Hey, I'm still alive... barely.. lol...

Kimberley - how was the walk? What was your time? Walking is such a great workout, altho I admit I often get bored.. but I guess thats what music is for

Jill - Trader Joe's always had the WORST produce I've ever seen, heh, but they have some great staples.. oraganic apple sauce, and FF balsamic vinagerette, and I'm definitely a fan of their mini pizza's, 8 grams of fat and all the flavour!

Jen - your muscles definitely need to heal, I find I can't do more than 3 days in a row without getting too fatigued, however I also work 8-9 hours a day on my feet walking/running.. so I'm betting that a huge factor for me.

I'm still plugging away, things are getting a little packed on my end, I have 3 more days until I'm off to Winnipeg for my grandma's birthday. I'm gone until Tuesday, and then my mom arrives on the Friday for the long weekend, I love long weekends Mostly for that stat day tho, it's an extra day off with pay I'm down about 17 pounds now, and have dropped from a size 18 to a size 14.. I'm feeling pretty good about that, it hasn't quite registered in my mind yet... which could be a good thing, it's easy to get content in a size 14 (a plus size 14 tho). Well I am off to do pilates, make dinner, clean and get some more work done on my moms mothers day present! Take care!

-Aimee

We've been really busy between Howie's work, my working in the yard, and just general running around. The Heart Walk went great. I think we walked the 3 miles in about an hour. Howie, Ivana and I lagged behind the other three people on our team, but hey -- we finished! The MC said at the beginning that the total thus far was $25K, and more would still come in after the walk was over. That made us all feel good.

My knees are hurting from all the yard work this week. More than that, I squatted a lot to take photos from lower angles. I've gotta not do that! It's frustrating to have lost enough weight that I can actually get up and down like that, but then not be able to because of the knees. I guess age and years of carrying too much weight have done the damage and I just need to adapt. I can do that.

WOW, you guys have to see this picture! The photographer from my sister's wedding finally posted a bunch of proofs online for us to see, and this is the image they used in the email. It's from the aqaurium where everyone went to kill time between the 2:30pm ceremony and the 7pm reception. It looks so perfect it almost looks fake:
long link, so I won't mess up everyone's scroll by writing it out

There are some proofs that include me, but I can't get them to post here. They are protected, so you can't just right click and save the image, so I tried to do a Print Screen and work with it just in Paint, but then 3FC wouldn't let me upload the image because it was 512x400, and max is 500x500 In Paint, I couldn't get the image to resize proportionally, so I inally just gave up. I'll try to work on it some more when I go home to my computer where I have actual photo programs other than MS Paint

Hello everyone!

It's been about a month since I've visited here! How time flies!

Been so busy with the move that everything else has been pushed to the side. Sam and I are offically home owners! Yipee!!! Our house is coming along nicely. We spent 2 weekends plus some additional nights painting the interior because it was aweful from the last people, dirty flat whitish paint. YUCK! We still need to paint walls in the 3 bedrooms and the bathroom, the ceilings are done already. We're just waiting until Sam's dad orders and installs our new windows in the bedrooms. Our colors are very warm and inviting. We used Behr paint from The Home Depot, living room is 'Blanket Brown', dining room is 'Wine Barrel', kitchen is 'Toasted Nutmeg', and hallways are 'Adobe Straw'. They all coordinate nicely and feel so good. My mom helped us paint, she is so scared of using ANY color... she LOVES it too, and she was skeptical!

Worked out in the yard yesterday, digging Lexi a 'potty spot' so she dosen't kill the entire yard. We dug out the grass in a half circle about 4' across, and 6" deep; edged it 2 bricks high; inside we layered pea pebbles, cedar mulch, and topped it off with cedar nuggets. It looks really quite nice for a doggie bathroom!

