Noelle!! This is Japan. There are a lot of things no one "gets" but that doesn't stop anyone....It's called "obligatory chocolate." When the foreign guys look at me and say, "Heh, where's my chocolate?!" and they DO! I say, "Do I look like an effin' Japanese to you??!"

And just for the record, I gave NO one chocolate, 'cept a little for me...

Hey guys. Bumping us up. I hav to weigh-in today and I am a little scared. I had a run in with some lemon bars last night. I am praying they don't stick around for the scale to see.

Red that is just so weird to me. I think I would punch someone if they asked where their choc. was. I have no tolerance for stupid people. I swear your tracker freaks me out when I see it. I have no converstion ability.

Noelle you are doing awesome. I have a pic from when I was younger as my inspration. I was the weight I want to be at right now so I look at that. Man I hate food.

Well, Joe pulled his usual great stuff. He asked me to grab his computer out of his truck so he could run to the bathroom and when I got there it had a big box in it. In fact the box was shiny brown with red ribbon. I don't know if you guys know what that means but he got me another Coach purse. It is a little on the big side but it is BEAUTIFUL!!! Of course I hadn't gotten him anything b/c we had made an agreement but he wont let me take it back. So now I have a spring purse too.

Off to weigh in. I'll let you know the verdict later.

Good morning ladies Happy hump day.

Kempy, that is an awesome present! I knew he would do something wonderful for you...and you, talking about how you hate Valentine's day Hey, good luck at your weigh-in today I know you'll do well. I like your inspiration picture idea....and speaking of younger days, I found my wedding and reception video and watched it last night. It was hilarious! Everybody looked so young and SKINNY, it was disgusting. I weighed 132 lbs on my wedding day. I know I'll not look like my 23 y.o. self if I ever get that low again, but it was nice to have a visual of what once was, and what could be again. (do you hear violins playing? ) I actually pulled out the video since it was V-day and all, and I had to remind myself that I do love my husband even if he freakin' drives me mad a lot of the time.

We stayed in for dinner last night which was really nice. We didn't grill because it was pouring rain, but the oven broiler worked just fine. We had a couple of steaks, sauteed mushrooms, some fresh asparagus and king crab legs. I made a pan of no-pudge brownies and only had two , but I did it eat it with some coffee flavored light Haagen-Daz... i'm living in onederland and don't want to visit twosville ever again.

Red, you are funny. At least you gave chocolates to someone you love

Angie, thanks for the cheers. I know you'll get to onderland because you're working your tail off to get there.

I gotta run and get ready for work. Talk later.

Weigh-in report. The crap that I have been eating showed today. I only lost
.2lbs this week. I know it is my fualt though so I am going to buckle down and get at it again. I guess I had just gotten a little too relaxed with this. I am still down a total of 11lbs and that is good, but I can do better.

Kempy, DOWN is good! I still think you're doing a great job at 11 lbs lost. Buckle down and work toward next week.

I just realized that I am in a new point range as of yesterday...down to 24. I realized this right after I ate a brownie (immediately after walking in the door from my walk ) Those no-pudge brownies are just 2 pts but still, if I am losing 2 pts a day, I really better watch it or the loss will stall. I'll be on my 16th week and should get my "stay and succeed" charm--I know, those rewards are a little cheesy but I actually like them.

WOOHOO KEMPY!!!! A loss is a loss!!! You are doing awesome so far and I am so proud of you. You have really been working ard to lose it.

WOW, today is so beautiful out. It is sunny and we dont have ANY snow on the ground. You cant even imagine how happy that makes me. I am sure we will get hit hard with it sometime before spring but I dont remember a year where we have never had snow on the ground in the middle of February. It seems weird. Me and Jay went for a nice walk today, counted up cans and bottles and I cleaned my house from top to bottom.

I weighed myself today and I think I may see a nice little loss this week so I guess V Day didnt have a big impact on me. Fingers crossed anyways, I know weight can change on a dime.

UUUGGGHHHH!!! I hate that I missed out on so much with this forum. You guys are all doing so well and that's great but I just struggle with balancing school and work. Tonight I actually buckled down and said "it's been way too long, I have to holla at my girls."

I won't sit here and rant because I see that there is a lot of positive energy. But I will get with you guys this saturday, first thing. That is a promise.

Right now I have a paper to write.

Good Morning!!! Me and jay got a walk in first thing so now all I have to do is work. fun fun.

Dips, I am so glad to hear from you. I was wondering where you were the other day. Life is busy huh? I hope things slow down for you soon. When is your spring break?

My kids dont have school this week either!! Geesh, is it just me or are they going crazy with all the vacations now. It feels like they are home more than at school.

Hi Girls

We are getting hit with a major storm today. We may get up to 14 inches of snow in our area. The drifts are really bad too. I am going to be going in and out to shovel the driveway.

Noelle did you watch AI last night? It looks like they picked a good group of guys and girls this year. It should be good. I wanted to ask you, I know you are a coffee drinker like me....do you still have your morning cup and does it stall weight loss? Thanks!

