WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY 2014

Katla49

I'm turning 55 tomorrow, and debating the birthday cake. I've had the same kind each year for my entire life, and am not sure that I'm willing to forgo it. I'm thinking that maybe I should just make a small cake, instead of the full-size version, so there will be less damage. :ohwell:
Jane in Colorado

Last summer I wanted to make blackberry Kuchen, a lifelong favorite. I followed the recipe as always, but made cupcakes instead of the sheet cake I usually make. I had one and popped the rest into the freezer. They're holding well, and I've been able to have one occasionally as a treat and not go over my calorie goals. It is worth thinking about. I also put the recipe into the recipe calculator here and divided by 12 for 12 cupcakes, so I know what my treats are "costing" me. If you like the idea and anyone asks, you can tell them you've decided on a second childhood for your birthday gift to yourself.

Katla in foggy NW Oregon

Laura80111

I'm turning 55 tomorrow, and debating the birthday cake. I've had the same kind each year for my entire life, and am not sure that I'm willing to forgo it. I'm thinking that maybe I should just make a small cake, instead of the full-size version, so there will be less damage. :ohwell: I realized that I hadn't reported on a few things from this past year, since I dropped out for so many months. I've been doing acupuncture for my foot for nearly a year now (sesamoiditis), and it's better. Not cured, but better, so I'm no longer looking at fusing it surgically. Also, I had most of my age spots removed with IPL. It's tough to look in the mirror and find that the face staring back at you doesn't match your mental image.


Laura – Welcome back! We missed you on Saturday, but are glad that you’re getting settled.

Jane in Colorado

Jane I missed being there but am glad that I took the time to get my kitchen in place now I have no excuses for not eating right. The exercise bike is waiting for me so no excuse there either.

:flowerforyou: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TOMORROW:flowerforyou:

Laura80111 in Colorado

janemartin02

Happy mon.Busy am.Hubby had to go for ot to strengenth his hands.
Daughter had an ultrasound to check female organs.
Had lunch,gonna chill before I go to son`s.
HUGS to u all
jane

jmkmomm

Good afternoon beautiful ladieds:flowerforyou: Sun is out for the 2nd day in a row. Hope we can handle that. The chemical spill from West Virginia has gotten to us today. Water department says everything is OK. Some people are going ultra conservative and filled their bath tubs last week to prepare for all this week Me, I'm just doing my usual thing, nothing.

Went to the Y for my Silver Sneaker classic. Was able to do the whole class without sitting anything out. I am wearing my midrise underwear today. Feels really weird. Guess I'll get used to them. Well as you can see, nothing much going on with me today.

Good thoughts to all, hope you that are under the weather are feeling better.

Joyce, Indiana

RebelRenny

:flowerforyou: Joyce, your brother is right in my view. Release the guilt.

I was able to speak with my mom's doctor this morning. I will likely arrange to go over there next week for a week, while things still look pretty good. It is tough to get my mind on other things today, although I have a lot of business things to take care of.

So, I better get to it as this is my day off to get it done.
Renny

jfenner141

Hello my Vit F pals!

Joyce - size 12!! Oh my!!! :happy: I'm looking forward to the day I stop looking at plus sizes. Slowly getting there. I started out at a 30W and now mostly 22W, so there has been a good change over the last couple of years. Just wish it was a bit faster.

Heather - you are stunning in that top! :flowerforyou: Your time in London sounded wonderful.

Meg - glad things are progressing more back to normal for you and Dad is better. Looking forward to seeing you in April. Not sure yet if we'll have a car, but am guessing DH will want to rent one. We're staying with friends a little east of Benson (our old stomping grounds :happy: .

Alison - so glad your brother is showing some positive changes - will keep hoping they continue and he gets his life turned around. Please make sure you take time for yourself - all that stress is really bad for you.

Barbie - glad your anniversary trip was wonderful.

Anyone hear from Pat (Phoo)? Miss her comments.

Waiting for the cold to come again and drinking water!

