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We want to invite everyone to join us in our journey.
We share laughter and tears.
We share what works for us and what doesn't.
We recently started a Topic of the Day.

Monday........Motivation Monday
Tuesday.......Tuesday Tips
Wednesday.....Wednesday Weigh ins
Thursday......Thankful Thursday
Friday........Friday Facials, Fingernails and Fun
Saturday.......Sit-up Saturdays - any physical activity
Sunday.........Soup and Salad Sunday - recipes

These are not required topics ...just ideas to share. We have found them very helpful. We also share heartaches and fears...joys and celebrations.

Please feel free to jump right in with us.
And be sure to check if there is a second page. We don't want anyone to miss any posts.

Gee... I came here with so much to tell you and now that I am here I don't want to anymore... what's up with that.
But I did see that we needed a new thread started so I have made good use of my time and here we are.

I am not going back to the old thread to reply.
I remember that Michelle passed her classes... Congratulations!!
And Donna I am sorry you didn't get the job but I think you will be happier spending more time getting your weight off.
Sara... seeing your original post was cool. You have worked hard for you success and deserve all the happiness you are finding thin.
Gee.. I can't remember the rest.
If I get into a chattier mood I will come back and tell you about my ice cream VICTORY !!!! And about my awakening about my elephant legs. LOL
It was an EYE OPENER LOL

Michelle: Congrats on your grades. Just get backup on your ole WW horse and ride girl, ride!

2cute: The job wasn't a big deal except for the money and it is not a need so it was no big deal. It was an opportunity that I didn't want to miss if it became available though. I had told dh that I was not going to go back to work until next year when I was at goal and last night he told me that whatever I wanted was fine with him. When you do what I like to do (reception work), you can't be needing to run to the bathroom all the time etc.

OOOHHH, guess what girls? I had another exciting thing happen last night. About 5 years ago, Jack and I had booked a cruise to the Carribean and I went and bought these clothes at Chadwicks for the trip. Everything I bought was too tight, but I was stubborn and decided to get weight off to wear them. Well, Jack got laid off, the trip got cancelled and the clothes have been in my closet since. I went and got this two piece dress that I couldn't even get over my big butt and belly before to see if maybe I would be able to wear it on the Vegas trip. It is white and gauze with sides slits to the knee on both sides and would be perfect. It fit with room to spare even over my butt! In fact, the jacket is quite loose! Yippeeee! Dh did have one comment and that was..."uh, I like it, but you may not want to wear green panties under it!" Men!

Well, I will probably not get back here until afternoon. Am sitting for dgs this morning so his mom can go on an interview. He called me last night wanting to talk to me while I was out walking at the mall, refused to talk to his Granddad and when I got back and Jack told me he called, I called him back. His mom told me he was watching tv and didn't want to talk to me anymore!

Donna

Good Morning all,
I don't have a ton to talk about yet today but did want to pass this tid bit along.
Remeber few weeks back I was having such troubles with my mil? Well, I bit the bullett and invited her to go iceskating with us last weekend, cause I knew she loves to do this and has never been to an inside rink before. She went and had a blast. Anyway she calls me on Sunday and says when you bring Alexis to Sunday school come it I have something for you. So I go and she gives me a bag and says "I'm proud of you quitting smoking and starting to loose the weight" Needless to say I was almost in tears . Inside the bag was this potpourri thing....its like a big glass vase with a small set of christmas lights inside with potpurri in it and when you plug it in it smells oh so nice. Then also in the bag was a brand new work outfit.....size 20~~not there yet, but I soon will be!!!!(I hope) It's so nice, black dress pants with a beige button up blouse with designs on it, oh to hard to explain, you will have to take my word for it, and once it does fit, I promise to have hubby take a pic and I will post it for you.

Well I know Tina is off visiting TONY today, hope you are having fun and please don't drool too bad.
Donna, have fun with dgs today, and congrats on the 2 piece dress set fitting and loose at that!!
2cute, I wanna hear your icecream victory, I love to hear victories of anykind!!!
Michelle, glad your grades are what you expected!!! Good luck with the up coming classes, boy you wear me out!!!

