About bed time. Got the radio on so I can dance and clean. Friends come over Saturday evening after we get done with construction so I make sure the house is in order Friday. Have a good weekend everyone!
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Barb - What a great birthday present!!! / Enjoy the symphony! / Thanks on the encouragement on my weight loss challenge!
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Shelley - Thanks too for the encouragement!! Tomorrow is final day before weigh in! I should be able to get in plenty of exercise at the work site. / What a beautiful corduroy jacket!! Nothing like shopping to bring a big smile to a gals face.

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Morning!! Up early this morning getting everyone ready for the day. We'll be taking the kids to Grandma's house 7:30am to be watched while we head out to the work site. The sun has been setting an early 7pm so we don't have much time to work in the evening. Hope you all have a blessed day!

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Hi Gang!

We are a BUSY bunch!!

Barb: Congrats for buying a new car. Sounds great.

Shel: Wow, you scored big on shoes and on tops! I got a new pair(or three) of "Fit-Flops" at Macy's yesterday. (I have the pink, tan, and red. I bought the black patent, silver and lime green) They are about the only things I wear these days. My toes are still not comfortable in closed shoes. Luckily, our weather lets us wear open shoes most of the year. These have enough arch support and support in the sole that I can walk in them quite well. In fact, I managed to knock off almost 10,000 steps yesterday walking in the Mall. Dh had gone there to register voters. I wore my Obama shirt throughout the Mall and got wonderful smiles from a LOT of people. But, I shopped. I also got some new makeup from Sephora. I have never been in one of their stores. I don't wear makeup much anymore. But, I did a silly thing the other night: I use a women's electric razor to shave the stray hairs off my chin and lip, and to shave the long blonde fuzzies off my cheeks. Well, before the concert I was looking in my 10X mirror and saw that my eyebrows really needed plucking. So much so that it would probably take me a week to do it. So I started with my razor. I managed to shave half of one eye's lashes, and most of one eyebrow before I decided to stop. Soooooooooo, I needed to buy something to simulate an eyebrow before it grows back. I DO have tatoos on my eyebrows, but they are very light and don't hide the natural hairs that WERE there . Oh well. Chalk it up to an experiment I won't do again. My roommate in Cape Cod had a little "trimmer" that she bought at Wal-Mart. It wasn't much bigger than a pencil. I think I'll look at something like that!

Bren: Good to see you checking in, my friend.

Judy: Sounds like you are getting settled in on the semester and the routine.

Alida: Whatca doin?

This afternoon we are going to dh's dd's for dinner. This is the one that got canceled at the last minute two weeks ago. We are taking Sweet Pea with us. We're both a little nervous about it, but she misses us SO much when we are gone. And, our decision in getting her was to have her with us as much as possible. Bren, I got her a middle sized crate, and she is SO much happier with it. She goes in and out with ease now, and actually lays in it once in a while. We are taking it with us this afternoon just in case we need somewhere to pluck her to keep her contained. I hope that we won't have to use it, but it does seem to give her some comfort. I see her behavior being just what I've read about about crates. She is pretty house trained now. The secret for her seems to have been a steady routine. Also, we quit feeding her so much and that seems to have helped too. The trainer suggested that we buy her some "pig's ears" to chew on. I ran across them in the pet stor and bought one. Ohmigawd! She loves it. She chews on that thing constantly. I am amazed! Reminds me that she is an ANIMAL. Sometimes I have to be reminded of that because I confuse her for a BABY. Sigh.

Gotta jet and get ready for the inevitable lunch. Gonna rain her today. It's only 65 degrees. That's low for us.

Love ya,
Peg

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"Live the questions and some day you will live along into the answers."
Rainer Marie Rilke

Atkins since 2003
5'8" 206.4/197/175
65 years young

flying by....
hope everyone is having a grrrreat weekend! Not much shakin' here in the heartland, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I spent over 90 minutes ironing[summer clothes] this afternoon...ack! I am ready for fall; hoping that the next time the shorts and capris are laundered, they can just be folded and put away for next season and not have to be ironed and worn again this year.
I belong in the mountains....I neeeeeeed to be in the mountains

OK...off to shower and put the jammies on and maybe watch some hgtv.

