We are a group of non-traditional lifestyle individuals. We are partnered, single, widowed, Pagan, Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Muslim, gay, bi-sexual, bi-colored and straight. We bask in our diversity and unite in the same goal of losing weight. If you are relatively open-minded and accepting of ALL walks of life, please join us.

Hey girls, hope all are well and enjoyed the holiday yesterday.

I am trying to get psyched up about starting Opti Fast on Saturday...just days away now. I saw myself on a videotape at my sister's house, and boy am I FAT! I have such a capacity to deceive myself about that -- I think that's part of the reason I gained so much weight. Wow. So that's good motivation, to have seen that so close to the start date. My friends and I are going out Friday night for my Last Meal . It turns out one of my friends has a friend who lost 70 lbs. on Opti Fast a few years ago, so that's encouraging. I knew that woman lost a lot of weight, but I didn't realize it was on this program.

I haven't updated you all about that guy I met...I have met him in person after all, twice. Monday night was the second time. Wow, I really like him so much. It's weird and scary -- but in a good way, LOL. I've done a lot of thinking about him, and the issues in both of our lives, and so forth, and I've come out with a few definitive ideas (well, as definitive as anything in life is). For one thing, I am in a transitional period in my life right now. Not only am I changing my own life, my daughter is just weeks away from turning 18 and just months away from graduating high school, so life is changing altogether. I am getting divorced, I am finishing my bachelor's degree, and I am applying to grad schools. Because of all this transition, I need to be really, really focused on the few things that matter. They are, in order of importance: religion (being more religious in practice especially, but also strengthening belief); finishing undergrad and getting into grad school; losing a significant amount of weight (that one might actually have been #2 instead of #3, but school wins out b/c it needs to be done whether I'm thin or fat); and working on achieving a healthy and meaningful relationship with this guy. I didn't put anything on the list relating to my daughter b/c even though her issues are important to me, they are hers at this point, not mine. She needs to strive to set and achieve goals -- I can't do it for her. I did put the guy on the list for two reasons: I like him so much and I just have this deep-down conviction that we were sort of meant to be together, we have that much in common; and b/c ultimately I think I should re-marry, for practical reasons and also b/c I would just like to know what it's like to be married to someone you're truly best friends with.

OK, now all that is pretty personal, and you guys had better not leave my message just hanging out there like sometimes happens. Makes me feel so exposed...

Hope all are well. Talk to you soon.

Oh Ruthie! So you really like him???? That's wonderful. I think that I'll make a list today too. It's very healthy to prioritize your life once and awhile, because it's too easy to get distracted and over-involved with the lives of others. I've been dis-associating my life from a friend over the past few months, our lives had simply become too entangled. Losing weight for me was the beginning of change, like I had to focus on the physical before the emotional.

Have a wonderful feast in a few days!

I hope everyone survived Christmas safely, and had a good day. We walked over to my sister's for dinnner, and it snowed steadily until we left a few hours later, the children were thrilled with the snow, a green christmas isn't much fun if you're not used to it... Today they'll have a great time playing in it!

Must go deliver my papers, at least they don't have to be done until 9am on holidays.

L

Good Morning!

The day after Christmas! How's everyone feeling? I'm still feeling "tender-bellied" from the virus so I'm still not that interested in food so that wasn't an issue for me this year.

Ruthie, you must be on pins and needles waiting for Saturday. Being a cook, I'd love to know what your last meal is going to be!
And I know we all want to hear about the new man in your life. What common issues or interests brought you together? I loved what you said about wanting to be with a man you're truly best friends with. I believe there are no accidents and you two have hooked up for a reason. So what do you think your "mission" might be with this person? Details, Ruthie, details!

Lamorgan, your white christmas sounds wonderful! Still green here--I'm longing for snow! How did your witchy beer gift go over? That was perfect--don't you love finding things like that? It's like a gift twice-over!

I love the holidays--but what I don't like is how after the 25th it's done and over. All the build-up to have it slam shut. It's disorienting and slightly depressing for me. Nothing shattering, just a bit of a downer.

