I am home!! Who knew it would happen!! Josh woke up this morning and was feeling well enough to drive... thankfully he didn't know how bad he'd feel tonight... otherwise I'd be scrambling right now! The drive home was good, it was hot and sunny, we both got a little red spots (even WITH sunscreen!). It was about 38degrees Celcius along our trip, so we are glad to be back to the coolness of our place. Josh is now in bed with a dose of cough suppressant (the stuff that won't bother his liver), and I'm going to go join him in bed. I'm SO tired, and not sure how this re-entry into real life will go.

Jill - I think you should hook me up with your diet.. I'm going to start a clean eating plan for myself and Josh (including a morning smoothie, those things were addicting!), and can only hope I lose some of my vacation weight. I got on the scale when we got home, at night, after a shower, with a towel on my head, and with my period just starting today.. bad circumstances, possibly the worst actually.. it says I'm up 6 pounds from when I left, and 8 pounds from my ticker. eek! Josh weighed himself before his shower, and he lost 10 pounds (which I'm sure will be more like 12-15 when he weighs in the morning). I don't think his diet of throwing up and being sick for 3 weeks is so great...

Alrighty, I'm tired and am typing anything thats coming to my head.. so I'm going to go get some sleep and wake up to a NEW BETTER day tomorrow :)

-Aimee

Glad you're home safe and sound. Snuggle up in bed and get some rest, you. By the way, I read that flax seeds don't do the body any good unless they're ground up with a mortar and pestle (or a coffee grinder) or in the form of flax seed oil. If you eat them whole, they go the way of sesame seeds and such: straight through ya. ;)

We're up early, heading out to Howie's MRI appointment. We called yesterday to make sure the insurance covered it, and it does. This morning, I had the thought that we should call and make sure they cover THIS facility. They don't cover it. :devil: BUT...The lady at the facility said they will make a notation on the bill that they'll submit the claim to our insurance, and if it's rejected, they'll just write it off. Evidently they've been trying to become an approved provider for a couple of years, and this is how they do things. I've never heard of such a thing; I guess they want to get as many referrals as they can, and if they have to write off a few, they do. Who knows...

One odd thing happened this morning as Howie stood in the doorway and let the dogs out back. He heard this *plop* and looked down to see a squirrel laying on the patio. It had fallen off the roof! Emma was as startled as Howie was. The squirrel jumped back up and climbed the brick wall to the roof again, ran a ways down the roof, and fell off the house again. LOL! I bet it got into some fermented corn or something. Drunk rodents, just what the world needs. ;)

Crazy morning, ladies.

Aimee--so glad you guys still got to go home together! And no, I don't think you could have possibly weighed yourself under worse conditions. Just wait a few days and think about how amazed you'll be to see you dropped like 4 pounds in no time (i.e., no towel on head, no pms bloating, no wet hair...) ;)

Kimberley--good LORD that drunken squirrel storry almost got me laughing out loud in my cubicle! :lol: I could just picture this clumsy little squirrel wobbling around, falling off the roof, then doing it again...:dizzy: I haven encountered some unusually smart rodents in my day, but no drunk ones! :p My cat (who lives with my parents) catches rodents and garter snakes and grasshoppers for us all the time and meows until someone comes outside to see what it is. Well, one time, she caught a chipmunk (which she has done before, the good little hunter). She had it in her mouth and dropped it when we went outside to see what she had. There it was, poor little chipmunk laying on the front step. My dad picked it up and carried it over to the woods at the edge of our yard (as he did with all of her prey), but when he put it on the ground, the darn thing jumped up and ran away! Some people think it was stunned, but I think it knew all along and was playing dead!

Well, peeking at the scale, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to have a loss this week, but I'm hoping to stay the same. I wouldn't call my diet a failure, though, because even if I gain 1.5 pounds this week (which I highly doubt I will), I'll still average 3 pounds lost each week for the past 3 weks (since I have lost 10.5 in the past 2 weeks). That's good enough results for me :)

Kimberley - I have a coffee grinder ONLY for flax seeds (golden flax, kept in the freezer!).. I am prepared :) My mom uses flax seed oil instead of regular oil in salad dressings.. she's all about getting the right kinds of fat. We both take essential fatty acids, I take mine to reduce that monthly bloating. Healthy eating is so complex I tell yah! Your squirrel sounds freaky! I can't imagine how I'd react if I saw all of that, scream, laugh and then possibly scream again. heh.

Jill - tell me a typical day of meals for you on your new diet plan! You must be happy to see that scale moving quicker, I know I would be ! :) I gotonmy scale this morning, and it said 259.9, down 2.5 from last night with my wet hair and towels. I was still super bloated, so my real weigh in won't be until Monday once this pesky TOM is gone!

I think I lost some weight today, I got into work and the girl who was supposed to be working with me called in sick. She apparently fell down some stairs, I say apparently because she also got hit by a car last week... now all of this considered, shouldn't she be in a full body cast by now? I dunno, either way I worked alone from 9:30am until 6:30pm with no breaks, no potty breaks, nothing! And I hadn't brought anything to eat with me, so no snacking or ANYTHING! I am alive though, and the day went pretty quickly... I'm content with my life, so this didn't phase me. It's nice to be happy to be alive! The bf and I are going to have to do some major thinking, we live in a crappy area... it's time for us to move on. We'll see what'll happen, I would enjoy moving to a smaller town on the lake, Kelowna I think. I'm just thinking out loud.. I'm going to go drink some water.. talk to you gals later!!

-Aimee

Hey, ya'll. Howie's MRI went well, aside from him being really sore from having to lie still on the table for 45 minutes.

