Morning everyone, well I'm still debating changing my office around. The co-worker the talker was talking at went home sick yesterday so he had no one to talk at. It was very pleasant. But he's back at it today so today might be the day. I'm just trying to figure out how I could move the stuff by myself. I'm thinking that's why I haven't done it yet.

I did the 4 mile walk slim this morning. Then I cleaned the kitchen started dinner and started a load of clothes. I was only 5 minutes late for work. Not bad considering. My cals were a little lower yesterday so my average is at 1531. The challenge is going to be great for me.

Nikki, congrats on the 1 pound loss. It's so great when the evil scale is cooperative.

Carol, I'v seen hairspray with sunscreen in it. I actually rarely use the stuff - my hair is very fine and if I need to comb it later in the day, many hair break if it's been glued into place. What I need is a conditioner with it in it. And if while I'm dreaming of hair products - how about a gentle shampoo that takes chlorine out and makes my hair stay it's color and not change to green. I discussed the chlorine woes with my stylist yesterday since my pool will be open in a while. She said I was doing everything right and that the texture of my hair (dry and porous) would always be a problem. Bummer.

Judy, I love the description - The Voice. I know what you mean about a small office, we have 5 positions - seems like we rarely have the 5th one sinc ethere's been a vacancy forever. They're all males (except a former co-worker who's temping and decided to apply for the job and I hope she gets it - the guys don't want her but the higher ups do and she's a good friend so I do want her to get it...). I'm sick of male banter if you know what I mean...

Okay, I should start working a bit more...
Marie

Marie - It sounds like you are having a very productive day. 4 miles wow I am always so impressed by how much you can walk.


Nikki

Marie I was lucky enough to have an office mate to help me move my desk and my sect. as well. Those things are so bulky and heavy don't do it yourself you have to protect your back. No setback is worth that coworker bugging you. Good luck and congrats on the staying on plan. I took mom to the doctors with a good report hurray then out to dinner. I had fried haddock a big no no so thats my naughty day this week. The rest of my day was good though. Todays lunch is some more of my turkey stew from ww recipe. So that and an apple breakfast was on the mark so I am headed for a good day. Also going walking or to the gym after work today. Hanging out with mom in the store was a whole new experience and eye opener to how much her abilities have decreased. We had a few good laughs and that was good. I have to tell yah all she has some carpal tunnel going on in one hand . So I ask her where the support is for it. Well in the bag she says so we take it out it was for the wrong hand and the poor thing was wearing the metal support on the top of her wrist. Well no wonder it wasn't helping we laughed and went to buy her a new one for the left hand. Gotta love her!
Nikki congrats on the 1 lb. thats great. If I stay away from fried fish I might be reporting a loss soon too. I will try to keep it in gear and move forward no sense in crying over spilled milk at least I didn't eat all the breading. That counts for something.
Take care and keep up the good work. Maybe I should do a count down of days stuck to my computer screen as a reminder of my goal of 5/6.

Morning all, it's a cold morning but the sun is out so that's nice. It's supposed to warm up to the mid 60's. I'm going to make myself an iced coffee when I get home from work and sit in the beautiful sunshine. As long, of course, that I stay on track diet wise and can afford the calories.

I did the 4 mile walk slime again this morning. I slept on my neck funny and it's a bit stiff. It's the second time since I got this new pillow. On Saturday I'm shopping for a new one again.

Calories were a little low yesterday. I was full after dinner so I couldn't add the remainders in. Ah, I wish I had that "problem" every day.

Carol, excellent news that your mother is doing alright. Funny story on the wrist guard. Upside down, they'd be very uncomfortable.

Nikki, it took me a while to work up to the 4 miles. This past fall I was doing 5 miles but for some odd reason it stopped me from losing weight, so I dropped back down a mile. Doesn't mean that I don't walk more after work but I don't worry about that mile or two since it's rarely planned.

I still haven't moved the office around but I did talk to the Voice's mgr and hoped that telling him that when he and the Voice talk over their computers it's very loud. Since it started again this morning, I don't think it helped. If I could just get the stupid state reports down I'd have time to rearrange. Maybe if I stopped surfing???

