Hi, everyone. I don't have time to past in Lin's wonderul summary of the tale about the tortoise and the hare today. I'll let her do that next time around.

I'm starting my 6th day within points! Yahoo! Getting anal and counting the number of days is helping; I'm on a roll I don't want to break before we leave for vacation.

And I'm seeing weight come off, too, in spite of PMS *and* Lent. It's very encouraging.

We had an ice storm here last night; everything is coated. I'd planned to run lots of errands today, including walking a lot. I'll need to dig out my ice skates!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Don't forget to check in and let us know how you're doing.

Onward and downward (day 6!),

Lauren
274/185.5/185.5 by Easter

Uh-oh. Where is everyone? Hopefully just enjoying the spring weather. Except Judy and me, of course, with our 6 inches of snow. On the bright side, I got some good exercise yesterday clearing it off our driveway and sidewalks. It's supposed to get into the 50s and 60s by the end of the week, so may it melt quickly! Our poor tulips, though.

Anyway, I have found the answer to conquering PMS: It's soy! Each year during Lent, I tend not to have PMS, and I also tend to forget that. This past month's cycle was amazing. Absoutely NO PMS at all. Nothing. Nada. The only thing I can figure is that it's the soy milk I'm putting on my cereal every morning. I've decided to just keep doing that even after Lent is over. I can't believe how wonderful this was. No mood swings. No bloating. No irritability. No desire to eat down the house. In fact, I LOST weight during PMS and only gained a half pound during my cycle. Just amazing!

So today I'm down a tad from last week, though up a half pound from my lowest this past week. And I've been OP for 7 days, starting on my 8th! All during PMS and TOM! OK, I'll stop raving now.

Packing is underway for our vacation. I'm very excited about going.

How is everyone?

Onward and at least sideways,

Lauren
274/186/186 after Easter

Hi. Everyone,

Thank you, Lauren, for starting a new thread. My monitor is limping along. My son discovered that if we play with the gamma settings on Photoshop, we can get the color set so I can read things better. I've been mostly gone because I've been sharing the computer with my son and his friend for the past week.

Can you cook with soy milk, Lauren? I make my oatmeal with milk and wondered if I could substitute soy. I'm willing to try anything reasonable to make PMS better. If not, I guess I'll have to find a high-fiber cereal to eat with it. Or get soy in another form. I've not even been trying to count points. It's PMS again, so your note about soy is timely for me.

I'm struggling with what I want to do. Right now, I'm focusing mainly on getting some exercise and making sure I eat my veggies and stuff. It's a problem when I have PMS. I tend to gradually move toward a carb/protein diet and the fruits and veggies get left out. I don't like eating that way, in general. I think it's a hormones out of whack thing.

I'm starting a new writing project. Although I promised myself I wouldn't until I've finished the mystery, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. You may remember that last year my son entered his gaming world in Wizards of the Coast's open call for a new world. Well, this year they've got an open call for a novel proposal. My son is letting me borrow the relevant reference books from his collection, plus the novels he has that are set in the world they want us to write in to use for research. I have an idea that I'm working on, but I need the gaming books to refine it to fit the guidelines. I've only got three months to get the proposal together, which is why I need to temporarily stop working on my other projects. Wish me luck! The competition will be tough, but they're looking for authors as well as someone to write this particular book. So even if they pick someone else's proposal for this book, if they like my writing and ideas, they may offer a contract for other books.

It's writing-for-hire, but it's also a foot in the publishing door. I can still write my own projects and sell them and having publishing credits proves to the industry that I can deliver books on time, as well as write them. Plus, it's easier to get a decent agent (or any at all) if you have a contract in hand. And having an agent opens doors.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing OK.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin

Hey, writing-for-hire is nothing to sneeze at! I've been doing it now for years. It pays the bills. Good for you, and I hope it goes well.

As for cooking with soy milk -- no idea. You could probably add it to your oatmeal after it's cooked, though. (That's how I like my oatmeal -- with milk and raisins and brown sugar on top. This is why I don't eat much oatmeal! )

It's also possible that you could get the same results by just taking soy supplements every day. I may try that one month to see if that works.

It's also possible that it's not the soy at all, that it's the absence of chicken and red meat and dairy.

But I suspect that it's the soy, because soy is supposed to mimic estrogen in your body. And that dropping estrogen is what causes the various PMS symptoms (along with some other hormonal crud).

May your anguish pass quickly this month, Lin, and disappear completely after that!

