OK so it's not really a long weekend in Alberta - we actually get the July 1 day off, not the 30th! But I am going on vacation tomorrow for 2 weeks so I get it all off! Even the July 4 American holiday!! Yay!!!

Well, I have some b/f news - no, not engaged...but last night b/f told me he wanted to have kids with me and that he wanted to grow old with me!! Give me a ring! Give me a ring!!

Men....

I did the Myers Briggs and I am ENFJ and I think b/f is ENTP. But apparantly that is good - you should have 2 in common to be compatible. But I am SOOO a feeler and he is a thinker.....

Anyway, I have to run and catch up with yesterday's posts to know what the heck is going on!

OH and I WI at lunch - I think its good. My homescale said 202. Its usually about 3lbs low though, but I am hoping for the best!!

Have a good mornin - BBL

PS - did I tell you all I might see Ali next week? I'll be in Ottawa/Montreal and she will too - so, we'll see... If so, I'll try to get some pics.

Good morning, Belle...you sound so excited about your vacation, your boyfriend's sweet words, your loss, and your possible opportunity to see Ali. Sounds like all kinds of fun to me!

Busy day again today. Aaron has a birthday party to attend, then I have to go get him diapers...kind of scary that I let him get down to 5 and then we go out and get them. Oh well, in case of major disaster, I'm sure I could have raided the diaper bags and come up with at least another ten or so. Then we have to pack for our week-and-a-half trip to visit my parents. I also have to leave the house ready for our cleaning lady, who will come sometime while we're gone. It all seems overwhelming right now, since everywhere I look are toys, but I know it won't take as long as I think it will. Tomorrow morning Aaron has his swimming lesson, and I can hopefully use that time to put final touches on our packing. Then we will be taking him to the Chuck E Cheese restaurant 1.5 hours away, where we're planning on meeting my parents for them to pick us up. Ok, I realize you all didn't ASK to hear all of my boring details, but I'm feeling so overwhelmed by it all right now that it sure did feel good to put it all into words rather than eat through the overwhelmed-ness.

Laura, I am so excited you're going to be in Wisconsin (or the Hold Land, as I call it). Where will you be? I grew up in Milwaukee, so I am a cheesehead through and through, just like Jen and Tonya.

Hi Amber, I don't think we've "met" yet. Aren't those point bracelets kind of pretty? I used to have one...but apparently I'm hard on them because I kept breaking them. Good luck with your WW endeavor!

July, I think this is also our first "meeting" but I feel, from what you wrote, like i know you well...your story sounds so much like so many of ours. You are in good company here. We all have that daily struggle, so come and chat with us and tell us all about your ups and downs!

Kierie, what's the news on the job?????? I'm dying to hear!

Jess, are you walking in Relay for Life? or volunteering? Either way, I'm terribly impressed! WHen I come back from all of our vacationing, I'd probably be very interested in a new catalogue. I love them for the ideas!

KT, you sound like you had a stressful time with your friend. I hope everything is ok in that situation. You are such a good friend to be an emotional support for her!

Kim, I gotta go with Laura on this one...I think it's either sodium intake and you're retaining water, or else your workouts are paying off and you're building muscle. I think that actually going to WW would help, because your leader has been through this and (s)he might have some more ideas as to why this is occuring, and how you can tweak things to overcome it.

Ok, WAY too long of a post...I'll bbl to check in!

Belle - have a lot of fun on your trip! We'll miss you. I love the Myers-Briggs. I'm an ISFJ. I can't get CB to take it but my guess we'd have 2 letters in common maybe probably only 1.

Kierie - glad to see that you were in better spirits and getting back on track yesterday.

Jayne - thanks so much for the explanation. I really appreciate it. I've often felt like I'm stepping in it because I'm not sure what to cheer on and what to prop up when you and Kierie post.

So this morning I weighed in. Only lost .8lbs. But I'll take it. I'd lost 7.4lbs in the previous two weeks so I was expecting a small loss this week.

I'm a little frustrated with myself today. Yesterday we went out to dinner with another couple. We ended up (unplanned) at Applebee's. I could have chosen something relatively healthy like the Talapia or a 1/2 size sald but decided on a treat of Chicken Fajita roll-up and fries. I only ate 1/2 the chicken fajita roll-up and shared the fries with CB. So I'm not unhappy with myself or my choice but I'm P.O.'d because I can't find the points anywhere! No NI on Applebee's site, nothing in my WW Dining out Guide, it's not on Dotti's UGH!!!

