[Cheryl120]

Happy Monday Morning!

Erin...I get the "Light and Tasty" magazine and yearly cookbook. Cook out of it all the time and the hubby doesn't even know he is eating light. Then when he is having an extra helping, I know it won't be as bad as having a full calorie meal. Plus I shop at Sams Club for my meat, come home and rewrap it into 4 servings per bag for our family. No seconds on meat and usually no seconds on anything else except for fruit/salad/veggies. And we all know that most kids don't want to eat those things.
My son use to have eye problems also, he started wearing eye goggles when he went swimming. You might try that, since chlorine burns.

Tricia...I had a good laugh at your daughters expense. I can just picture you and her running, hitting her on the head with the notebook and the poor babys hair is on fire. When I met my future in-laws, my hubby wanted me to cook dinner for them at their house, so I did. No one told me that their gas oven was the kind that you had to lite the pilot to use the oven. Well I just set it for 350, had stuff cooking on top and open the oven to put the casserole in and POOF! DH and the in-laws started laughing until they realized that I had singed off my eye brows and the front part of my hair. Back then, the hair style was really, really short and after this fiasco, the front of my hair was stubs! LOL. At least it grew back before the wedding.
Congrats and dropping 3 pounds. Guess we know who the fairy fat mother was visiting.

Ryanmi...I have to take fire safty every year and we do fire drills every three months in our home. Stop, drop and roll I know, also beat the belly as fast as you can. The shirt is in the trash.

Well, gang hope you have a great day. I'm off to air out my room and get a few more kids made before I have to go to town for meetings with the FD's. Get back this afternoon, and we are mowing.

Cheryl

[Louie]

Good Morning

Didn't make it back on the computer yesterday.. I spent 6 hours at the college with my study partner doing some final prep and then it was off to a Father's Day BBQ... and salads..yum yum !!

Tricia ~ 3 lbs.. you go girl !! Great first week. Cars.. haven't seen it, but I love all of those new cartoons.. so will have to put this one on my list of must see's.

Ryanmi ~ welcome to the world of tickers !! You will figure them out, although I have to admit that everytime I have had one it has taken me awhile to figure out what number goes where etc. New patio furniture.. how nice !! I am sure will get to enjoy lots of sunny days sitting outside on the deck

ELEM ~ welcome home and yahoo on your downward scale movement !!!

Cheryl ~ Thanks for the welcoming. Glad that you enjoyed the car show and $200.00 whoohooo that was a nice surprise. I think I may have some of those in my future as my hubby is currently restoring a '64 Impala.

RRVMMM ~ Thanks for the welcoming. Glad that your jury duty is finished. I once served jury duty and they certainly aren't all that fun !!

Meowee ~ Hope all is well with you and that you are still enjoying some nice weather. We have blue skies on the west coast today.. but that could change quickly

AndrewsMum ~ hope all is well. Congrats on the smaller size....whoo hooo !!!

Michelle ~ Hope you had a wonderful weekend !!

TeaHoney ~ nice to meet you. We all go through slumps, but remember we are here if you need to talk

Phew... did I get everyone ?!?!? I hope so !! If not to those of you I may have missed.

Well ladies I best get a move on. Have a great day and TTYS

[meowee]

Hi Gang . . . things are certainly picking up in here again . . . although there is still no sign of Tina or Lois.

Nova Scotia is having another gorgeous, sunny day. It's already up to 28C (82-83F) but there is a lovely breeze to keep the humidity at bay although the dehumidifier did turn itself on about an hour ago, for the first time this year, so you know it will be getting worse, soon.

Got a kick out of the fire stories, Cheryl and Tricia. Reminded me of when Mouse was a kitten (that's the big hairy grey cat) and he got his tail in a candle. After he hissed at me because I hit him to put out the flames, he started to wash himself and then, of course, he tastes burned fur and gives me more hisses and dirty looks as though it was all my fault. It was hours before he forgave me . . . cats carry grudges.

Erin . . . congratulations on the loss. Bet the hubby will come on board soon, as he listens to more and more people giving you compliments, he'll definitely want to get in on the act.

Cheryl . . . glad the weekend was mostly good. I don't know how you do it, girl. I know I would never have the patience to foster. It's a good thing we have dedicated, good-hearted people like you in the world. Hope everything cleans up OK. I like your cooking philosophy . . . what they don't know won't hurt them and planning for no leftovers is a very wise move.

Ryanmi . . . good going . . . you've done great with the ticker and you'll soon have it moving eastward on a regular basis.

Robbin . . . glad the Jury Duty is over and you can get back in sync with the rest of your life. Don't you worry, you'll have the scale moving downward again soon. Actually a week long, individual goal sounds pretty good. I might just try to do some kind of exercise every day for a week. Will think about it and let you know.

