TIME FOR SERIOUS FUN

We are a thread dedicated to making losing weight a pleasant experience. We laugh, cry and talk together. We have challenges, points for staying on program, drinking our water, and exercising. We have a daily topic to join in. Our only focus is to help us realize that dieting and all that goes with it need not be unpleasant, but can be fun. Come join the fun here at Time for Serious Fun! Everyone is Welcome!

TOPICS:

Monday: Mission Monday New mission each week
Tuesday: Target Tuesday We target something to work on
Wednesday: Wednesday's Woes Our day to complain about anything and everything
Thursday: Time for Us Thursday The day set aside to pamper us!
Friday: Fabulous Lbs Down Friday. Report our losses!

POINTS VALUES:

STAYING ON PROGRAM IS 2 POINTS
DRINKING YOUR WATER IS 1 POINT
EXERCISING IS 1 POINT

POSTING A WTG: A WTG IS WHEN SOMETHING NON WEIGHT LOSS HAPPENS TO YOU LIKE A NEW DRESS IN A SMALLER SIZE. TO POST A WTG, USE ALL CAPS AND POST IT IN PINK. FOR EXAMPLE: WTG: I rode my bike 2 miles instead of one today

MONDAY: Today is Mission Monday and our mission this week is to strive to get ready for swimsuit season which is getting close girls! Let's see some extra effort the next few weeks to get into those pretty new swimsuits!

POINTS:

Julie
LeeAnn

LBS DOWN

Julie (I decided to give you somewhere in between!)

Ok gals, I see we are mostly in a slump. I am not doing anything until my sister has gone back home next week then Jack and I are getting organized and focused back to what we need to do. We originally thought she would be the only company and to tell you the truth, we haven't had anyone visit us since we lived here and that is almost 5 years, but Jack's sister is coming through here to go to North Carolina in June and my brother (UGH) wants to come and visit in Sept around Labor Day. Luckily, he is staying in a HOTEL! They three monster kids and a huge dog they bring along and I won't let them stay here!

I do ask you to keep my dh's sister and her family in prayer. I bought her a card and gift card for her birthday, which is tomorrow and she called Saturday to thank us and she told us her 26 year old dd has just been diagnosed with a degernative type of MS and her son is leaving to go back to Fort Benning to finish up his jump school then he is being shipped out to Afghanistan! That is a lot to swallow all at once.

Everyone have a super duper day. I am getting ready to shampoo carpets upstairs, wash rugs and general daily chores!

TTFN
Faye

Heya Ladies!

What's going on today? Not too much here. We had Deanna's 1st b-day on Sunday and it was a semi-flop. We invited 4 girls. One showed but for exactly 5 minutes to get her gift bag and a cupcake. Her dad was getting his head shaved for charity. The other girls got sick, so we hand delivered their gift bags since they live next door.

That's ok, though because 1. they're too young to care if people show up or not, 2. we had a great time because we didn't have to entertain people.

Instead, Deanna dove into the cake face first, we opened all of their presents (Amelia-almost 3- got one too.) and went outside (sunny sunny day!) and played with them all. We went for a walk and played with Deanna's new bubble maker toy. Now mommy doesn't have to sit there with wet hands and blow bubbles for hours on end. YAY! All in all, it ended up being a really cool and fun day.

Well, I'm not losing any weight, but my clothes sure are fitting nicely! I got a pair of jeans from Julie that I can now almost take off Without Unbuttoning the buttons! How Cool Is That!!! You have to enjoy the little things...

Now that we've made some progress on settling into our house, we're starting to make plans to visit Nana and Grampy in New Brunswick. The kids are gearing up for it and they can't wait to see their aunt. I can't wait to see the gang and to ask my friends' oldest daughter (Adriana) to babysit so I can do whatever I want for a day. YAY! (We don't know any good babysitters at our house yet.. pout)

Finally, Life Is So Good now that my mother is out of the picture! It's actually....ssshhh!... NORMAL!

-Lee Ann

LeeAnn: The kids are sooooo beautiful, but I have one ??? Are you so scary they had to cut your head off in the photo? Sheesh, I think I would be a little offended by that! Most of us would rather our head show than the rest of us, but you look real good from the neck down girl! Tell Deana big Happy Birthday and birthday kisses from all of us!

