Oh, LOve it...a Hippy Weight loss club! COunt me in...too many hours in my recliner recovering from surgery, plus a hubby who gets snarky over not being at work during vacation...turned back into my sweetheart the day he went back to work! Darn! But hard on the diet..hiding out with carbs to keep me going until "Vacation" ended! NOw the dang thumbs going to keep me from my favorite winter activities like walking Josie pup and clearing windfallen branches off our winter woods trails, pruning, etc. I propose we all send a beautiful new hippy bulb next fall to the biggest looser by a certain date...anyone else want tojoin in? Chaz, with the most to loose you could end up the real winner here! I lost abut 60 lbs a few years ago, and then got real with it when Blood sugar went up and relost some then somemore...down to 200 now frm about 260 (5'9") but really want to lose anower 40 lbs(plus what ever has gone back on this winter!) My method of weight loss was easy when I was active. My Dr had one simple sentence that worked for me...Chaz, this might work for you also. His sentence.....? "Cut the carbs>" No counting, now weighing food, no negotiating. I found a brand of cottage cheese that I really liked and had a big bowl of it with blueberries every day for lunch. Too bad costco no longer carries that brand! THey went to Darigold which tastes bitter to me. But find something you like that is not carb heavy and you can grab it without thinking when at work or you come in form the garden. And I hope Chase is going to support you in this? Not going to work if he is eating all the things you like but should not! After a while on this I totally lost my taste for Ice cream and chocolate even...did not crave them at all. THink of it as CHoosing life, not as depriving your self! Put up pictures of the slim flight attendent you were and remember how easy it was to do things then! And when tempted to sit and eat...put on the gardening gloves and get them dirty! Best wishes to all of us for renewed health and agility this year!

Caren, Happy Birthday to your dad! It was also one of my very best friend's birthday; we will get together soon to celebrate. Not 73, but getting closer, 65! I had a fantastic lunch with a couple of friends, and later a great time at Benihana's for dinner. Afterwards we all went to my dd's for cake and presents. All the presents were wonderful, but the very best was a bareroot Lady Apple tree that I had been wanting, yay!!!! Amazing how simple things make me happy :-) Here's a few pictures:

Thank you! I went to your photobucket website, and you have some beautiful flowers including the brugs and hibiscus. I posted a note on one of the white hibiscus as follows: "This is beautiful. What variety is it? Have you seen the white Hawaiian Hibiscus arnottianus which is allegedly the only hibiscus to be slightly fragrant? They are also beautiful." My daughter lives on Oahu, and she and I went to one of the botanical gardens, and I saw one and fell in love immediately. Next time I head out that way, I'm bringing one back. Hibiscus arnottianus

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. Sorry I didn't get in here yesterday. I was super tired. I have been running this week already. Yesterday was the awards ceremony's for the boys one in the morning one in the afternoon. So I spent the whole day at the school. Plus yesterday was the last day for turning in school supply kit orders so I was running around collecting those at the school too. Meeting with the principal and assistant principal about next years PTA stuff. I was voted in as PTA president last week. Then this morning we had to go see a new ortho doctor. Blake broke some of the fingers on his right hand. So the ortho doc had to look and see how bad and set us up on a course of treatment. Luckily not to bad. They just have to be buddy taped up for the next month. And no football for a while. I am feeling better. The nausea has almost completely passed. I am still tired alot, but it is getting better. My migraines are starting to act up, but that is normal for me in my second trimester. The first one I couldn't eat because I was nauseas all the time, the second one I can't keep anything down because of the migraines. I have some medicine I can take for it, I just have to go pick up the prescription now that they are starting to kick in. It should help and hopefully I will be feeling almost normal again soon. Anyway that was my birthday in a nutshell. I was asleep by 8:30. Amy