cut out pretty much everything, I can lose weight. I am pretty used to doing drastic things to lose weight, hense all the eating disorders I've had, but I do want to do this in a healthy way. I'm just babbling..

Diana - I wonder about your diet.. you have that working out thing down PAT, I once heard diet is 80% of losing weight. Are you counting calories? Eliminating foods?

Jill - I can understand why you aren't losing weight, you have too much battling for your time. You will get there... I know you will. I should look into a gym pass, see if I can get one for cheap because I make SO little money (my next paycheque will be 330 before tax, eek!). Actually, scratch that, a gym pass would do me no good, the closest gym is 3 km's away, and since I'm not driving, I'd never go. Thats the problem with living on a huge mountain, I used to walk 1 hour a day before we moved here!

Alright, I am heading out to go for breakfast with a friend who is turning 30 today! So I gotta wrap a present, write out a card and get dressed before 11am! Which is 55 minutes! Have a great on gals!

-Aimee

Why don't you guys try the AHA plan for a few weeks? Seriously, it works, and it's all-around healthy for ya. Just count out the number of servings of each food group using portion control and you're automatically staying within a good number of calories. LMK if you're interested in more info.

We're going to have to put Elliott to sleep today at 4:00pm. His kidneys are not functioning right and he won't eat. We could prolong things by feeding him a low-protein food (which he undoubtably won't eat), periodically giving him sub-cutaneous fluids, etc., but the poor guy's got arthritis and hurts, anyway...And how long and for what good would it be to keep him around? It would be for us, not for him. :(

AWWWW I am SS to hear that Kimberley~~ it is so hard to have to put a loved pet to sleep...My thoughts are with you...
Aimee~~ I have cut back on all foods ( as in portion control, etc)...I will never cut anything completely out of my life, because then I binge, and that is not good. But I do need to drink way more water for one thing...not drinking nearly enough...And I am almost 40 so metabolism is not nearly as good as it used to be...It really is harder to lose the older u get...

Kimberley~~I would be very interested in the AHA diet...My friend in Ohio was going to print off her diet for me and never did. Physicians weight loss plan... I cannot afford a lot right now, so this is why I am not doing WW or anything like that, it would have to come out of my money and my money is very tight right now...So fill me in...if you want my email addy or anything, let me know...and God Bless!!

Well, it's done. I wrote about the day in my blog if anyone feels like being sad. ;) What an emotional day it's been.

The AHA diet is pretty much just common sense eating, a well-rounded diet. This is it in a nutshell. We count calories, but try to stick to the recommended servings of the various food groups and to limit our fats to unsaturated fats that are good for you.

Oh Kimberley I am so SO sorry to hear about your kitty :( Cry lots, mourn, and never forget him :)

Diana - losing weight is hard for me as well, years of abusing my body with periods of not eating to eating lots does some harsh damage. Most things I read about say you should have one meal a day that is ONLY fruits of veggies, that theory has definitely worked for me. I'm not the best model for weight loss, but I do know lots about it! I have to put all my theory's into practice!

Well ladies, I am completely exhausted, so I'm going to go spend a little quality time with the bf and get some sleep! Talk to ya'll tomorrow!

-Aimee

Kimberley--I'm so sorry about Elliott. Do you have any pictures of him? Are you guys going to get another cat--not to replace him, by any means, but to have a new baby to spoil? ;)

I don't think I've read that a meal a day should be only fruits and veggies, but acording to the "negative calorie diet," that makes sense. I don't think I could do that--the protein is what fills me up for longer. Just fruit and veggies makes me hungry again about an hour later. When I have a salad for dinner before my restaurant shift, I have it with grilled chicken, egg, and cheese (YUM!), so it really keeps me going.