I am so almost ready for my dsis to be here. I am so p*&^%$ though. We killed ourselves cleaning the deck and back patio yesterday and I went out this morning and the berry eatin' s.o.b. birds had pooped all over the clean deck and my clean umbrella and chairs! I am going to wait until Saturday morning and go out and clean again before she gets here. I did the hallway shampooing and no more because I got into trouble for shampooing downstairs from hubby because of my back trouble moving furniture and such. Got all the upstairs bathrooms and throw rugs washed and dried as well as the downstairs ones, washed down the walls, doors and such upstairs with that Mr Clean eraser sponge thingy and multi task Windex and boy howdy does that thing do a great job! I had some marks on my white door to the guest bedroom and could not get them off. I sprayed some of that Windex and used that sponge and the stuff came right off and didn't take all the paint with it either.

Everyone have a great afternoon and see you tomorrow

Faye

Faye, those Mr. Clean erasers work really well, too. I love them. Hope all your cleaning is over and you can enjoy your visitor.

I was having a 'poor Susan' day yesterday - poor me, never get anytime to quilt anymore, have all the cleaning to do, have to run all the errands, etc. Had to slap myself up side the head. It could be a lot worse. At least I'm still able to care for dh at home. Had to order him special cardiovascular Rooke boots - $200 for a pair, and not covered by any insurance. I've been religiously cleaning his ulcers and applying the medication and bandages and I think they are looking better and starting to heal. The boots should help. If I could just get the swelling down in his feet, life would be good.

Afternoon all, I had a bad eating weekend ... I just have three words - "Long John Silvers" - I think that is all that needs to be said.

Leann - those are some cute kids ... yes I wanted to see your head too

Susan - We all have those pity me days, but then again alot of us do not have as much to deal with as you do ... you inspire us to not pity ourselves with our little gripes.

Faye - Yes I hate that bird poo, especially on the cars... and after they eat those berries that is the worst!! I hope you do not clean it again to just have it done again ... me and dh are looking for patio furniture and I cannot find any , well any that is within my price range, plus I need something smaller. any ideas?

Julie and Amanda - Hi!!

Have a good evening all !!

TUESDAY: Today is Target Tuesday and our target this week is 25lbs off or at goal but July 1, whichever you are at. Let's get focused on a goal girls and have that 25 lbs off by July 1st or be at goal if you have fewer lbs than that to lose.

Carri: This is gonna sound kooky, but try your big groceries like Krogers. I bought my set, glass top round patio table, fabric umbrella, four nice wide chairs with cushions to match umbrella for $100 at a local grocery chain here 4 years ago and except for the squirrels attacking a corner of one chair and the crummy neighbor throwing a lit ciggie onto my patio and burning a hole in my cushion, it is in great shape. It is not flimsy but a really nice set and I have seen some nice sets at the Krogers here. We no longer have a Kmart, but Kmart or Walmart has some nice sets and sometimes you can find deals at like Lowes or something. I would definitely check around the grocery stores though. They should have them out by now.

Susan: Hey, everyone is entitled to pity parties once in awhile and you more than most. You are an inspiration to everyone of us here. Not only have you lost a huge amount of weight and kept it off, you have had to work, be a 24 hour caregiver, give up your lifestyle before your husband's illness and you don't have family to share the burden. Everyone of us salutes you. In fact, just to let you know how wonderful we think you are:

I OFFICIALLY MAKE THIS SUSAN DAY! MAKE SURE YOU LET HER KNOW HOW MUCH YOU APPRECIATE HER AND HOW GRAND YOU THINK SHE IS!

You gals go out and make this a wonderful day for yourself. I am off to get some more work done, days are dwindling before my dsis will be here.

Faye

I agree wholeheartedly with Faye. You deserve a pity party whenever you darn well feel like it. Just try not to let it get to the point of needing meds, ok?

Seriously, I know that none of us take it lightly that you are doing so much for your dh and trying to stay on track with your own things, too. I have a lot of respect for the fact that you've become your dh's mother and nurse as well as wife and lover. You are truly a wonder woman. I wholly support Susan Day!

Lee Ann

BTW- about my head.... I had to keep cutting the pic down because it was too big for the bb to take. It started out (I trimmed it down) as 56.5kb, then 51.5kb, then 50.5 kb, then I finally got it below the 50 kb mark. I didn't want to shrink it any more because i wanted everyone to not have to squint to see it. ... LOL!!

Thanks, ladies, you make me feel loved and special.

Lee Ann, what a nice picture. I love to have a face to attach to a name. Your baby is adorable.

Carri, Kroger has a nice set now for $129 at our store - glass top, nice cushions, etc. You might also check the newspaper for used ones. A little paint can make them like new for a small investment. We have a lot of military here so you can often get stuff that is hardly used because they have to move on.