Jill in western MA

gmom316

Good Afternoon Ladies,

Trying my best to get my week started off on the right path. Got 30 minutes (2 15 minute miles) in on the treadmill this morning but still "owe" another 20 minutes of cardio after dinner. Having my son off school today throws everything off. Took him out to meet a friend at a local gym so they could run while I sat and chatted with his mom, also a friend. We went to the mall food court for lunch and I stayed on track with a Subway 6".
Came home to an Edible Arrangement and got a little crazy with some of the chocolate covered fruit but I will stay within my MFP boundaries today....after that extra 20+ minutes of cardio.

Was not able to go to my mom's doctor's appointment this afternoon, with my son home, so I'm holding my breath for the bad news after the latest CT. As some of you already know, chemo doesn't really work on pancreatic cancer. It's not in her case and I'm wondering if her doctor is going to give her the option to discontinue instead of looking for more drugs that aren't helping anyhow. NOT crazy about her oncologist and her lack of ability of offer up realistic options.

Laughing at mid rise panties. I personally love them because my post hysterectomy belly can hang right over the band : )

janemartin02

Please pray for my good friend Thelma,who had a stroke today.
HUGS
jane

Vickil57

Just checking in. Been areally bad weekend. Ice cream and I did not do well. All I can say is it is gone and not bringing anymore into the house anytime soon. Not even sure why I was eating all weekend. Just know that I am not looking forward to weigh in the morning, but not giving up and today so far I am doing better. I know this is a lifestyle change and one day at a time. Thanks for listening and being here. And most important not giving up on me. Hope others are having a good day and Meg and Alison pray things are looking up for your loved ones.
Blessed, Vicki GI NE

DeeDee2211

Jane Martin Will say a prayer for your friend Thelma, and you too!!!:flowerforyou:

Vicki Don't be too hard on yourself, the ice cream is gone, today is a new day! I had a bad eating weekend too, and I have two dinners to go to this week, some weeks are tougher than others! We will never give up on you, don't give up on yourself!!!!!:flowerforyou:

I'm on my iPad and sometimes I just want to sling it out the door.....it's much easier to type on my laptop!

Have a wonderful evening!

Hugs,
DeeDee in NC where it was warm and sunny:glasses: today and it's supposed to snow tomorrow :huh:

mollywhippet

Good evening friends! I had trouble getting my wifi connection to work today, so I hope this lasts long enough to finish this post.

Today was huge fun! My son and his kids came over for lunch since they are out of school today. I cannot express just how happy those kids make me! My face still hurts from smiling. I made tiny pigs in blankets using little smokies and crescent rolls - which were a huge hit- and deviled eggs, and after lunch we made cookies and played UNO. Afterwards I took the kids to Walmart because my son needed to pick up a prescription and didn't want to drag all three kids along with him. They sang songs all the way.

Then I went to rehab, and when I got home I found that Bruno took a brand new box of Kleenex outside where it must have exploded. Big mess. Bruno is murder on Kleenex. My fault for putting the box on the coffee table.

Tomorrow it's supposed to get really cold again. And I have to go to the lake cabin at 9am tomorrow to meet the plumber. We FINALLY got one to call us back. So it will be cold in the house and there will be no working bathroom, so it will be tricky. I may just leave him there with a key. Hubby printed out photos of the roughed in plumbing from six years ago when we remodeled. It should help because one pipe is broken inside the wall between the kitchen and bathroom. The other broken pipe is under the kitchen sink.

Tomorrow afternoon I am going to my friends house in Joplin for another painting party. We've decided to do it every two weeks.
It's such fun.

Food wise I'm doing pretty well. I've added a few more calories and the weight seems to be coming off a little better. I had one tiny pig-in-blanket and one cookie for lunch, and chili for supper, so I may need a little more food later.

DeeDee, I want to throw my ipad sometimes too, but usually I love it.

Good night!