Here's the other reason I'm frustrated. I made myself a silly promise. As in, "if you eat OP and exercise everyday for 3 weeks you can have a bagel on the first day of week 4". I REALLY WANT THAT BAGEL. But we just got a cook-out invite for tonight. CB wants to go and it's hosted by a couple of friends you recently had a miscarriage - it's the first social foray since then and I want to be there/be supportive. But I don't want cook-out food - I want a bagel!!!!! The invite said to let them know if there were any special eating needs. Would it be too rude of me to bring a bag of carrots and a chicken breast to be grilled with the burgers tonight? I really want to eat within points today because traveling 1/2 the week means I won't be able to reverse bank points.

Wow. Am I wound about this? I know it is silly to be so up in arms over food but I really am. Guess I need to work on my attitude as well as my eating and exercising habits.

Laura

Jayne - you sound soo busy!! I don't envy you. I'm going to feel that way Sunday when I work all day, work a double on Monday, work Tuesday, find time to launder, pack, prep the house and be ready to go Wed. morning. I'll be in Green Bay on Wed PM so we'll be driving through Milwaukee. I grew up in Menominee, MI right on the MI/WI border.

Here's a cute story that I know you'll appreciate. My niece, who just turned 2, is being potty trained. With more success on somedays than others. My sister asked her the other day if she had to go potty on the potty. My niece says "Maybe tomorrow." 30 minutes later she brings my sister the diaper wipes, a trip later the changing pad, and on the third trip a diaper!

Laura

Good morning everyone! I am so glad it's the weekend! But, a little nervous as I seem to always fall of the "wagon" over the weekend, but I have been trying to make some plans to keep me from doing that this time. I have plans for tonight with a girlfriend, and instead of suggesting that we go to the fun mexican restaurant with the patio and chow on chips and drink margaritas, I said we should play tennis, and the stop by the salad bar and eat beside the pool! So, I hope that will get me on the right track! Tomorrow my boyfriend (who has been living out-of-town for a year -- although only 100 miles away) will be visiting. So, that's something to look forward to!

Belle -- that's exciting stuff with your boyfriend! It sounds like we are at the same "stage" in our relationships. I am also hoping and waiting for a ring in the somewhat near future. It's so hard being patient! Have a great trip!

Laura -- a loss is a loss! Over 8 pounds in 3 weeks is amazing! You should be very proud!

Aaron'smom -- thanks for the welcome. : ) It feels good to be here and know that I'm not alone!

I hope everyone has a great day! I'm sure I'll check in later as I really don't feel like working today! : )

lauren

Hey Girls
I'm having sinus allergy **** today soo this will be short and swee and the I'm going to nap my arse off (if only that were possible!)
Jayne! woman your life is not boring! I know overwhelmed and I always talk about fam crap so BRING IT ON!
Belle!!! thats awesome! have a fabu trip and give Ali a hug for all of us
Laura Adorable Story as for the Chicken I think its fine There will probably be salad there too
I think I'm retaining water like theres noooo tommorrow So I'm cutting down on Salt and Increasing Agua

jayne-nice to meet you! and my sisters new bracelet just broke too. wonder if they just aren't strong enough. but yes they are pretty and i keep looking down at mine when i think about being "bad".

laura-unplanned meals and cookouts always get me too. i don't think it's rude to bring your own chicken and carrots, i think it's a great idea! i am going to a partylite candle party sunday and the theme is ice cream sundaes/banana splits and everyone is supposed to bring a topping so i am going to bring along low-fat ice cream and topping for myself. just think you are doing this for you and thats reason enough!

lauren-weekends i ALWAYS ruin my diet. but wednesday was my first day back at WW so i am determined NOT to mess up this weekend. let me know how you make it!

well i went to a concert (dixie chicks...woohoo) last night and the soft serve ice cream was calling my name. so was everything else but i did give in to ice cream. but that was all. we stopped on the way for food and i got a chicken sandwich w/o mayo. i still went over on points a little but not as bad as i could have been on a normal day. so today is day 2 and i am going to be real good! wish me luck!

Well, ladies, I'm feeling sad/frustrated/defeated today... Yesterday was another day that I just couldn't say no to food. How am I letting food run my life? Aren't I stronger than that--I used to be!! I keep trying to figure out what's wrong in my life that is making this fail to come together and everytime I identify something, I find that it's not the problem. My newest reason is because everything in my life is so out of order--my apartment is a permanent mess, I can't find anything, I don't fit into any of my clothes, I don't know what's going on at work but it's not comfortable for me due to co-workers, I don't have a second to sit down and just relax--basically I'm just not happy and I'm not sure what to do about it besides try to make things better, which is just taking all my energy.