Weighed in this morning--295.5 :smug: I knew I'd get that extra weight off from last week, but I'm really glad I lost 2 more pounds on top of that. I have to weigh in at TOPS tonight, too, so I'm sure I'll have a pretty good loss since the last time I was there. I think they are always surprised that I lose even when I haven't been there for a few weeks. The leader of our chapter seems to think that if you don't go to the meetings, you won't lose weight because you don't have the support you need. Maybe that's what she needs, but I told her that I get amazing online support at 3FC, yet she insisted on finding out information for me about doing TOPS online for the weeks I couldn't come to the meetings. I'll take any help I can get, but I don't think I'll ever be able to find the same type of support and assistance as I get here on these boards :)

The only reason I don't think I'd try the AHA plan is that it's just more counting. Instead of just calories, then I'd have to count servings of each food group plus make sure everything is a true serving size--even if I had time for that, I don't think I'd stick to it, ya know? As it is now, I eat so little fat that, if anything, I probably need to eat more! My diet is comprised primarily of fruit right now. I have a kiwi and a big container of fruit salad in my lunch bag today. My lunch is a salad (lettuce, spinach, onion, cheese, and a few croutons with a measured portion of organic dijon honey mustard dressing), and my other snacks are a low-fat string cheese and a ff, no-sugar-added yogurt. Plus my brakfast of Kashi with strawberries and banana and skim milk--plus whatever I have for dinner tonight. I should be around 1500 calories for the day once I add dinner in (I usually treat myself to Subway after the TOPS meeting--that way I don't have to cook when I get home, and it still feels like a treat even though it's still low in fat and fits into my caloric allowance for the day).

My frustration isn't that I'm not losing weight--I've actually been losing quite consistently (minus last week, which I made up for this week) for about the past 2 months, but it's itty bitty losses at a time. Usually when people start dieting, they bang out that first 10 pounds or so of water weight and rapid loss from changing habits and patterns, but that never happened for me. It has just been so slow that I get frustrated even when I do lose a 1/2 pound or a pound a week. I know slower is better for maintenance in the long run, but in this world of instant gratification, I just want it GONE! And seeing others with 2-3 pounds lost every week is just what makes me feel like I'm obviously doing something wrong (even though I'm still losing). Does that all make sense? I also have yet to see any physical changes, which is also frustrating. When you only weigh 150 and lose 10 or 15 pounds, that's like a whole dress size! But I will have to lose probably at least another 25 pounds before I go down a dress size (I wear the same size now as I did when I only weighed about 275-280). Who knows--maybe with my newfound weekend partner and such, I'll be seeing 2-pound weekly losses more frequently, too. I just keep thinking about this dress I'm going to have to wear for my sister's wedding in April...it's a long way off, but only losing a 1/2 pound a week (for a total of 20-25 pounds) isn't going to make a whole heck of a lot of difference in how I look in a dress! :(

I hit the gym again yesterday, but I had to cut back on my time since I ended up having to stay late at job #1. I only did 20 minutes on the eliptical, but I burned almost 300 calories in that time, and ANY exercise is better than no exercise! I'll be there again today after work for as long as I want since I don't have to work at the restaurant tonight :)

Well, I'm gonna go fill my water bottle and at least pretend to do some work. Hope everyone has a great day!

Thanks for the kind words, all. Our other cat, Hattie, is happy being an only cat - little pipsqueak actually played more last night than she did before. She and the dogs are pretty tight, too. I don't think we'll get another cat until she goes. Hopefully that won't be for a long time. :) I have photos of Elliott in my most recent blog entries if you click the link in my sig.

Congrats on the pounds lost, Jill - that's great! I don't think Howie and I will get a chance to weigh in tomorrow. He's getting a vasectomy (yippee! LOL) and we have to be at the surgery center for a 7:00am appointment. :mad: Early, early, early. Dang, did you know it can take several months for the last of the swimmers to be gone? No fair! ;)

Awww...jill...I know exactly how you feel...10 pounds on someone our size is not a huge deal, when it is to someone smaller...I will be happy to lose 30 pounds, then will really see a change...It can be very depressing, I know. But, just keep whatever you are doing up, in the long run, no matter how slowly it comes off, the point is, it is coming off...Sometimes, people who lose weight way too fast, end up gaining it right back anyhow, so just think of it that way...
And, Kimberley, I will look into your Blog, and kitty story too, and TY for the AHA info, I plan to look into that this weekend...Dh starts afternoons, and this is my hardest is when he works those hours.
Well, am off. Have got to get to my emails, my MSN mail is acting up ( when isn't it, lol) hagn all!

ooooh MY! Me and my big belly are here! I just had a HUGE lunch! Fast Fry steak in a chipotle tobasco sauce, and some peaches and cream corn, it was very yummy! I'm having a pretty good day, I got up a little late, watched some Ambush Makeover, and then had breakfast.. I even went for a walk!! It took me 39 minutes to go 2.6km's (or 1.6 miles), half of that is hiking up a mountain though. I am in such a cheerful mood! Dunno where THAT is coming from.. lol..