Sylvia

Gardengail

Another day gone! Busy at work and then I changed and went to Y only to discover they were closed today. wwaaa, wwaaa, wwaaa :ohwell:

Came on home and was surprised to see DH's car in the driveway since he said he worked until 9p. Turns out he mis-remembered his schedule (instead of printing it out, ya know?) and appeared when he was not scheduled. I really wanted to LOL at it, since he just had a big celebration with work people for his 65th birthday and lots of teasing about memory, etc. Other than that, he has done nothing all day (AGAIN!) and is now sleeping in the chair. All kidding aside, his lack of energy/motivation/enthusiasm, etc. does concern me. He forgets a lot of things. His uncle had dementia. sigh.....

Had grilled chicken mixed into some of the leftover mac and cheese, plus steamed broccoli for dinner -- doing the cooking after I got home. Need to go hang permanent press and put away the folded clothes that have been sitting in the laundry in the middle of the living room ALL DAY!! I know, I'm such a whiney-bu** -- I just don't get it! Get up, get on with it. :grumble: :noway: That is my dull update for the day. Sounds like I just need to go to bed again.

Happy Anniversary / Happy Birthday / etc., etc. I read through the posts yet did not keep track of everyone as I went along.

Gail, metro ATL

nccarolb

Well, I survived the 30-day shred from yesterday and forced myself to do it again today. Even as sore as I have been all day, it was still easier today than yesterday. I just KNEW that my arms and shoulders were going to be immobile today since that's what got so tired yesterday. Huge surprise when it was my legs--particularly my quads. Once I get up and moving, it's all fine, but getting up from the chair and taking those first few steps HURT! And, going down steps? Killer! :sad:

Congrats on those size twelves! (I promise that I will learn names some day!) It tickles me to no end that I can consistently fit into fourteens. I think I was in my twenties the last time that happened! :laugh:

It was so pretty outside today! I really hate being cooped up inside all day when it is like this. As someone else said, there's a chance of snow here tomorrow. I don't foresee it happening, but we'll see.

I know some of you have Fitbits. I have a question for you...I have my activity level set as sedentary on both MFP and FB so that I can get a more accurate count. Should I be eating back enough of my calories so that I net at least 1200? If one needs at least 1200 calories per day to be healthy, I would think that I would need to eat them back to that point. However, FB gets in a twit if I go barely beyond the 1200. I hate to ask these questions out in the forums because there are so many rude, mean people who reply to honest questions. And, I don't have the patience to search through everything to see if someone already asked the question.

I think I'm going to bed early tonight. I brought work home but forgot half of what I needed to actually do it. I'm afraid I'm going to have to work this Friday afternoon to get enough time without interruption to complete my year end tasks. :grumble:

Rest well, my friends, and stay warm and safe.

Carol in NC

kimber7668

Hi all,

I have lost 27 pounds so far and it is really getting to me today that I am still so fat! I don't know where the last 20 years have gone, but I do know that I collected over 80 pounds during those 20 inactive years. I have taken up running and logically, I know that I can't do what I did what I did when I was 35, but I still can't believe that I let myself get so out of shape.

OK, enough of the pity party; I'm not giving up - I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal. Yea!!!!!

Thank you for having this board. You all help me keep going on my healthy journey.:flowerforyou:

Kimber in SC

AKcanookie

50 Ladies - good evening Goddesses :laugh: :happy:

:yawn: :grumble: I woke up around 4 am this morning, thinking about work I had to get done today and worrying about my mum. Her appt with the vascular surgeon (OMG he is gorgeous! i nearly pee’d:devil: ) went well, he is so sweet .. like he walked out the pages of GQ or Mens Health.. wow (still rubbing my eyes:blushing: ) He is going to do a special cat scan on her with dye, and she must come off of a couple of her meds prior to protect her kidneys. From there he said they will make a decision weather she needs surgery, or ballooning of what arteries she has - blockages below the knee being the main difficulty. She was left with poor lower leg circulation after they removed veins years ago for her heart bypass surgeries. Neuropathy pain is getting bad but I can only give her ¼ of the med to treat it, any more than that stupifies her so badly she can barely speak or reason. She was so cute with the doctor - I think she was actually flirting with her poor diseased foot in his face:embarassed: . On the plus side she was approved for a heart defib/pacemaker implant, which is a great relief:happy: . Did my weekly weigh in and was down 5 lbs from last week . I know much of it is water and big drops like that are not usual and certainly won’t last but it helps me to think I may reach my first goal sooner than planned - if so - then I can get well on my way to the next 25. I'm down from size 18 pants to 16, and down from 22-24 tops to 18’s. Plantar faciitis was playing up today so no walking workout but did plenty of arm weights, some yoga and pilates stretching.. and hanging upsidedown like a bat on my inversion table .. i’m blonde so the extra blood flow to my head can only be a good thing!! LOL :bigsmile: :laugh: :noway: Have a great evening all, drink your water, log your food, weigh in .. and stand naked in front of your mirror once a week (I hadn't done it in months, now I do every day - wow, what a difference a few pounds make!)

