Good Monday Morning,

Saying prayers that all of us have less difficult times this week. Tiny steps and deep breaths.

I've got a lot of projects to complete at the office this week. I know I can do it, but do I enjoy it? Nahhhhhh.

Suzanne, the critter is cute...for a rodent! LOL!!! (Now you just know I had to make a comment, didn't you?)

Make today count!
Stop by to say "hello".
We miss all the MIA's.
Dee

Good Mornin'!

Not quite MIA, more like "tardy" Lol!

Oh, I love that cute little guy! What perseverance he has!
I could use some of that some days. Suzanne, I don't envy you all that shoveling!

Hi Dee, How are things?? Promise yourself a reward for getting that project done. It works for me most of the time.

I had a wonderful weekend, celebrating DD's B- day with family, DS home from school for the weekend. I am looking forward to a great week. It's up to me to make it that way!
I ran 2 miles this morning to rev up!

Next?

hugs!

Tikanis

Good morning from sunshiny Dallas! It's only 37 F. at the moment, but we're expecting more "wintry mix" later today, so I'm going to get out of here somehow today just to be OUT!

Six days in a row of being iced into my apartment has taken its toll on my nerves and my eating. I never want to repeat this time again. I need to visit my new bank and straighten out a few things this morning, then I think I'll visit Walmart just to be around other people for a while! ;)

Suzanne, love the persistent little critter pic!

Tikanis, congrats on the 2-mile run!

Dee,wishing you the best on completing your projects!

And, wishing everyone a wonderful Monday!

Thanks to my Dear Friends for asking me to come & post. I miss you too. We are busy trying to get all the dr appts done & packing. I know you see me on FB. That is b/c I have to have some down time too. :) I get tired really fast. I am still having sinus problems from our trip to TX back in Nov. & with it being colder in FL & the wind has been blowing here like it does in TX, it hasn't helped a bit. LOL

Carolyn~I should be through there around the 25th or 26th of March. I bought a dog & we pick it up in Denton on our way to Midland. Her picture is my avatar on FB.

I need to go back & catch up as to what is going on with everyone.

NH Suzanne~I always love your pics. I think of you when I see the weather reports.

I will try to check back later this week. I know we have a February birthday & hope I haven't already missed it. Hugs~Patti

Went to water aerobics this morning, then on to WW. When I weighed myself first thing this morning I had bounced up two pounds, so I was pleasantly surprised that at WW I was down .4 pounds. Better than up two pounds! Actually, I'm getting pretty tired of this business of going up and down, up and down, when I'm working out and keeping my eating under control. Later this afternoon I decided to take advantage of the brief sunshine and went out for a forty-minute walk. I should walk more often, but I hate walking in the rain, and let's face it, in the pacific northwest we've got a lot of rain.

Sally

Suzanne - thanks for posting such an adorable pic.

Dee - ROFLMAO with your rodent comment.

Tikanis - congrats on the run! You should be proud of yourself.

Patti - Sounds like you have a lot on your plate right now. Congrats on the dog.

Sally - yes the ups and downs in weight can be very discouraging at times, especially when you are trying so hard. I would go by WW scale hahaha.

CarolynTX - yes six days is way too long to be iced in. It is snowing here today again and we are running out of places to put it.

BJ - where are you girl?

It's my day off which means I have a ton of things to accomplish.

Forgot to mention that today is #17 and down 9 pounds!!!

Hi everyone - we were away this weekend and returned yesterday evening. Happy to report that after a trying week with dinner events and the super bowl I still managed to lose a pound.

Congratulations to all our losers.

My heartfelt hug to all my friends having a tough time. I'm glad to read your posts. Keep talking!

I agree with making each day count, live life and get out when you can.

I've been busy lately with winter sowing and seed starting indoors - my winter therapy.

I love this place - really do.

Cheers,
Peggy

Hey Raeanne~How are you doing? Congrats on the weight loss.

Sally~Please go more by the way your clothes fit than the scale b/c your weight can vary so much day by day minute by minute due to just little things. Women have such a hard time of it. It is so easy for us to get discouraged if we only go by the numbers. I don't mean not to pay attention to the numbers at all but just remember if they go up a little that it could be some bloat that day or any little thing that is affecting you. I know that I always seemed to gain a pound or two right before I started losing, then I would lose 10 pounds real fast. Hang in there. This is a lifetime change. :)

Peg~Glad you were able to get away for the weekend.

I'll try to check in later. Patti :)

Hello, everyone.

Two things to report to-day. One good, one not so pleasant.

I lost 2 pounds this week. I have been struggling with these 2 pounds for sometime. Now I have 2.5 more to go to be down as much as I was in Novemeber. I know a good share of the problem is that in this ice and snow, I'm not walking the dog and lack of exercise isn't helping at all. However, I'm happy, very happy, with these 2 pounds.

