WOW Melissa- you ROCK! way to go WOW again ! if that's not inspiration i don't know what is !!!!!
( i'm not worthy )

I mailed off recipes this afternoon hope ya like em.

I am getting the ins and outs of ebay and what i am working on is there is a wholesale place in the area that has kitchen stuff like utensils, silverware, pots and pans, etc and everything is 80% cheaper there than in a store (even one like walmart) i want to buy wholesale and sell retail. i am getting into a couple other projects too- what is holding me up is waiting to hear from landlord- you have to have a business license even if you don't have a real business in the home( like internet sales) and the city makes me have the landlord say it's ok. keep praying and keep fingers crossed- as far as ebay queen goes i just sell whatever i have laying around that i don't want or need anymore. and i start off at 99 cents almost all the time.

Laura- i wouldn't trust myself to walk into an Outback. my self control only goes so far.
Theresa - thanks for the info on the bowflex- i in no way have the $ to spend on a real one so a knock off is fine for now and it's better than nothing!

Sandi

I may just try something like that-need to figure something out that I can do from home-childcare would run me about 1500 a month for just the 3 smaller ones. My mom has a business lisence for her doll clothes gift shop so I know she would purchase under her stuff. Basically the only thing ebay is in my name since I have the puter but the funds ect are all hers. I am sure I will like the recipes and I appreciate it lots!
Melissa

Melissa CONGRATS!!! That is so awesome!! Wow....what a loss! You should be so proud of yourself, and what a great motivator for you to keep it up! SUPERB!!!

I sold quite a bit of stuff on ebay a few years back and really made good money off of it until I ran out of things to sell. That was back during the beanie baby craze and I had a huge collection and by some stroke of luck decided to get out of it and sold most of them at just the right time. I also sold a bunch of old toys that were mine when I was little, and I considered them to be junk, but apparently they weren't junk to a lot of people because I couldn't believe the prices I got for them and for my husband's old lunchboxes. It was crazy. My husband told me I could do whatever I wanted with any money I made, and it ended up being enough to buy a purebred Bengal kitten (I had wanted one for years but just couldn't see spending that kind of $$ on a cat) plus a two week vacation for my family to Washington and Oregon. It was the best trip we have ever taken...I have never been anywhere else so beautiful, and we didn't have to worry at all about how we were going to pay for it. (If you don't know...the Bengal is a domestic cat breed that comes in exotic looking colors and patterns....mine looks like a miniature leopard, I thought I better explain because sometimes people think I own an actual TIGER when I say I have a Bengal). I was really loving ebay back in those days.

Thanks for all the encouragement about my fitness class visit today. There were four of us on a panel to answer questions so it ended up being ok even though I was so nervous that I was shaking. Some of their questions were pretty hard but I think between all of us the kids got to hear some different perspectives and different ways of making positive changes for health. The worst part of it was at the beginning their teacher did a powerpoint presentation with a bunch of "before" pictures of all of us up on a big screen, but most of those kids knew what I looked like last year anyway, except for the freshmen, so it wasn't a huge shock to them or anything. We all survived and hopefully the kids took something away from it that will help them.

Go Melissa[FONT="System"][/FONT]

Laura

I am so glad it went well today Kayelle-knew you would be stupendous! Having the panel had to have made it easier and not feel so much like you were in the spotlight. Thank you for the atta boy. It still makes me mad that I had put so much weight back on in the first place but no looking back and only moving forward. We had a different leader today but she was good too and even had a sense of humour so that was good too.

Thank you LAURA!!!

Now if I would just get some excersize in. I got dvd's and a stinking bike. I guess the first step would be to move the bike back out where it is in my view instead of hiding behind the girls' Dora the explorer tent huh?
Melissa

Melissa don't stress about the weight you put back on while you were getting used to the new member of your family. You have had a lot to deal with and the important thing is that you are obviously VERY MUCH back on track and you are succeeding and you will continue to succeed because you refused to give up.

Wow I just skimmed through earlier and I went back and re-read everything and realized I missed a lot the first time.

Theresa...congrats on the 2 lb loss, and congrats on the capri's fitting!! Whoohoo! And good job getting rid of all those clothes! No need for any more tears for the girl you used to be...she is gone now and replaced by a healthier you! I have given some of mine away but there are a few things that I just don't want to get rid of. I am never going back again but every once in a while I like to dig an old pair of pants on just to remind myself how far I have come. It helps me stay on track now that I'm where I want to be and not constantly striving for that next smaller size. That is one thing about maintenance that is hard, I have to constantly remind myself that it's a GOOD thing when the scale doesn't move. After so many months of watching it go down, it's hard not to be disappointed when it stays put even though I'm not trying to lose any more.