Tricia . . . congratulations, chickie . . . you are definitely heading in the right direction. Never you fear, we all have those "oh bad me" moments. Now, if we can just get you to stop beating up your kids . . . everything will really be great.

Louie . . . Good going at the BBQ, girl. All those great 'fatty-meat' smells are sooooo hard to resist.

Well I'd better get going on some errands. We seem to have lost the sun while I've been typing and the breeze is heading for stormy levels. Amazing how fast things can change around here.

Have a great day, gang. Keep moving and shaking and heading in the downward direction. See you soon . . .

[LadyLai]

WOOO HOOOooooo! I made it! You guys what a week! My internet connection...well let's say...I had NONE, NADDA...ZILCH!! Can't explain what happened to it because I'm not a whiz at the whole thing. My step-son (who is in Hong Kong) set this up for me when I got it last Christmas...well some settings went wonky and it took my younger step-son to fix it. AND THAT TOOK SOME TIME! If this were a "real" meeting room I'd be running around hugging you all! I can't believe how much I depend on you all to get through my days...I missed you all so much!

I just scanned back a few pages...it's really too much for me to catch up on...so ladies may I pick up from here?

I gotta say Erin, sorry to hear of your grandfathers passing.

Welcome to the newbies! I look forward to getting to know you better!

Well, beleive it or not I gotta jet already. Gotta stick to the routine this week real close. Last week was a bust! NO scale victories to report. I'll be back later...I promise and hope! **fingers crossed**

~Tina

[meowee]

Oh wow . . . Tina . . . sooooo glaaaaad to see you. Thank goodness it was only a computer meltdown . . . We were really worried. Welcome back. Here's another just because.

[Michelle]

WOW, lots going on here! My DH had taken today off because he has a meeting this afternoon, so he asked me to go out to breakfast, and it was delicious! It's sunny and nice here today, but still cool and I love it!

TINA -- Girlie, I am SO GLAD to see you back here again! I'm very sorry to hear that you were having internet problems, but I'm glad that was the reason to keep you away and not something very serious! I missed you SO much!

CHERYL -- I'm so sorry for all the problems you are having with your FD! How long will she be with you? That would be a very stressful situation on top of everything else! I hope your day goes much better today.

ROBBIN -- Yes I'm under my 100 pound mark finally, but I keep going back and forth with the same few pounds. I really need to get myself in gear again! Please do post a recent pic of you -- PLEASE!

LOUIE -- I did have a good weekend, and the taco dinner I cooked yesterday for Fathers Day was really good!

[RRVMMM]

Hey girls just thought I would pop in and drop off some food facts.

When you are eating a piece of fruit, you are eating a swollen ovary! Yes, that's right...fruit comes from a flowering plant which contains an ovary which will become the fruit!


After cats eat, they always immediately bathe themselves. This is because their instinct tells them to get the food scent off of them so that predators will not smell the food and come after them

The average American visits a fast food restaurant six times a month

Elephants eat up to 500 lbs of food a day

In a typical restaurant, customers receive 27 cents worth of food for each dollar they spend

1 out of 3 of all cows in the US used for food purposes (beef) are used by the McDonald's Corp.

[LadyLai]

Linda, thanks for the welcome back hug! It's good to be back!

Michelle, thanks aswell. I missed you too! I love the new AV by the way. Very beautiful picture...magnafique!

Robbin, very cool and disturbing food facts all the same. The McDonalds beef one really amazed me. Every day, gazillion times a day they are serving such high caloric, high in fat food and practically giving it away. When I switched my McDonalds meal from the usual McChicken Meal to the Oriental salad and low fat dressing the price jumped up about five bucks. It costs to eat healthy and that's just discusting!

Chat later gators! Hope you are all having a great day!
Tina

[Cheryl120]

WHOOHOO! Tina, it is so nice to see your happy face. Big hug to you. Sorry you had computer problems. Was driving you nuts, huh!! I swear there are days I would like to shoot mine if I had a gun. Problem is, I probably shoot the monitor and not the computer.

Linda...YES, cats hold big grudges. When we go on vacation for 2 weeks, my friend comes over every couple of days to feed, give a little love and empty Princess waste tray. When we get home, she totally ignores my hubby. He's the only person she gives the time of day too. It takes about a week before he is back in her good graces.

Louie...My hubby wanted to put the $200 towards our car. We are currently restoring a 57 Chevy convertible. I told him no way! Took my cut.

Well, I never had time to exercise or weigh myself today. Will try to get back to my routine tomorrow. Have a good one.

Cheryl

[ryanmi72]

Evening All...

Well, I have just returned from my manicure/pedicure, and I am now a refreshed woman! Haahaa, at least my nails and toes look better than they did...