Hope everyone else is having a great week, I will be back later.

Love and Hugs,
Sandy

Good morning cutie patooties!!

I just had this gorgeous fence guy come here this morning and measure to replace the fence in the backyard...darn was he good looking! We were talking about our boys...he has a 15 month old! And then of course fences...I'm having him give me a price on the cedar fence that has the lattice across the top....and then the plain old cedar stockade for John...oops...had to wipe the drool off my chin! Some lucky woman owns him!!! LOL

Anyways...speaking of lucky...where the heck is our girl LUCKY??

I know Tina is visiting her man Tony!

Sandy that was so nice of your mother-in-law...my ex-MIL was a pain in my arse most of the time...right now I don't have a MIL...john's mom passed away 10 years before I met him. But...we still have in-law disputes throughout the whole family...he has2 brothers and 3 sisters and their spouses!

Donna you seem to be doing very well...doesn't it make you feel good when you take something out of your closet that you couldn't wear before and it fits or better yet is too big!! I love it when that happens...I can't wait till I can start wearing my smaller clothes again!

2Cute...elephant legs...those are MINE!!

I haven't gotten back to read the last thread all the way...so sorry for not posting to the rest of you all...but......it you come out and post I'll talk at ya all again later after Andrew's appointment!

I was pretty productive today...I temporarily reclaimed the living room...I vaccumed...and Andrew helped...he did the kitchen...he is fascinated with the vaccum cleaner...hope it lasts through his teens!! I had to scrub down the coffee table...it was so sticky and tacky!! I even used some rug cleaner on the carpet...good thing we havent' replaced it yet...between Andrew spilling and the dog heaving its getting pretty messed up...good thing its dark brown!!

Ok enough babbling...I have to change someone's stinky pants and get us ready to go to Weight Watchers...I'm afraid to get back on the scale again! But...I need to do this! I need your help! Don't let me quit! I am woman hear me roar!!

TTFN Michelle

Does anyone know how to get water buildup out of my ear? I can feel it down there and can hear it when you touch the ear just right and it's driving me crazy!!! I'm serious, I have a thing about ears!!! Believe me my kids have the cleanest ears around!! LOL.

I feel so bad when I get in these moods and don't post on a regular basis, you gals are so good at posting and individual replys, I hope you don't mind me popping in and out, me badd

I've been really stressed lately, and haven't been the chattiest, I work full time and really need to get a second part time job, the bills are piling up and the vehicles need repairs, both of them. I drive 35 min to work and DF drives 50 min to work their and back, and the price of gas is enough to take up are whole pay checks, Well one good thing is that DF went back to work on Monday, so he'll be getting regular checks again, but just to catch up, I don't know how where going to do it, I haven't been able to pay on the utilities since Dec, the Gas bill for the house just came in yesterday, $556 dollars, it's crazy, one months bill was over $300 dollars, how do they expect people to pay their bills, The Gas company's are raising their costs all the time, as well as the power bill, between my power bill and gas, we owe $1000, it's not right, and the government said their not giving rebates this year. So all in all money wise, I'm very stressed right now.

And to top it all off, my son has pneumonia and is very sick, I stayed home on monday to take him in for X-ray and blood test, He's so tired no energy, coughing, his eyes have big bags under them, he's having trouble breathing and is on 2 puffers as well as antibiotics, he missed school all last week, and wont be going at all this week. My babysitter doesn't want to babysit him cause he's coughing to much, she's not much of a babysitter anyway's, and I can't afford to stay him with him, He goes back to the doctor tomorrow, so hopefully he'll see some improvement.
He's definetly not his hyper, excited little self.

I'm not really trying to diet lately, but I did step on the scale Monday, and it said I lost 2lbs, so I wont complain. I must have learned something in the last year, will have to get back on the wagon, this path I'm fallowing sure has alot of pot holes, because I seem to keep falling off the wagon.