We have had so much snow this winter. We live on a pie shaped lot with the narrow end being at the front next the street. The snow is piled so high that it is going to be very hard to find a place to put more. The plow came along early yesterday morning and pushed back a lot of snow. This knocked down huge, huge, chunks into the driveways - not just ours. It is like a rock. We are trying to find someone with a blade to remove it but so far no luck. They only widened our side of the street, so if we had lived on the oher side , we and our neighbours wouldn't have had this problem. Isn't spring supposed to come early this year? Ihope so.

All the best to everyone.

Thanks, Patti, you're right about paying attention to clothing fit. With all the exercise I'm doing, my clothing size changes even though the weight loss is minimal. Thank God for thrift shops! We have a very good Goodwill here in Olympia, with some terrific clothes at very cheap prices. I've come down from XXX to 14-16 over the last two years, and could not have afforded to buy new clothes at every size change. GW has lots of clothes with brand names I recognize from Macys and J.C.Penney. My newest thing is suede jackets: I can get them for $19.95 at GW in clean, nearly new condition. So far I have four: light blue, navy blue, red, and brown. What I like about them is they give my figure the illusion of shape, with nipped in waists. My biggest problem is that I carry most of my excess weight in the waist and stomach, and the jackets minimize that. :) Sally

NHSuzanne- THANK YOU so much for posting that CUTE picture to start the week! After being absent, I logged on and your photo made me smile....

DeeMarie: Ya had to play the rodent card, didn'tja? :-)

It has been cold and windy here and we had so much rain that the sides of our driveway collasped! Oh, well!

Last week, the state called and asked us to adopt a 6 month old baby boy. It was just so emotionally jarring. We actually took 6 days to decide. We decided no, we couldn't do it. After taking into consideration our experience with Baby V (we should have adopted HIM), our age, our children's opinions ("just wait for grandchildren"), and our lack of trust in our emotional decision-making ability, it seemed like the writing was on the wall...and the answer was no. I end up wondering about these decisions for a long time...especially since we've always wanted a boy...

Okay...

CONGRATS TO ALL YOU LOSERS! I wish I was one!

Dieting just doesn't help me. I have to EXERCISE! And I have to find the time for that....yeah, right! I am going to start riding my bike to work when the weather warms up. It's a 2 mile ride and hilly, so that ought to put me into OVERdrive!

Okay, I am going to go back, read, and catch up!

Hi everyone - after yammering back and for on email with my best friend in another city I thought I might share my ideas on dieting - we are really supporting each other to stay the course, focus on lifestyle changes. We are no angels, we have our moments but it's not quitting and moving on I want to share:

I'm not panicking at all about slip ups - once I get to 130 I may think to stop there for this year and work on maintaining that as a healthy weight. Mentally I'd love to go lower and get skinnier but it just doesn't wear well on me - 128 was my standard high school weight 128 - 135. It was my healthy weight. But right now I think maintaining 130 would be a healthy goal to work on. It all depends on how I feel at this weight - there is conflicting studies out now - some go towards keeping a very low health weight to live longer (what's the point if you can't handle a cold? or feel rundown?) while the opposite is saying carry a few extra pound when you get older to literally cushion and falls and have something to get you through any illnesses with reserves to draw on. For me it's all about finding my 48 year old health weight - not my 20 something health weight. That I'll do with my doctor in tow. My body is changing so my thoughts are if I can find my HEALTHIEST lowest weight I'd like to maintain it so when I hit my 50's hopefully I won't be fighting harder to lose weight. My focus is my health - not vanity. I'd like to look good, not like a war camp survivor.

Have a super day today - we all deserve to take better care of ourselves so we can be around to enjoy our friends, family and lovely days outside when they grace us. Today it's a lovely sunny day (heats our house literally) with the cold at -13C. A beautiful winter day.

Hi Wild Chicken - glad to see you back!

A big, loving hug to everyone,
Peggy

Thursday already??? The week just zipped by!

Bj, you have a heart of gold. What a difficult decision... (((hugs!)))

Hi Peg, it's really all about being healthy, isn't it?

Hurray, Ivamae! "weigh" to go!

WoW! Raeanne!! That's great news! Are you working out too?

Hello, Sally ; )

Patti, I love your new pup pic!

I have bee doing interval training on the treadmill(fast walk/short runs) and can feel a difference. Thought I might get a medicine ball and see if I can improve my balance and coordination. (good thing Mom didn't name me Grace, is all I can say... Lol) Might try yoga class with a friend next Monday, too. Still haven't done Zumba. Anyone have thoughts/experience?

off to make visits!

tikanis

Hi Guys!

Thursday already!!!!

It's nicer outside today, but 40 degrees is TOO cold for me!

Just checking in to say hey...

Good Friday all,

It's this cold out this morning!

BJ, I would consider 40 degrees to be summer time right now! Every morning is well below zero here, double digits in fact, and it's getting old! We are lucky if the days warm up to 20 degrees! I keep telling myself just another month and the worst will be over.

In spite of the weather I am getting out and enjoying this week. It's been almost a week without a snow storm! I can hardly believe it. It's been most incredible.

Tikanis, Zumba is just plain fun and a good workout is the bonus! Go for it.

What is everyone up to this weekend?