Jill, we peeked at the scale, too. On our way home, we dropped Howie's films off at the doctor's office, so I got my blood pressure checked (166/70, yeah!) and we both weighed in so we could go straight home and check his mom's scale against the doctor's. Both said 218....bah!! We'd had coffee and eaten lunch just before that, though.

What would it be like to be some skinny person who never gives a thought to the scale? I tell ya, sometimes I really hate having to obsess about every little morsel, every pound...And it's discouraging to think that's going to be a fact of life until the day I die. I mean, it's worth it -- I would never want to go back to where I was -- but it's still frustrating sometimes.

Aimee, looks like you're not the only one doing some introspection today. ;)

Kimberley - glad to hear Howie's tests went good. Bad scale peeking, BAD!! *slap* heh. I know really skinny girls who are MORE obsessed with the scale than I am... I wonder if it ever goes away?

So the doctor felt the need to call here at 9:45 with test results.. Josh's liver enzymes are HIGHER now. We are going into the doctors tomorrow morning EARLY, I figure we'll either sleep REALLY good or really bad. I will be tested tomorrow as well, they suspect it's either mono or Hepititis A (or maybe even that toxic hepititis). Hep A means someone didn't wash their hands and prepared food.. ick, if thats it i'm never eating out again! I better sleep.. I'm alive.. gotta remind myself that.. nite gals!

-Aimee

Sleep well, and take good care. We'll be there with you guys in spirit!

Aimee--here's hoping for mono! I know it sucks, but it's also not as serious as hepatitis! I remember when my sister had mono--she like locked herself in her room for a week and then just came out feeling better one day :p They say rest is the best medicine, that being tired is what makes your body more susceptible (sp?) to mono. I really do hope it turns out to be nothing too serious (and nothing too gross, like unwashed restaurant kitchen hands!).

Kimberley--glad to hear Howie's MRI went well. Did you guys get the results right then or do you have to wait a few days?

I know I will obsess over food and the scale for forever. I think after a while, though, my clothes fitting tighter will be the better indicator than the number on the scale. Guess I won't know till I get to my goal, which I am SO determined to do!

A typical day on my diet: today my 4 meals are fish, chicken, scrambled eggs, and egg salad. Now, rarely are there 2 egg meals in one day (this is the first time that has happened), and there's usually a meal that includes fruit. They also say you can have veggies with the meals (like with the fish or chicken), so I put salsa and spinach in my eggs for breakfast this morning. Yesterday, my meal plan was: banana shake (banana, milk, vanilla, and optional peanut butter), chicken, ham and pineapple, and fish. When you make your plan, you pick the foods you prefer out of groupings of 3 (for example, it will make you pick your favorite out of chicken, fish, or ham). Whatever foods you don't pick won't be on the list. That's why my menus never include tuna, cottage cheese, or mixed veggies (which are foods I have seen on the list, but are never on my menus). Of course, it also says to make sure you drink at least 10 servings of water a day and try to go for 2 30-minute walks each day. Now, the second week I did it, I only lost 2.5 pounds, but I cheated and had cake on like 3 or 4 of those days (darn office parties!). Also, you stay on the diet for 11 days, then take 3 days off. It says eat whatever you want, but I still plug my foods into fitday on those days to keep myself sane and make sure I don't go too crazy. The menu gets somewhat monotonous sometimes (I have ham and pineapple almost every day--good thing I love ham!), but there are ways to mix it up, like I do veggie fajitas with lettuce wraps on my fruit/veggie day (oh yeah, there is one day in each 11-day cycle where you eat 3 meals: one of only fruits and 2 of only veggies), I eat different kinds of fruits for my "mixed fruit" meals, and I use different kinds of seasoning/sauces for my chicken (it allows bbq sauce on your chicken, so I just try to stick to sauces that have about the same or fewer calories than bbq). If you want to give the diet a try, don't pay the $27--I'm sure we can find a way for me to get you a menu through my membership ;) I would say you could make your own menu of just mostly protein with some fruits and veggies, but I like to use the generated menus because there are days when you can have pasta with your chicken and days where you can have a burger or hotdog or sandwich, and I know if I mad emy own menus, I would have those things every day :p

Well, that's certainly enough babbling for now! Guess I should go do some work, even though it is my brithday :D My gift to myself--I don't have to work job #2 tonight, so I get to stay at the gym as long as I want, then go home and take a nap :dizzy: Have a great day, ladies!!

Happy birthday Jill!! Working on your birthday? You ARE hardcore! I prefer to have the day off, the week off... perhaps the MONTH off.. I'm addicted to birthdays, hope yours is GREAT!! :)

I am off to the doctors (and I slept in until 9am!), bbl!

-Aimee

How'd it go at the doctor's, Aimee?

Jill, what diet plan is that? It sounds interesting. Howie and I are happy with what we're doing, but my mother-in-law's still struggling. I'd like to learn more about what you're doing so I can see if Nancy would be interested.

I've been photographing and measuring oodles of our "fat clothes" for a big old series of eBay listings. I worked on them for about four hours and only have 48 pieces of clothing photographed and measured! I've learned that clothes for better prices when I include measurements and good photos, so it's worth the time. But, OH, the time....And I got a sore back from standing in one place so much. Don't even ask about the wrist. LOL But it'll be worth it when we can buy some new duds with the proceeds, right?

Still have all the jeans to catalog. Bleah. Tomorrow.

