Great Pictures Dips!!! You looked so healthy and strong! WOW.... Those are muscles! Gives me something to work towards!


You and Angie live so close to each other.. you should really plan a visit!!!

Well, Today is Thursday, and after I make it through my 8 hour sentence, I am heading off to the Y to meet up with a personal trainer to get my health assessment and a body fat analysis. Hopefully in 8 weeks (when we do the check up) I will have made some improvements. It's also crosstraining night, 3 miles on the elipitcal machine, and strength training, which I will go through all the machines with the trainer. Should be a good work out.

OK... Hannah said something to me last night that has me concerned. She said she was keeping it a secret, but for whatever reason, she decided to tell me. She said ever since her dad has died, she has been hearing voices, his voice and seeing him around her. She said it has happened alot. I asked what does he say, and she tried to sit there and remember, but said she really couldn't because he always said alot, but that he would talk how happy he was when she was born, or about the easter egg hunt that they went on and he carried her, stuff like that. STUFF that are either in pictures that she and I have gone over, or things that I have said to her in the past. Also, she says she sees him around her.. when her friends think she is looking at them, she is actually seeing her dad. She has made mention of this before, as a random comment, that she sees her dad.. I was just thinking she meant she sees people who remind her of her dad, or she hears something, a song or whatnot that reminds her, but she said she actually sees him. Oh.. and also, that he has been coming into her dreams at night. Her nightmares. She has been having a lot of them, but that he comes in to protect her, in a white robe and wings.

I'm not quite sure what to say about this.. other than I tried to let her know that he still loves her and that maybe this was his way of letting her know everything will be OK. I am not sure. I didn't want to let her know how freaked out I got, and scare her. In the back of my mind, I do believe that there is a possibility that she really has seen something that is part of her dad. My mom had experiences where she would see her dad that died when she was 16 on several occassions, mainly when she was really down, or depressed or stressed, she would sense him or see him out of the corner of her eye, stuff like that. And my stepdad said he thought he saw his shadow too... so I believe it can happen, however, it freaks me out to think Steven could be INSIDE my house.. you know! :-) Anyway,.. I am going to try to talk to her a little more about it today and see what else she will say before I decide she needs to see a doctor or therapy.

OK.. back to work here... I'll talk to you all soon!

Good morning girls!! Well, yesterday I got in 45 minutes for a workout and I incorporated a banana and a little bowl of sugar free pudding with cool whip because I was thinking I wasnt getting enough calories in a day and it worked because my scales had a nice little loss this morning. I am waiting until Saturday for my official weigh in though.

Dips, WOW you are one built girl! I wouldnt wanna piss you off. You have inspired me to be all I can be too.

Cherie, Me and Dips dont live that close together. I went to Mapquest and we are 438 miles apart and they estimated a 7 1/2 hour drive to get there. I have faith that we will all get to meet in person one of these years though. Once I get to goal and get my tummy done I will fly wherever you all want to meet and we can all party.

I dont know what to say about your daughter. Maybe this is her way of coping with her loss to make her feel like he is always with her still. It must be so hard on them being so young and all.

Well, I gotta go to work but I will check back in later.

Hi Girls

Dips you look so great. Your arms look wonderful. Love the pictures.

Angie don't you love it when you peek at the scale and have a loss. Good for you!

Noelle I hope you got pampered at the salon. I bet you look fabulous!

Cherie, poor little Hannah and Megan too. They have been through so much with the loss of Steven. I am glad she was able to talk to you about it. I think you said the right thing to her about her Dad wanting her to know that he loves her and everything will be okay. I hope you have a good meeting with your personal trainer tonight.

Kempy I think it is great you are giving to the economy in NO. Hope you find things you like.

I didn't make it to my mom's last night because of the weather and my brother was late getting in. The roads are so icy here. The wind chill was almost zero here when I brought ds to school. Angie and Dips I wonder if it is headed your way? Anyway after ds gets done at school we are going for pizza. God give me the strength. Pms is really being rough on me this month. I feel bad because I have not had any weight loss in a long time. My body just will not have the scale moving down. Anyway girls I think I may run to the store to pick up a few things. Talk with you all soon. Hi to all I missed.

Hi girls, I'm really tied up today and don't have much time but I wanted to say hello to everyone

Dips, wow look at them muscles, I'm sked a you You better keep that picture up at your house when you have a daughter ready to go out on a date with her new boyfriend

Cherie, my niece behaved similar to Hannah when her great grandpa passed away. I think her mind was just working overtime and she was trying to make sense of everything that was going on. I do believe in angels (and demons) and believe that some people are just more attuned to spirits and stuff like that so it just may be that she is just more in tune with his spirit? I would be freaked out too but your words of comfort to her are more than adequate I think. You are a good mom to your girls


I really gotta run...Rick is standing outside my office window checking out the computer screen

I'll be back later if I can.