Angie it seems like your kids do get a lot of time off. No school today here either.

Dips nice to see you. School and work make for a busy time. Check back soon if you can.

Cherie how was the trip?

Kempy!

Cal are you feeling better? Thinking of you.

Hi Red!

Have a great day everyone. Check back later after I get some things done around here.

Julie, They get a week off in October,November,December,February,April. How many weeks off does your school system have? I know the kids school is the only one in the area to give them a week off in October but they have to start a week earlier than the rest too. Seems weird to me. I am sure they would rather have the extra week in August off instead.

You guys are getting hit hard this winter huh? It is nice out today but we are going to get really cold by Saturday I guess. I am not sure if there is any snow in the forecast yet. I hope not.

Good Morning.. I am back at work, trying to catch up from missing yesterday (and I'll be off tomorrow.. so my motivation really isn't there). The trip was ok... I was glad to get home yesterday. I got home in time to pick up the girls from day care and surprise them.. they were excited to see me. I LOVE that! I did workout Tuesday night at the hotel, 30 minutes on the recumbent bike, and last night I did 45 minutes on the treadmill. I plan on doing that again tonight.. and because we will be driving for 11 hours tomorrow, I will be taking the day off! I'll make up for it over the weekend with my skiing however!

WTG everyone who lost weight on their weigh ins..that is great! Sounds like as a group, we are all doing well.

Dips.. its so good to see your beautiful face around here.... check back more often!

Julie.. you can send the snow to Colorado this weekend.. I want the girls to see BIG SNOW... they have never seen anything other than maybe an inch or two on the ground.. so I am excited about them going with me tomorrow!

This week, I got a sonic care toothbrush to help with my teeth/braces/gums etc.. and I used it for the first time yesterday... man, that thing can hurt! I know it's just a matter of getting used to it.. but it REALLY CLEANS WELL! I was amazed. I tried it on Hannah this morning, I can't get her to brush right or well enough, and you would have thought I was killing her! Poor baby.. her mouth/gums bled alot, but I told her that is because she brushes her teeth instead of her gum line, and that is what we need to work on to get her gums into shape. I also told her it might take about a week for it to quit hurting when I brush her teeth.. but it will be worth it... even she noticed in the mirror that her teeth weren't "yellow" anymore... I got all the plaque off so if I can just keep her doing it once a day, I think she will get used to it and her mouth care will improve greatly! I got her using my water pik this past week too.. so I think she can feel and see the difference on what clean teeth feels like!

OK.. well, I need to get back to work.. I just wanted to check in quickly... I will be online later today, however, starting at 5 am in the morning, I will be on my way to CO and won't be logging back in until Tuesday when I get back to work!

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend! Talk soon!

Do you EVER feel this way?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor..._uc/ga20060216

Cherie, too funny! Yes I get that way sometimes Wow, you get a lonng CO ski weekend with your girls--how cool! Have fun!!! Good job on working out while away from home too I've never had a sonicare toothbrush, but I know they work well. We used to sell 'em at the periodontist I worked at, and you could see a vast improvement after the patient's 3 mo. check up.

Julie, I saw on the weather forecast that WI had a windchill of -15, but I think MT had -45! OMG!!! You will burn a lot of cals shoveling but stay warm. Speaking of warm, I still do enjoy a morning cup of java, but I drink it black now so it has to be good quality stuff. Once in a while I do Starbucks and get an Americano (espresso and water) but drink it black. --coffee (plain) is "free" so it adds no cals to my daily point allotment. Occasionally I will still get my beloved hazelnut lattes but with either non-fat or soy milk, and only 2 pumps instead of the usual 3--there's always a way of eating/drinking what you want! I didn't get to watch AI at all this week, we've been busy with karate lessons in the evening. I hope to catch it next week though.

Dips, hey girl, glad to see you around again! You can rant here, we've got enough positive vibes going around that a little negative should balance things out After all, we're all friends right? You can take a load off your mind if it'll help. You're a wonder woman in my eyes--school and work

Angie, at least you enjoy your work (and working with Jay)... I have to force myself to go into the office these days.

Cal, hope you're relaxing out there and getting that BP down. Thinking of you!

Hey Kempy, how's your day going?

Hi Red.... I'm jealous that you're already on Friday

Well, Rick is heading to Vegas tonight for the long weekend. He and my BIL will be watching a boxing match at the Alladin on Saturday night. I'm a little jealous about the trip, but I am looking forward to having my bed all to myself! I gave him a little shopping list of things to get me while he's there I will go without him in October so we should be fair and square.

I've got to get moving and start my day. Have a good one

Hi girls - I'm back from San Diego. Had a great time and even exercised 2x. Loved the Garfield comic!! I feel that way RIGHT NOW. I'm dying for some deep, dark chocolate!

Noelle, what's there to be jealous about? My busiest work days are Friday through Monday and the days I have to be in an office. But I work everyday! The life of a stray...