Kimberley - I need to sell clothes on Ebay, you should teach me... I have enough clothes to clothe a family! I gave away a 250 dollar down jacket because it was too big.. I also have another down jacket with a huge hood with a fur trim.. cute, worth money.. also too big. The doctor went alright, there was a wait to see the doctor, so we went back at 11:30am, and he talked to us about the symptoms, what tests he was ordering, talked about the type of diet Josh should be following (bland foods mainly), and how Josh shouldn't be working. I was able to ask the doctor a TON of questions (I love it!), so it was very good I went along. The doctor also said I don't need to worry about getting tested until they discover whats really going on in Josh's body. I'm relieved for myself... I feel bad for feeling that. But I love Josh, and take good care of him, and he takes good care of me..

Jill - your diet does sound interesting.. I'm going to try this other one.. I'll see if I can find the web site.. but my mom had a photocopy from some magazine. Basically it talks about your liver, and xenoestrogens, which comes from the pesticides on our food, preservatives, processed foods, all of that stuff. The idea is that those almost clog up your liver and it's unable to process things properly which causes it to turn more food into fat. There is 3 steps, the first one is where you eat certain foods (it lists groups of foods), and to take a 20 minute sweat producing walk everyday. The second step is to follow a 24 hour cleanse of a certain drink, and the third step includes more foods along with that first group. It's very interesting, and the logic really makes sense.. I've always liked the idea of cleaning your liver (I take ibuprofen every TOM and know I need to clean up my act), so I'm thinking I'll give 'er a go. I need to do some more grocery shopping before I get on it. I'll keep you guys updated on that, and how it works. And Kimberley, you should suggest it to your MIL, it might help.. you never know!

So I had a big shopping day today, my old neighbour took me to the mall, and we wandered around.. hit up some of those side walk sales going on. I got a really cute t-shirt from Old NAvy, it says "bahama mama", very cute.. trust me! And it was only 7.99 WITH tax!

Kimberley - http://www.spafreshmag.com/fresh_ide...?id=50_0_4_0_C
Thats the website.. read it!

Alrighty, I am off to drink some tea! Have a great night!

-Aimee

Glad you didn't have to undergo tests just yet. Still keeping everything crossable crossed for Josh (even my eyes!).

I love Old Navy's commercials, and have checked out their website. They have some really cute clothes! I will have to check out their store in Columbus and see what trouble I can get into. ;)

Kimberley - I'm picturing you with your eyes crossed, makes me giggle! heh. Old Navy is good for certain things, their clothes are the best quality, but thats alright for cheap seasonal clothes. Did you read that site?

-Aimee

My diet is called the Idiot Proof Diet (it's available online--if you search for it, you'll mostly just come up with advertisements for it and the $27 fee for their website). Like I said when I started it, I just got suckered into the gimmick (all of their ads say lose 9 pounds every 11 days!--I figured it was some kind of pill or drink or something, but it turns out its this actual FOOD diet :dizzy: ). I paid for it more out of curiosity than anything else.

When I tried to talk about it here on 3FC in the Support forum (I put it there cuz I was wondering if anyone else had tried it or anything), it got moved to the Buyer Beware forum (which has recently been changed to "Does it Work?") and the thread got locked because 3FC does not support it or endorse it, and I guess the Idiot Proof Diet website has an affiliate program, so they have had trouble with people trying to recruit on these boards and trying to use the 3FC name in their advertising! It sucks that it got so commercially out of hand because it has really actually been working for me.

I had my 3 days off plan from Friday-Sunday (went out to eat every meal, had french fries and burgers and even shared a banana split with Jeff), and I got right back on for my next 11 days on Monday. It's easier for me to stick strictly to it during the 11 days because I know another 3-day free-for-all is coming :p After peeking at the scale this morning, it looks like I might even be able to squeak out a bit of a loss for this week at tonight's TOPS meeting, too, which would make it 3 weeks in a row of losing and 3 weeks in a row on the diet :D

I don't suggest it for everyone--like I said, it can get repetitive, and if you're not super-strict with yourself, it can be hard to stick to, since you only eat 4 times a day, your meals have to be at least 2.5 hours apart, and you have to eat what they tell you (so I sometimes end up having something like fish for a snack :dizzy: ).

My menu for today is: ham and pineapple (which I had for breakfast), fruit (I have apples, grapes, and peaches for my mid-morning snack), salad (veggies and dressing--I don't put any cheese or egg or anything like that anymore), and chicken (though I think I might cheat bigtime tonight and have my Subway sweet onion chicken teriyaki sub--bread is not allowed for me today, but I think I might splurge). I would love to eat less processed foods like Aimee is suggesting, but with my schedule, I don't always have that option (turkey burgers at Ruby's, fruits and veggies from the work cafeteria that probably have pesticides, etc.).

Some people have said it's just calorie cycling (which is varying your calories from day to day and just having a normal average number of calories at the end of the week or 11 days or whatever time period). However, I have been logging my food into fitday every day, both on and off the diet, and my calories are pretty consistent (usually between 1750-2050, and a 300-calorie range isn't drastic enough for calorie cycling according to what I have read on the subject), so that's not it. I think it's just the elimination of bad carbs for 11 out of every 14 days, the increase in protein, and the increase in veggies (for me, since I hardly ate any before). The 3 off-plan days are supposed to sort of trick your body so your metabolism doesn't get used to being on the diet all the time and keeps it in high gear. The website has an online book, too, but it's not very helpful, IMO. Plus, there are grammatical mistakes and such, which always makes me think it's not a very high-quality site. I just use the menu generator so I get new menus for each 11-day cycle.