Hi Noelle, Rick no peeking just kidding. Don't work to hard girl.

I have brownies in the oven for the pizza party tonight but they are not going to be going into my mouth! I will resist them. I will just smell them baking away and that will have to be enough. I have to go plug the curling iron in and try and do something with this hair of mine. Just wanted to pop back in and say Hello

Hey girls!! Well for today I have done 45 minutes for exercise and breakfast was cereal and skim milk- Lunch: turkey sandwich and watermelon-Supper: leftovers of spaghetti and salad and garlic bread. Snack tonight is sugar free pudding with ff cool whip.

Noelle, I hope you get some free time today.

Julie, Jay said he thinks we are gonna get your weather because the next few days are supposed to be COLD!! MMMM Brownies. You are a rock girl!!

Well, I am going to go get ready to watch Survivor and CSI. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Okay, I appreciate the compliments but the whole point was to show you haw boyish I looked in boot camp. I dind't like that look. I wnted to look more feminine which I think I do now. (I still have to develop my latest pics so I can post them) Anyway, you all do wonders for my ego



Cherie- When my grandmother passed away, I was 14 years old. For months afterward, I would see her in my dreams and swear I saw people who looked exactly like her walking down the street. So much so, that I would follow them to get a better look. It's like I had to be sure it wasn't her. At any rate, it's perfectly okay for her to reach out to her father. In fact, I would encourage her to talk to him and ask questions. Find out how he's doing and let him know that je doesn't have to worry about her because everything is okay. It will ease the sense of loss to know that in some way he is still with her. I don't think therapy is necessary if she is affected in a positive way. I can totally understand why you would get a litle freaked out but children have their way of dealing with grief and her way is not as out of the ordianry as you may think.

J- Pleeeeease don't wish that evil snow on me and Angie. I get chills just thinking about it. You can keep it alllllll for yourself. Anyways, I want brownies but I gotta stay focused for Thanksgiving. No treats till then.

Noelle- You are a funny girl. I want my muscles to be more lean and less bulky. I do miss the 6-pack I used to sport. These days it's more of a two pack. But I'm working on it.

Angie- You inspire me. I got that way because I had crazy people who look like this dragging me out of bed every morning. You're motivating yourself which is so much harder. You're making me crave cereal. Haven't had it in forever. I think I'll hit up the grocery store.


Hey Red- How's life overseas?

TGIF Everyone. My day started out crappy, but it's slowly getting better. Tonight I have a date with Alan, and he is taking me to dinner. The girls will be at Parent's Night Out at school, so I have exactly 4 hours to have fun!

Yesterday, I went to the Y and did my health assessment with a personal trainer. I won't find out the results til Monday. Hopefully he will have me a program set up for me to follow with my training.

Hannah and I had another talk last night about her dad. Its really much worse than what I thought. I mean, its still in a positive light, but it's happening every day. For example, yesterday, we went to Wal-Mart. Hannah and I got seperated by an isle, and she called out to me... I called to her and stopped and waited. She said before I called to her, she saw her daddy, and he said he loved her and that he would take her to her mom. She said he went inside her heart and pushed her to my direction.

She told me more stuff, and at night, it just freaks me out. Anyway.. just for my piece of mind, I have scheduled her an appointment with a grief therapist next Tuesday.

I really didn't exercise at all yesterday, I did a one mile walking test for the PT. And I over ate calories by about 500. Today is my official day of rest, and I have 800 calories to use tonight for dinner. I hope I can make a good food decision. But Alan and food is my one big weakness!

Dips... I can't wait to see the new pictures.... You looked great before.. I bet you look even better now!

Angie... you continue to impress me so much and motivate me too... GREAT JOB! Oh.. and you can keep your snow too... all of you... until I go to colorado to ski, then I want a bunch of light fluffy snow!

Julie you are so strong to be making brownies... YUM hot from the oven with a big glass of milk... I am drooling just thinking about it. I hope you stayed strong!

Noelle.. thanks... I am hoping Hannah is OK... I just don't want this to affect her in a negative way.

Hi Cal and Hi Red and Hi Kempy.. and everyone else.