Jill - It takes most people a while to find the balance which works the best for them, I definitely am having a hard time with it. I do believe in that whole thing of having one meal a day being made up of fruits and veggies, but I think if you have a salad with some low fat cheese and a light salad dressing, that would still work. I find for me the key to losing weight is to drink 3L's of water a day, and eating tons and tons of veggies. My mom is a slow loser as well, and for the final week at Weight Watchers she wanted to reach her 10% goal, which was hard for her since she'd be losing about .5-.9 pound a week. She drank lots of water, cut out all bread (she's allergic like me), all sugar, and she added more cardio (she hates cardio and focuses on weights). Anywho! The point of my story is that she lost the 2 pounds it took her to get to her 10%. I think that was my point.. I don't remember anymore :( Drink Water! Thats my new point! Congrats on the 2 pounds :)

Kimberley - How many dogs do you have? I think I am equally a dog person, as well as a cat person. I've had over 6 cats in my lifetime, usually calico's.. although we did have one black cat with a white nose, she was SO cute. I don't think I've ever had a cat over 4 years ago .. they've all met a cougar/coyote and lost the battle. :( Now that I've moved to the city, I feel torn about having any animals, there just is no room for them to run around. It's all what you get used to I suppose, I've almost always lived on a fairly large plot of land. Your Hattie is very cute :)

I am having a hard time focusing today.. I've managed to just type and type and completely forget what I was talking about.. lol. I should get going, I am shopping for a wedding shower.. I am going to hit up Pier 1 as they usually have REALLY beautiful stuff, and great sales for the girl on a budget :) Have a great one :)

-Aimee

Diana - we posted at almost the same time! Which msn version do you have? That virus I got the other day was ONLY bothering my msn, we had to go and delete the old one and get the new version, and now it's working fine :)

-Aimee

Kimberley~~~Hattie is a gorgeous Kitty, and looks so much like my Misty did..she was so beautiful, with such an attitude. Then I had to go read the blog, and now am crying like a baby...I just dread the day when I will have to lay my Baby to rest too..he is such a baby, and even though he has a few mor years left, it makes me cry just thinking of it...The only thing that gives me Peace, is knowing that, someday, he will be there waiting for me when I get to Heaven, unfortunately, so will my bird, lol who will probably proceed to peck me in the head and poo on me...

Aimee...we only have the msn mail...We have RR DSL, and use MSN mail for our main email, it has been acting funny all day, hopefully will be to normal soon...LOL. Ahh, the joys of owning a PC!!!

When your bird poops on you in Heaven, just try to smile. ;) One nailed me under our sycamore tree yesterday - ugh, high-velocity bird poop from 70' up above me!

Our veggie plants arrived from our friend in North Carolina and I spent 5-9:30pm working outside getting them planted and mulching our raised bed in anticipation of planting it full of herbs. So far I only have a little basil plant and a stevia plant (natural sweetener - awesome stuff, 30x sweeter than sugar).

Meesa one pooped woman tonight, and sore. After today, I should weight nothing. Really, zero, zip - I can't believe there's anything left of me! ;) I'm consuming a bit of my calories in a rum & Coke (not Diet Coke, either). Howie has to be at the outpatient surgery center at 7:00am, so I will probably head to bed early tonight.

We probably won't do a weigh-in at our doctor's tomorrow since his appointment is so early. I weighed on my MIL's scale last night, though, and it said 218. I can't remember whether hers is a pound lighter than the doctor's or a pound heavier, but either way, I should be under 220! La la la la LA!!