Tina guess what I was watching the free preview, you were talking about a couple of threads back, inside the cars, thought it was pretty neat, but I don't know if I could ever sit and watch a whole race, the part I was watching didn't really show much, just up close of a few cars, DF thought I was weird, talking about Tony like I knew what I was talking about.

2Cute, you have elephant legs too, I hate my legs, my weight is pretty much distributed through out my whole body, would rather have a bigger belly and thinner legs, I haven't worn shorts since I was propably 14, always been very self contious of my legs, when I get down to 220 I may wear shorts again, I hate summer, don't wear shorts or tank tops, try to stay out of the sun as much as possible.

I got a new monitor ( at work ) yesterday, it's a flat screen LCD 17 in, very cool, fit's nicely on my desk, straight in front of me instead of to the side, hope this helps on the pinch nerve in my shoulder.

Well I should get back to work,
Chow for now

Dear Duckie, sorry things are not so duckie at the moment for you. Hope your son is feeling better (how old) Don't you just hate when they get sick and on top of it all you have to miss work so that means miss money that you need!!! I can majorly sympahize with you on that one! We have gone to a bi-weekly payroll here at my office and this is the first week with no check. I know next weeks will be twice as much, but that first week is a killer. I do realize it is for the good of the company as I'm the one that does payroll and know it saves money, but oh well, I will live!! The heating bills suck too, they get ya no matter what, you gotta have heat. We use inside oil at our house and the price is now 1.79 per gallon or something rediculous like that. Then my electric bill runs about $100. per month. And like you said how is one to survive? Still have a mortgage, 2 vehicles, insurance, groceries and tons of other stuff that all adds up in the end. Wish I could win the Mega-bucks lotto.

Anyway, I have tried to learn to not stress about it!! My DH has yelled at me for years and told me that I worry way to much and will give myself an ulcer. So heres what he tells me......take a couple deep breaths and just don't worry, it will all work out in the end and he is usually right.
Sending big your way.
Sandy

PS) About the shorts, I wear them anyway, I don't care, if they don't want to look they don't have too, but I'm not gonna sweat my *** off so they don't have to see my big ole white legs when its 90 some odd degrees out!!!! Anyway, this year will be differnet we will be smaller!!!

Oh my lovely ladies!

Sandy: Yahoo for the mil breakthrough. God Bless her. Her heart is definitely in the right place and it won't be long until that 20 will fit just right! I am so proud of you.

2cute: You talk about elephant legs. Now that I am losing weight, mine really DO look like elephant legs except they are stark white instead of gray. They are all dimply and wrinkled. I look like Ruth Buzzi's legs when she played that old lady on Laugh In and her hose were baggy! Don't get me wrong, I am definitely thankful about the weight loss, but they are pretty sad!

Duckie: God love you honey, you are having some tough times. We don't have gas at all in our condo, but our elec bill is running $200 which is very unusual for down here. I promise to really get down on my knees as soon as I am through and pray for you. I will pray everyday until I know things are better for you and pray for your boy too! You know, I have an old saying I rely on when things are tough, Take your burdens to the cross, and don't go back and pick them up.

Michelle: I do hope the dirty pants belong to the little guy. We haven't graduated to Depends yet have we?

I have been particularly good today. I only had fat free yogurt for breakfast and part of any orange ( dgs ate most of my orange!), than for lunch I had a roast beef sand from Blimpies with just veggies no cheese and put some ital dressing on it at home. I did 20 reps each for the front and 20 for the back arm muscles and 20 reps for boobs, though they are so far south, I doubt they will ever come back to Yankee territory. I also got my walk at the mall in early so I am free and clear for the rest of the day. I am reading an autobiographical novel written by Mary Higgins Clark that is really interesting so I may be able to finish it.

Well, have to get my load of clothes folded and get those prayers working for Duckie!

Donna

Okay... here are my two stories. Had to post them for Sandy. lol

I was running errands yesterday. I got this HUGE want/need for a Dip Cone. There is this local ice cream place that makes the BEST.