(((hugs all around)))
s

__________________
Shelley


Visit Kassie's Korner


"A goal without a plan is just a wish."
--Antoine de Saint Exupery

I’m SOONER born,
And SOONER bred,
And when I die,
I’ll be SOONER dead!
GO SOONERS!
I be ready for some football!

One little walker-runner Dude for every 10 miles!

Sunday morning...hope ya'll are finding some ways to have fun this weekend.

Heather, I know you're working hard. But what a lovely prospect: a new home, a new neighborhood.

Peg, I'm happy to hear things are going well with Miss Sweet Pea. Sounds like you learned a lot from the trainer that's working for all of you. Pets AND children are happy with routine and discipline (that is to say, clear expectations).
Come to think of it, most spouses are, too!

Shelley, we've been having such beautiful weather. I'm not unhappy with the prospects of winter (ice skating time!), but this lovely fall can go on endlessly, as far as I'm concerned. It's the best of all worlds.

My sister and I spent five hours yesterday at the VA hospital ER with our dad. He's been complaining of back pain. It's a long story, but basically it's just one more episode in the difficult journey of getting old. (He's 92) We are thankful for the excellent people and excellent care at the KC VA. The new car has already proved to be a practical choice.

I'm hoping to get to an outdoor art show today. I know I don't want to stay indoors.

Blessings to all.

__________________
Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

Good morning!

So much going on ... Barb, a new car! That is wonderful! Is this the car in the Mazda commercial that says it's all new ... completely redesigned? I will have to take a closer look. Is your Dad back at home now or still in the hospital? You are lucky your sister lives in town and you can support one another.

Peg, those fit-flops look great! Macy's huh? I just may pop in a get a pair and wear them around the house instead of slippers. Here's hoping your dinner with DD goes through without a hitch this time. I know what you mean about treating SP like a baby. It's really easy when the pet is a small dog or cat, but I did it with a 100 pound Lab. The whole family made fun of me because I used to hold his rawhide bone while he would chew away. This was "our" time. He would get his bone and drop it at my feet. Then I would get on the floor and hold one end of the bone while he chewed the other end. OK. So I was an idiot.

LOL about your home's "toilet button." I wonder if there are any statistics on that ... like 45% of all heart attacks or strokes occur while sitting on the toilet. Actually, those thingys one can wear around the neck look like a good idea. Remember that commercial ... "I have fallen and I can't get up." ? I think I saw somewhere that the phrase has actually been copyrighted by the company that makes the thingy.

Heather, you are brave for having a contest with your husband. It's been my experience that men always seem to lose more weight faster! But you are doing great!

Shelley, the pictures are gorgeous! (They always are!) So, you actually iron your summer clothes before you put them away? Wow. I am impressed! I am lucky if they get washed before I transfer them to another closet. Congrats on the good shopping scores ... and a whew! on being able to exchange for your size back in OK. Did I ever mention that Bob's daughter has moved just outside of OKC? They moved from a small town in Colorado because the last snow just did them in. Her husband is in banking and got a job as a loan VP. Hmm. I should check to make sure he still has his job.

And speaking of loans and banks ... I drove past a big car lot the other day and there was a huge sign in the window: "Credit Crisis? NOT HERE!" Which now brings me to a question I forgot to ask Barb -- did you have any problems getting a loan for you car? Perhaps you paid cash???

Brenda, no fair just popping in! What's happening in Chi town? Are you really enjoying your new job? I know it is a big change for you.