Well, Tina, welcome back!!! If you read through the posts, you'll see that you were missed pretty much everyday! Glad nothing serious happened, and that you're back among us!

Robbin, I am in with you on the 15 min walking goal...especially now that the weather is hot and humid- I need to be outside getting short amounts of exercise--asthma/allergies prevent me from being out much longer as it heats up, but the 15 min walking at least once a day sounds like a plan! Today, I went and checked out the new "Clocktower" on campus...which is more like a clock-post...not quite what I had imagined or thought, but still a nice enhancement all the same. It's more like an old fashioned street clock, with a nice plaza around it. Hmmmm...not the tower I thought, but still very pretty.

Erin- Very cool that you are getting the support from the family! I think Cheryl's idea is excellent-if hubby doesn't know better, that in itself helps you both out!

Linda and Cheryl...Ok, here's my fire story (since I poked fun w/the "Stop, Drop, and Roll")...years ago, I was turning on the stovetop (gas stove) and my cat Cuervo was trying to jump on the stove at the same time. I kept pushing him down and trying to turn on the burner at the same time, and just as the gas "poofed' out of the burner, Cuervo's face hit the flames...he took off running and meowing like never before around my apartment...I couldn't catch him, and when I did, I was relieved to learn that his face was fine, but his whiskers had taken the brunt of the action! They were all mangled and curled up and stragly, like a cartoon character that had just been in a fight...it took forever for them to grow out, and in that time, I think he lost some sense of where he can and can't fit, because to this day, he still gets stuck places he has no business trying to get to!

Michelle, breakfast out sounds lovely-I can't remember the last time I went out for breakfast! Hmmm...maybe I'll have to do that soon...it's always so much better when someone else cooks it-regardless of what it is!

Tricia- Congrats on your 3lb loss! Sounds like you are off to a great start! And, I had to laugh at your story-leave it to the man to say the right thing at the right time!

Louie, the patio furniture is very nice...now if I could do something about the humidity and hot weather, I'd be set! I just bought my condo in December, so I figured since I have a nice balcony now, I'd spring for some nice chairs that would last longer than one season!

I was thinking, elaborating on Robbin's idea of some sort of challenge-here's what I think: We are all so busy and running in a million directions, wouldn't it be nice if, in addition to whatever other challenges we do, we each challenged ourselves to doing at least one nice/good thing for ourselves each day? Whether it's a walk, or a few minutes of quiet time with a book, or in my case, manicure/pedicure...the sky's the limit! Be creative and do a little something for yourself- I think we could all do this with little or no pressure...what do you all think?

[AndrewsMum]

hi gals,

tricia oh my gosh i was laughing out loud at the mental picture of your poor daughter. poor thing glad shes ok and it wasnt more serious but the way u told it was sooo funny!

tina, yay you're back! i thought u had deserted us now that you're soooo skinny!!!

well ladies i have bad scale news. i finally gave in and weighed, havnt done that for a while. i really didnt think i had been that bad while i was awol but iv done a **** of a lot more damage than i thought, yeah iv eaten badly and done absolutly no exercise but the rate at which weight goes on when its so hard to take it off is just ridiculous. but im not gonna let it get me down, iv done too much of that already. i know wot i need to do, i gotta get off my big butt and work out i need to check in here everyday and have u gals motivate me, i cant do this on my own

[ELEM-PGF]

Moning ladies!!!! Another hot sweaty day here in alabama, can't seem to pay someone for rain around here! The grass is crunchy we are so dry!! Anyway, i know about another month or two i will probably be whining because it is so wet. OH well!! I got back on the eliiptical this morning and did my 2 miles in 13 min. So i think now i am going to just do 15 min and seen how far i can get, and then work on increasing the time. I need to get back on watp too but that takes a little longer than the time i have wanted to give lately. Getting new bedroom furniture this weekend so i am cleaning out drawers and will end up re-arranging the whole house before all is said and done! So i am counting some of the excess activity as exercise too!!

Liza Soooo glad to see you here again!!!!! I love the attitude you have right now I want to say don't worry about the gain but i know how i would feel, just try to stay focused on the future and how you are going to be so much better 6 mos from now! Hang in there and look forward to seeing you around here more often! Let us help you through it, it really does make a huge difference!

Tina YEAH!! not that you had computer problems but that you are back. I am a pro at figuring worst case scenario and i am so glad that your absence was only computer related!! Keep trucking along and that scale will move. I seem to be hitting another 10 pound plateau so i am with you girl, we will find the fairy fat mother and cage her if we have to!!!! Will she still work if we cut her in half? Just kidding, glad to see you back!

