Gettin' Together--May 2006
 

It just dawned on me--we are in a new month!!:carrot:

Hi out there (whoever will read this!)

Alan called me from Ireland today. He had picked up his rental car and was on his way to the company that he is visiting. I do so miss that man!! My bed is very empty without him in it :(

The scales are being kind today! I'm hoping this is a conintuation of the downward trend!

I just found your new thread! I linked to it from the April thread and copied my post over here:

Well, Howie and I drained the pond and cleared out the muddy bottom this morning before he headed off to work. I am leery of more problems, but this time with run-off from rain. I wish I'd done the rocks and liner a little differently. We'll just have to see how it goes!

We're still kinda struggling with the plan, but we are at least maintaining. I would have lost this week had I consumed the water like I should have. Too bad my working out in the rain on the pond today doesn't count as water...I'd have my day's worth. LOL I put on my heavy chore coat and just kept going. It's done now (gee, I said that before, didn't I?).

The Heart Walk's coming up in a couple days. Howie and I walked about 40 minutes today, and the 3-mile walk will take us around 1-1:15 hours.

Thanks for posting the link from the other thread, Kimberley--I probably would have been posting over there for days wondering where everyone else was...:dizzy:

I've been IMing with a girl who lives nearby all morning. She's my age, and I found her post on Craiglist in the "strictly platonic" section. She sounds similar to me--she spends most of her free time with her boyfriend and has almost no female friends to hang out with. We're going to get together sometime in the next couple weeks :)

Jen--I hear you on the empty bed. I remember when Jeff left overnight for the first time since we moved in together...it took me FOREVER to fall asleep! I ended up curling up with his pillow and watching tv until I finally drifted off. I don't normally have to watch tv in bed when he's there...I just fall right to sleep. Alan will be home soon :^:

Ooh, I have new motivation to pay off my credit card! I got Jeff to agree that once it's paid off, we can adopt a cat :D I am SO excited (even though it probably won't happen until December-January at the earliest...unless I win a lottery ;) ).

Kimberley: That pond is quite an undertaking! I dont think I would have known where to begin to make something like that! Would love to see it when you get a chance!

Jill: I think women need to have other women as friends. I know so many women who only spend time with their mate, and they don't get a chance to do any "female bonding." I felt that way when I first moved down here--I didnt have any women friends at first. But being the outgoing gal I am, it didnt take long!

The kitty sounds like good motivation to get things paid off! With your new job and salary, it should be a snap! I'm glad you are taking care of this while you are YOUNG!

Hey Gals! Sorry I haven't been posting, work has been SO crazy, and with my new workout schedule, plus it's spring cleaning here this week.. things have been too crazy. By the time I'm done with work AND working out, it's time to make my lunch for the next day and go to bed. I haven't even had a chance to update my resume or apply for any jobs, which is sucky.. but I know this will all pass soon, I'm going away for 5-6 days in May, and then after my mom leaves after the long weekend things will calm down a LOT!

I'll try and check in more often.. I must run... literally.. take care, it's almost summer!! :)

-Aimee

Good to see you, Aimee. Have you thought any more about temp work, by chance? I think we'd talked about that a few threads back, but I don't know for sure anymore. :dizzy:

Here's a picture of the pond along with a picture of a robin who fought his reflection in our car bumper for almost an hour yesterday. I have a short movie clip of him flapping against the chrome, but no way to post it here. I might post it at my website, though.

Oh Kimberley it turned out beautiful!!! And what is up with that crazy bird?

I have to remember to watch my sodium intake. I had some sauerkraut last night at dinner, and this morning I am up 2 lbs! Tonight it's straight protein and veg--chicken and broccoli!!

My abs are sore from doing 100 sit ups on an exercise ball yesterday! My friend and I challenge each other every time we work out together to do four sets of 25, then rest in between. It will make a difference one day soon!

