oh my goodness april, i am so sorry. being laid off/unemployed is so stressful. my dad has been through about 10-12 career/job positions in his adult life, and it has always been so difficult on the family each time he gets let go. :( it's just the nature of his business, but so sad.
you are in my thoughts, and i hope he is able to find something new right away. positive thoughts and hugs for you .....

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Carrie
156/154/135

that's awful. You don't seem to get any breaks.
but I am seeing ads for Oracle DBs all the time in the paper - hope he finds something else quickly. He should be able to keep the insurance (Cobra) until he finds something else, hopefully.
That is just horrible.

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Mary Kay
2009 WW - 228 / 199

I want a Christmas Onederland!!

Yeah, I've been e-mailing Oracle DBA jobs to him all morning from dice.com and monster.com. He doesn't do the financial end of Oracle, such as PeopleSoft, though.

The good thing is that the job market is a little more open this time than last time he was unemployed.

Hopefully he'll find something.......soon. :(

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April

The face of a child can say a lot -- especially the mouth part of the face.

My Blog

Oh April, I just sent you an IM and then came in here and read this. I am so sorry John lost his job. That is awful. On top of everything else that you all have gone through. Well if it is any consellation they say the first year is the toughest so things should be turning around for yall real soon! LOL. I will be praying for ya girl and John too. When one door closes another one opens up. Keep your chin up. It will work out. Hugs... Anita

Well, I faxed two resumes with cover letters this morning for John. Everyone cross your fingers that something comes of it.

Today marks 31 days cheat-free for me. I'm hanging in there. Not much of an appetite the past three days since TOM started and then ended. Might have something to do with taking the Zoloft, too. I dunno. Sitting here at my desk just now trying to force myself to eat half a grilled hamburger with cheese. I have greenbeans, too, but I'm already full.

I'll eat a large salad tonight for dinner.

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April

The face of a child can say a lot -- especially the mouth part of the face.

My Blog

Thank God Ivan isn't pounding my in-laws in Florida like Frances did! They moved permanently to Florida two days after Charley hit, and were without electric for three days. They endured the wrath of Frances with their windows and doors boarded up with plywood, and were bracing again for Ivan, but he seems to have taken a different course. My mother-in-law told me that they picked a heckuva time to move to Florida! I'm glad they're safe.

Tuesdays are my weigh-in days and the scale said 209.5 this morning. I'm down 8.5 pounds since August 10th, and today marks 35 days of being cheat-free (no sugar and no low carb products).

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April

The face of a child can say a lot -- especially the mouth part of the face.

My Blog

Sounds like your cheat-free plan is really working out well for you. Its getting you through the stress times, and you are LOSING!!! Great Job.

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Mary Kay
2009 WW - 228 / 199

I want a Christmas Onederland!!

Today marks 41 days cheat-free for me. I almost caved yesterday, however. The Post Alpha Bits cereal was calling my name -- loudly. But that happened only after I imbibed in some alcohol, which I haven't done in over three months. I had some popcorn last night instead of the cereal, and this morning I'm glad that I did not eat the sugar. Last night I half-jokingly said to John: "If you really loved me, you'd get me some NSA ice cream!" He countered: "I really love you so I'm here to help keep you on track in moments of weakness." He pointed out to me that I was 40 days cheat-free. I said something about what's going to happen when I'm 362 days cheat-free, could I have the NSA ice cream then? He said that I could have anything I want, whenever I want. IT's all about choices.

Gotta love that man.

So, I made it through last night. It's coming up on the week before my period and I'm going to be craving sugar badly. But at least I recognize it for what it is, and I can prepare to tell myself no.

I really wonder if I could make it 362 days cheat-free. Hmmm. I'm already prepared to make it through Halloween cheat-free, and that will be 82 days. Hmmm. I wonder why this is so important to me. Perhaps it's because things in my life are so unstable just now and this is the only thing I know that I can control. Formulating a plan for 362 days here. Why not make it an even year? Why not shoot for 365 days? I just may.