See now, that's what ya'll get for askin' me questions--a novel!! :p

So, I resisted the birthday cake yesterday in the office. They even got angelfood cake and fruit instead of regular frosted cake because they knew I was dieting, but I didn't eat any. It was actually easier to resist than a regular cake would have been (I LOVE frosting, but I get to eat fruit all the time ;) ). I suppose it was worth it since I was a pound lower this morning than I was yesterday morning (normal fluctuations, I know, but I have my weigh-in tonight, so I'm happy to be down). I didn't do anything last night to celebrate--I'm too far for Jeff to come visit during the week, and I don't really have many other friends around here. So, I went to the gym (about 22 minutes on the elliptical and then 2 sets of 10 reps on 3 different upper body machines). Then I watched some Judge Judy and Gilmore Girls, then fell asleep in the living room till about 9, then got up and moved to my bed and slept like a baby all night :^: I will celebrate with Jeff this weekend--can't wait to see what he got me!!

Jill - sounds like a relaxing birthday, its hard to have those bdays in the middle of the week. I'm sure you'll have a great celebration this weekend :)

I did it, got on my scale for that pesky weekly weigh in! The first one after my vacation, I am up! The day I left I was 257, and was already up 3 pounds, and so I added 3 more pounds to that. It's amazing how fast those pounds add up when you are on vacation! I'll weigh in again on Monday, but ONLY because then TOM will be gone, and I'll have a real idea of how much I gained. shh I know.. I know.. but I've got an addiction!

I am off to find something for lunch, I'm STARVING!

-Aimee

Thanks for explaining that. Does it have much room for grains at all? Man, the dieting world is so hard to navigate. You've got people saying carbs are the antichrist, others touting supplements, us going by the AHA...All of them give compelling evidence as to why their system works well. But then there's just as many naysayers for every method. It's craziness! :dizzy:

I want to see pictures! Let's see this new 'do!

The doctor's office called with the results of his Tuesday MRI, and it's not good news. There are some vertebrae with nothing between them, a herniated disk, arthritis, and his curve is bad. It was just the nurse we spoke to, so we won't know more until he can see the doctor. He was so afraid it would be something requiring surgery, and this looks like it is. He's said he's not having surgery again, but where will all this lead if he doesn't?

It's so ironic that he could lose 140 pounds and be hit with this now. Doggone it. Where DID I put that darned magic wand of mine? :?: He's my heart, and I can't stand that he's going through this.

Oh my goodness Kimberley, I am so sorry to hear whats happening. Has he had surgery before? Sounds as though he might have had a bad experience, I hope you can convince him to do it if he REALLY needs it. I can definitely feel where you are coming from, and hope everything turns out in the end. Cuddle lots!

Jill - I want to see pictures as well!

I'm dying over here, Josh hasn't been able to eat and now is only able to eat certain foods.. so he's just happy to EAT. Meanwhile I'm trying to support him with what he's allowed to eat, so we only have certain fruits and veggies in the house.. I'm STARVING! I've had a smoothie for breakfast with 2 pieces of toast, carrot and celery sticks with dip for a snack. And I had 10 almonds.. lordy lordy lordy, I just want some pizza! lol..

-Aimee

-Aimee

Yes, his back's seen a lot of trauma. He fell out of a lumber loft at work in 1994 and broke his back (L3-L4) and eight ribs. He went through physical therapy and was able to return to work in 1995. But, while helping with a load of shingles that fall, he reinjured the area, herniated a disk. He had fusion surgery in 1996, where they took bone from his hip and laminated around the two vertebrae, fusing them together.

I want pizza, too.

No! No! NO!

I once read about a woman who had lost over 200 pounds. She didn't have surgery--she was doing the good ol' healthy diet and exercise. She was still overweight, but she was doing everything right. She had a perfect nutritionist-approved diet and was exercising nearly every day, both cardio and weights. She knew she was in the best shape of her life. Then she had a heart attack.

When I read that story, I was so infuriated! I was like, what's the point of doing everything right if you're just gonna get screwed anyway?! I talked to my mother and sister about it, and they felt the same way. It was so depressing to think that we can change and do everything "right" and still end up hurt.

Then, I talked to my boss at my old job about it. Her first reaction was, "wow, she's so lucky." Lucky?! I didn't understand how this poor woman who had worked so hard only to end up in the hospital could be lucky. My boss explained: "Well, if she were still as overweight and unhealthy, she probably wouldn't have survived the heart attack at all." What an amazing way of looking at it. I had never even thought about it from that side. She was right--the woman was lucky.

I guess my point is that maybe now that Howie has lost that 140 pounds, medical treatments will be easier for his body to handle, ya know? Maybe the surgery won't be as bad as it was the first time around because, even if he was lighter when he had surgery last time, this time his body is so healthy. He's got such a great diet and exercise routine that has helped him lose 140 pounds so far--I bet that super-healthy body of his could withstand surgery much better this time around. I hope he does what he needs to do to fix it before it gets worse :(

And my goodness, Aimee! How long will it be till they find out exactly what is wrong with your Josh? I really hope Howie and Josh both get fixed (well, we all know Howie's already been "fixed," but you know what I mean ;) )!!

As for pictures, my computer is all kinds of messed up since Jeff put Windows XP on it (to replace Windows ME--Mistake Edition--that I'd always had on it). Well, actually, my computer isn't messed up at all--it's running much better. However, programs that I had on it before are no longer available (since I got the computer back in 2000 and have no idea where any of my discs are). Included in the long list of programs that have since fallen by the wayside is my photo editing program. I can take pictures and upload them to my computer from my camera, but I can't resize them, so they are HUGE! There's probably a way to do it, but I haven't had the time to sit and figure it out.