Sounds painful! I have so slacked on the exercise. I need to just bite the bullet and do it. We walk, but not regularly, and I don't do strength training (though the gardening I've been doing lately has certainly qualified for that).

Robins and cardinals are both really territorial during mating season. They'll attack their reflections for hours on end! I got a couple shots of a bird unusual for our suburban neigborhood...A pileated woodpecker. They're huge birds with bodies about 15" long! Here's a couple shots of her, plus two of the flowers in front of our house:

You've been a busy gal! The flowers are beauties! And that bird is really strange looking!

Good morning!! I hope everyone is doing well.

Today will be my fifth day in a row to go to the gym! I will be concentrating mostly on cardio today. Will do 20 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the punching bag, 10 minutes of rebounding, 100 crunches and 5 minutes of stretching. The trainer remarked yesterday how she can already see a change in my body. I can too! I am getting more of a waist now! I actually like the way my body is shaped for the most part--with the exception of my big belly!

Wow, good for you! Our Heart Walk is today and I am trying to get psyched. LOL My legs are sore this morning, but the kinks will work out okay once I get going. We saw several of our walking buddies at the coffee shop last night and everyone seems to be looking forward to it. :)

Yesterday evening, I saw yet another first for us in our yard. This is a rose-breasted grosbeak. :) And next to him is one you should be familiar with, a northern cardinal.

I didn't realize you were such a birdy girl, Kimberley!! Birds are pretty cool to watch....

Kimberley--as per usual, I am jealous of your superior photography skills ;) And that pond looks awesome! Hope no more little creatures disturb it :devil:

Jen--congrats on going to the gym so often...you're doing so great!

We started a new contest at TOPS last night. We each made a yarn octopus with 8 braided legs. For the next 8 weeks, anyone who gains weight has to cut off a leg that week :o The people with the most legs remaining after 8 weeks win! I like these little contests--they help me a bit with motivation. I like my little purple octopus and don't want to se ehim get hurt! :p

I stopped at both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's for the first time this week. I was somewhat disappointed in both after having heard such rave reviews on here and from people at work. I suppose my expectations were a bit high. I did find a new hummus at Whole Foods, though, where oil was the last ingredient listed instead of the second. It sounded good--it was tomato basil flavor. The expiration date on the container was May 15. So, I grabbed it out of my fridge 2 days ago (May 3) and grabbed some rice crackers to eat with it. I peeled off the plastic safety seal and opened the lid to find--mold! For less than 3 bucks, I wasn't about to search for the receipt and go back to the store for an exchange or refund, but it was quite the disappointment. I threw the entire container away :mad:

I'm officially back up into the 280s, even according to the TOPS scale, which is usually slightly lower than my home scale. I haven't been drinking enough water lately, have been eatin more sodium and crap in general, and haven't so much as walked further than from my computer to my couch for exercise :dizzy: At this rate, it certainly shouldn't take much of a drastic change to see an improvement--I can only get better from here, right? :^:

Hey Jill: Your challenge at TOPS is very interesting! I know your octo will still have all of its legs by the end of the challenge!!

I took it easy at the gym today--30 minutes on the treadmill and stretching. I'm still hurting from all the activity this past week. This is my sixth day in a row! I'm taking tomorrow and Sunday off, I think--unless I go just for cardio. My muscles need to heal!

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 :dizzy: 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 :p

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! :D

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!! :carrot:

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! :dizzy:

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!

Good morning (just barely). Just wanted to say hey. Howie and I ate well yesterday, plus we finally went grocery shopping and stocked back up on good foods. Have a good time in Winnipeg, Aimee. :)

Where aaaaaare youuuuu? :D Come out, come out, wherever you are!

hey where'd everybody go!?!?!

I know I'VE been busy so what's your excuse?!