Michelle exermom - did you like the wii Zumba? thanks, i put pic’s of my fur-kids on my blog in in my photo storage here in MFP - everyone is welcome to take a looksee. I miss it when I am here in Canada.. they have the best coconut cake ever!

Katla katla49 - thanks, ol’Winston is one of my personal hero’s. great TEdison quote too! you’re so right about the D3+calcium citrate .. i add a little 5htp in the winter time too, it works well for me

Heather cityjanelondon - hope you get feeling better soon, does anyone in your family address the Haggis? Robert Burns style?

Amanda tiarapants - sorry to hear of the IBS, it can be awful. interesting article on gallstones adn dieting i came across http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/gallstones.htm I wound up with a fatty liver after having gallbladder removal.

DeeDee2211 - drinking lots of water and logging all my food

Joyce jmkmomm - great shopping trip & kudos on the jeans VW has nice comfy stuff .. so i wouldn’t normally ask a person i don’t know well this but “So, how’s it goin with the new underpants?” LOL

grandmallie - i hope your brother is feeling much better

megblair1 - 65! devine! that spinach chicken waterchestnut recommend would be yummy

genhosaddict - welcome, jump right in

Carol nccarolb - that shred sounded tough, the cake & casserole sound carb-a-licious!

Cynthia CynthiaT60 - try not to worry too much about the calorie overage, you can get control back.. haggis is surprisingly good (if the chef is good)

Margaret margaretturk - thank you, and the movie sounds good i’ve been wanting to check it out

RebelRenny - spending a week with your mum sounds good, no doubt she will appreciate it. love
my inversion table, don’t know what i would do without it.

Sandy Kalley1959 - aquafit sounds wonderful, i just love the water, congrats on -79!

Gail gardengail - 50 degrees would be a welcome right now, lucky you!

sandykendrick - welcome, we started about the same time, same goal, and getting a good nights rest is a good start.. on that new mattress

KayKallsen52 - your low fat plan sounds good

valerieray - cooking and baking is great, i’m sure you’ll find a way to work it into your plan with a little portion control - good luck to you

Rita kevrit - hope your sinus infection clears up soon and your feeling better and brighter

Patty moeggep - dancing is so much fun, great exercise, a shame it was so loud

Laura80111 - sunday nights a problem for me too, going through all the work i need to get done on monday.. like working well before its time to clock in

debbyl - sure it counts! i’ll be 49 in a few days - welcome and good luck with your weight loss

texasgal22 - howdy, definitely geared to get fit by 50

Barbie barbiecat - congrats on your 25th!

Jane janehadji - happy day before your Birthday! have a great one.. how about a cheesecake? yo get the benefit of additional protein

Jane janemartin02 - i hope your DH does well with his ot, and that your DD is well also .. hugs to your friend Thelma

Jill jfenner141 - waiting for the cold here too, still my DH in Alaska gets it so much worse than I do here in southern Ontario

Gloria gmom316 - good job with your workout today, it’ll help balance out the chocolate mmmmmmm chocolate (my worst temptation). I hope your mum can get some better alternatives to choose from

Hello to anyone I missed today;
Viv wizzywig -
Ann answerinthesky -
Sylvia molliewhippet-
Gloria gmom316 -
Kay kayzoola -
redalee1 -
yanniejannie -
Carrie perfetrun -

Marni (canookie) .. feel free to add me .. I have fun pics on my blog and help to share Motivational and Dietary tips
Goals for January
- Get a jump start on moving the scale down to reach 1st goal of 50lbs by 50 yrs old
- follow the DASH plan and Mayo Clinic type 2 diabetes recommended carb (15-30g per/meal)
- eliminate processed foods, wheat, sugar, occasional starchy veg
- stock up on fresh fruit, veg and lean protein
- exercise more often, longer, build up stamina in order to get leaner and stronger

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ~ Winston Churchill

c0c0nn0r

It's been a long time, a lot has been happening but I'm going to give this another try.