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April

The face of a child can say a lot -- especially the mouth part of the face.

My Blog

The calendar says that TOM won't hit until October 4th. However, I'm having every symptom in the book of the dreaded "week before" TOM. My face developed two -- not one, but TWO -- zits, and I'm craving sweet things at night like crazy. In order to steer clear of the Pop Tarts, sugar-laden cereals in the pantry, and Little Debbie Cakes, not to mention the raspberry danish and the bowl of chocolate fudge on the table, I've eaten frozen cherries and blackberries (home frozen from raw) and popcorn at night two nights this week. I realize that those are not good choices for me, but it's better than eating the sugar. Also, I know that this, too, shall pass...hopefully soon.

Today marks 43 days without sugar or low carb products. Once TOM decides to start, the cravings will pass and I will be able to get through without all of the high glycemic foods. At least it's not sugar that I'm consuming, and I'm taking a cue from Dixie (goddess): I'm done feeling guilty about my food choices when I know that what I'm eating isn't an all-out binge of sugar. I used to feel guilty for over-eating fruit, thought I had "blown it" for the day, and then I would eat everything I could get my hands on. I don't do that any longer, and I'm glad.

By the way.....at what age does one stop getting zits? I've just about had it with them.

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April

The face of a child can say a lot -- especially the mouth part of the face.

My Blog

Good for you April! That's a lot of cheat free days under your belt.
(I don't think we ever lose the ability to get zits.)

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]

Zits are forever, I think. I was kind of hoping that after I developed wrinkles that they'd go away entirely. There's nothing so aggravating as having wrinkles and zits on the same face ... 'specially if it's mine.

On the bright side, it proves I still got skin ... so I'm still alive and have some sort of hormones running around in my system.

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Yesterday I had to go check out the computer monitor at the banding line where they band the mults of steel after they are slit. I was standing in front of the terminal, continuously hitting CTRL L and every other combination of CTRL whatever to get the damn thing to clear the screen (stupid UNIX piece of crap) when, just behind me, I heard a loud creak and I instinctively jumped far to the left side. It's a very good thing I did because a very thin mult of steel, which was sitting on the scales, fell forward.

Now, lemme explain something here. We receive 40,000-pound steel master coils into our facility. We slit those master coils into thinner coils, if you will, and then band those thinner coils -- called mults. It was one such mult which fell over while I was standing there. It landed 1/4 inch from the back of my heel. If I hadn't had jumped out of the way, the mult would have hit the back of my legs just at the knees.

That one thin mult weighed 12,400 pounds. That's more than what a car weighs.

I surely would have lost my legs. There's just no two ways about it. If that coil would have hit me, the force of impact would have taken my legs right off my body and I would have bled to death waiting for an ambulance.

Yanno what? It scared me and I was shaking for about five minutes afterwards, and then went on about my day. I think the meds the doc has me on are working. I am no longer going ballistic and no longer become overwhelmed about things. I could care less just now that the flower beds in front of my house need weeding badly. I'll get to it when I get to it. There's piles o'work for me to do at work but, hey, I'll get it done when I can. There's dishes to do right now in the sink in the kitchen. I'll do them tonight after work and, if not, OH WELL.

I think I'm getting better.

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April

The face of a child can say a lot -- especially the mouth part of the face.

My Blog

april, THANK GOODNESS your are ok! what a blessing. i am SO happy to hear that you are feeling better - sounds like you are taking everything in stride. enjoy your weekend.

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Carrie
156/154/135

I am so glad you are feeling better april... its nice when SOMETHING can help you feel that way....

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kims SECOND journal is HERE
kims new blog
KIMS BLOG !!
SUGARFREE BLOG

Thank God you are okay! That was way too close for comfort. Please be very careful when you have to be back there in that department.

I love the new attitude! Didn't you say you were taking Zoloft? My mom is on that and she swears by it. I was on it but could not afford it for long enough to get any benefit out of it. Anyway, I am just glad you are alright. Hugs..Anita