Wow, Kimberley, I can't WAIT to be below 220--that's awesome! :cp:

So I am now officially down 15 pounds from my highest (known) weight. No matter how long it took me, I am glad to be down. I am glad to be below 300. And I am glad to have all of you to listen to me whine when I get down about it! :thanks:

Tonight, Jeff and I are going to the movies to see High Tension, the new horror flick that opens this weekend. In an effort to resist the candy and soda (I don't eat the popcorn at theaters since I worked in one for over 2 years :corn: ), we are going to dinner before the movie. I made a reservation at PF Chang's, the amazing Chinese restaurant right across from the theater. Without a reservation, it's usually at least an hour-and-a-half wait! I already checked the nutritionaly info online, and I know what I'm going to get. We always split the Chicken Lettuce Wraps appetizer (630 calories and 8g of fat in the whole thing, so I get half of that) and the Ginger Chicken and Broccoli (621 calories and 21 grams of fat in the entire dish) or the Chicken with Black Bean Sauce (640 calories and 22g of fat), unless I go with the scallops, which has even fewer calories--have to see what kind of mood I'm in. It kills me that the salads have more calories than the regular entrees :dizzy: . So I will certainly stay under 1000 calories for dinner, only had a low-carb bagel for breakfast with Brummel & Brown butter (made with yogurt, so lower fat--total of about 220 calories for breakfast), brought fruit salad as a snack, and will grab a salad in the cafeteria for lunch, so my day will be slightly high in calories, but not much to worry about (it'll be a little high in fat, but since I hardly eat any fat during the week, that's probably a good thing, especially since it's all very little saturated fat). Planning ahead for my restaurant foods is so helpful--I wish EVERY restaurant posted the nutrition information online!

I talked to my father on the phone last night when I got home from TOPS (where I posted a 3-pound loss since the last time I went, which was 2 weeks ago). I LOVE talking to my father, and I don't get to do it much. I talk to my mom all the time because she has an office job, so we chat while we're both at work. My dad, however, works in a mill and cannot use the phone during work. He gets home at 4pm, which is when I usually start my shift at the restaurant, and he goes to bed at about 9pm since he gets up really early for work (apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?), so I'm not even usually home by the time he's in bed! I miss him so much--if I got along better with my mother, I would probably move back to CT so I could be closer to him. It just made me really happy to talk to him, especially since I know he doesn't really like talking on the phone, and he called me! My parents will visit me for my birthday at the end of July--they'll only stay for a weekend, buy me lots of stuff, and then go home, so I always like when they visit ;) I'm so spoiled...(but I like it that way :p )

I really have like no work to do today. I know my boss will be out all of next week, so she is going to contact the client and tell her that if she has any questions or issues concerning the product we are delivering today (huge thing we have been working on since before I even started working here), she should contact ME :o I'm very excited to finally be in a slight position of responsibility--I feel so grown up :D
Well, I guess I'll go putz around and find something to pretend to do. Kick of the weekend right, ladies!

WTG! Kimberley...that is something to be very proud of...the day I am below 220, I will cry....I weighed 220 when I first moved here. I am ideal at 170...not too thin, not too fat...I never want to look like a stick...And WTG! Jill, as well...just keep doing it...no two ppl are alike, and though it may be easy for one woman, it may be something you will have to work on for life, but, all good things are worth the work and the wait. Jeff is helping out now too, so that is a step forward for you, and, I bet, the way you are going, a year from now, you will have lost over half of what you want to lose...me too....I just took a Preg test...no babies here...It gets depressing, but, not looking at it at anything other than what it is...so, now, I wish I would have my P...That would be nice..Have all the signs, swelling, bloat, mood swings, but only spotted lightly 2 days and no TOM...UGH!!!!!

Howie felt fine after his procedure, so we weighed in after all. I weighed 219! Happy happy, joy joy! We then stopped for our weekly Egg McMuffin goodness. Happy happy, joy joy! Err, well, it was really good.

Question: If you order a large black coffee and get home to find you've actually been given a large French vanilla cappucino, the calories and fat do not count, right? Hope not, 'cause I sure didn't dump that baby down the drain just now. ;) It's treat day for us, so I guess it was serendipitous.

Kimberly - It dosen't count at all! Not after a great weigh-in, and a sperm-free husband!

Jill - Chinese food sounds soooo good to me. Sam and I have been trying to find a great place that's close to where we live. We had an excellent place at our old apartment but we move 3 cities away from there, so it's a pain to drive 20 mins for take out and 20 mins back home while your food getting colder by the second!! Last week we walked to a place her frined at work recommended. It awas a 2.5 mile walk each way, and the food was absolutely excellant! I think we found our new favorite!! I usually get the Broccoli with garlic sauce. The 'meat' at those places usually isn't trimmed well enough for me and I end up with a bite of grizzle. UUGH! I absolutly refuse to eat any meat-like chunk that's been deepfried either, and that was before dieting!!