Anyway, it doesn't much matter because I HATE my hair! Now I remember why I always kept it long--I could just brush it and leave it down or throw it up in a ponytail no problem. Now I remember how when it's short, the left side always looks perfect, and the right side always looks like sh!t. The left side does this thing where it just naturally flips out at the bottom, and it looks REALLY cute--I love it. However, the right side is completely ******ed. It doesn't really flip just out or under...it kinda does both, and the end result is horrible. I hate having to use a blow dryer or curling iron to fix it, and even when I do get it the way I want it, then I have to use hair wax to keep it there, and then it does its own thing after like an hour or so anyway, so my efforts were fruitless. It's just so frustrating. I SO don't have time for high-maintenance hair! :mad:

Oh, I was down 1/4 pound at TOPS last night. I'm pretty sure I would have stayed the same if I hadn't cut over 8 inches of hair off, but I'll take it anyway :p

Hey, hair has weight, but not that much. ;) Go for it.

Your post touched me, Jill, thank you. I sent the part about Howie to him in an e-mail. He's got so much going on in that back of his, he's really worried. I don't even want to think about it.

I hear you about the short hair. I look, umm, very interesting each day I get up. The best thing I did was get a little metal-barreled bristle brush. I twirl my hair around it as I dry it, curling it toward he front. When it's dry, I spray it lightly with hairspray (just a mist), wait a moment, and run my fingers through it toward the back. Then I give it a good "helmet of hairspray" covering. I do miss throwing it into a ponytail, and I miss not needing hairspray...But I love having it short.

Software-wise, check out these options. They're free and they work great, especially for someone who wants to do basic photo editing:

Google's Picasa2 catalogs your photos and makes them quickly searcheable. Its effects work pretty well, too. To resize a photo, you crop it and tweak the color as you wish, then click the export button. There, you tell it what size you want the image to be. One big plus is that you can crop images to the ratio needed for various print sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10).

Irfanview (be sure to download the plug-in's file, one of which lets you rotate and save your JPG files with no loss of quality). It's a marvelous little program!

A little more complicated, but very fun, is Photofiltre. You can do more with color correction, cloning to cover blemishes, etc.

I'm a complete photo junky, so I try just about every free photo editor I see mentioned. Irfanview I always keep on my PC because it lets me arrow through an entire directory of photos full-sized (rather than having to open one at a time) and quickly cull those that don't make the grade. It's also not a memory hog.

A whole day without me posting.. whats this world coming to?!?! Yesterday before work I managed to pull a muscle up my entire back and neck.. ouchies! I was pretty much paralyzed last night, and got on the couch and didn't move. This morning was a bit better.. but I had to work.. I arrived to work and my district manager showed up at 9:10 (I arrived at 8:30), the district manager from the interior of BC arrived around 9:25, and the regional manager and HER boss arrived at 9:35. They rearranged the store, moved the sterio, put one some peppy dance music, and started selling. They really did boost our sales for the day, it was impressived really... but at the same time unknown to me... it was a working interview for me. Which I wasn't prepared for, mostly because I had no idea. It was all over a stressful morning, and then a staff member didn't show up for work... I tell yah, I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with this crap.. I'd have fired this girl MONTHS ago!

Well enough venting from me! I could go on for hours/days/weeks! Some news came back on Josh, he tested positive for Mono. They are still waiting for some test results, and are worried about his liver, so more tests are being done on Monday.. I tell yah, that body is going to have NO blood left soon! Keep those fingers crossed that I don't have mono too!

Well gals! Hope you are having a GREAT weekend!!

-Aimee

Oh, mono...Lovely mono. I had that in high school, during my freshman year. I failed a class and had to take it again my sophomore year. Ready for the class? Health. Yeah, I had to sit through HEALTH class again due to mono. Blargh! Keeping you and Josh in my prayers. :)

I had a great afternoon and night. From 3-7:30pm I worked in the yard, planting a newly-cleared flowerbed. My MIL went with us to Caribou for coffee, then after we dropped her off, we headed over to Wal-Mart and did a little clothes shopping. Howie was on-call last weekend, so he has extra money coming in this next paycheck; he said we both needed clothes, so happy birthday to me (it's Monday, the big three-eight).

It gets better. I bought a clearanced pair of Levi bootcut stretch denim jeans....In size 16. OMG, size 16! They're just tight, but they'll loosen up when I've worn them an hour, and they'll fit for a while yet even when they get a little looser. But 16! And I got a couple of 18/20 button-up, fitted shirts. I have a little left in the clothes budget, so I'm going to cruise eBay.

And HOWIE? Are you ready for this? He bought XL shirts and size 42 jeans! This man was in a 4x at the beginning of the year! Some XL's fit him fine in the chest, but are too snug around his belly still, but some fit well.

Gee, it's nice to look forward to clothes shopping.

Kimberley - it's amazing the transformation Howie is undergoing... going from an 4X to an XL is VERY impressive!! And you in a 16! Good going :) I can't wait to start to enjoy shopping again too! I'm addicted to deal shopping, and there are MUCH more skinnier stores with sales!
HAPPY EARLY BDAY! We all have bday's pretty close to eachother, eh? Well mine isn't until the middle of August.. but I'm already preparing for it. I hope you have a GREAT day, don't eat too much cake! :)

I'm starting to feel a little under the weather, my neck and back are INSANELY sore, and wow, I'm tired. I am keeping my fingers crossed it's not from Josh, which I doubt because we've been making sure not to drink from the same glasses, or kiss (it's been 3 weeks with no kisses!). I've been thinking about the whole dieting thing, along with exercise, and I'm thinking combining a bunch of different things will work the best for me, I was thinking about the "8 Minutes in the Morning" guy, he has a diet where you eat every 3 hours. I'm sure it's just combining the same types of foods are most diets, but I like the eating every 3 hours idea. And the 8 minutes in the morning weight program is an interesting idea as well... I'm just babbling.. thinking out loud I guess. Anyways! Have a great Monday!