Hi,

We managed to miss the possibility of major snowstorm over night and into today. So I'm hoping to get outside today and shovel a path to the trailer I'm trying to clear out and a path to my kindling pile. The recent snow and winds have blown the snow in that area to 2 1/2 feet and more.

I've had a horrid two weeks of being Miss Piggy Face - finding everything really challenging. I lost a pound on Monday and now I'm up 2 lbs.

I think I'm peri-menopausal. Normally you could set your watch by my period. It was not only a week late but I've had one full week of spotting and now I've started having a heavier flow into the second week. Totally abnormal for me. I've been confused - a lot of walking into rooms and forgetting why I'm there, can't finish sentences because I'm at a loss for words and getting stuck on the wrong names for people. I look really tired and have been put on sedatives again. And for the first time in years I'm having mild cramps. Just not Peggy at all.

I have a scheduled appointment with a new doctor at the end of Feb. I have been documenting all of this on my calendar and will now resume to tracking my period with comments about it again.

I feel knackered and "off". Drinking lots of fluids, have a craving lately for tea during the day and fighting hard to stick to my daily goals for meals. I never normally crave meats but I have been pigging out almost every third day. I hope this passes soon. It's uphill the last two weeks.

I'd welcome any advice on this. I am no where near wanting any HRT if I am in the change of life.

So that's my latest challenge. Mentally I with my goals but physically it's been hard.

Today I'm playing again with my seeds.

Today is our 16th anniversary--Dave's & mine.

Peg~I'm not sure I can give you any good advice but I'm certain Tikanis can or someone here. (Thinking b/c Tikanis is a nurse.)

Tikanis~Thanks for commenting about the dog. Now we are getting 2. Can hardly wait. I'm so excited. Have already bought most the things we need for them. :)

BJ~Hugs [[[ ]]] You are such a Dear. I would be an emotional wreck. You cannot imagine what I went through when the lady asked me to take the 2nd dog. They are rescue dogs. They weren't abused per se. They were taken out of puppy mills. We didn't have the money to pay what she wanted for the 1st dog plus the deposit for both at the apartment so she finally decided that she would give both to us so we could apply the money to the deposit. She knew we would give them a good home & that was the most important thing for her.

NH Suzanne~That is one of the most beautiful pictures I've ever seen. It should be sent in to a magazine. Honestly!!!

Sally~I'm glad you listened to me. It really is the truth. I went to the dr today. We haven't been weighing. I was down 5 pounds. Now, that is from 3 months ago but we were on a 2 month vacation & since we have been back we told everyone we were moving & they have wanted us to go out with them & eat sweets plus we have had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Super Bowl, & Valentine's just around the corner. :) Down 5 sounded pretty sweet to me! ;)

Ivamae~I certainly hope I can force myself to walk the dogs in the cold weather. I have gotten them sweaters. I will have to get myself a heavy coat. Hopefully it will start to warm up once we get there. I'm not counting on it though. We were there last year in April & May & froze to death. UGH! I'm definitely going to do the best I can though.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Patti :)

Happy Anniversary Patti and Dave!!! Wishing you a lovely day and many, many more!

xxx...ooo

Happy Anniversary, Patti and Dave!

Wish I could linger, but an old friend is coming to visit today and I don't have a maid - ha, so need to do some quick picking up around here. To complicate things, my washing machine of only 3 years went on the blink yesterday, and parts have to be ordered, so it won't be fixed until next Thursday or Friday!

Bigger problem is this, and advice is needed and welcomed. Yesterday was DH's second chemo, and he was not able to have it because of his low platelets. His run low, anyway, but one of the chemo drugs that he is taking also effects them. So, I googled and bought some foods that are supposed to help - nuts, green leafy vegetables, cabbage, oranges, tomatoes, V8 juice. If you know of anything else, please let me know. He hates V8 juice and is not a fan of tomatoes, but I might force them down him (since he's not yet experiencing nausea.)

I bought some Kyolic, (Aged Garlic Extract) because it had all sorts of wonderful things written about it. Then I read where people with platelets disorders should be careful. So, unless one of you can tell me otherwise, I guess I'll be the only one taking Kyolic.

Thanks, in advance, for any advice. Hope everyone stays warm and healthy this weekend. We're supposed to be warming up, starting today. Yea!

Wodka~I wish I knew of something but I don't. Hopefully Tikanis will know.

Thanks for the well wishes. We had a lovely day. I am one of the most Blessed women alive to be married to this man of mine! :)

Jan - I believe red cabbage is better than green and I also believe berries are good as well as foods high in omega 3. He must be a bit frustrated. Glad your friend came for a visit.

McPeg - sounds like all my symptoms from peri-menopause. Go for a blood test. My Dr. put me on natural supplements and I felt better almost immediately.

Happy Anniversary to Dave & Patti.

BJ - I'm with Suzanne and would love to see 40 - they say it might happen this week, but I will believe when I feel it.

Tikanis - I am working out too, but not as much as I used to. I am impressed by your workout - I think interval training is the best.

Gotta run, have dinner on the stove.