On the diet front, with moving, cleaning and painting I really didn't work out for 2 weeks. I felt aweful. I really need that routien in my life. Exercise and coffee... no better way to start the day. So not only was I not exerciseing but I wasn't really eating either so I dropped down off my plateau a little. I'm now at 223. It's about time! We had a benefit walk last Saturday for the Make a Wish foundation, it's a 4 mile walk. Sam, my mom and I did it in 55 miniutes! Hot Damn! I was impressed with us! no one was sore or out of breath at all, it was great.

I hope to be able to get in here and keep up on a more regular basis now that we're settled in and back in the swing of things!

Have a fabulous day!

Well good morning! and welcome back prodigal daughters Aimee and Sara!

Aimee: a size 14 is great!! congrats!

Kimberley: 3 miles in a hour is a decent pace! I'm glad you were able to do that! And I hear ya about the knee thing!

Jill: The link took me to the sign in page for Yahoo mail ?? Would love to see the pics!

Sara: Your house sounds GREAT! It's so much better than paying rent, isnt it??

Me: I took the weekend off from the gym. My muscles feel better now, and I will resume my five day a week schedule. I plan to only strength train 3 of the 5 days to give my muscles a chance to heal. I'll do cardio all five days.

I did get some exercise this weekend, through going ballroom dancing on Saturday night and cleaning house on Sunday. I really love dancing! I've thought in the past I was too fat to do any coordinated dancing like that, although I have done dancing in musicals I've been in (I was a tap-dancing nun at 340 pounds!) and went through a country line dancing phase in the 90's. As I am getting more in shape, I'm finding more confidence in my body.

My eating plan was a little off, and the scale showed it. I had gotten down to 303.5, but weigh in this morning was at 306. I know it is all water, so I'm not bothered. Hopefully I will see the 2's by this weekend! In the meanwhile, it's lots and lots of water for me!

Size 14's -- I missed that! Good for you, Aimee!

Jill, if you send me the picture, I can resize it for you and send it back. My e-mail address is in my blog. If you want a wonderful little free photo editor that does easy resizing while keeping the correct proportions, check out Irfanview. Be sure to download the plugins file for it, too.

I was going to write more, but I'm nodding off at the computer! My knees are really hurting today and I am taking it easy with my legs elevated and supported. With two warm dogs snuggled close, it kinda makes a person sleepy.

Just saw you posted them -- WOW, that first shot really is exceptional. You both look so lovely! I love weddings.

Whew, I'm glad it worked! Yeah, I LOVE that picture--I mean, you couldn't have posed the turtle and fish any better than that if you tried, and here, that's just the way it worked out!

Aimee--good lord, woman, you'll be rockin' the non-plus sizes in no time!!

Jill you look so pretty in that picture! And the aquarium pic is very cool!

Good morning ladies! In 5 hours, my sweet Alan's plane will land!! I cannot wait to see him!!!!!! (Can you tell by the amount of exclamation points how excited I am?!!!!!)

No, not at ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm taking another R&R day here with the knees still paining me if I walk on stairs or put any weight on them while they're partially bent. The weather's supposed to turn colder tomorrow and we've got rain in the forecast. I'd love to work in the yard today while it's nice, but that just isn't going to happen. I never give the joints a chance to recover, so the pain goes on for weeks; maybe if I do just rest my knees today and keep from doing stupid things, they'll heal faster! What a concept!

Here are some pictures I took at the dog park Sunday afternoon. The brown dog is Sarah, the weimaraner Gray-C, and the bassett hound Bricey.

Good morning gals!

Awww, cute puppies, Kimberley! It's nice that they can go to a park and have lots of room to run.

I'm a little tired this morning (okay, a LOT tired!) because ALAN IS HOME!!! We were making up for lost time, if ya know what I mean! I'm so glad to have him back!! Now I feel complete again.

I was slightly shocked about the size 14, I haven't BOUGHT anything in a size 14 yet.. the other thing that kinda shocked me is that I'm down 19 pounds since Christmas. I actually don't think anyone knows that I've lost so much, myself included

I am off to Winnipeg for 6 days.. just wanted to keep you gals updated on my lack of being around. Wow I can't wait until things calm down a bit!

-Aimee

We miss you Aimee! Have fun in Winnie!