Sandi good luck with the business license!

Happy Friday everybody!! Hope you all have a great OP weekend!!!

Sorry to be a board hog but I just realized that yesterday was the one year anniversary of my new lifestyle! One whole year of healthy food and exercise! Wow...it went FAST!!!!

I agree with Kayelle Theresa. We all got where we are for different reasons but the important thing is that we aren't staying there and we are never going back again either. I see some pics of myself from a year ago and I can't believe it is me and I cried when I saw them too. I am nowhere near where I want to be but I am not where I was either and it is only going to get closer instead of more out of reach.

Happy Anniversary Kayelle!
Melissa

6 lbs. Melissa...WOW!!!! You are my inspiration right now, great great job. I am glad you are enjoying the meetings too...you deserve something for you, some time away from the kids and this gives you that.

Kayelle i love reading your commentary about life on the other side of this, keep posting please! You are so motivating because you started in the ballpark of where I did and you are my proof it can be done. Told ya the school thing would go well!

I have a friend who started selling on ebay not long ago and she has made all kinds of money. She sells all the toys and stuff her kids outgrow and does her own crafts...the crafts are so simple (some of them) and she sells a LOT of them. One thing is the little photo albums made out of brown paper bags. They are really cute and they sell very quick. A lot of them make money by upping the shipping charge to count as part of their profit, that way the actual price can be lower to compete with other sellers. She started out saying she wouldn't do that, but now she is doing it as well. Depends if you feel that is dishonest or not. I'll leave my opinion on that out of the discussion

This friend also made copies of my strip dvds on her computer, and I have been thinking about having her make copies for me and seeing if the originals will sell on ebay for some profit. But, I am worried the copies will stop working or something and I'll be left without them.

We have a birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon and Allie is getting her hair cut...it's down past her butt now and gets so tangly that even with the spray stuff I practically have to rip it out of her head to get a brush through it, forget about a comb she cries real tears if I do that. It's just got to be cut to a more manageable length for her age. Plus, she gets everything she eats in it, which is what keeps the rats so bad. Hate to cut it though, it's so beautiful.

Theresa

I guess I just haven't found the right thing or something. I will keep trying though cause it can be done from the house which is what I like. Mom does pretty good with her doll clothes but I am not a person who sews which I should be considering all the kids I have. My cross stitch is sellworthy but it takes so long and it just isn't worth it unless I did bookmarkers or something like that. Those I could do quickly if I had a minute or two lol. That first haircut is the hardest. I finally chopped dess's off. Not because it was so long-I swear she will grow hair eventually-but it bugs her. She was twisting it, wouldn't let me put it ponytails or clips so it was ok not going there and I cut it to her shoulders. She has cute curls still on the ends and now there is no fuss or muss. Amanda I will have to take somewhere cause of her curls so it won't look stupid.

I am so thrilled to see us all posting alot again. It is sooo theraputic and motivational for me. I appreciate you guys!
Melissa

Just did my first 30 min. workout on the weight machine and my arms are already feeling sore. On the pull down bar I could do 35 lbs. before it felt heavy enough, but on the side handle pull things I could only do 20 lbs. I didn't get all the moves in that time, but I figured out a lot of them. I did 20 min. on arms and just 10 on legs, since my legs get plenty working with the cardio. It was actually very fun and the kids were laughing watching me guess I looked funny.

Allie has curls at the ends of her hair, but the longer it gets the looser they become. It will be interesting to see if they are still on the ends when it's cut or not. I am thinking right to the bottoms of her shoulder blades. She gets it trimmed regularly, but that's just the very tiny tips and cutting the bangs so she can see...this is the first real cut to a shorter length. i am nervous, but it has to be done.

