I kind of like the middle one better, too. The grass one is fun, but kind of cluttered and too sharp. But, I was bleary-eyed when I made 'em. :D

Jill, you go, girl! Can't wait to hear how the weight-in at TOPS goes. I'm kinda scared of weigh-in tomorrow. We caved to the stress and got a large pizza Monday night. Best-case- scenario, I've maintained this week, I bet.

I don't remember mono making me sick to my stomach so much as just exhausted. Hope you both get some answers soon. The waiting stinks, I know!

Howie has an appointment with a neurologsurgeon on August 23. He called and asked to be put on the cancellation list in case anything opens up sooner. Once he sees that doctor, he'll ask that he call the physican referral line at Johns Hopkins. We're just playing it by ear - not much more to do than that!

That is wonderful! I'm still apprehensive about weighing tomorrow. Still, if I've learned nothing else I've learned that I'll keep going nomatter what it says.

I'm making a nice dinner for Howie tonight. Usually we don't eat our main meal when he gets home, but he's had some kind of a stressful week and think he needs some pampering. I splurged and bought a package of the fancy spinach birdsnest pasta, so I'm making a nice salad, serving the pasta with some stewed zucchini and tomatoes on top, plus grilling some salmon. Guess I'd better rustle up a marinade pretty quickly.

I'd set the table outside, but I don't particularly feel like spraying myself with bug spray now that I'm inside from gardening and cleaned up! Oh, my, it's late -- I'd better find that marinade!

Jill - Thats SO great!! Congrats!! :)

Kimberley - awww, sounds like a nice dinner.. you got any left overs??

I made it thru work today, my manager left over an hour early so I was alone at work from 5:15 until 9pm, I sold a LOT of clothes.. and then my friend who works with me came to pick me up and drive me home :) She showed up at 8:45, and we chatted while I closed the store.. I love her!! Well I am super tired, so I'm going to hit the sack! Talk to yah'll in the morning!

-Aimee

Good friends are worth their weight in gold. On Monday, after Howie spoke to me on the phone about the doctor's report, I was sitting there snuffling and generally trying to keep it together (not very successfully). My best friend Amy called me because she'd gotten Howie's e-mail about it, and she asked if I was crying. I told her I was, and talked with her a bit.

We said goodbye and I tried to distract my mind with some surfing. The next thing I knew, there she was at the door. She said she couldn't just leave me like that, and gave me a big hug. How precious to have a friend just come over for that. :)

Kimberley - Its great to have friends like that.... not everyone does.. it's sad. I only recently found someone who can cheer me up... I've had issues with friends recently. Today I had a rough day at work, I visited a doctor about mono, who proceeded to tell me that I'm overweight and could be at risk for diabetes, which DUH, I KNOW!, I wanted to punch him out. Anywho, my friend at work cheered me up again.. she's going to start charging me soon! People are just getting to be too busy for that kinda stuff... which only leads to being more stressed.. you get my point. I'd glad to hear you have a friend like that :)

My day at work was insanely busy again, the hotter weather has JUST hit us in Vancouver, so people are just starting to shop.. but all of our summer clothes were shipped east because they are selling faster... talk about discouraging sales! I did 25 boxes of stock, including heavy lifting (bad for mono.. oops!), we've got some nice new clothes coming in for the fall.. but I'm not ready for the fall! I am SO tired I think I'm typing for the sake of typing.. so I'll stop! I am getting tested tomorrow for mono among other things.. I hope everything comes back negative!! I'll let you gals know!

-Aimee

Hey, you. Try to rest as much as you can - your body needs it.

I gained 2 pounds this week; guess I'd better face the music and change my ticker!

Kimberley - can you come here and tell that to my manager? She had me working my ARSE off today at work while she did things that didn't need to be done. It was aggrivating!! I have been sleeping lots, watching what I'm eating, and keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not ill! I'm sorry you gained 2 pounds, but I know you and it'll be off next week! Plus, it was your birthday! You get 5 pounds for birthdays and christmas! hehe.

So I don't know why this makes me mad, but my friend got home late last night and her mom told her not to give me a ride home anymore, like in a rude way. I guess I can sorta understand it, but I'm the one who is getting her daughter LOTS more hours at work.. she should be kissing my butt! lol.. Well I am off to stay at Josh's parents house for the night, I will talk to you guys tomorrow night! Be good!

-Aimee

Good morning, everyone, and Happy Monday (hey, we can pretend, right? :p )!