So, yesterday I finally came inside after spending most of the day getting the ground ready for our weekend landscaping project, all I wanted to do was check-in with all of you and feel connected to our cyberworld, and the darn thing wouldn't let me on!! I was so sad! I felt so cut off from my friends!

Sam is really impressed with how much work I did outside this week (I am too actually!) the old Sara would have spent her entire 6 days off watching tv or reading a book... not this new and improved one though!!! I mowed and edged our entire lawn (we moved here in AUG last year, there's no telling WHEN the lawn was last edged) we now have an additional 6" of sidewalk and driveway! I hauled all of the lawn I dug out to the city compost center. I dug out a garden area that we are finishing this weekend. We do not have a back door, so Lexi's 'spot' is in the front yard, I don't think it's fair for the neighbors to have to watch her take a couple poops a day. We bought some retaining wall blocks and decorative grasses to build up her spot a little and she can hide behind it to go!

Cooked like a fool most of the morning today. Made a cold past salad based loosly on a mediterranean flavor. It's got whole wheat pasta, barley, onions, broccoli, carrots, black olives, minced garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms, feta, oreagano, basil, salt, pepper, and a dressing of olive oil redwine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. I tasted it (which I don't normally do anymore) and it's really good! Yum... can't wait for lunch! Also made a rhubarb cake using a recipe from my mom and tweeking it to make it a healthier choice. Having company tonight, a guy from work who's hot for me. He know's I just want to be friends with him but he keeps trying... oh well. He, along with everyone else, dosen't know that Sam and I are together (we've been for almost 2 years!). We don't advertise it, but we also wouldn't deny it! When we were really just roommates, we were asked all the time if we were, now we really are and no one asks?! How crazy is that?! sorry I guess I totally got off topic...

Have a great day everyone!

Boy, that salad sure sounds good; just from those ingredients I can tell it's a winner!

I crashed and took me a much-needed nappy. Just as I was drifting off, there came a knocking at the door. It was our friend Amy, bearing a little bouquet of red carnations and a card. She and her husband John are our best friends...And let me tell you, they are rotten. The carnations, Amy pointed out, were snipped. All the flowers were down in the bottom of the cellophane at the base of all the stems! And John had taken two deflated pink balloons and taped them inside the card to resemble, uh, the boys. What a riot!!

Where is everyone? I know, it's Saturday! ;)

We succumbed to temptation yesterday; even though it was our treat day, we way overindulged. I brought home Chinese take-out around 6:30pm, and then late at night we ordered a large ATW pizza. We both feel blah after eating all that - we're not used to it anymore. It's so easy to do when you spend a whole day just lounging around and watching TV like we did. When I work out in the yard, I don't even think about food until I'm so weak and hungry I'm forced to! Bet you can relate, Sara, after your day o' trimming and edging!

Today's a new day.

Hey there....
 

:dizzy: Hey all...no one is around in the Summer weekends eh? So hot and humid that I am literally sick to my stomach...Has beeen terrible here this week. And sooooo many weeds..UGH!!!!! My Clemaits plant I planted in the back died, GRRRR...TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE...but, I do have 2 small tomatoes already, so that's a big plus, hehe...No bike rides yet this week either, way tooooo hot for me...Anyhoo, here are a cpl of pics for ya to glance at...My peonies are beautiful this year...and this dolly is going on ebay today....HAG1! :D

I love peonies! We have a few really old bushes on our property, and I need to divide them after they die back. You sure your clematis isn't just going dormant, pooped out by the heat? Ours are doing well, but they get shade in the hottest part of the day and have a lot of underplantings to keep the roots cool.

Hey there Kimberley...Nope...Clematis was dead as dead can be...UGH!!! one I planted out front is fine...don't know what happened in the back...Sigh...lol. eh, what can ya do? Sometimes it happens..HAGN!!!!

Your spaghetti sauce sounds great! I need to buy no-salt-added diced tomatoes.