4 points for yesterday. Faye, love your idea - I certainly should be able to get to goal by July. I'm happy with the South Beach/WW Core/Counting Points plan I've devised for myself. I feel so good when I eat right, but every once in a while, that bad carb monster takes over....

hi guys,

I've been doing well - had more or less 5 days OP foodwise last week and 3 sessions at the gym to ease myself back in gently. I did a leg, bums and tums class on Saturday and it nearly killed me! It was a different teacher and she seemed tougher than the usual one - or maybe it was because I'm a bit out of shape and not back to 100% health and fitness yet. By the end of it I couldn't even lift my legs in the air - they just went to lead, and then I felt really light headed and didn't even feel up to having a shower! I had to go and sit in the coffee bar till I felt up to the walk home! Maybe it was a bit soon to attempt a class!

Faye, I am with you for our mission - SIGN ME UP!! I have given myself a stern talking to as basically I haven't lost any weight for nearly 6 months! I've made excuses, but really it's down to poor discipline with my eating so I am re-committing and working on my focus and discipline - it's time to say 'NO' to my cravings now and again! I hope to really get some weight off before summer - 25lb sounds about right! I am sticking to my no pizza for a month rule - the trouble is I don't know when I last had a pizza, so I am just counting it from last week - so that is one week down!

Susan - I am with everyone else - you truly are a wonderful woman and are an inspiration. The way you cope with your dh's ill health, but still manage to focus on your diet is amazing! You have such a lot to cope with, emotionally , physically and financially - it is important to give yourself a break now and again and it's no suprise at all that you have days when it all gets on top of you. You can always come and let off steam here.

Julie - Congrats on the loss!

Carri - I know your bad weekend won't set you back too far - you are very good at getting staright back OP!

Lee - Lovely to see a photo of you - you look great, both with and without your head! Glad your baby's birthday was fun - I'm sure she preferred getting ALL the attention and not having to share it with any guests!

Take care all,

Love Amanda x

WEDNESDAY: Today is Wednesday's Woes so what has been getting you down ladies, today is the day to spill it!

POINTS:

Susan

I know a leader should lead by example and I am sure not doing that. I beg you just to hang in there with me until next week at this time as I will have shipped my sister back home and can go to the store and get healthy stuff and get rid of any unhealthy leftovers and get back to exercising too! It is starting to get nice out and I am going back to walking outside a couple times a day instead of the treadmill until the pool opens up the end of May. I know we can all make our 25 lb or whatever our goal is by July 1st if we just put our heads together and commit to doing it. I don't know why humans think they need to hibernate like bears in the winter but we sure tend to slow down then, don't we? Well, we are now going into spring and the nice weather should spur us on to new weight loss heights.

LeeAnn: Man, you are a dead ringer for my sil (brother's wife.) I was knocked back when I saw it. She is significantly chubbier though. Deanna is so very cute. I sure miss having a grandbaby, but I wouldn't give up my big boy for anything. He is such a joy to me and I hope my son and dil can have children so I can have some more.

Amanda: Slow and easy does it girl, or you will be back in bed again. I think for a week at least you should be doing half classes until you build yourself up.

Susan: It will be exciting to see you finally at your desired goal. You don't have many lbs to go but they are usually the hardest to get off. Hope hubby is feeling well.

Gotta hit the bricks girls and get the bed stripped and the clean sheets put on and get some more work done. The list IS getting shorter. I blew out the garage then power washed the floor and made one of the old ladies down the street mad at me, but it wasn't my fault. We had some left over styrofoam peanuts on the garage floor and I blew everything out to the edge of the door and before I could clean it up the wind blew the stuff down the street. I wasn't about to go chasing it picking it up one by one and some of them blew into her walkway just as she came out and I got such a dirty look like I did it on purpose.

Have a wonderful day gals

Faye

THURSDAY: Today is Time for Us Thursday so be sure and take some time just for you today!

Lots to do today so I have to get hoppin'. You gals have a great OP day today!

Faye

3 points for me today!

I started watching our friend's 2 yr old so she could work during the day instead of nights. It's great. She's easy to watch since we've had her over just about every day for play-dates anyway.

Looks like Spring is finally here! We're outside just about all day playing in the back yard and hoping oit sticks around. We're looking at finally getting up to 20C (70F)...!! YAY!!

-Lee Ann

POINTS:

LeeAnn:

LeeAnn: Just a little bragging. It is 80 here today and just gorgeous with just enough breeze to be comfortable! On top of that, we are going to be in the upper 70's for a whole week. Wahoo, maybe spring dun sprung!

FRIDAY: Today is Fabulous Friday Follies and our folly this week is have you ever ordered something from a restaurant you had no idea what it was (maybe to save face with friends or whatever) and what did it end up being and was it gross or good?

***FYI: I am again not going to be here for a few days because of my sister coming. I will be back in here on Wednesday. Until then hold down the fort for me guys and work hard!***

Have a great day and weekend.

Faye