Whew, I survived the weekend with my parents and sister and boyfriend all staying in my little 1-bedroom apartment. My parents and sister got me a 40-gig iPod for my birthday :D I'm actually listening to it right now, though I have only loaded about one-twentieth of my songs onto it so far. My parents also got me a real vacuum cleaner (the one I had was one of those "electric sweepers" and wouldn't pick up really heavy things like, umm, the feathers from my feather pillows :dizzy: ) and this thing called a Magic Bullet (it's like a food processor/blender/chopper thing). My sister also got me an indoor grill (not a George Foreman brand, but it has the removable grill plates so I can throw them in the dishwasher--yay!), so I made out like a bandit! Plus we went out to eat at PF Changs on Friday night (SO good!) and Maggiano's on Saturday night (even better!). Maggiano's was very expensive (the bill for the 5 of us came to about $170, plus I left a $30 tip, so about an even $200), but my sister and I covered the bill since my mother's birthday was July 26. However, after my parents left, I discovered $100 in cash that they left for me on my kitchen counter. Jeez, can't they just let us do something nice for them?! I split the cash with my sister since we had split the dinner.

All in all, a great weekend. Great food, great gifts, no fighting with my family, and still a little alone time with Jeff yesterday after my family all left :) As far as dieting, HA! I obviously overate (how could you NOT at such great restaurants?!), but at least on Saturday, we spent about 5 hours walking around a big mall plus another hour at another mall waiting for our reservation at Maggiano's, so lots of walking. I also had water with every meal at the restaurants instead of soda (well, I had soda once, but I also had water with it, so less soda than usual). I hopped on the scale this morning to find myself up 2 pounds, but that should be flushed out with plenty of water and getting back on my normal exercise and eating routine. We'll see if it had any lasting effects at my official weigh-in on Thursday, but I think I'll be okay by then.

Aimee--what were your test results?? I sure hope you're not sick, but at the same time, I hope they do find something wrong with you so they can fix it and you can feel all better, ya know? :^:

Kimberley--2 pounds considering both your birthday and all of the stress you've been dealing with ain't nothin'! It'll be gone in no time ;)

Goodmorning!

Jill - I don't hear until tomorrow probably, it's a Holiday here in BC!! It's, get this... "BC Day" hehe. We look for any excuse for a holiday :) So everything is closed, except my work of course! You and Kimberley, lordy women! You are ALLOWED to put on weight around your birthday! I sure plan to put on at least 2, hehe... we are going to this GREAT Pasta restaurant, seriously, best pasta, great price, HUGE servings, enough for 2! Mmmmm.... I'm drooling! You did hit the big one with all those birthday presents! :) I love presents... heh...

I am home! I spent the night at Josh's parents Saturday night, and I just couldn't sleep! So I literally did NOT sleep all night long, and then worked all day yesterday. I now realize I love sleep, love love sleep. I slept 12 hours last night, I feel like I could sleep more, but I was developing a headache from laying down for so long. I plan to sleep in tomorrow as well. The good thing about being at their place is that I found out that my scale is WRONG, in the higher end direction. I weighed myself at the end of the day, and it said 251, so it's about 10-15 pounds off!! :) Woohoo! I'll still stick to my scale because it's here.. but it's nice to know! :) Well I better run off to work, I get paid 12.45/hr (time and a half), and get paid a 7 hour stat as well. I am racking that cash in! Hehe, Have a good one!!

-Aimee

Hi, ladies. I just got up and am still feeling kind of muddle-headed. I've a headache that started last night and just seemed to hang round to greet me when I got up. Other than that...I'm semi-ready to face life. ;)

Jill, your weekend sounds like it was really nice. Gotta love sitting around a restaurant table and enjoying conversation with the family. And when they buy you goodies, WELL! ;)

Aimee, hope you're having a good day raking in those bucks. We popped into Value City (a local discount chain, kind of like TJ Maxx or Marshall's, if you have those). I found a pair of nice Gloria Vanderbilt jeans on sale. They're 16's, still, so yay.

We went to Target after having coffee. Boy, they have NICE clothes! They all ran a little smaller than the brands at Wal-Mart and VC, but I should be able to wear them in a couple months. They were closing in a half hour, so I just tried the 16's and 18's I'd grabbed initially - didn't want to take the time to try larger sizes.

I am going to be a dangerous woman when I reach goal and can begin building a permanent wardrobe!

Wow, slow day!!

