Hi Ladies,

Just to let you know I did manage to lose 1-1/4 lbs. this week at WW and now that I have joined the YMCA I am sure I will do better next week. I went to two senior exercise classes and after each one I went bowling. I also met the nicest woman who has agreed to become my "Big" sister. She, like myself, would like a teammate to exercise with. We are starting this coming Monday. Her sisters don't live here either. Also I have a new book by Art Mollen, he is an O.D. and I went to him in the late 80's to lose weight. His book is entitled "Dr. Mollen's Anti-Aging Program." By getting the flu shot at one of our drug stores, I got the book free. The one thing I like about it, it is only 135 pages long. I am only on page 24. His program is for 4 weeks. Chapter 3 talks about Too Much Protein is Dangerous to your Health. "Eat breakfast like a king...Lunch like a prince...Dinner like a pauper." - Thomas Jefferson. I most definitely will pass along any good tips I gain from reading this. The other thing he talks about is to keep yourself surrounded by "positive" people. I do believe everyone in our group is just that.

Well I need to go and get some dinner on the table.

Will post again soon!
Anita

Hello Ladies,

The walk was a great success. Not sure how much was raised but our goal was 1.2million. My day started at 4:30am and got back home by 3:30pm. I was so tired. Today i'm taking it easy, getting ready for church then relax at home.

Mooz - I'm glad your able to take some time for yourself and enjoy. Shopping with girlfriend can be relaxing. Hope you enjoy your day. Your kids are so lucky. They have really traveled quite a bit. Remind them if they ever come to Texas you have a friend here.

Nita - WTG on your 1 1/4 loss. The Y is a great place and now that you have a workout partner, it makes working out more accountable. Keep us informed on any new information you read. How's Gene doing?

Shad - WTG on losing some inches and 3 lbs.

Hal - Glad to hear your recovered from the Hal concert. Guess you didn't have any exciting Hal sightings like Mooz did. I'm with you on the exercise thing.

Cat - hope your doing ok.

Thin and Mitchellez - Would live to hear from you guys!

Got on scale this morning no gains or losses for the month. So I guess that's good. My goal for October is to exercise 3 times a week. Work has been stressful and I know working out will help that, but I tend to go for the food.

This is a picture of Mr. Hal Ketchum and myself just before he went on stage Thursday evening at The Dame in Lexington, Kentucky. My toes b-a-r-e-l-y touch the ground this beautiful Sunday afternoon! It has been suggested I play the lottery since this last week has included not only a personal video from Hal in Ireland saying 'top of the morning' to me, a concert with a personal meet and greet but this picture too! Personally, I already won. OK, so I'll play!

Hi Everyone,

HalGal -- Thanks for sharing your picture--you and Hal look like you were made for each other! I am so happy you got to do this--I only wish I could have a picture of myself and Clay Aiken--that would be awesome.

It's great to read so many posts, especially on the weekend. My new Big Sister and I are definitely on for tomorrow. I did send her the info on WW so I will have to see if she is ready.

Gene is coming along quite well--in fact, he was overjoyed just a while ago because he was able to go to the bathroom on his own. And then he walked around the living room with his cane quite steady two times! I am encouraging him to do this at least twice a day!

I need to pay some bills online so I will post again later. I don't have any more info from my book but I plan on reading some more today.

Take care and have a "super" sunday!

Anita

Good morning everyone - it's Monday again.

Mooz - so good to see you posting again. As you say, the young ones have great opportunities to see and do so much these days. It's great to see them taking those opportunities too. If the boyfriend requires any help or happens to land up in Brisbane at any time and needs a bed, just tell him to ring me on my mobile. Happy to help if I can.

Hal - glad to see you are getting some exercise in. It is so good for you even if it doesn't feel like it at the time. Way to go on the concert and meeting the man himself. Photo looks great.

Nita - what good news on your DH!!! WTG. Good loss for you too. Keep it going.

1Day - Good goal to have. Great challenge for yourself.

Cat - Have you come home from the march yet?

Not much to report from here. It's been a fine and sunny weekend. I went to the gym for weights on Saturday morning and then to the Body Balance class. Gym yesterday as well and the rest of the day was spent cleaning, dusting and mopping. The house has been a bit neglected lately and the dust around here is legendary. Not to mention that darned cat fur. Hope she has moulted most it now. You should have seen the size of the dust bunnies under the bed. :blush:

Okay, better go do some work. Back later to catch up.