I'm pooped today...Yesterday, my MIL offered to help me get the house cleaned up a bit since we're having company. While we were cleaning, we got to moving furniture (she and I are really good at that, LOL). Now our living room has a dining room table and chairs in it. We moved the table and chairs from the kitchen out there, put our little antique drop-leaf table in the kitchen with just two chairs...we moved our TV armoir to the office, where I put the desktop in it, and then we dismantled the big corner desk we had in the office. I mean, we were BUSY!

And I still have some cleaning left to do. Heh. Guess that happens when you get sidetracked...

Just stopping in to say hello quick!

Yesterday I bought new rollerblades, the ones I had were close to 10 years old and really cheap. Tried to just buy new wheels for them but it was $35 for new whhels for crappy blades -or- an $80 new pair on sale for $40! Guess what i chose!?!

So this morning I tried out my new blades (2.5 miles)... what a HUGE differance they make in my preformance! I am very impressed! Sam and I had breakfast then walked to Walmart, which is about a mile away from our house, and bought new bikes! We rode home our new Mongoose split frame bikes (very 'bouncy' with all the suspensions), taking the long way home about 3 miles!

Gotta run... shopping and weeding is calling my name.. oh, wait... that's Sam!

Wowsers, it's been a few days since I've posted, life has been a little crazy on my end of the world! My update! Friday I spent the day with my friend and we hung out, went out for a nice sinfully delish dinner! Pesto Penne with chicken and tomatos, sooooo good! It was nice to get away and spend some time with my friend, we went to her place in Vancouver.. which is about 45 minutes away. Saturday was a sleepy day, the people upstairs are sanding their floor I believe.. I'm not entirely sure.. but they were up and at it around 7:30am!! Too early for THIS girl.. We went to a VERY boring Wedding Shower, I tell yah, not so great to hang out with people you don't know, have nothing in common with for 6 hours. Our present was well-recieved, which was nice.. I'm like a fat Martha Stewart! I LOVE to wrap presents, and make them BEAUTIFUL! :) Today I worked all day, but got woken up at 7:30am AGAIN! So before work I went for coffee, picked up a paper and am keeping an eye open for a place without a children's playroom above the ENTIRE place. Grr! Tonight was a pretty humbling evening, my mom called me with news. She was out on Saturday and got a pain in her chest and back, it was so bad she went to the hospital. My mom doesn't go to the hospital. After hours of tests, and waiting for results, they discovered it wasn't a heart attack (takes 6 hours for the enzymes to be detectable in the blood). They suspect it has something to do with her liver, or the fact that she has no galbladder. She's going to call doctors tomorrow, find the one who is experienced enough to help her out. Very scary stuff though, especially with a mom who doesn't go to the doctor unless it's REALLY bad (I get that from her).

So thats my end of the world, and it's getting a little late! So I will be back tomorrow to catch up with all of you gals! Take care!

-Aimee

Aimee--I hope your mom finds out what's wrong and gets it fixed pronto! I hate doctors, too, but I certainly don't get it from my mom--she's at the doctor's every time she sneezes too hard, and she pops OTC pain relievers like they're tic-tacs. I, on the other hand, HATE taking medicine (I do take "the pill," but it's as a cyst prevention medication since my doctor called me a "cyst farm" when I had just turned 16), and I only go to a doctor if I REALLY need to. That's why it took me over a month to get my darn toe fixed :p

Sara--you're so active; no wonder your weight is just melting off! Walking or biking around my house is pretty much equivalent to begging to get hit by a car. There is SO much traffic, and they certainly don't slow down for anybody. Seems like everyone is in such a rush to get everywhere! Jeff doesn't help, either. We went to Panera Bread a while back, and I asked him if we could walk there (less than a mile). He looked at me like I had 6 heads. He indulged me anyway, and we ended up walking, but now that we only eat out once a week, there's no more going to Panera (or Subway or Glory Days or Applebee's, all of which are within walking distance). At least we did get off our butts this weekend and go play mini golf--it's a start :)

Kimberley--I couldn't find the no-salt-added diced tomatos at my store, but the sodium wasn't too bad in the ones I bought anyway. Also, I have heard that you can rinse your canned veggies to remove even more sodium since it doesn't all get absorbed into the food, so I rinsed them off a bit before dumping them in the pot. Whether it actually makes a difference or not, at least it's still not 600mg per serving :o