Nothing new to talk about really. We have our first camping trip of the year coming up this Friday-Monday. If it really does stop raining like it's supposed to then it should be fun. We are going to my great aunt's 300 acre farm on the WI/IL/IA boarder. It's just beautiful there. It's only about 20 mins away from Galena, IL which is where the movie 'Fried Green Tomatoes' was filmed. It's a very quaint overly expensive tourist town.

weight is the same but we finally got the elliptical maching apart, down the basement, and put back together. food is also still the same. mothing too exciting. just nearing my TOM so I crave Cheese and Red Vine brand licorice like a mad woman!!!

talk to you soon... (maybe?!)

HI ladies:

I got a case of the busies as well....but am back now!

Alan and I went to a luau on Saturday night, complete with roast pork, fried rice, pineapple upside down cake and of course, Blue hawaiians!! Needless to say, my weight was up a bit! But this morning it is back down to where it was. I am hoping I can break 300 in the next two weeks! I just have to stick to the plan!

Jill: sometimes, ya just gotta train men! LOL....actually, Alan is pretty good about doing what needs to be done if he sees it. But then again, he's about 30 years older than your Jeff, so he's got a little experience! sometimes, ya just gotta spell it out for them what you expect.

Whew, I thought you'd all jumped off the end of the planet! ;)

Jill, did Jeff grow up in a home where mom handled pretty much all of the housework and such? If so, he might just be making assumptions about how domestic life should be and -- like Jen said -- need a little training. When Howie and I went through premarital counseling, our pastor said we should talk about the little expectations like "who takes out the trash?" as well as the big ones like "do we want kids?". The biggest arguments can come from the piddliest things, you know?

There's actually sunshine outside right now! :sunny: Oh, my gosh is that ever a welcome sight. Okay, soon as I typed that, it clouded over again. But for one brief, shining moment, there was the hope of sunnier days. ;)


Okay, new day and all -- YES. I am logging my food again after slacking for a few weeks. I am drinking my water. And I am *not* eating out of boredom and for comfort.

Yesterday I was sedentary with the exception of some painful trips up and down the basement stairs to do laundry, and I self-medicated with munching. You know the type: not really hungry, but bummed out and bored.

Not today! I'm handling this one day at a time again and today I am doing well.


P.S. Sun's out again! Hope I don't jinx it. ;)

I am back from Winnipeg, and I'm so tired it hurts. Just wanted to let yah'll know I'm alive! I'll be back to post another day...

-Aimee

Glad to have you back, Aimee!

Yesterday was a short day--I only work 8.5 hours at job #1 and about a half hour on job #2 stuff. Since it was my shortest day in quite a while, I stopped at the store on my way home. Jeff and I are flying to CT tomorrow night, but we needed just a few groceries to last us through the week. Darn--speaking of which, I just now realize I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer to thaw this morning. Hmm...guess we can have turkey burgers instead, since I can cook those straight from freezer to stove top.

I'm excited to go to CT, even if only for 3 days (we come back Sunday night). Friday, Jeff and I are going out to dinner with one of my friends from high school whom I still keep in touch with through AIM. If not for instant messaging, I probably wouldn't still be in touch with anyone from high school!

Then on Saturday night, the reason we're all going up there, we're having my sister's wedding reception party thingy. This is her second marriage, and we have a TON of family in CT, so we're having a party up there this weekend so they all wouldn't have to travel down to Va Beach last month for the actual wedding. Any excuse for a big family party is a good one, if you ask me!

Good to see you back, Aimee! :Carrot:

It sounds like a really fun weekend for you, Jill. That's cool - celebrations abound. :)

I'm happy because I was 300 under calorie yesterday. What a change from the way things have been. Sarah's eloquent piece on motivation has really helped.

Hi y'all....

Kimberley, I just read your blog entry--very very inspiring! :) If there's one thing I have finally figured it out, it's this.... PLAN your WORK, and WORK your PLAN....

Aimee: Glad you are back!!

Jill: Have fun in CT! I like short trips like that where you can reconnect with folks.

Went to the gynecologist today for another follow-up pap test. She told me if things look good this time, I won't need to come back until my annual exam in October. Here's hoping!!