It's over. Thank the gods....it's over. I even want to take my tree down today, but hubby defiantly says "NO!" I am just not in the Christmas mood this year. It seems so artificial and materialistic and has really put me in a "why bother" mood. Aside from visiting my aunt & uncle on Christmas day, we have no relatives here, no visitors drop by...it just isn't Christmas like I've known all those years back home.

I have to work tomorrow and Friday, and I'm really not liking that either. We normally have 10 days off...Christmas eve through to New Year's Day. This year, with the new owners, we have work those two days. Pointless, really...most of the companies we deal with close down for the whole time. What are we going to do at work with silent phones, silent shipping/receiving departments? I suppose it'll be a two-day "get reorganized" deal. Yay.

Ruthie...the countdown is on! Where are you going for the Last Supper? We expect you to post regularly once you start this program, you know. We want to support you and make sure you're doing okay, and I think we're all interested in the whole process. So, your mystery guy has turned out to be all you'd hoped? That's fantastic! Sometimes the right guy comes along when you least expect him....glad you recognize that he's the right one! I really, really hope this works out between the two of you. You deserve that kind of happiness.

Lamorgan, we had just a powder covering of snow late yesterday evening, but it was gone within a couple of hours. There are some very fine flurries out there this morning, but doesn't look like it will amount to anything. Amazing, how close we can be, and even to Buffalo where they're buried under three feet of snow.

Eydie, hope you feel better soon. I know just what you mean about Christmas slamming shut. Usually I feel the same way, but this year I want to slam the door before it gets a chance to close on me!

Amyjo, wow...your SIL is taking a huge step! If she is really committed and will follow the guidelines, she will be successful. Maybe you could suggest to her that she investigate Carnie Wilson and her story with gastric bypass surgery. A little motivation might assist her in her journey. A news link is below on Carnie Wilson.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/commu...son010115.html

Flower, how is Grif doing? When do his stitches come out? I'm looking forward to January and a clean start, too, in many areas of my life. Diet is right up there at the top, with financial organization.

Tea time! Have a great day everyone!

I only have a few seconds but wanted to say hi!!!!

Ruthie- you sound so put together. GOOD FOR YOU!!! And thanks for starting the new thread!

HI Lamorgan, Eydie and Wildfire! I am so happy the "holiday" is over. Time to get on with the important stuff. I have an organization bug that needs to be satisfied. I am wanting to go thru closets ect...

Grif got the flu from a cousin. He was not a happy camper yesterday. The stitches are dissolvable, gotta scrub them out. Yucky!!! I emailed the mgr at the RIO today. I am trying to think happy thoughts. Chris says he is gonna get his GED and then apply for a prision guard up in ELY NV. His best friend is up in ELY and the prision is hiring. He wants me to be able to make my jewelry and stay home with the kids. So, who knows if it will happen but it sure is nice to hear him modivated. There will be a power plant up there in a few years too that would earn him more money too. I want to move to a small town. It is just a 3.5 hour drive to Vegas. Well, gotta go check on my sleeping monster. I need to stick the fudge in the freezer too. No more for this week!!! I am gonna get a tummy ache! ~flower

Sounds like everyone survived Christmas.... This has to be really quick because I have a lot of cleaning to do today. Holiday's were hectic as normal, DH was grouchie because we had to go to my Mothers Christmas afternoon. Same ole same ole here, at least one sibling gets their nose out of joint about something. My brother and his wife left for some reason or another who know, it really stinks! But over all it was pretty peaceful. Didn't eat too much took most of my baked stuff to my moms and left it there. I have one tin of chocolate/oatmeal and one tin of sugar cookies and the kids stocking candy and that is it. Now all I have to do is get through our annual New Years Party and I will be a happy camper.

Ruthie ~ sounds like you have your ball rolling, I am so happy for you. I am with you about finding a best friend to marry, I see my mother at 63 un-happy and alone and has been that way most of my life. I don't think you have someone to be happy, I am not one of those people but I sure think it is nice to have someone special to spend your down time with and who appreciates you for who you are. You can be alone and not be lonely and you can be with someone and be very lonely- but when your with the right someone your never alone or lonely! What are your having to eat on Friday? Keep us up to date.