A big hello to all those I missed. I have to get an early start today. We bought the rest of the stone edging for the front yard today and I want to get them down. There is also wash and ironing (the bare minimum to get me through the week) and making some crock pot stuff, Donna's muffins, and other miscellaneous stuff. I sorta blew yesterday off. Bob and I finally used his DD's gift certificate last night. It was for a $$$ restaurant. (Barb -- The Blue Stem in Westport). It's a very small, dark and cozy place in a very old building. Sorta eclectic. The chef is supposed to be really excellent with lots of awards on the wall. OK. The food was good and the wine excellent. But they have to spend 5 minutes explaining how the food ordering works. And there are not a lot of choices. But I got a salad that I had to send back because of the salt. And Bob complained that his main entrée was too salty. I mean, I have eaten in many top restaurants all over the world. I never remember having to return a dish because it is too salty. Then, on top of it all, we could not use the gift certificate for the tip! Bob was going to give her $30 (we would still have $20 left on the certificate) but they told us the certificate cannot be used for a tip. So she got a $20 and we have $50 left on the certificate, which we will probably never use. Hmm. I wonder if we should stand outside the restaurant and try to sell it!! Craig's List? Am I becoming an old curmudgeon?

Have a great day! XXOO

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Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

*picture me doing a little dance to these words...I won, I won, I won, I won, I WON! Yeah!!! / I won the weight loss competition for the week with over 5 pounds lost to DH 3. Yeah!! I worked my tail off this week. With my $$ I'll be going to Salvation Army Friday sale day to see what goods I can find. I'll have a bit of extra funds that day so I can get Charlie some new pants. He is playing pretty hard and has been getting holes in his pants. Here is to the 1st day of the new challenge week!!
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Peg - Have a good dinner tonight with all your family which of course includes your dear Sweat Pea.
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Shelley - How is your back today?
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Barb - Sorry to hear about your dad but happy that he is being well taken care of. Hope you are able to enjoy the art show today with no worries.
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Alida - That is so weird about not being able to use the extra $$ for a tip. That happened to my sister a few months back at a beauty salon and since she didn't have a cent on her the lady didn't get a tip. What a weird policy.

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Hey Heather!!! Congratulations! You worked your butt off to win--literally. I have to hand it to you, though--not many of us would use our hard-earned winnings to buy new pants for the kid. Save some for a treat for you, okay?

Alida, I've never been to Blue Stem. We'll wait for a special occasion--and maybe a gift certificate? We did enjoy Cafe Trio on Broadway, which is soon moving to a location on the Plaza (where Frondizi's used to be). We both had birthday gift certificates from Cafe Trio, but they'd only let us use one per table. So...there's always a catch to those things.

A lot of car dealers are offering 0% financing on new car purchases. However, this car was a long-planned purchase, so I wrote a check for it. The guy at one dealership said, "Go ahead and get 0% and leave your money in the bank drawing interest." However, I'm just not interested in time payments anymore, and it felt good to drive away in a car that's simply MINE.

It's not the Mazda6 they've been advertising so heavily. It's a Mazda3, a smaller sedan, very spiffy.

The art show in the park was great--and a fine day to be outdoors. Now I'm going to settle in for the evening with a book, a movie, or whatever else seems right. See you tomorrow, girlfriends!

__________________
Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

Barb, Congrats on the new car. I hope you got a good deal by paying cash. Those 0% loans usually include a jacked up price to help cover the costs that might be earned through the interest paid on the loan. Honestly, I'm surprised that they dealer wasn't jumping at the chance to get some cash. His loan potential is also tied to possible tightening in the credit markets.

Alida, You are putting in stone, and we just removed some. Years ago we had a portion of a bed next to the driveway that was rock. Last week DH dug it all out and added some top soil so that the English Ivy could take over the area. Wish I could send you my rocks.......

Heather, Congrats on your victory. Darned men. They are hard to beat.