DeeDee I was in NC over Christmas - loved the weather - what a difference the weather was when I landed in Chicago New Year's day - I wanted to go right back to NC

Colleen IL

jmkmomm

Marni, had to laugh when I read your comment about the underwear. It gives a totally different contour to the belly. It's like I have a panty line that one would worry about so much in a tight skirt but I see it with my jeans and especially without the jeans. Plus I'm not used to wearing purple, But that's one of the colors in the pack. And when you shop with a 33 year old daughter, that's what gets put in your shopping cart. She also put Cadbury mini eggs in the cart. We were both buying things, so I told her that she better hide those things from my sight.

She does so much for me and I owe so much to her how she keeps my spirits up so. When I was looking for shoes at Kohls she found a pair of Crocs that are flats but she has a home with a lot of problems, with her old house, she is a single woman, wasn't when they bought it. So money is pretty tight. She even dropped cable, internet and a cell phone plan to keep on budget. She has one of those non contract $35/month phones. Anyway, Charlie agrees that I need to go to Kohls and buy them and just drop them off at her front door some evening when she is working. I'll also get her a dark chocolate bar. She was going to get Cadbury dark chocolate but I told her we had 4 dark chocolate Hershey kisses at home that we don't like. So we get back home and Charlie had already eaten them. He said he heard it would be healthy for him. Well since when has he worried about his health?????

I don't worry about what my FitBit puts my calories at. MFP has my settings at 1200 calories. I don't like it, I try to stay closer to 1300 calories which is what my doctor wants me at. But it is really hard to get to 1300 and still stay within my carbs MFP has me at. But now that my activity level has increased, my diabetes teaching tells me that I should be having more carbs anyway. I have tried to change the settings, think I am successful but it never shows it. So I just eat what I think I should eat and don't particularly worry about the fact that the numbers here don't look good. Well, I just looked at my diary and took my calculator out and the carb count is accurate. I don't seem to be losing anything lately and I wonder if it is because I am closer to 1200 calories but it is so hard for me to be at 1300 and be correct in my carbs. Wait, I think I have already said that. AH,, the joys of having senior moments in addition to MS!!!!

Found my resistance band at Walmart. Charlie wondered what you did with one and he was surprised with what all we do in a Silver Sneakers class. So I showed him some of the movements with the weights and leg movements together. I know it will build muscles but I just wonder how long the flab on top of the muscles will be there.

Joyce, Indiana

megblair1

Hi gang. Quiet day here; my DD#2 was up all night throwing up (and I mean like every 40 minutes) so I decided to stay home with her. I couldn’t sleep….every time she got up I woke up. So I stayed here and graded papers. I did go to water aerobics. It was crowded again…I was surprised because the winds were howling (over 50 mph again) and it was cold and snowing. But I’m glad I went. It is so fun.

Today I am grateful for having a job that is so flexible.

Katla: it does take a certain touch to smoke. We are not all that good at it, but get better each time. The one thing that was fabulous was brisket.

Joyce: I bet you look grand in your new designer jeans and non-grandma undies! I bet you feel even grander! What fun

Heather: hope you feel better. You had me laughing out loud at the mental image of DH putting on his pants and injuring himself!

Cynthia: don’t know what the haggis story is, but I can’t even be in the same room with it

Amanda: aren’t you curious as to why dad was swinging on the curtains? Hmmmmm

DeeDee: hope you got a little free time today

Elaine and Kay: welcome aboard!