Shad--
I didn't go to the big march in DC--just our local one. We wanted to do some things that would draw in other than the "true believers," so we had music (some people danced), face painting for the kids, silent auction for t-shirts as well as t-shirts, bumper stickers you could buy.

Nita--good for Gene!

Hi Ladies,

HalGal -- Thanks for the chicken suggestions. We do eat a lot of chicken and I almost always prepare it the same way!

Well I met my new big sister, Dorothy, at the gym at 10:00 a.m. We both arrived on time. We then worked about 30 minutes on the different machines, helping each other when necessary. I can honestly say the time went very fast and we even met a couple of other ladies who were willing to help us. We then took a breather to get ready for our Silver Sneaker class which started at 11:00 a.m. The yount wipper snapper really give us a complete 60 minute workout. A lot of the exercises are done on the chair. We also use weights, bands, a small ball and rubberbands which you put on each hand and simply open and close your fingers. They say the instructor on Friday is much better and I am looking forward to seeing him. Today I opted to take along a peanut butter sandwich on Sara Lee's Delightful bread (2 slices - 1 pt) and I added a half of a banana. I read some place that this is an energy sandwich, and it must be because I went shopping after this and never got home until 4:00 p.m. Mind you I left at 9:30 a.m. this morning. Before leaving, however, I made Gene's lunch because he still can't do this for himself. We made another commitment for Wednesday--the machines and then the class. Only this day I will go onto bowling afterwards. It is so very true, exercising sure does give you a lot of energy.

I made the best spaghetti for supper--here again I decided to use a whole lot of veggies--zuccini, celery, orange pepper, mushrooms and 96% fat free hamburger. I realized while I was cooking this that I didn't have my usual jar of sauce so instead I used a small can of cut-up tomatoes and a large can of crushed tomatoes. I also served it over whole wheat spaghetti and it really tasted quite good.

I am just getting into Dr. Mullen's book and he suggests to "control eating." The good news is that you can do this. It will take practice, practice, practice. Eat more often and don't be too rigid about your eating. He suggests using the "10-minute" rule. Ask yourself are your really hungry, or are you bored, or are you using food to procrastinate form doing something else. When you are watching TV do anything but eat. Do your nails, knit or crochet, work a puzzle, or read. It's best to keep your hands occupied.

Well ladies I will sign off for today. Thanks again for all your prayers and concerns for Gene, we certainly appreciate it!

Anita

Wow, Nita, you amaze me!

Good that Gene is doing well enough to leave.

Didn't lose weight this week--but I still think this is the way to go. Met with my counselor to work on some adjustments to plan.

Think I will walk dog up by river today. It is a beautiful day, and she loves being up there.

Earl is getting ready to apply for Social Security. Talked to our financial advisor, and it seems it is best to take it now (at 62) rather than wait for the increased payment.

He looked in the "birth certificate" file--and it wasn't there. So he has to get a new one.

See you later.

Morning all,

Hal - thanks for the information on chicken - I eat it and fish frequently. Actually I have a marinade for chicken that is a bit spicy and divine. I'll sort it out tonight and post it on the thread.

Nita - sounds like life is good for you at the moment. You sure are keeping busy with the exercise and bowling. Good for you. And good news on the DH as well. Controlled eating - well we should all be doing that. I struggle with portion control all the time. It is a trial having to weigh it all.

I am well into my preparations for my trip to Japan now. Yesterday I got my International Drivers licence and picked up Y120000 - sounds a lot but is about $1500. Probably won't need it all, but it's a just in case scenario. I got stuck in Japan without access to money once. That was enough for me. The international drivers licence is a strange thing. I was reading through the book last night and there are several countries which require one of these things. All they really are is a 3 fold brochure, which contains your photo, explains the limitations of your drivers licence in about 10 different languages and is an extension of your own licence. It comes with a little booklet which explains which countries embrace international signs and what they are, what side of the road they drive on, where the Automobile clubs that participate in the international driving scene are. Quite handy. It also warns of some bizarre rules - such as in some parts of rural Asia, if you run over someone!!!! make sure they are dead!!! Hello?? apparently some folk are so poor they send out the old folk to get run over and claim compensation for their injuries. They don't want them dead, they only want them injured. Remind me not to drive in 3rd world countries. Approximately 2/5ths of the countries of the world drive on the left and the 3/5 on the right. Japan drives on the left and so does India - that was a surprise. Not Japan I knew that, but India. Must be the influence of the British Raj. Most other countries in that area drive on the right!! Africa is left, Europe is right. There you go, trivia for the day. Now all I need is the ticket (Thursday night) and I am ready to roll. Chris tells me we are going to explore Nagoya and surrounds, do a tour of the Toyota factory (you get to see the cars being made mostly by robot and then get to see all the fancy models in the showroom and sit in them etc.), make some pottery and decorate it, maybe a tour of the Noritake factory (we did Wedgewood and Waterford in Ireland). We are going to a shrine, castle and garden as well. Oh yes and we have to go to a speech competition because one of the students from the school is participating. While she is at school, I can take the car and go looking for autumn colour. It all depends on how well she is and how much she can do. Only 22 days left to wait.