Hi to Judy and Penny!
Marie

Marie she is a trip that mom of mine. Today she called and said she lost the wedding shower invite for my daughter. I said MOM no you didn't they haven't been mailed yet. I think she had it confused with another invite. Gotta love her. Well today I didn't get to exercise but my cals were around 1500. Not enough water today I forgot to take it to work. Usually I drink about 32 oz. at work and then some more at home. The water at work isn't good so I need to bring it in. Theres would rust my pipes for sure. Well take care and have a good evening all.

Hi all. Just a quick check in for me. Sorry I've been MIA but I've been rushing about getting ready for our fashion show and tea tomorrow. I just finished baking 100 macaroons and I'm hoping to get an early night as I'll be up bright and early tomorrow to take my car load of stuff to the venue. I've been doing fairly well sticking to my calories so I hope my weigh in tomorrow will show a bit of a loss. I'll catch up with you when this madness ends!

Penny good luck the fashion show and the cookies sound great. Those are one of my naughty favorites. The frost is on the ground this morning just a reminder that its not totally over with yet with cold weather. We are only to be in the 40's for awhile. But I will take it if sunshine comes with it. I am starting off my day with a nice bowl of oatmeal w/ walnuts and cinn. also a pice of sprout toast I am hooked on that. I am taking stuff for lunch healthy foods that is but the girls may want to order out so I am covering all my bases in case it doesn't happen. Some folks spend at least 30 a wk on lunches I am not one of them. But once in awhile its nice. Its suppose to be a nice weekend and I hope to exercise by walking too. Well take care off to start my day.

Carol I hear you about co-workers spending many $$$ on lunch. We're left with only one but last year it was 3 of the 5 of us. The 2 of us that earn the most in the office always brought a lunch and shook our heads at those that wasted their money. My DH would be so angry if I went out to lunch everyday. Last year I decided Friday's were my day to join them but that stopped because I'd rather have toys then high cal foods.

Penny, here's hoping the show goes great. I'd have eaten all the macaroons so it's good that you're making them not me.

I did the 4 miles walk slim again this morning. Yesterday's cals were a tad higher (1645) but my average since the challenge started is 1531 so I'm not bummed. I did step on the dreaded box and it wasn't too friendly but I wasn't overly surprised. I was not vigilant on vacation and a week after so I have ground to make up. I do believe if I'm not ever vigilant I'll always be fat even with all the exercise. Just call me a vigilante against my fat cells.

Today is Friday and no matter what the evil scale said, I'm in a fabulous mood. I live for weekends.
Marie

Whew! The fashion show and tea is OVER and I'm enjoying a nice margarita after my DH and I went out for a sushi dinner. I didn't eat since breakfast today, so at least my calories are under control. Everything went well and we got lots of compliments. The only problem was that nobody could figure out the thermostat and it was about 85 deg. during the show. Our DS turned up to help with clean up and soon figured out the thermostat and we had it a nice cool 65 deg. Soaking my feet in ice water at the moment and maybe I'll have another margarita.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hi, I'm still out here, just lost with my sister in Vacationland...eating too much and not exercising enough. But she's leaving on Sunday, the damage ha been done, and I am very glad to have had this downtime, and . So I'll begin again--fall down six times, get up seven.

I will catch up on all the posts later. But, Penny, congratulations on having survived the fashion show

judy

Margarita wow Penny you go girl you deserved every drop of that drink. I am having the Cino Di Mayo party for my daughters shower any good margarita punch recipes anyone?? Or mexican dishes? We are going to do taco salads one of each chicken, beef and veggie only crumble in it maybe. I have a taco layered appt. to do too. Well gotta fly the bride to be just came to pick me up to shop!

Penny - congrats on surviving.

I just wanted to pop in and say hello. I will post more later.

Nikki

Hi everyone. I had a fun day yesterday. DH and I went to Medford (over the mountain) and had a good time. We spent loads (we bought the wood stove that we're going to install after DS, almost DIL, and DGS move out next December. They were having a season ending sale so it was worth it. Since I'm exercising for it, I'm in the hole a little over $1000 but on the bright side I had earned 550 towards it since I bought the iPod at Thanksgiving. I also got some new clothes and stuff. Very expensived ay but no regrets...