-Aimee

Hope you feel better soon. Is your neck gland-sore or muscle sore?

I eat about every three hours, and it keeps me from being ravenous and overeating when I do eat.

We just got done watching the "Double Crossed" episode of "What Not to Wear" and "While You Were Out". Did you see that one? Great fun! I used to want to be on WNTW, but now I have a clue about what I should wear. Still, it'd sure be nice to have my new goal wardrobe funded by TLC. Can you imagine?? :D

Ahh, Monday morning--struggling to keep my eyes open, as per usual :p

Aimee--I hate that Josh (and possibly you!) have mono, but at least they found out what it is so they can treat it and make everything all better! I've got my fingers crossed that YOU haven't caught it :crossed:

Kimberley--I can't WAIT to be excited for clothes shopping, too! A size 16--ooh, it seems SO far away! How awesome, though, to be able to buy things in the "misses" section instead of PLUS sizes all the time. You guys are doing splendidly!!

My weekend was a bust food-wise. Well, I stayed on-plan for Friday (except for the soup and breadstick I had at Olive Garden..."pasta" was my meal for that night, so I didn't give myself any grief for the cheese ravioli I ate ;) ). Saturday, I was perfectly on-plan (except that I didn't wait the full 2.5 hours between my first two "meals"...I had my mixed nuts about an hour after my fruit, but I still stuck to my menu). Then yesterday, all H-E-double-hockey-sticks broke loose! Jeff's older cousin had one of those PartyLite parties (where they come to your house and sell candles and stuff), and she made so much awesome food! She made a pina colada cake (yellow cake with rum in it and icing with shredded coconut) and Toquitos and home-made bread and fruit with AWESOME dip and this croissant roll thingy with chicken and cheese...ooh, I am drooling just thinking about half this stuff! And yes, I ate it all. And yes, I had more than one piece of each (except the cake--luckily, I am not a huge fan of coconut :p ). And according to my diet, yesterday was supposed to be my all fruits and veggies day. So much for that!

So of course, I came home expecting to weigh at least 2 more pounds than when I'd left on Friday, especially since I also hadn't been drinking enough water all weekend (oh, and did I mention the jr. bacon cheeseburger, fries, and small frosty I had in the car on the way home from Jeff's last night?! I was so out of control!!). Lo and behold, I peeked at the scale this morning (so what else is new?), and was pleasantly surprised. Just to make sure, I stepped off, let it turn off (it's a digital scale), and turned it back on, and stepped on again. Down by 1.5 pounds. I swear, I will NEVER understand my body! If I ate like that every day, I would be 500 pounds by now, but I guess my body was happy with it this one time. Who knows...but I certainly am NOT complaining and will be strictly on-plan all this week, since my parents are coming down from Connecticut and my sister is coming up from Va Beach to visit me this weekend, and we are having dinner at PF Changs (AWESOME Chinese bistro) Friday night and Maggiano's (AMAZING family-style Italian food) on Saturday night. I'll be sure to eat lots of yummies but try to stick to much smaller portions to limit the damage.

I spent $73 at the candle party. For that amount, I got this REALLY cool purple lantern thingy (called the Zen Lantern) that holds 3 tea lights and a set of votive holders that can actually be 2 little glass votive holders and 2 ball candle holders. I also got a 12-pack of votives (since they were on sale for $3 a dozen!). I LOVE candles, and they had so many awesome things in that catalog, so I am considering hosting my own party in order to get the discount on stuff I want. I also spoke to the woman about possibly becoming a consultant (so I could kiss Ruby Tuesday good-bye!), and she seemed very excited and encouraging, saying that there was SO much opportunity in this area and so few consultants. I am thinking about it--there is no financial obligation (as long as you hold a party that takes in at least $350, you get the kit for free, and Jeff's cousin took in over $450 in sales at her party, so I think I could do it), and if you don't like it, you can just stop doing it, so there's no real commitment. My sister did something similar with pearl jewelery and didn't have much success, but she enjoyed the parties she did do, plus she got to keep all the sample jewelery ;) I will have to think it over a bit more and talk to some people here to make sure I could have a successful party to start it off, but the consultant at this party said she made about $38,000 her first year (that was doing it part-time for 5 months, then quitting her full-time job and doing this full-time for the rest of the year), and that she made over $137,000 last year (not that I would EVER expect to reach that point, but it's good to know some people can be so successful with it). She was so nice and not at ALL pushy, so I think I might be able to do it. We'll see...

Well, I have successfully babbled entirely too long. Thanks for not strangling me for these long-winded posts :D Hope your weeks start off on the right foot (and stay that way!)!!

FIRST! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIMBERLEY!!!!! :) :hb: :hat:

Kimberley - my muscles are sore, and last night my ARM was all tingly (the right one), it went away.. but SO very weird feeling! I'm falling apart, I'm hoping that I'm just tired from all this working stuff. I LOVED that double crossed episode, I got all hyper watching it.. lol. I'd like to be on the show because I have issues finding clothes that fit my body properly.. and would LOVE input on that! I think I'm also boring with what I wear and how I do my hair... wouldn't it be fun to spend 5000 on new clothes?