Wildfire ~ My SIL has done several years worth of research on the net and with the Dr's. She is set in stone that she is going to do this right. She knows the side effects and the risks but right now her risks are higher not having the surgery. There was a long time I don't think she cared if she lived or died and I think it has finally sunk in that she wants to stick around and watch her daughter grow up instead of having us raise her. Her husband was killed in a truck crash 9 or 10 years ago and she has just been in limbo for about that long, it is really sad.

Flower ~ Sorry about Grif being sick on top of everything else. I hope he feels better soon. How was the holiday to spite? Hope everything goes well with Chris and his plans. I have several friends that are in Law Enforcement... it is a good profession.

Eydie ~ You feeling better? I know the feeling about the after holiday blues... I dread it coming but once it is over it didn't last long enough.

Lam ~ you could send some of that white this way. It is so cold here but the possibility of snow is nil . At least some of us had a white Christmas.

Hope everyone is recovering well I have to run! I have a sick hubby and a sick cat so I have double duty today.

Hugs,
Amy

A quiet day here today, eldest son is low with a flu-thing, hubby had it yesterday, who's next???

Luckily we have our Yule-feast on Christmas Eve, so everyone felt well that night. We have Christmas-day dinner with my sister around the corner, but John came home early and slept.

We had a wonderful snowfall this morning too, but it is all calm outside now. Maybe 3 inches altogether. Making soup from the ham-bone, appetites are very tender here.

I've probably repeated what I wrote earlier...

Flower; what a nasty thing to happen, for Grif to get the flu when the poor guy has stitches. How is the healing? Small towns are kind of nice, but really hard to fit into at times. My kids manage better than I do, and I find that city people are much, much friendlier then country-born people. To strangers, I mean. We city-born, country-living transplants are very friendly though!

Wildfire; I know how you feel. I'm itching to rip it all down... I'm going to hold out till New Years, only for the kids though. I'm enjoying our tree, not dropping many needles... The kids are coming down from various sugar highs, I'd like to take the entire mass of candy and toss it.


Eydie; The beer went over so well! John couldn't believe the label. I hope it tastes ok. Lol. He feels up to a beer today, and put it in the fridge to cool. He'll save the bottle and put it in his workshop after, with all the beer bottles he brought back from BC. (Odd thing to collect, I admit.)

Amyjo; my childhood christmas memories are filled with bickering adults. Probably why I have difficulty this time of year, and why I am go into a kind of control-freak mode when it comes to my kids and holidays. I get over-determined that their memories won't be like mine. No doubt they'll have syndromes of their own, caused by their contolling mother. Lol.

To anyone else I didn't respond to personally, have a wonderful day and evening. We are watching back-to-back Star Trek episodes.

L

Hi again. Lamorgan-Chris spent several years growing up in Ely so it is home to him. He has lots of friends there still and his sister is moving back in a few months after a year away in another small town. I don't fit in whereever I live so no matter. But I am trying not to think too much into it cause my life changes it's path a million times before it settles for something!

I am trying to not be anxious waiting for the Rio to reply to my email. I don't think it is good knews or I would have heard by now...but I AM TRYING TO REMAIN OPPTIMISTIC.

I braved the mall today. The boys money was itching to be spent. I got myself a tinkerbell sweatshirt that says: TINK believe in the magic. Very cute. 50% off.

Well...I am so jealous of snow too. But it was a beautiful day here in the desert. Bright clear skies, little pollution. You could touch all the mountains. Not too cold, a sweatshirt did nicely. Who can complain about that!
I have awful heartburn. The chocolate fudge is catching up to me! Actually I didn't have any today, I just had a sliver of a brownie cheesecake. I of course haven't had heartburn since I was pregnant and I don't have tums in the house anymore. Yuck!

Well, I think I am going to make some soup. Chat again soon. audri

Hey all!

Thought I would pop in and wish you all Happy Holidays: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Solstice, Happy Ramadan and Merry Kwanzaa! I just finished my first semester of grad school with a 4.0 so I am really sorry not to have been around, but I have been exceedingly busy.