Yesterday I did the 4 mile Walk Slim and this morning I did 3 miles jogging and 1 mile walking. I also promised the doggies a walk around the 1.5 mile block. Food was low yesterday but Friday a 100 cals high. So far on the challenge, I'm averaging 1538 cals per day. So I'm on target. I do like this challenge.

My exercise totals for March was 103.75 miles. That includes walking, jogging and snowshoeing (which should count for twice the amount of miles since it's twice as hard but alas, I just stick with the actual miles. I was pleased that even with vacation and such I was over 100.

Penny good job on finishing the fashion show successfully. Now since I'm always freezing 85 sounds great to me. Almost like at the beach...

Carol, I hope your shopping was as fun as mine.

Judy, good to see you and good luck getting back on track. Vacations always throw me off a bit even when I get home.

Nikki, I hope your weekend is going great.
Marie

Okay, my sister is headed back home and I've thrown away the carmel corn and put the remaining M&Ms in the freezer . Now, back to the challenge! We had a great time together, I'm very glad we had this chance to hang out, just the two of us. I'm not looking forward to going back to the grind, where it looks like we are having serious financial problems. I don't want to start thinking about this until it's officially Monday...

Penny, I hope you got to enjoy your weekend, you deserve it!

Carol, the Cinco de Mayo party sounds fun. I love authentic Mexican food. Cooking Light magazine has some great recipes if you look at their website. I'm with you and Marie re brown-bagging it at work. Besides the expense, you have better control of ingredients and portion sizes if you pack your own lunch. Eating out most meals last week I would exclaim over the size of the servings and promptly renew my membership to the Clean Plate Club . I guess I should tackle the scale tomorrow morning, but I really don't want to know the extent of the damage, and just focus on working my program.

Marie, way to go on the March exercising . I'll have to check out the 4-mile walk. The 5-mile walk is okay, it just takes longer than I usually have time for during the week. Now that the weather's perking up (it's cherry blossom season here, beautiful, beautiful), I'll be walking outside more , yaay! I bought some new walking shoes last week--actually, running shoes, which the personal trainer said might be better for me given my weight and my bad knees.

Nikki, here's hoping that you see some good numbers on the scale this week

Gotta stop sulking about work, and get myself organized for whatever comes this week. Hope everyone's week gets off to a great start!

judy

Judy - Good for you for tossing the carmel corn - that stuff is addictive! I love the new broccoli guy - he reminds me to eat my veggies. Try not to think about Monday yet - I hope things go better for you at work.

Marie - I bet you'll enjoy your wood stove - we have one and it's really cozy. You probably won't get to use it much till next winter, although it was around freezing here this am. You are doing fantastic with your walking program.

Carol - Cinco de Mayo parties are always so much fun. I don't have a margarita punch recipe, but it would be pretty easy to make one up with a couple of bottles of margarita mix, triple sec and tequila plus a lot of ice.

Nikki - I hope you had a relaxing weekend.

I've been catching up with work all weekend as I was busy with the fashion show preparations all last week. I was half asleep doing my month end bookkeeping this morning, so I hope I didn't mess up too much. Our son's house he was hoping to rent in Boise was rented to someone else, so he's scrambling to find something before he leaves with his U-Haul on Thursday at 6am. My DH and DS decided it was best to drive to Boise today and look around on Monday. That way they can share the driving so it's not so bad. They have a couple of places to look at and his new employer has someone helping out looking too. It all came about so fast he really hasn't had time to do much searching for a home as his last day at work at his old job was on Friday. I haven't been eating very healthy and so I'm going to have to make an effort to get back to my normal routine next week. On Tuesday it's my turn to host my chapter's monthly meeting, so there will be 16-20 for lunch! Luckily it's a potluck, but still quite a bit of work to do. I hope I get a good night's sleep soon as I'm running on empty right now.

Have a good start to the new week and month everyone.