I convinently happened to be only a few blocks from it. I drove up to their window and low and behold... THEY WERE CLOSED I could not believe my eyes. It was only 4:04 pm. I just sat at the window staring at the "CLOSED" sign.
I must of sat and STARED at the sign for a solid minute like I could "WILL IT" to say OPEN. Once I regained my senses I finally saw the other sign that said "Winter Hours 10-4. (like I said, it is a small local place) Any substitution would just not be the same. I was totally devastated. LOL
I finally put my car back into drive and reluctuntly drove away.

My second response (after "Total Devastation") was...." Okay, that is a blessing in disguise. I did not need that ice cream." Since no other ice cream place is as good as this local place I would just go home.
I got about 1 block... and my evil sidekick poked his little head out.

He started to talk to my weak half .... " You know that what you wanted was that 'crunch' that comes with the hard shell of a dip cone. You can get that crunch with a Braums ice cream with nuts"

I thought... YES !!! I could get that 'crunch' with a Braums with nuts.!!!!!!
I turned my car around and started driving 2 miles to go to Braums. To make it worst... this was 2 miles in the opposite direction than I was going.

I talked myself into it and out of it for the entire two miles.
I came upon it..... would I pull in ??? .... would I drive by?
I did not know the answer myself. Here I am...what am I going to do ????

(To be continued due to excess smilies. )LOL

We return to where...." WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?????"

I pulled in.

BUT WAIT !!!! I gained my senses !!!!!!!
I turned my car around as I drove up to the window and said "NOT THIS TIME" !!!!
I WON !!!!

I headed my car for home. Ahhhh I did it !!

BUT .... my evil half was not done with me yet.
I got about a 1 block... (does this sound familar? lol) and I heard this little voice whispering..... "You know... Sonic has really crunchy Blasts that you could get your ice cream, your chocolate, your nuts, and even some candy crunch all in one"
My mind started spinning. Yes, all in one.. plus, I don't even have to get out of my car. That is ALWAYS a plus.

I started shaking myself.... "WAKE UP !!!! SNAP OUT OF IT"
"What the heck is wrong with you?" I thought to myself.
I had been saved by a closed sign...
I had the courage to drive out of the Braums parking lot...
why on earth are you listening to this evil twin inside of you.
YOU KNOW he wants what he wants and it is NOT what you want.

I was driving down the road that the nearest Sonic was on.(3miles away).
I was approaching the intersection where I could turn to avoid going past Sonic. I had the green light.... no traffic was coming... all I had to do is TURN. (the suspense builds)

I found myself a captive in a car driving itself to Sonic.
I don't know what happened to that girl that drove out of Braums...
she was possessed with the "Need to Feed".

"OKAY" ... I told myself. There is another 2 miles that I can STILL turn off of this road and avoid all temeptation. I saw the next main intersection coming ahead...
I looked at the traffic light in my "rear view mirror" as I drove on through.
I did not know what I was going to do. Obviously my little side kick had a tight hold on me. I started talking to myself. (another sign of my insanity)

"Okay 2cute... what are you going to do NOW ?
If your 'need' to eat this is sooo great... maybe you should. Just get it out of your system. Afterall... it is only ONE ice cream... it is not like you will eat it every day."
I carried on a convesation with myself for the next mile. Sonic was only a few blocks away now. I was running out of intersections to turn. The next intersection was IT.
There were two entrances to Sonic. It sits in a shopping center on the corner so I can enter from either side. I PASSED the first entrance. BUT... I had to turn at this intersection because I live down that road. LOL
I had a green light.. no time to sit and think while sitting at a red light.
I thought... "IT IS ONLY ONE ICE CREAM'".... but .... "When are you going to take control and quit this behavior?"

I was inching upon the second entrance...... I turned.... MY HEAD and said "SCREW YOU SONIC !!!!! you are NOT winning this one !!!!"
I drove on by.....