Hope you are all well and that I can hop back into the group!

Linds

Hey Linds! GREAT to see you again! And a big congrats on that 4.0! No wonder you haven't been around, pulling that one off! Don't be silly, asking if you can hop back in....if it weren't for you starting our little alternative group, I'd still be wandering the board trying to fit in somewhere. I hope you're going to drop back in and tell us how life is treating you in general.

I am really struggling with having to get up for work in the morning. I'm still on "time off" time. Better get to bed.

Cold out there this morning, minus 10 when I went out at 5:30. (celcius) Nothing new to talk about... cleaned out the fridge last night, I think I'm going to freeze all the leftover sweets to get them out of the kitchen. Today I need to finish the soup, just made the broth yesterday, and some sort of vegetarian casserole. I'm craving vegetables.

Last night I almost caved in and ordered Chinese food, but thought long and hard about how I'd feel only moments after that kind of binge. Our little Chinese food restaurant is not a good one, using lots of msg and it's really not yummy. I just wanted something spicy though...

On with the day.

L

Brr, brr, brr. The weather's cold and I'm catching DD's cold.

Linds, welcome back and congrats on the 4.0! Kick ***!

Poor Grif, Flower -- if it ain't one thing it's the other. Glad everyone's recovering from the trauma, though.

Sounds like everyone survived Christmas. The new year is right around the corner -- do we have plans for post-holiday fitness, or is everyone just laying low for the time being?

It's starting to get weird, thinking as of the day after tomorrow I won't be eating like a normal person. I'm sitting here having melba snacks and cheese dip for dinner -- because I CAN!! I am doing Mexican for the Last Meal -- seems like it has the appropriate balance of food groups: carbs, protein, veggies, fat, and best of all CHEESE, my favorite food.

Eydie, your questions about the Guy...I met him on a Muslim web site, which I was surfing just out of curiosity, but when I read his post I was amazed at how similar it was to something I would have written, so I just had to contact him. We have an uncanny amount in common. What my mission is...only time will tell. And I should mention, after all my anxiety about not wanting to meet him b/c I'm fat, it really isn't an issue. I mean, he knows I'm doing Opti Fast and everything, so I guess we both have an expectation that I won't be like this forever. It's a good thing, I guess, that we met on line first. I still feel really self-conscious, though, but my hope is that my weight loss will be rapid and encouraging.

You bet your booties I've got plans for January 1st. I've been back in the swing, and am maintaining over the holidays. This has allowed me to have the occasional treat, but not blow the mission entirely. As of January 1st, I'm back OP, fully committed. We may order Chinese for New Year's Eve, 'cause we're just hanging out at home. I feel much better being conscious this year about holiday eating, without depriving myself.

Anyone have any suggestions for a challenge? Anyone interested?

Ruthie, Mexican is a great choice! Tasty, spicy, and my favorite too...cheese! Have a margarita for me!

Lamorgan, it was chilly today, wasn't it? I am soooo thankful we aren't getting hit with that snow down in Buffalo. Our office in Amherst closed today because they were shutting down the roads.

Poor hubby isn't feeling well, so I'm off to make him tea and play Scrabble with him.

TTFN

Hello. I binged yesterday. Bad flower!!! I know it is because I am feeling incapable of making things better right now. Rio said big wigs are out of the office till after the first of the year. Griffin has the runs still. Gonna take him to the doc at 10:30. Cameron and Riley were at their grandmas till Riley started throwing up so I got them back at midnight. (Great grampa can't get sick) Chris only worked Sunday, Wed, Thrus and won't go back til Sunday. Ouch! I could use some good news. They have been working out on the gas lines for 2 hours so my head throbs from the jack hammers. But I will be leaving soon. I also have to make a return at the SPeigal outlet store. The blanket mom got Riley had a heart and flower boarder. Won't do for a 8 year old boy!!! You couldn't see that when it was folded up. So, I am a tad grumpy but I may go peak at the bead store if I can find a few minutes away from the family. That should cheer me up some! ~tootles ~~~flower~~~