*a moment of silence for Diana's Clematis--even though I have no idea what that might look like :p

So I forgot to mention that Jeff got out of work early on Friday. Apparently, his shop lost power, so they all just closed down and went home, which meant he went to my home. I hate it when he's there before me because then I don't have time to clean up before he gets there :p Anyway, so I came home, and he had bought me a houseplant, which was sitting on my kitchen counter waiting for me :D This is a big step since he has only bought me flowers ONCE winse we started going out over a year ago (and that one time was for my birthday). It was just a normal flowering plant (probably from a grocery store) with kinda dark magenta flowers (can't think of the name of it of the top of my head), but it was special because he thought of me. What a good boy :D

So we saw High Tension on Friday night. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good slasher horror movie. I hope when it comes out on DVD that they release the full version--it was originally a French film, and they had to cut a lot of scenes out of it to make it R-rated in the US (it was originally NC-17). I'm glad it was good because we have been waiting for it to come out for FOREVER--it was supposed to have been released back on Valentine's Day, but they kept pushing it back. But yeah, totally worth it. Leave it to the French to finally make a good horror movie (after recent horrible disappointments like Saw, Darkness, Boogeyman, White Noise, etc.)--who'd a thunk it? :p

We also rented Dog Day Afternoon, National Treasure, Racing Stripes, and Sideways. I had heard Sideways was good, but I thought it was kinda dragged out. It was okay overall and had some really great parts, but some of it definitely could have been cut out. National Treasure was awesome! I'm totally into kid/family movies, and this one was a good one. Racing Stripes, on the other hand, had a little too much gross humor for my liking. I'm sorry, I love the talking animals and such, but do kids today really need to see things like farting and pooping and flies falling into piles of dung?! And we wonder why kids today are so confused as to what is and is not appropriate behavior :soap: ...Anyway, Dog Day Afternoon was definitely worth the rent. There are so many great older movies out there that I have yet to see. I sometimes wonder why I waste my time on the newer crap.

Alright, off my movie tangent and back to work. Hope everyone's weekend wrapped up nicely!

Just another manic monday....
 

Hello ladies. I hope your weekends were terrific. I have been busy w/ school, the house, the kids..lol. I managed to get back on track w/ a vengence, and lost some more weight. It's now officially time to change my short term goal! woohoo!!! Finally made it. It almost makes not eating all of my favorite foods worth it.....almost. :D I know a lot of you can still eat your fave foods, but I'm one of those that have to cut it out completely, (at least for now) or only eat a small portion of it once in a while, kind of like a really cheesy treat..lol.
well, I have to finish my homework before class, and then spend some time w/ my kids...they are going on vacation w/ the ex, and I won't see them until next week...I usually don't go more than 2 days w/out seeing them, so I'll be a mess for at least a couple of days. So you will more than likely see me more during the times I would normally be w/ them..lol. so until then, have a great day, I miss you all bunches, and I'll talk to you later I'm sure!

Oh, Aimee, a six-hour marathon bridal shower sounds like pure torture to me, even if I were best buddies with many of the women at it. *shudder* It must have been interminable. I'm glad to hear your mom's heart was not the culprit in the episode and hope all can be straightened out soon for her.

Sara, my ankles turned in sympathy at the mention of roller blades. You are a dynamo, I tell ya!

Jill, if you're going to live together, ya better get used to Jeff seeing the place before you've had a chance to make a cleaning whirlwind through it! ;) As far as Diana's poor clematis, I'd imagine it looks like a dried up little brown twig with roots clinging to it. In their hey-day, they're quite lovely, but dead? Not-so-much. They're really pretty when alive , though!

Heather, we'll help you ride the child-withdrawal waves until your kiddos return. When I was little and we lived in Illinois, I used to spend summers with my grandparents in Ohio. Considering what a butt my dad was to mom, I don't know how she stood it. Never thought about what it was like for her -- I just know I always looked forward to being with my grandparents!

I'm enjoying the view from our now living room/dining room. It looks out on our front yard through a big picture window and I just love it. I think I'll be spending quite a bit of time here.

The lady who's bartering with me and redoing our front wall called this morning. Since it had been raining a bit, she said she'd hold off until tomorrow. She plans to get her at noon (yay for us, LOL!).