I think that when you weight 300-400+ pounds that those 5-10lb losses are typical. I know for myself that my first 22 pounds went fast and the last 10 are really being stubborn. Just my theory.

WARNING - Heavy Answer Below: QOD - that is tough to just pick one thing. I have had a lifetime filled with challenges, from growing up with an alcoholic mother to losing a sister from developing panic attacks to losing both parents close together. I think the biggest challenge has been to overcome low self-esteem, yes, you heard right. No one believes me that know's me now, that I had the worse self-esteem and was so painfully shy, I would rather die than be in most public situations. Contrary to that I did have a very independent nature, brought on by the fact that as a child I had to fend for myself a lot of the time. I don't really know how I overcame it, but it had a lot to do with my children and wanting them to grow up with a much stronger role model. Groomingal - you have a plateful. I admire your ambition and doing what is important to you. I am sure your family will benefit from this change (even though at times you may wonder). Good luck with the house purchase. I love how the internet can help people connect. Look at us here. Milkdud - I will keep little Aubrie in my thoughts and prayers. You have some nerve mentioning 78 degrees. It is a whopping 26 right now LOL. Marci - Enjoy your Easter dinner. It is just DH and me this year. Not sure what we are going to do. Suzanne - I replied to your email yesterday, but noticed afterwards that the reply email was very different than the one's I know. Let me know if you didn't get it. Thanks for the walrus link - how adorable. Patti - I still have a Bok Tower postcard you sent me. Give Dave a hug from me for being so good to you. McPeg - thanks for the pep talk - it is much needed and appreciated LOL. I have been fighting a cold for a couple of days. Yesterday it won, today I am ahead. Speaking of Easter - Hey BJ if you are out there - I can't walk by a peep these days without thinking of you. Have a wonderful Easter everyone. I miss dying eggs, shopping for cute little dresses, hiding eggs, and sneaking a piece of chocolate before breakfast.

We're sort of in between Frisco and Ada, but both are well east of I35, Lone Jack, and we are a bit west of it. I was watching the radar like a hawk. At about this time last year, the same places from Denton to Frisco had horrible hail storms (widespread baseball to softball sized and also tennis ball sized sort of along the edges of the bigger hail) about two weeks apart. So very many homes, cars, etc. were just demolished....and so was a lot of landscaping, gardens, etc. Ada's bigger worry was the storm that put down several funnel clouds, but I've only heard of a couple of structures being damaged. Maybe the news of more damage just isn't getting out yet. While the funnels were the feared thing that sent folks scurrying for shelter, it seems like a lot of the actual damage was more from wind and hail. Our electric co-op also has a lot of customers in the Ada area. We had about 100 homes without electricity here while they replaced poles that snapped in half, but Ada had closer to 600 when I checked the co-op's webpage outage map last night. We have a great electric co-op and I know the linemen were out working hard to restore power just as soon as the lightning was far enough away that it was safe for them to be out there. I appreciate them so much. Frisco is one of my favorite towns. It used to be a small quiet country town but has grown at a huge rate very quickly and has become so big that some folks now joke that Frisco is the big city and Dallas is the suburb. (Dallas and Dallasites don't care for this joke at all.) Even though Frisco is big and very developed, I still like it. Somehow the city leaders have worked to keep the same level of friendliness that you have in a small town, and the developers have worked hard with landscaping and such to make all the concrete development more appealing. When I want a day of shopping (which is rare) for something other than groceries and garden supplies, Frisco is my top choice of places to go. Ada is much smaller---maybe 6,000 or 7,000 people and still very rural/semi-rural. I've only been there a couple of times. I like it fine. The people there are great. I hope they can bounce back quickly from all the storm damage. I have to sing the praises of modern batteries. We were careful to have all our phones and laptop/tablet batteries charged fully before the storm hit, so even though we lost power we were not completely cut off from the world. We still were able to communicate by phone and text message, and had Facebook on and off. The internet was on and off, but off for good after the power died, and the storm knocked out the satellite TV long before the actual storm conditions arrived here. Even our fire radios were quiet for quite a while (I'm guessing they may have had a power issue or a repeater issue in town for a bit) but then they came back to life. Even without the radios we could communicate with other first responders via the GroupMe app on our cell phones. I remember the old days when you went to the tornado shelter with your flashlight and that was about it. Now we can take our cell phones, laptops, fire radios, etc. and not feel quite so cut off from civilization, and it is so much better than way. The images of car windshields and back windows completely demolished by hail are just stunning. I know we see photos like that every year---and not just in TX and OK but also from many other states, and yet, seeing them shocks me every time. The power of Mother Nature in raging thunderstorms and tornadoes is awesome indeed. We are in the Enhanced risk area again for tomorrow unless something changes. We had been in the Enhanced risk area yesterday but then they upgraded us to Moderate risk yesterday morning, so we did expect trouble. The best thing I can say is that maybe the rain will make us green up more quickly and cause a corresponding drop in the fire activity. Stay safe, everyone. This week's weather isn't looking real friendly.

11/10 - Page 3 and it was good and worth picking up. Multiple page quotes are just more I can read & react to so early in the morning, generally I get to quotes when "first light" appears in the sky and dawn cracks, but I was up in "the middle of the night" with coffee, so-called news and so-called weather and doing my duties as demanded by my owners, the 4 feline club.