Theresa

congrats on the pounds lost melissa and theresa! it's awesome you are starting the weight machine theresa. i try to do weights at the gym when i'm not too lazy. for awhile i was only getting around to my arms, but now dh is doing longer workouts, so i have no excuse not to do other stuff don't worry about allie's hair.. kids having long hair is a pain. once she's old enough to take care of it herself, she can have whatever she wants. i always hated having short care when i was little, but my mom insisted on me having this short boy haircut because my older sister always squealied about having her hair brushed. when i got older, i grew it out. but even now, long hair is a pain.
good luck with ebay sandi! you sound like you have a pretty good concept going. people love getting stuff on ebay cheaper than in the store, even if the shipping gets rid of the discount. they just accept it as part of the convenience i think.
well i was bad today and had too much ice cream, and napped so late it's too late to go the gym. i haven't been getting enough sleep. at least it was light is all i can say about that. we had some folks over for dinner last night, and bought ice cream for dessert. only they brought three quarts of baskin robbins with them! eek! dh ate a whole quart today, lol. he is probably not even done! but what am i saying.. it's not like i wasn't hitting that too . oh well, extra cardio tomorrow then. i need to keep my focus on my 2/14 goal, and lose my fat-think, that i can just constantly have little bits of ice cream out of container, and it's no big deal. or i just need a lock for the freezer, either one. what is it with me and ice cream?!?

Hi everyone! Melissa, GREAT JOB!!! You are back in the the swing of it now, what a way to start off the new year!!!
I bought the Biggest Loser DVD yesterday, only made it through the first 20 minutes then my asthma kicked in, but I will try again today. It really got my heart rate up quick and was fun because of the real people on it.

Got to get into bed as I got to be up by 4pm to get back to work. Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Suzette

Cadwell, I think everyone has something that is very hard to give up. Yours is ice cream. A solution might be to find an alternative that won't sabotage you. Light ice cream, Bryers makes some with 100 calories per serving, it's vanilla bean or something and is very good. Maybe those fudge bars everyone eats, they don't have sugar in them or something I'm not sure for me, when I am really craving ice cream I take vanilla nonfat yogurt and blend it up with frozen fruit, and it does the trick for me.

Well, I am just slightly, barely sore in my shoulder blades and that is it. Guess I didn't do a very good job working myself out. I was experimenting a lot of the time though, trying to figure out how much weight I needed for each position so that did take some time that I was changing it and testing, not actually working out.

Mom still hasn't sent my dvd I want it so bad. Glad to hear it was a good workout for you too, Suzette. I'm going to call her and ask where it's at, I want it NOW

Theresa

the pounds lost must feel so good!!
I agree with theresa- there are some foods i can't eat at all or i will binge- or overeat them. I couldn't eat just one tiny piece of cheesecake- i'd keep going back and nibbling and nibbling until it was all gone.
today will be rough for me as i am making homemade bread for zacks 13's birthday tomorrow. he loves the spinach stuffed shells i make and they love the bread so i am making that for his dinner. i just need NOT to taste- cause i won't stop.
(I've never told them that i make the shells filling with fat free cheeses )

Theresa - you tried! and thats part of the battle- next time you will do better as you will know what to do.

Melissa- I am still all in awe of you! you are doing awesome!

Suzette- the BL DVD is kicking my butt- but then i am exercised challenged and i like the DVD- i just hate exercise.

Candice - so true on long hair- my mom used make me have a pixie cut and swore when i got older i would decide what to do with my hair - and i have never had really short hair again.
my 7 YO, Jocie has always had LONG blonde hair - daddy is really good at helping to comb and braid it so it doesn't get tangled and she is very good at taking care of it- very "girly" she can wash and condition it all by herself - we went and got cuts yesterday- hers is cute - still getting used to mine of course with all the humidity going on i look like a poodle right now- i get asked where i get my perms and i am like its natural- tho curls can annoying at times.

I am annoyed today as all my plans got rearranged- was going shopping to target for groceries but hubby had to work - wanted to go last night but he had to be up at 5 and didn't get home till 7- i can't see good enough at night anymore to make long drives- i shouldn't complain as the overtime next week will make a good check for him.

Kayelle - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

My wonderful MIL called a feew minutes ago to tell me she is letting me borrow one of her (many) digital cameras to do photos for ebay- before i used to take and scan. that is an awesome help!still waiting to hear from the landlord

Hubby just called and said i didn't have to sell on ebay as we are going to win the 50 million $ lotto tonight - i don't play but he does when it is up that high- hmm i could handle even part of that 50 million- but if he does win by some weird chance - the Summer starters will have a spa week with hired help for children ( and be pampered by cute guys who wait on us hand & foot)
I can dream
Have a good day all
Sandi