Jill - don't hurt me please :sorry: I heard from a WW counsellor that it takes up for 3 days for a binge on bad food to appear on your scale. I had that experience at Christmas too.. it was very un-nice... mostly because mine resulted in a 5 pound gain! (over 3 days.. scary!) Just get back on plan and I'm sure you will be fine though ! :) I have heard of Partylite as well, and definitely if you know a group of people who enjoy those things it can be profitable! Do research! I feel like a bag today, you canslap me now! :lol: There is only one Olive Garden in the lower mainland (span of 12 cities), I went to it, and it SUCKED. I remember going to the Olive Garden when I lived WAY East of here, and it was soooo soooo good.. I guess in a way it's good that it sucks here.. pasta is always my downfall!

Well I work today, but then get Tuesday and Wednesday off, I am looking forward to that, hoping my back muscles can heal! I am planning to hit the beach tomorrow with a friend, its about an hour away by car, but it's SO worth the drive :) Now if that sun will stay hot... ! Have a GREAT Monday :)

-Aimee

Yeah, I have heard that overeating can take a few days to show up on the scale, too, but I am usually up on Mondays from eating too much over the weekend, and I was down, so even if it goes back up a little, I think I will be okay for my weigh-in at TOPS on Thursday night.

I checked a little online this morning about PartyLite stuff, and the only negative comments I found were from 2002 about orders taking too long to come in or something (and then this dumb lady who b!tched about how her check bounced because her bank hadn't cleared other checks she deposited--SO not PartyLite's fault!). I will, of course, research a bit more. I also have to book 6 parties in my first 2 weeks, so I need to make sure I have friends who will be willing to have parties if I decide to try this. Worst case scenario, I don't like it or don't get enough bookings, and I quit doing it and stay at Ruby Tuesday. No harm done (cept maybe a few more hours without sleep for that week :p ). I'm really not expecting to make my first million through PartyLite ;)

And, of course,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIMBERLEY!!! :D :balloons:

Jill - I felt like such a downer with that post to you.. take it as caring! It's great that you can get out of Partylite if you want to... although.. you should do the sex toys parties! ;) teehee

Kimberley - how's your day going?? I hope you are out having TOO much fun to come in and post on your bday!

It looks like I'm going to the beach tomorrow! I bought some beach snacks today, some 100% juice boxes, and some mini rice cakes. They have this place on the beach that makes the BEST hot dogs and hamburgers... a little splurge on day 3 of my re-dieting.. oh well! heh.

-Aimee

Goodmorning! I keep waking up with these headaches, we are trying to keep drugs out of the house so Josh won't take any. I also got up early this morning for the beach, however my friend is nowhere to be found... meaning I can't get ahold of her. So I get a few minutes to myself this morning, not always a bad thing :)

Have a GREAT day gals.. I'm going to go read my book curled up on my bed!

-Aimee

For some reason, I didn't get any notifications for the posts here; wonder what's wonky with the watched threads this time. I got some notifications, just none for this thread. Sorry I missed your birthday greetings -- Thanks so much! :)

Aimee, if you wanted sun and heat THIS was the place to be. It got to 97 yesterday, and the heat index was 111. Today was cooler, only 95. A rainstorm that blew through here yesterday really hammered my veggie garden, blowing stuff around. If you can picture it, my cucumber vines were blown so they stretched out in the opposite direction than they had before. They started out stretching across the ground toward our driveway, but ended up trailing into my neighbor's yard. LOL!

I overslept and missed a hair appointment today --- geez, I felt badly about that. The guy's been doing my hair since the late 1980's and we consider him a friend. Bless his heart, he got me in late this afternoon. After that, my MIL and I lounged at Caribou Coffee for a while. By the time we got home, it was dark, so I set up my spotlight and tied up the tomato plants by lamp light. Boy, those tomatoes are getting big, and so are a few of the peppers. Won't be long now...*yum*.

Kimberley - Wow, 111 is 42 degrees C! Thats crazy hot! While it definitely gets that hot where my mom lives, its never that hot here. We are too close to the ocean I suppose, it's also a different kind of heat here... anything over 28 degrees C and you are melting! Sounds like you had a nice day, and a nice sleep in :) I absolutely love birthdays and try my hardest to get everyone as into them as I am... it doesn't always work though. This year however, I totally got my mom into the birthday spirit. I even got her making a list of everything she wanted, some of them we couldn't get, because they were pretty out there... but making the list is the fun part! :)

So I ended up going to the beach after all! And you can all slap me... I got ANOTHER stupid sun burn. Now, I'm SO careful, I got a sunburn on my arm this year in May, and since then I put on sunscreen even if I'm only going out in the sun for half an hour. I always wear stuff on my face, ugh! And so yesterday when we arrived at the beach the kids immediately wanted to go into the water (my friends son, and the kid she babysits), so they wanted me to come along. I quickly got my arms, legs, chest, reapplied on my face, but missed my back. Grr! It was QUITE the adventure going to the beach with an 18 month old boy, and a 3 year old boy. I was in charge of the 18 month old, so I chased him all over the beach, got down and dirty with him playing in the sand, splashed water with both of them... and today my back is aching, my arms want to fall off, and my thighs.. oh my thighs! Lets just say I'm not ready for children!

Today I was called into work, but I just can't work 6 days in a week, my body just won't let me. Instead I slept in, and might go to the beach this afternoon.... but I will apply sunscreen to my back BEFORE I leave the house!

Where is Jill?!?! It's the middle of the week!!

-Aimee

We've got to rally the ladies -- this is getting ridiculous, LOL! Oooooh, sorry about your sunburn.

