My poor cat is under the weather. We have to take her to the vet this morning, it will be the third visit.

I'd much rather I was sick than my little Chloe.

Sorry to hear about your cat Marge, hope she feels better soon!

So I braved my scale this morning, and it turns out, I'm DOWN half a pound, probably because my saving grace is that if I don't eat a min amount of veggies a day I get stomach grumbling, and can't sleep at night. I often wonder if calories work in the sense that you can save them up, etc... it's not been true for me, very unfortunately I have to be extremely consistant with how much I'm ingesting a day. But I know others who did WW and saved nearly all their points for a splurge day, it seemed to work for them. Ah to have a young metabolism!

Well I am late AGAIN, my time is NOT well spent these days... talk to yah'll soon!

-Aimee

Hope your kitty's okay, Marge. We went through a tough time with our Elliott getting really sick a couple months ago, and we had to put him down. I still miss the Lellybutt. It's so hard when they get sick, even when they do get better it's hard when they're ill!

Aimee, congrats on the loss, you! Jill, I see your point about the calories and penny pinching.

Guess what....NBC wants their local affiliate and the local paper to do a story on us and our Biggest Loser party Saturday! We're not sure if it will be a phone interview or if they'll actually come to the house. I have SO much to do, I'm freakin' out doubly so now. It'll be cool, though! See the Biggest Loser House Party in the 100lb club - I'll just update in that one thread.

Glad we're getting our hair styled Friday, and I hope and pray my highlights turn out great (bartering ROCKS).

Kimberley - thats cool about the NBC thing! I wonder if I'll get to see you on tv!!

So, I had a meeting today with my Manager and Regional manager, it did NOT go the way I thought! I walked away with a promotion (Assistant Manager), a raise (1.20/hr, considering the company-wide wage freeze!) and the satisfaction that my manager is being transfered!! I wouldn't have taken the position if she was going to stay, while this is NOT my future, I definitely want that raise until I actually decide what I'm going to do. I am still considering the whole Nutritionist thing, I just need to get on the program and find that stuff out.. Also today at work another company was trying to recruit me, they pay FAR less though, but its nice to be wanted!

Anyways, I gotta go find some food! Talk to you all later!!

-Aimee

Thanks for the well wishes for poor Chloe. We'll find out the results of the blood tests today. She's hiding under the bed now because she doesn't want to go to the vet again. Poor Elliott, it's so hard to lose a cat.

That's very cool re: NBC, Kimberley. Keep us posted on that.

Man, Aimee, you're rockin' up there in Canada! Congrats all around.

You know, I can't stop watching that reality show So You Think You Can Dance. I love watching the contestants dance, but the judges are so freakin' mean.

Some days I feel like I wish I could go live in a commune in Iceland or something.

Keeping my fingers crossed for your Chloe. I remember that wait so well.

Guess what, guys! Johns Hopkins accepted Howie!! We fly to Maryland next week for a consultation with the neurosurgeon. His appointment's a week from today, Thursday, September 15th at 11:00am. The ball is rolling again, and we're so relieved!

Wow, great news for Howie! I know that place has a fantastic reputation. Good luck to him. It's always a huge relief to know you're in good hands for any operation.

Good news on the cat front, she doesn't have leukemia or AIDS. The vet thinks it's a new bacterial strain that she's having trouble shaking. I can't tell you how relieved we are. You know, you always prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

Marge - cats can get Leukemia or AIDS? Where have *I* been?!?! I hope the best for her, I'll keep all my fingers and toes crossed for her! I really AM rocking, I got onthe scale today, and.. I am DOWN! I know I got on it yesterday, but I'm addicted! In the last week I've gone down 1.5 pounds! I don't have the heart to change my ticker, because I'm still up from that..

Kimberley - Thats GREAT news for you and Howie (we all know women worry more than men ), yay!

Well I am off to eat crackers and tuna, yummy!! Have a good one!

-Aimee

The surgeon's secretary at Johns Hopkins was so funny...She and Howie were kidding on the phone about how wives ask so many more questions than husbands. When he was getting off the phone, he said "she said to tell you I did a really good job!". LOL!!

Woohoo for Howie and Chloe!! Glad to hear that Chloe will likely be able to shake whatever it is that is ailing her--will keep my fingers crossed for her till it's gone for good, though. And Howie and Kimberley will be in my neck of the woods! Johns Hopkins is an amazing institution. How wonderful that he got accepted!! I'll actually be in Glen Burnie, MD (just a 20-minute train ride to Baltimore) the weekend after Howie's appointment (the 16th-18th), so I'll be nice and close to send the good vibes

And yay for you, Aimee, on the loss (even if it's up from your ticker, you're at least headed back in the right direction!).