Shel, Step away from the iron....... step away from the iron (you too Alida). Haven't you people discovered things that don't have to be ironed? I rarely iron. Blouses and shirts go to the laundry. I allow myself that luxury. I don't have a housekeeper, so that's one thing I do allow. You can be sure that I don't iron anything that is worn at home. Heck, I don't even buy it if ironing is a major factor.

Peg, I think I want some of those shoes. I checked the website and as I suspected, the closest place to find any is in Tyler or Dallas. Oh well, looks like another shopping responsibility for the next Dallas trip. Bath and Bodyworks had some on their website earlier this year. Maybe they still do.

Shout out to everyone else......... I've put off doing some school planning stuff to the last last minute. Now I can't put it off anymore. The current goal is to have it finished by the time Desperate Housewives comes on.

Have a good week everyone!

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Judy
Goal = <135, Current status = RIGHT ON TARGET!
Never give up. Never never never never give up -- Winston Churchill

hi guys,

per my entry in the exercise thread:
always something. d*mn! Probably the long car trip home last week(back felt a little wonky while on vacation), some heavy duty cleaning yesterday (and today), and the session with the iron yesterday culminated the event.

Yes, but for summer, I like cotton fabrics and they simply need to be ironed, despite being touted as *wash and wear* or *easy care*, yatta, yatta, yatta. Or, if you don't buy that explanation, then how about OCD???? Truthfully, I was just pretty much raised to iron everything...at least *touch it up* as my nana used to say. In my defense, I can tell you, at least I do NOT iron the pillowcases anymore like I had to do growing up.

Heather...a BIG CONGRATS on that 5 lb loss!
Alida...hope your stone work today went off without a hitch.

Barb...did you score any art from the show? I'm about ready to start hanging artwork and try to get this re-decorating project headed towards the finish line.(still window treatments and ordering another chair as well as deciding on the accent tables). Never ending process it seems...just ask my DH...LOL!

Peg...you poor dear. I'm soooooo sorry, but I have to tell you....I definitely LOL when I read your (mis)adventures shaving the eyebrows/lashes. OK...straight face now....I'm sorry you had a hard time. I've seen a little gizmo advertised on TV that's called a *Tweezee* or something like that. Maybe that would help?

Bren, Bert, Susie, and anyone I missed(?)...big waves! Hope you all are well.

And, hey...isn't our Donna due back from holidays anytime now??? I don't like it when all of the chickadees are not accounted for, yanno!

Off to put my feet up and watch some hgtv until DH comes on.
Life is good!

(((hugs to all)))
s

__________________
Shelley


Visit Kassie's Korner


"A goal without a plan is just a wish."
--Antoine de Saint Exupery

I’m SOONER born,
And SOONER bred,
And when I die,
I’ll be SOONER dead!
GO SOONERS!
I be ready for some football!

One little walker-runner Dude for every 10 miles!

Thinking of my dad this evening and missing him. I haven't seen him in over a year since he and my stepmom moved to Tennessee. He is my best friend and we did everything together. July 2009 my house will be done and they are going to fly up with my brother and family to stay for awhile. I can't wait!! My dad turns 58 on October 11th and I'll be sure to call him and wish him a Happy Birthday then.
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Bard - I will buy something pretty for me too. / Enjoy a nice relaxing evening Barb.
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Judy - Thanks!! I'm loving the victory! Here is to another good week! / Hope you got everything done in time to enjoy Desperate Housewives!
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Shelley - Thank you!! 5 pounds in one week feels amazing! / Take care of yourself this evening and hope you get comfortable without any back problems.

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Ahhh, the eyebrow/eyelash fiasco........ how did I miss commenting on it. Yes, I laughed, but I definitely felt your pain. Hope you found some good temporary cover up make-up.

__________________
Judy
Goal = <135, Current status = RIGHT ON TARGET!
Never give up. Never never never never give up -- Winston Churchill

Hi guys....we're back. We didn't get home until late this afternoon and worked like crazy to get the motorhome totally emptied and cleaned for winter. Tomorrow dh will take it back to town to get any appraisal on getting the damages fixed. Yes, Alida, we were still in Canada when it happened so I'm hoping it won't be a big deal.