--Lauren

My computer kept on freezing, so I couldn't respond. All goes well here. Glad news about writing projects and soy. Thrilled Lauren is losing weight. I'm still maintaining, but am not eating in a stupid manner.
Mousie, way to go and good luck on the research project interview!
Lin, you can beat this PMS. I know you can.
Good vibes to all,
I'm going before I freeze.
Love,
judy

Hi, Turtles,

Computer freezes, crashes, and (at least in my case) losing my Internet connection seem to be a commonlpace pain we all have to live with these days. I'm so glad you were able to stay on long enough to post a note, Judy. It's great to hear how you're doing.

Actually, even though it's PMS and I am retainting water, it's not a super bad month so far. I'm pretty much functional. I don't know if I will be able to do the soy thing, though. It's pretty expensive for my really tight budget. I'd be in deep trouble if my kids were still at home because I can't afford to support them anymore. I'm hoping things will change, but considering the state of the economy, we'll have to wait and see and pursue any opportunities that show up.

This writing project is a really difficult one. WotC has set up some really unusual conditions. They're hoping you will have your protagonist be a priest(ess) of the goddess of torture. You can make the priest(ess) the antagonist, which is what I get a sense that most people will be doing. It's supposed to be PG-13. Yet the subject matter is about as adult as it gets. It's not a pretty picture, nor is it an easy place to go as a writer. But I think I've come up with an angle I can work with emotionally and that will fit the requirements. I also anticipate this book will give me nightmares. They want dark and there is no way to follow the guidelines and not write dark. I don't usually write dark fantasy, so this is a good challenge for me in many ways, despite the nightmares.

I'm doing OK as far as food goes. I seem to have stopped gaining weight, which is a step in the right direction. I'm going to just keep going. Doing the baby steps. It's about all I can do right now. It will have to be enough.

I hope everything is going well for you all.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin

glad to hear from Lin,
All goes well here. I think we're all busy--my union demands are time consuming to say the least, but they are there for all us teachers and I need to help out. Gov't cuts to ed are running close to 9% in my community and that's a big bite!
Through all this I have to figure out how to make my eating habits a top priority. Baby steps sounds about right, Lin.
Love and good vibes to all.
Judy

Hello Turtles,

Back from vacation. Trying to clear up all the papers that piled up in my absence. I was in touch with the office while away and did work, but there are lots of odds and ends and my assistant is off this week!! Did great while away as usual. Lots of exercise and ate very reasonably. We ate out about one meal per day and cooked the rest at home. I felt so "normal" eating what I wanted while out but keeping the portions realistic. So I know I have the skills, I just have to work through the daily stress and keep the same focus. The weather was wonderful. No fog, clear skies and views that make you really appreciate California.

Lin!- you are quite the brave one with your new writing project. Your head must be spinning with ideas. Sounds like a great opportunity to "break-in". Hope your monitor hangs in there! Also super that your PMS is on the mild side. Don't you just want to have a serious talk with your body sometimes and ask it to please tell you what the heck it wants?

Lauren!- wow you too- the "soy light bulb" seems almost miraculous. Definately worth exploring. Congrats on having a great Lent weight-wise. Is this Sunday your Easter? or the following one?

Having Easter day at our house with my sister inlaw and her youngster coming. They live in Northern California. My niece is developmentally disabled and this is the first time we are having Easter with them. I think the Eater Egg hunt will be a big deal for her- have been haunting the 98 and 99 cent stores to find interesting goodies she may like. Also promised her a "girl day" as a belated 14th B-day present- thinking of having our mails done, and going to lunch and shopping. I have NEVER had my nails done (this should be interesting....)

Turtle on...................

Oops- forgot to commend you Judy on working for your union. The education budget cuts here in California are a mess. My son is hearing rumors of which teachers (alot of them) are getting the ax. Unfortunately they are great teachers but have low seniority. Really depresses the kids- hard lesson to learn that being good at your job is no guarantee!!! Hang in there!

Hi, Turtles,

It sounds like your vacation was great, Torty. I'm glad to hear that you handled it so well. Welcome back!!

I've been super busy. It's likely that I won't be able to post as often for a while. This is a huge project to undertake and I only have 3 months to do it in.

Tonight one of the authors on hollylisle.com is plotting a fantasy novel live as a workshop. It's so timely because that's what I'm working on right now.

There's a part-time telecommuting job that I'm going to apply for as soon as it's officially posted. I'm not allowed to talk about details, but wish me luck.

I decided that the one thing I have to do is start exercising regularly. The rest is pretty much OK. Not great. I'm not counting points or anything. But I'm eating a healthy diet and not eating too much. But I need to walk when the weather is good and do videotapes when it's not.

We're finally getting our car fixed this weekend. We have to rent a car for a few days so Paul can get to work. We're taking advantage of having a good car to visit my mom. I'm so excited! I haven't been away from my apartment except to run errands in months. It's going to be great!