Kimberley - we did rake in some serious coin for the company yesterday! We did 172% of our daily budget, and were run off our feet in the process! I'd say we earned every penny of the time and a half they paid us. It's good shopping though, 99% of the things on the sales floor in my store are 40% off the sale price, people are buying shorts for 10 bucks and tank tops for 9. And considering our summer weather is just arriving, it's good all around! I love target! Everytime we go to the states, I insist on going there, my fav pj's are from target, they also have cheap shaving cream! heh.

I have the day off today, and plan on enjoying it! I have to do some icky banking business.. but otherwise I have an empty day, and it's VERY sunny out ! :) Well I better go make my appointment! I'll be back later!

-Aimee

I'm still getting listings ready for eBay. I tell ya, I can't look at the time it's taking to get them ready, or the actual monetary profit will be depressing, LOL.

Hope you're enjoying your sunny day, Aimee. It's sunny here, too, and HOT. I'm holed up inside working on the eBay stuff. I'd rather be gardening...Or even, dare I say it, cleaning. :fr:

Congrats on Pinch (what a funny name!). Bettas are easy to care for. You can read a good bit about them at this link. It's pretty entertaining reading, too.

Holy Cow!! No one was alive on here today!! Whats going on? This is SO out of control!!

Well, thats all I've got.. I am very sleepy... come back girls!!

-Aimee

I was out this evening running errands, then went and had coffee...not much going on! I wish our buddies hadn't dwindled away like they have. :( We'll tough it out, and maybe they'll return after summer wraps up.

Yes, definitely quiet on here--my apologies for not posting at 6am yesterday as per usual ;) Well, TOPS tonight--I don't think I lost anything. When I weighed on my home scale this morning, it was the same as my home scale last Thursday morning, so I think I really stayed the same. However, last week, all I had to eat all day Thursday was a few small handfuls of trail mix before my TOPS meeting (because I was so busy cleaning and preparing for my family's arrival!), whereas today, I will eat and drink like normal, so I will probably be a bit higher according to the TOPS scale. Oooh well--c'est la vie. I will lose again next week!

My darling Pinch is doing well--he's very intrigued by the glass rocks at the bottom of his bowl. I think maybe he see's his reflection in them and thinks there's something down there. I know that you shouldn't keep reflective surfaces near a betta's tank too much because it stresses them out, so I would think maybe the shiny beads are a bad idea, but he doesn't get all puffed up and agitated--he just kinda pokes around in the rocks. Besides, he's already 2 and 1/2 years old and has been in the same bowl with the same rocks the whole time, so it's obviously not been to harmful in the past. He's much perkier now that he is acclimated to his new home, too. He was quite sedentary (thought to be dead on multiple occasions) the first day I got him, but now he's used to his new water and is quite feisty--he'll even nip at my finger if I stick it in the top of the water :p

Last time I did a partial water change in my aquarium, using the siphon tube to clean the gravel, I had a particularly curious tiger barb pecking away at a freckle on my arm. Either he thought it was food or it was a good target for his aggression. :D Bettas are such gorgeous fish with their irridescent scales and long fins. If I didn't have fin-nipping tiger barbs, I'd get a betta for our tank. Hmmmm...I have a little 5-gallon setup with a built-in pump still. Maybe our office needs one. ;)

Here's Hattie and a betta we had a few years ago. He got a terrible case of ich right after we got him, and he went kaput. One evening he was fine, next afternoon he was covered thick with ich cysts and gasping at the bottom of the bowl. Never even got him into his permanent home -- What a bummer that was!

Hey! Phew, it's HOT here! I've been missing the heat because I've been working so much, but today I got off a little early and got to witness it all! Today would have been better spent at the beach I tell yah!

We are getting ready to do a fall setup in my store, and it's pretty stressful for all the stores, we are suffering from a lack of employee's. Why would people bother with working a hard retail job while making 8 bucks an hour when they could be making 9 bucks an hour as a cashier at a grocery store. I'd prefer a higher wage, but I just don't have the time to look for another job, I'm too busy surviving!

What should I have for dinner? I'm feeling pretty lazy, does someone want to come cook for me ;) heh.

Jill - Goodluck with your weigh in, let us know how it goes!

Kimberley - Tomorrow is your weigh in! I am looking forward to hearing about you losing that pesky birthday weight...

I shall talk to you ladies tomorrow :)

-Aimee

I started an AUGUST thread. Can't believe we all kept jabbering and missed it. LOL! Let's head over to the new thread.

(Maybe we can get people to start posting again if it's fresh, kinda like my cat when she's got a newly-changed litterbox...Ooooh, a fresh canvas!)