Michelle Bfast with hubby sounds really nice!! What a grown up thing to do! I miss opportunities for alone time with hubby like that. Hope you are doing well and keep up with the exercise and the soreness will fade!
Robbin Okay i love fruit and know that i have that whole ovary image in mind not sure how i feel about it anymore!! great food facts! Love it! I like the mini-challenge idea but have to ponder more on what. Ryanmi's idea was good to, we are never nice to ourselves enough!

Cheryl I am trying to get Amelia to wear her goggles but she jsut doesn't want to do it. She says she can't see with them on. We'll see what happens by the end of the week. I just started the SAM's meat thing. I get a different kind of meat every other week and then repackage it like you said. I cook healthy here by hubby eats out a lot, he works 4-midnight and likes to get out of building for meals, so he makes bad choices there. I am trying to be patient with him but i know i can't push it on him. I just worry so much and hate seeing him feel so bad!

Louie What classes are you taking? Six hours of studying makes me cross eyed just thinking about it!!! You sound like a dedicated student! I was such a muncher when i studied in grad school, bad habit!

Tricia I am still laughing over the hair fire story, too funny!!! Glad it was minor in the big scheme of things! I know what you mean about the 8 year old being hormonal i have wondered if my 6 year old was!!!

Linda We are all about the hot and humid right now! I loved the cat tail fire story, not for the cat but for the laugh! I know what you mean about the looks animals can give you that seem to have such human expression! I know "they" say pets don't have emotions but they have never lived around some of my animals!!

Well girlies gotta run, hope ya'll have a great day and keep on do what you do! Erin

[RRVMMM]

Good Morning Girls. Hope everyone is doing well. I know the food facts weren’t ones that make you want to eat but I thought maybe we could learn something from them. LOL sorry if they were disturbing to anyone.

Well yesterday afternoon turned out pretty interesting. At 3 my daughter called me to say that my 5 year old (wow not anymore he is 6 today) was hurt. I rushed home to a little one with a broken nose. Tina, make sure your daughter never gets the bright idea to have the water sprinkler spraying the trampoline while she jumps on it, water makes it slippery. They had the sprinkler going and he was jumping slipped and hit his face on the frame.

I have had some good chuckles over everyone’s fire stories. However I am happy to report I do not have one to share. Actually that is probably one of the only “accidents” we have never experienced in our house.

Well I better get going, I will be back later for personals.

[meowee]

Good Morning everybody . . . not too much sun today . . . lots of humidity, though . . . oh well, I guess we do have to have Summer.

Michelle . . . breakfast date with hubby sounds wonderful. I'm a breakfast lover, but it is so much nicer to have someone else make it.

Robbin . . . interesting food facts, especially the McD's use of beef . . . and thanks for reminding me that I've been slacking off with my FFF posting ever since I had the bad round of migraines. Will try to get back in the swing.

Tina . . . oh wow, do I ever agree with you about the high cost of eating better. As far as I'm concerned there is no excuse for the better stuff always being the more expensive stuff. The law of 'Supply and Demand' can only be stretched so far.

As a fat diabetic, one of my pet peeves is the fact that when manufacturers decide to make a 'reduced fat' product, they tend to throw in more sugar . . . when they decide to make a 'reduced sugar' product, they throw in extra fat. Ice cream is my favourite example . . . just read the cartons . . . I've yet to find one that is 'reduced fat' AND 'reduced sugar'.

Cheryl . . . wow, ain't it the truth . . . you really don't know what it's like to be snubbed until you live with a cat.

Ryanmi . . . another great little cat/fire story. Your idea about scheduling "me" time every day is a great one, too.

Liza . . . aww, gee, girl, you are so right . . . it always seems so much easier to gain weight than it is to lose it . . . but you are also right about the fact that coming here to talk on a regular basis definitely helps . . . together we can do it. YAY, us!!!!

Erin . . . new furniture is such a great mood lifter, enjoy it. You are so right about not bugging your husband, everybody has to make the decision for themselves, just keep leading by example (and being a little sneaky about what he gets to eat at home is also a step in the right direction).

Since Robbin did some recent Food Facts, I thought I'd do some Fascinating Feline Facts for my FFF today . . .

. . . Cats are born with 'attitude' . . . Cat's know how you feel, they don't care, but they do know . . . Cats don't come when they're called; in fact, they have unlisted numbers . . . Dogs will love you unconditionally; cats will ignore you, unconditionally . . . Dogs have owners; cats have staff . . . The cat is always the one in charge.

Have a good day everybody . . . Keep moving and shaking and heading in that great downward direction. see you soon.

[meowee]

Oh, Robbin . . . you sneaked in there while I was composing my FFF's. How terrible about your son's broken nose . . . he will definitely remember turning six. Amazing how they just have to learn things 'the hard way' sometimes.