Last night, we got the MOST encouraging e-mail from someone we know from another site. This lady had a neurological problem last year and was very sick. She ended up being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital and received excellent care and shared with us the toll-free referral line for their neurology department. She said she knows a couple who has been very blessed financially this year and, if it comes to Howie needing surgery and being accepted at JH, our travel and hotel expenses will be covered -- no questions, for as long as needed.

THAT, friends, is a God thing.

Kimberley - thats great news! I hope it all works out :) My brother's gf fell ill a week after their vacation to Nelson, and had to go to the hospital and get TONS of testing done. Well, since her medical doesn't cover everything 100%, it's going to cost her a few bucks.. It often shocks me that people have to pay for health care, I wish I could adopt you and Howie and then he could come get better for free. But since I don't think thats possible.. I will keep all my fingers and toes crossed that everything works out!

We really DO need to get all these chicks back here..it's FAR too lonely eh?

-Aimee

I'm here, I'm here!

Kimberley--that is awesome! Not that Howie needs surgery, of course, but that there will be help if/when you need it. My best wishes to you both!!

Aimee--I hear ya on the 6 days a week of retail. Good for you on saying NO--I always had a hard time with that :dizzy:

I have been busy at work this week because I have Thursday and Friday off. My parents and sister and Jeff are all staying with me this weekend, so I took Thursday off to clean my disaster of an apartment. Of course, taking days off means more work in the days prior to make sure nothing falls behind while I am out of the office. I also had to work all 3 days in a row at Ruby's, so I am SOOO tired!
Hopefully, I can get going on PartyLite stuff and completely quit Ruby Tuesday. It just makes me so tired to deal with these people and their picky food needs and their screaming messy children and their need to have 27 drink refills and their nerve to leave me a 10% (or less) tip when I have smiled through it all and done everything they asked...ugh!!

Whew, enough ranting. I need to get some sleep--and I don't even have to get up before the sun tomorrow!!! I can sleep half the day and clean the other half, then do my grocery shopping on Friday (since my parents shouldn't be here till about 2pm at the earliest).

We are definitely missing lots of people around here...

Aimee, we are so thankful Johns Hopkins accepts our insurance. I guess there's plusses and minuses to any healthcare system. Back in the early 1990's I heard all the talk radio pundits ranting about how socialized medicine as in Canada was not a good system, but then I look at ours and see how bad it is for the "working poor" who don't have insurance, and I wonder. I've not compared the two systems much in the last few years to see the main differences and the pros and cons of each.

Keep those adoption papers handy. ;)

I really like Ruby Tuesday's - nice salad bar. Mmmmm. Dang, I'm out of calories, but try to tell my appetite that -- I've stayed up too late! Waitressing is definitely not an easy job by any stretch, and when you're already working full-time, I just can't imagine! Hope the PartyLite or some other more flexible arrangement works out for you.

I fooled around with Paint Shop Pro tonight and made some new avatars, just for fun. Whatcha think? I was in a silly mood!

Ha, those are awesome! How fun!

I slept until almost 8:30 this morning--it was AWESOME! Those 4 extra hours rocked my world! Then I got up and headed out to my car to go grocery shopping--what a difference in the weather! From the humidity and heat indexes of up to 110 (I know you know what I mean, Kimberley!), it is now MUCH less humid and only in the 80s today (haha, since when did 80s become an "only" :dizzy: ). It feels awesome, though, so I may have to take a walk later, even if only to the rental office to drop off my rent check :)

Well, tis the day of cleaning. I have sooooo much to do! And then my TOPS meeting tonight, which I am looking forward to because I know I have lost this week :D

Hopes and wishes to Josh and Howie :^:

Goodmorning!! Phew, all this sun is making is hard to sleep in, I might have to go to bed earlier... probably not though. I am closing these next two nights, and since Josh is staying at his parents house (they are away and need someone to take care of their dog), I'm hiking home! I'm still hoping a friend might come pick me up, because I don't need that kind of exercise.. heh..

Kimberley - I like the middle picture the best!! As for the pro's and con's of each medical system.. I haven't really gone over them, I once read an article in Glamour where 2 women had the exact same cancer, only one of them was going to die because she couldn't afford the expenses. When it comes to that, I think everyone deserves a fair chance. We are fortunate with Josh's employer, they cover the basic fee for MSP (Medical Servies Plan) for both of us, which is waved if you make under a certain amount. They also offer a great plan with all prescriptions covered, dental up to 1,500 a year each, and alternative medicine is covered as well. We pay 26 dollars a month for that.

Jill - I never say no, and I know my manager will hold it against me.. but 6 days in retail is just not right. 4 extra hours, you must be all perky and energized! I haven't slept in for REAL for a while, at least 2-3 weeks... my body feels like it's on autopilot. I woke up this morning with Josh at 8am, he turned on the blender for the morning smoothie, I did go back to sleep, but I hate interrupted sleep.

You know when you feel like something is off in your body? It's so weird, I can't pinpoint it. I would suspect I was pregnant, but with Josh being sick its been over a month since anything like that occured. Anywho, I'm just babbling.. procrastinating I suppose, today is my weigh in day! Alright.. off I go!

-Aimee

I skipped my weigh in because I recieved a piece of mail... a little late. It was the results of Josh's x-ray that he got done in Nelson (almost 2 weeks ago now). They noticed there was something going on with his spleen, it's enlarged or something, I'd like to say better late than never... but that would have been noticeable when it was done! An enlarged spleen is something associated with mono, but if it gets enlgarged sometimes it ruptures. Ugh, I hate this crap.

-Aimee