I need to get busy again. I'll try to check in tomorrow. My weekend is pretty well planned out. Tonight Alan, tomorrow, my long five mile run, clean the house and clean the garage, then babysitting for the neighbor. Sunday.. vegging and then Alan is coming over that night.. Oh.. and I will go to the Y and do cross training and strength training and let the girls swim. :-) Good weekend. In three more hours, I can start it!

Hugs everyone!

Hey girls!! I had to go grocery shopping this morning so that is why I am late today. I got some Christmas shopping done and wrapped. I havent exercised yet today but I will try later. Todays food is Breakfast-cheerios and skim milk- Lunch: Turkey sandwich and wow chips- Supper: Terriyaki chicken,baked potato and cauliflower.

Well, That is about it for me today. I will check back later

Hey everyone. I am so hungry for lunch right now but I don't know what I want to eat. I'm leaning toward a Subway toasted roast beef sandwich Yesterday I had a turkey sandwich w/all the veggies then added a bit more alfalfa sprouts. I think in my other life I was a , I love sprouts of all kinds~ clover, alfalfa, bean...etc etc. Maybe I haven't fully evolved TONIGHT IS HARRY POTTER!!!! I can't wait! My girlfriend was one of those that went to the midnight showing last night. SHe better not give me the blow by blow when we see it together. I hate that.

Cherie, have fun on your hot date tonight. I think Hannah would benefit from talking to a counselor. How's Meghan faring? I just found out that my niece will be coming over to our house tomorrow. She's supposed to go to her grandmothers' funeral but my sis says she's been having nightmares and is afraid to go. I dunno, I think my niece is a big chicken and my sis feeds that fear and it just gets bigger as the years go by. Hannah's a different story though, she's seeing things in a positive light. My niece has a lot of irrational fears--say for instance, she's afraid of the "guy on the oatmeal box"--you know the quaker?

Dips, you have a 2-pack, I carry a keg I remember sending Rick off to bootcamp (16 years ago?) and he was probably around 210 lbs. He's 5' 9", and when he came back to me he was around 167--thin as a freakin' rail if you ask me. That was the only time I ever outweighed him. We've grown and shrunk together through the years How's your man doing (if you don't mind me asking)? Or are you too busy w/work and school these days?

Julie, pizza and brownies? Girl, you have extra strength will power if you resisted both--the aromas from both of those things cooking alone would drive me batty. I had to sit by my dad at the table yesterday during lunch, and he kept offering me Doritos from this stupid huge mega-size bag--it was terrible. I don't yet have the urge to cheat yet, but boy those people in my house don't make it easy. How'd the pizza party go?

Kempy, anything fun planned for the weekend?

Cal, hope you can pop in and say hello.

Red, what are you doing this weekend?

Holly, holla when you get a chance.

Gotta get to work so I can skip out for lunch. Hi to all and have a great day.

WOOHOO, I just made myself do 30 minutes for a workout today. I wasnt planning on doing anything but I forced it. Tomorrow is my official weigh in day.

Noelle, Have fun at your Harry Potter movie

Hello everyone. Sorry I haven't been able to post. I have done quick reads of all your posts and am glad to hear that things sound okay. Cherie, I wouldn't worry about your daughter too much. I do think this is the result of her grief and a highly active imagination, along with all the stories and movies we have these days such as Sixth Sense and such. I think Dips' has the right idea and worry that an appointment with a grief therapist may give your daughter the wrong idea, that there is something terribly wrong with her. I don't think there is at all, and agree that just talking and having a bit of loving fun with the whole thing is the way she should be looking at this, not getting scared by it or fearing it. Yes, reach out to him, while at the same time, realizing that this is only a way to deal with the pain she is feeling. Be careful not to let her start thinking she is "sick" in any way. And you, calm down!, this is nothing to freak out or panic about. You are a wonderful mother and friend, from the sounds of it. Well, I must run, just wanted to address what seems to be the "weightiest" topic around here. Noelle, thanks for asking about me. Dips, you looked fantastic in your boot camp photos! Everyone else, a big hello! Take care!

Angie, NO! No popcorn for me!!!

Hey girl, something about knowing you're going to weigh in the next day gives you the extra motivation to work out a little extra eh? I know you'll do well.

Have a good weekend girls

Hi Girls
I am fighting a sore throat and cough right now. But I wanted to wish you all a wonderful weekend. Good Luck to all of you weighing in this weekend. I am so proud of you all, you girls are my heros! Hopefully when I am feeling better I will jump right in with you. Sorry not to post personal replys to anyone but a hot shower is calling my name. Bye for now sweethearts.