OK, enough of my pity party, guys, I'm sorry for that, just going through some yuck.

I started a Day By Day thread for today with two simple goals--journaling and exercising. Two steps in the right direction.

Belle--I hope WI goes well for you!! Have a great vacation and congrats on your BF news--what the heck is he waiting for, anyway? He's obviously going to marry you, why doesn't he hurry up with the ring already? I'm going to miss you while you're on vacation!!

Jayne--Feel free to talk about what you've got overwhelming you--heck, I just got done feeling sorry for myself in front of everyone. Thank you for all the info on the Atkins Diet. I'm still sort of toying with it and will continue researching it--especially since I just got a bunch of groceries last night that probably wouldn't go so well with Atkins. And I'm walking in Relay. It's really a fun activity, so I'm looking forward to it. I just wish I'd been able to fundraise more this year. Oh well, there's always next year. I'm going to miss you while you're on vacation!!

Laura--It's good that you're all wound up about dinner and the cookout--it shows how much you care about being successful. And that's fabulous!! To answer the question about taking your own dinner tonight--it's not rude at all. In fact, it's considerate of you: rather than asking the host/hostess to go out and purchase your special request for the cookout, you're bringing your own and that's good! It sounds like you're super-busy too--I'm going to miss you while you're on vacation!! (I'm sure saying that a lot.)

Lauren--It sounds like you have a good alternative for tonight's festivities with your friend, nice work!! I'm worried about the weekend, too--I've been struggling this week and the weekends are always the WORST. I've found the best thing I can do is find something to keep myself busy when I want to eat. If I'm distracted, I usually don't think about food until I feel physically hungry. Oh, and I sleep a lot on the weekends to keep myself distracted, too.

Kier--I'm sorry you're feeling so sinus and allergy icky. That's no fun, and I hope you feel better soon. And yes, if you PM me your address, I'll send you a catalog. They're $8.95 this year and I'll cover the shipping to you. They are SO cool and have these really great new scrapbooking kits that are just unbelievable. (Sorry, I'm just a little excited about them).

Amber--Hello there!! I wish I was as good about using my points bracelet. Mostly when I actually wear it, it's just another piece of jewelry for me--for some reason, I can't find an anchoring tool that actually keeps me OP. I suck. Welcome to the group, by the way! This is such an awesome awesome bunch of ladies and I know you'll love it here!!

OK, kiddos, I gotta go to the library and learn more about the Atkins diet, then I'm running home to change into workout clothes, then it's to the Y for me to spend an hour on the treadmill. See ya!!

Jess

I joined WW again last night! I gotta run but I'll be back later to post more.

And change my stats. Ugh.

Hey girls

Weighed in this morning, down .5 from last week. Not too surprising that it was only that much since I pigged out all last weekend and didn't get on track until Tuesday. And it's TOM... Hopefully next week that'll all change, but I won't be able to weigh in on my scale for a couple of weeks since I do it on Fridays and will be home for the 4th next weekend and will be canoeing on the 11th!!!

Belle - that's so sweet that your bf said that - i agree with jess - what is he waiting for!

Jayne - don't worry about unloading, i know exactly what you mean - i'm a major list-maker when i've got a ton to do, it's just easier to make it all do-able! and have a great vacation - is everyone leaving at the same time - there's going to be no one around here for a while!

Laura - congrats on the .8 - as long as it's still going in the right direction, I'm all for small losses too. And bring the chicken - not a problem I'm sure - they'll have the grill going anyway, I'm sure they won't mind putting that on instead of a burger!

Lauren - hi, i don't think we've met either - the tennis is a great idea - I have a really hard time on weekends too - i think i'm just around the house too much, at work I can stay away from food, but at home, it's all right there! and then nights if i go out, add more drinks and food to it... it's a struggle.

Kier - man i wish i could nap today too... only one more day to get through this week ( i HATE working Saturdays - especially gorgeous nice Saturdays in June...) then i can relax sunday...

Amber - hi! question from a non-ww here - what's a points bracelet?

Jess - hang in there! summer is here, you've got to relax! get outside and forget about the apartment/clothes/work for a while. even if it's just for a little while, for a walk, take a few minutes to yourself.

hi kim!

it's taking me forever to post, so i'll finish now! have a good weekend everyone...

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know I still check in and haven't forgotten you. Sounds like everyone has a lot going on! I have been doing better lately eating-wise....lets hope I can keep it up. Have a fun weekend!

Tired. Full from lunch. Just missed you all. Hope you all have a good weekend.
KT