I've done about 5 loads of laundry already with 4 more to go tomorrow. Everything else is put away. Only 1/2 hour until bedtime...and it's looking pretty good right now.

Poor Tia went crazy when he saw us. He keeps climbing onto my lap and gets upset when I have to put him down. He seems to be sneezing a lot..can cats get a cold?

I totally lost it with lc eating this last week. Hoping the scale won't be too unkind to me tomorrow morning. By Thursday night I'd just had it with caring for dmil while dh got to do whatever he wanted and I had a mini meltdown in a corner of the casino. I actually hid from her!! That's just too stupid. But, I just needed a minute to gather myself and be alone for a bit. It took a few minutes for her to find me and by then I was okay. I'm soooo glad to be home and get back into my routine. She's already talking about the next trip she can take with us.....AAAAAKKKKKK!

Sorry this is all about me. I need to get my head back in place and get back into my routine and then I will be happy. It wasn't the greatest vacation for me catering to everyone else. I did have one happy minute when I got to go into a scrapbooking store in Washington....and I took my sweet time in there. lol Back to work tomorrow...I'm even looking forward to that, but it's going to be crazy. I missed you all...sorry I didn't post more but I couldn't get on the internet. Talk to you all soon.

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Donna
238.5/173.4/150
I will see my goal weight again

Good morning!

Welcome home Donna! I am sorry the trip with your dmil didn't work out as well as you had hoped. At least you didn't have to do invoices. As for cats getting colds ... maybe it's just an allergy or sniffing something (dust, etc.) you brought home with you?? Perhaps coming home has disturbed the dust in you home and more of it is floating in the air? Now, I am not saying you are a bad housekeeper!

Heather, congratulations on winning the contest! Five pounds is fantastic!

Shelley, LOL. When guests come to stay for a few days, I will iron the pillowcases!

Judy, oh, I would love to have your rocks! That is a problem ... what to do with them when you don't want them anymore! Actually, I had lots of problems. When I first bought 3 of each type of edging (3 inner curves, 3 outer curves and 3 straight) I laid them down to where I liked a certain area, then lifted them out to continue the outline ... counting how many of each I would need. Problem is, I did not keep a master plan of which curve went where. I just doesn't look right, yanno? So I decided to wait until next weekend to fiddle with it and when I can have Bob's input. The uprooting and new plants will have to wait until Spring. With this little surprise in our economy and having a rather hefty debt (driveway and appliances) we decided to wait.

Peg: just like Judy, I forgot to mention how hard I laughed at your brow/lash fiasco. I do remember seeing a thingy advertised on TV. It was for men, but I see a woman using it very easily. The Neil Diamond concert sounded fantastic! Barb mentioned he is coming to KC! Maybe I will mosey to his site and check the dates ....

Barb, how lucky you were able to pay cash for the car. Also very wise! I think it was Judy who mentioned that $0 financing would have increased the cost of the car. I know our preference for 30 months financing instead of 18 months for our appliances did raise the price a little. But we crunched the numbers and felt it was better for us to have a lower monthly payment in case something happens. We actually were thinking more along the lines of one of us getting sick and not able to work ... not that the economy would have a meltdown!

Hello to everyone! Have a great day. XXOO

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Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

It's Monday and I didn't dare step on the scale since TOM is visiting. Thankfully it'll be gone by Sundays weigh in so it shouldn't effect all the hard work done. Ordered a real cute Curves alarm clock with a picture of a lady heading to the gym on the front while I was there and a carb/calorie/water counter for DH. I know I shouldn't help him stay on track to keep up my winning streak but I know the harder he works the harder I work too. Here is to another great week!
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Donna - Welcome back!!
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Alida - Thank you, those 5 pounds were hard earned. / Have a great week!

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