I weighed in at TOPS last night with a 1/4-pound gain. Not bad considering I was up 6 pounds on Monday morning after this past weekend's food orgy My TOPS book still says 279.25, so I'm still below 280

While I might pop in to check up on y'all over the weekend, you probably won't be hearing from me for a while. I fly out of BWI on sunday evening to go to Raleigh, NC for an EPA conference for work, and I won't be home till late Wednesday night, so I probably won't post again until Thursday morning. The conference will probably be pretty dull, but hey, if I can get paid to be out of the office, I will do it! Plus I get to see my boss who just quit at the beginning of August to go to grad school in NC--we're meeting up for dinner while we're down there (the Graphics Manager, who used to share an office with my boss, is going, too), so that should be a great time! I will have to be very careful with what I eat--just because the company is paying for my food does NOT mean I can eat whatever I want!

Thanks, Jill! She's still going under the bed, doesn't like those vet visits! Can't blame her much, not very nice where they take her temperature.

Enjoy the conference. It might not be as boring as you think. Sometimes the hotels they put you up in have cool gyms too.

Aimie, yeah, cats are such delicate creatures really. Feline leukemia is a big problem for cats. As far as I know, there's no cure and it can cut a cat's like by 1/2 to 2/3. The insidious thing about it is that a cat can test positive, then negative but still have it. It can be spread from cat to cat. It was my biggest fear that Chloe might have that. The vet told us cats are virus sponges. He thinks she has a relatively new strain of a bacterial infection. We're giving her antibiotics for it.

Congrats on the losses gals! !! We'll persevere! Well, I promised to make lunch today, so gotta go.

Take care and have a good one.

Jill - Hope you have fun!! It's nice to get away, no matter where I think you are close enough to count it as 279! Thats amazing how precise that scale is.. crazyness!

Marge - I have always had indoor cats, we've always lived near a busy road, or in pure wilderness where most cats died from cougar/wild dog attacks. My mom has made a "cat run" in the yard for her cat, it's really cute, she has it set up so the cat goes out a window.

Phew, I am exhausted! I worked 9-2pm, and then my bf and his neice met me at the mall and we took her shopping, our deal of the day was 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of sweats, a tank top and a long sleeved shirt for 34 bucks! It was almost impressive! Then we took her to Clair's, big mistake, 25 dollars!! On a purse, necklace, two sale bracelets, however we got some free gifts. I can't believe how expensive kids things are!! I was supposed to get a yoga mat, but I only got the video thus far. My brother and I are supposed to be doing Yoga everyday for at least 30 minutes... we shall see if he follows thru!

Alrighty gals! Have a great one! I have tomorrow off, I am SO looking forward to it

-Aimee

P.S. I updated my ticker, it was only off 1 pound.. so I figured it couldn't *really* hurt!!

Gorgeous day in Brooklyn. Rob and I went to the Botanic Garden today; we haven't been in a while so it was a nice break. There's a farmer's market near the park so we walked through that and bought some blackberries, corn and yellow tomatoes.

The cat run sounds cool, Aimee. If you think you're having sticker shock with prices now, give it a few years. I'm only in my early 40s and when I see how much stuff costs now sometimes I feel like I'm going to go into cardiac arrest. I can remember getting embarrassed when my dad made a fuss about prices. Ha.

Marge - the older I get the more shocked I am about prices, perhaps I'm getting cheap in my old age... I remember paying over 100 bucks for jeans when I was a teenager. Now I just don't want to do it, partly I suspect it's because I want to be thinner and look better in clothes, whats the point in paying the high prices for clothes I don't even want to wear? On the plus side (no pun intended), I've been doing VERY good with my diet. This whole summer has been about others, it feels like I'm having time to take care of myself now. Josh's health is great, I need to encourage him to eat more veggies and fruit, but it's easy enough. My friends all seem to have either taken a step back, or managed not to need me every second of every single day.. in these past few weeks I've felt pulled in every direction with no time to sleep. Today I did some laundry, cleaned my house, painted my toe nails.. it was wonderful Sounds like you had a fun day as well. Whats for dinner? We are having pork chops, mashed potatos with roasted garlic, and stuffing. Mmmmm, my mouth is watering! I'm off to hurry this process up!

-Aimee

Mmmm. We're actually having the same thing tonight that we had last night, roasted chicken, sweet corn from the farmers market, salad, and we're splitting a baked potato.

I pooped out a little with the diet this summer. The bright side being I've been doing well with the exercise and have been slowly upping my routine at the gym.

Today was another beautiful day. Acutally kind of chilly in the morning. Lounged for most of the day, took a nap, read, watched a little tv. Nice and relaxing. Sounds like the both of us are catching up on some us time, Aimee

Gotta get fortified for Monday!