I hope you all are doing well.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin (Too bad they don't have a quill pen and ink for my other obsession. )

Hi Guys,
Happy Easter!
Hanging in there. Getting ready to retire seems to be putting food blocks in my path. Am going to get on the treadmill right now because I know that helps. Good luck to everyone.
Writing projects and handling stress and being the best we turtles can be is a good thing!
love,
Judy

Hi, everyone. Just got back from vacation, which was WONDERFUL. We had such a great time in Philly and Cape May. I love the ocean so much ... we got in lots of exercise, which is good, but we also ate a TON, which isn't! At least it was all delicious and most of it was gourmet. (We love to eat at fine restaurants, which we rarely do -- but which we did almost every night on this vacation.)

The upshot: I gained a whopping 6 pounds, and DH gained 10! I'm glad I lost the 3 before I went. But this puts me back in the 190s, which is *not* where I want to be. Today I'm back to writing it down. This is our Holy Week (our Easter is this Sunday), so we'll be fasting again. Easter day is usually a bit of a blowout. After that, I plan to bite the bullet and head back to WW. I think. They're having a special right now ...

Glad to hear everyone is still shuffling along.

Lin, no way could I write that story. The priestess of the goddess of torture?? What are they thinking? Of all the great things one could write about ... well, best of luck.

Torty, I laughed about your nails comment. You'll have to let us know how that goes.

Judy, how close are you to retirement? I would imagine that would be both exciting and daunting.

Onward and sideways until Easter,

Lauren
274/192!!/same until Easter

Just an update on my "official" weigh-in day -- down 2.5 from yesterday, so a lot of it was water. Now for the tough part. I stayed within my points yesterday, even ate at the low end, so that was a big win.

Have a splendid day, turtles.

Onward and sideways until Pascha,

Lauren
274/189.5/sideways

Hi, Turtles,

Hi, Judy. It's good to hear from you.

I'm glad to hear that your vacation was wonderful, Lauren. I remember you saying that you were thinking it's time to go back to WW for a bit. Good luck with that.

We went to San Jose on Saturday. We walked so much. It was great, except that I need new shoes. Sunday I was sore because my shoes are so worn out. It's going to be a couple of weeks before I can afford them, though.

Lauren, I think I have an angle that will work for this story. One that will make my protagonist a little more sympathetic. Both of my sons gave me great suggestions that brought out that Aha! for me. Right now, though, I'm taking a break from writing to do some reading. I need to read as many of the Forgotten Realms novels as I can and read the pertinent game rules for the story I'm writing. Then I can refine the story to fit what WotC prefers. It's a fine balance between telling my story and fitting the general style of WotC's stuff.

I've been really discouraged in the weight-loss department, though. The things I used to do aren't working. When I follow WW's food plan, I get hungry. That's new for me. When I add exercise, even if it's just a brisk walk, I get physically exhausted. That's new, too. But when I don't follow the food program, but exercise, I'm fine. So, I'm really at a loss about what to do. Right now, I'm maintaining, but I'd really like to lose the weight I've gained since I moved to Salinas. I just don't know how because what I used to do isn't working and I don't know what to do instead. So, I'm just hanging in there, eating nutritious food. When it stops raining and I can get some good shoes, I'm definitely going to walk again. Now that I know why I stopped (the pain of walking in worn out shoes) it should be easy to get going again.

I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone else, as time allows.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin

Hi Turtles,
Judy- seems like change in other areas( like your retirement) also presents new issues with food- but sounds like you are being reasonable and realizing you just have to deal with it in the slow & steady turtle way.
Lauren- wow 2.5 pounds- that salt & water thing sure is something. Sounds like you have a plan with the fast rest of week (congrats on the good point day), Easter fest, and then back on track. You are SO close I am sure a super push after the holiday will show good progress. Sounds like your vacation was really a vacation. That is a triumph. Sometimes we can't let go and enjoy our precious free time.
Lin- so glad to hear you have positive ideas and are so fired about your writing. I hear you on the shoes. I have a tendency to let mine go too long, then my feet start to really hurt (I have congenital bunion issues) and every step is a chore. Hope you are able to get a good deal and replace those puppies soon.
In general things went well over Easter- I only ate things I thought were "worth it". It was a bit too much, but at least I did not mindlessly inhale candy, chips, etc. In fact, I only had a small taste of the sweets I baked, and did not have any candies. (of course none of the ones the kids got were ones I really like)...... I ended up not having my nails done- just had my niece's done. Quite the drama when we got back in the car and as she put her seat belt on the polich just peeled up on several nails. She was beside herself. Luckily I had tipped the manicurist- so we scooted back in and did some quick damage control. Not sure if I want to be so careful about my nails- but the pre-treatment (warm oil massage, cuticle trimming, etc seemed like it would be great).

Hope spring is making a lovely entrance for all. Turtle on!