Now you would think that would make me HAPPY wouldn't you.??
NOPE.... I was not happy, I was not proud. I was grieving.
I REALLY wanted that Chocolate Sonic Blast. But I do NOT regret my final decision. I am glad I took a stand. I am glad I did not let that darn little get his way with me.
(Have you noticed the evil devil is always 'masculine' ?)

Well ladies... that is the tale of "Will she or won't she"
Even the author did not know until ....
THE END

2cute: What thrills! What suspense! And all from a desire for ice cream! We are going to applaud you for a long time with this one.



To drive past, not one, not two, but three places and not stop! You need to thank the guy who has winter hours! I am glad that Ritter's Custard will still be closed when we go to Indiana next week. Their ice cream is like eating silk. They have this sundae that is to die for and to DIE for. It is chocolate ice cream, with marshmallow sauce and ground up chocolate cookies and fudge sauce on it. I am a chocolate nut anyway so I would never have been able to resist I afraid.

HUGS to you and I think what you were able to do was wonderful!

Donna

2Cute you did a great job talking yourself out of all 3 ice cream places....I say this as I sit here having just consumed not one but TWO starbucks low fat cappuccino java fudge bars....oh so delicious and all that chewy, creamy fudge in the center...and would you believe they were only 2 pts each?? Since I only had two string cheese for breakfast (4pts) and a Lean Cuisine for lunch (3pts) I splurged on the 2 fudge bars...I also bought a box of those Skinny Cow ice cream sundaes. Do you have them down there? They are really good. I always end up sharing mine with Andrew so I don't get to eat the whole thing but I still count the points as if I did!

Donna....nope not in the Depends just yet! LOL It was Andrew's stinky pants that needed changing!! And as far as boobs are concerned...yours aren't the only ones heading south!!
I can't remember after losing the 97 lbs the first time whether that helped them to gravitate north again...I guess I'll just have to lose it again and see!! Funny thing was that even though I lost that much weight I never saw it when I looked in the mirror...I was still heavy in my mind!

Duckie...just keep your chin up! And keep plugging away...things are bound to turn around for you...they sure did for me! I did have to get rid of the excess baggage first...now he is someone else's baggage! LOL My son had a touch of pnemonia a couple of weeks ago...he wasn't half as bad as your little guy sounds!! I hate it when they are sick....I wish I could take it away!!

Sandy..I want to win the megabucks first!! What part of Maine do you live in? I am originally from Rhode Island and have friends in Maine...one in Holton, another in Caribou, and family friends in Kennebunkport and a friend who has a summer home in Gardner which is near Bar Harbor....My mom and I use to go to the outlets in Maine. I can't remember the name of them for the life of me right now!

OK now for the good stuff....I rejoined WW this morning...I bought the 10 Week committment plan plus I have some left from the last time joined...AND I bought the brandy new cookbook they have called Take 5, its 150 recipes with only 5 or less ingredients and they all sound sooo good! I will be posting them for sure!! I also bought the cookbook Dinner Tonight, its 134 recipes for monday to friday cooking!

OK Enough from me for now...gotta go peel the shrimp! Not quite sure what I am going to do with it but I will think of something!

Have a great afternoon and I'll catch up with you all later!

TTFN Michelle

I'm back from Michigan and I'm not doing good. I ate everything in site. Thin sorry I missed you. I get my computer back Fri.

Ok 2cute I loved the story!!! You should write books!! You kept my attention and could not wait to flip to the next post to read it.....like a sequal AND GOOD JOB ON THE NOT GIVING IN TO TEMPTATION!!!!!!!!

Donna, I have always been a choc-o-holic.....I've been doing the Swiss Miss Fat Free Marshmellow lovers Hot cocoa, very good.

Michelle, I live in the Mid Coast area, little town called Bremen, it is about 30 minutes from Gardiner, and Gardiner is a ways from Bar Harbor......lol....but you would not know that if you've never been here to Maine. Everything seems to be a long ways from everywhere.

Grannie, welcome back, hope to see you posting soon as you get that puter back.

Tina, how was Tony??????

Rayven????where are you???come out to play.....

Hugs to all,
Sandy