Gotta go and strike a blow for the working person. See you all later, meantime have a wonderful day.

Hello Ladies,

Work has been very hetic and this past weekend I fell off my eating plan. So we all know when i get stressed I eat and to top it off it's TOM and i'm craving lots of candy, sugar, anything. I have got to get on a exercise program cause i'm afraid with my work load i'm going to end up gaining 10 lbs. Tomorrow i'm heading to a off site meeting which will be nice, but I know my work will pile up and be there on thursday. I talked with my boss about hiring another person, but due to budget they are not. So for now I am literally doing the work of two people, getting the pay of one and expected to help others with their work load.

Nita - Good for you for getting in that workout. I think you are going to see a big difference now that you have a workout buddy. Keep us informed on Dr. Mullen's book. I'm sure you are going to start seeing the results you want.

Shad - 22 days until your trip. I"m getting excited for you. You will have to post some pictures and tell us about Japan. I think your brave driving in a foreign country.

Hal - Great picture of you and Hal. I have to confess up, I did not walk in the event, I was helping with the organization of it. I've been volunteering with them for over 15 years now. I help with set up, t-shirt distribution breakdown and whatever else needs to be done in between.

Cat - speaking of dogs, my dog just ran in and he is stinky. I had the water running outside and he must of gotten wet. He needs a bath, but not tonight.

Mooz - hope your doing ok

Morning all,
It's going to be a stinking hot day here today - they are predicting 35C which is around the 100F mark. Hot gusty winds as well. It will not be pleasant out there. Seems we've bypassed most of spring and gone for the hot stuff already. I can only hope that there will be some rain during the rainy season as well. We are desperately dry now. Garden sprinklers are banned, gardens can only be watered by hand held hosing on certain days of the week, and from 7pm to 7am. Yeah right like I am going to stand there holding a hose for 12 hours of a night. It would actually be more beneficial for the garden to allow us one deep water a week. But there you go. More gardens will die I suspect.

Only 21 days to my trip. Can you tell I am looking forward to this??

Catch up again soon. We are all so busy right now.

Hello Ladies,

Shad - I keep forgetting that your on the other side of the world. We're just getting our fall. A cold front came in last night, this morning and when I woke up it was 63, and kept going down to 60. It's kinda of windy here so it makes i kinda of chilly. I hope we keep this fall weather for a while. We too need some rain. I can't decide if I want to plant some winter plants (pansey or mums) I love to have flowers around but once it get cold I don't really go out and sit on porch. I'm sure your just counting down the days for your trip.

Once again work is hetic. I have got to start meditating or doing something. The last two weeks I have been eating more candy. I purchased some halloween candy and of couse had to try it, we'll that led to more candy. I don't know why I buy it so early, it's not like the store going to run out. I guess TOM doesn't help either. Our State Fair started last week and i'm planning on going sometime this weekend or next. I just love going and eating corny dog and walking around.

We'll I think i'm actually going to get on the treadmill tonight. I think it's the guilt from the candy I've eaten today.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Oh plant some pansies and petunias or similar in a big pot and keep it near the door just to remind yourself of the lovely garden outdoors. I have pots which I bring in and take out and move around just to make the deck look fresh and new. I bought a stack of those trolley things on wheels to make moving them around so much easier - stops the ants as well which is a bonus. So when one is looking exceptionally pretty I wheel it to the door or inside so I can see it. Which reminds me, one of the orchids popped out a couple of pretty pale lavender flowers on Wednesday. Didn't even know it was budding, so I have brought it in and put it on the bench so I can enjoy it.

Have fun at the fair. Haven't been to one in years. I should go but I really don't enjoy the crowds and it seems such a waste of money to just go for a couple of hours.

Better get back to work I guess.