Rita: that was me with the cat. Thank you for your good thoughts. Putting them down is so difficult but at the same time it’s helpful to know they are no longer suffering. I’m just glad he got to go on a better day.

Patti: l love to go dancing too and often find the music too loud

Laura80111: glad to see you again

Margaret: we watched “We’re the Millers” last night. If you are not easily offended, it was very funny. If you are easily offended I’d skip it, but we all enjoyed it

Debbyl: well I can’t speak for anyone else, but 48 seems pretty darned close to me. Welcome aboard.

Teral: hope you got out in the nice weather!

Sandy: we have custom made mattresses that are about 14 years old and just as comfortable as ever

Barbie: glad your trip was such fun. I hope you had a great time with your friend

Jane: happy, happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jane: sounds like your family may be having some health problems? I hope they all work out. So sorry to hear about Thelma; didn’t she have some other health problems recently? Seems I remember that. Sending prayers

Renny I see on your status page that you are traveling to be with mom. Safe travels and (((hugs)))

Jill: can’t wait to get together! No car or one car is no problem; I can drive. I’ll be in clinical on Weds and Thurs, but we can always work something out!

Gmom: let us know what the scan shows for mom. That’s a hard one…(((hugs)))

Vicki: you are so right; it’s a life long journey and some days will not be as healthy as others. It’s ok, just keep moving forward

Sylvia: I hope your plumbing issues are solved now!!! You must live close to Joplin? My husband’s family all live in Miami, Oklahoma, just across the border. Glad you had such fun with the kids. I was laughing at Bruno’s antics…easy for me since I don’t have to clean it up!

Gail: you seem concerned about DH. Will he go see his doctor?

Carol: you never have to worry about mean or rude answers here. We are all here to support and help you. This forum is great
because we are all very different in opinions and approaches to weight loss and fitness and all of us are respectful to those with differing beliefs. I think 1200 is the minimum you should eat. I usually don’t eat my fitness calories back because I usually don’t burn that much and have a generous allotment anyway. Some will say you should because you need the fuel. So try both ways and see what works for you.

Kimber: hang in there! You can meet your goals!

Canookie: I was laughing out loud envisioning your mama flirting with a doctor who was that gorgeous

Colleen: welcome back!

Well it’s about bed time. We had an industrial explosion here in Omaha today and I want to see the news update before hitting the hay for the night. The wind is too high for searchers to go in the building right now. Take care to all, Meg from blustery Omaha

exermom

genhosaddict - welcome! Stop in very often. I really find it helps so much to log my food, even prelog it sometimes

Meg - we finally got all the Christmas decorations put away. Had them down but needed to leave them in the garage to dry out so that we could put them away. Finally! We can get the cars in the garage!!! I never thought of making some sort of meal for her! That would be something. I guess I was just in the mode of thinking "oh, gotta make a dessert" that a main never even entered my mind. The thing is -- I don't want to offend her by bringing food because she speciafically asked that we not bring something since she's making her chocolate chip brownies. Really, she made them one time and brought them to my house. What it really is is just package brownie mix (I saw bits of the mix that were still dry on top) and she puts a bag of chocolate chips inside it. Well, she's not a real big cooker so I don't fault her. I know what'll happen. She can only have a little chocolate at a time, so she'll give the rest to everyne ese

katla - I'll probably go to that yoga class at her church, but maybe only every other week or so. Maybe more often in summer, tho. What I used to do was go to the farmer's market and then go to yoga. Since I'm that way, I may still do that. We'll just have to see how it all plays out. Glad I have some yoga DVD's, tho. At least I can still go to the Wednesday yoga class and get instruction from the teacher. I remember when I worked at the Y (where we used to live). I got so fed up with the bs that would go on that I finally got to the point of feeling "just leave me alone and let me do my job". At my annual reviews I always got high marks on everything except remembering member's names.

Joyce - Kohl's is very good about taking their coupons, even expired ones they give you credit for. I do like shopping there, just wish they had a larger Petite department. Congrats on the size 12's. Yea for you going the entire length of your class. Your daughter sounds lovely

Heather - feel better fast

Amanda - good for you bringing your lunch

Elaine - welcome back!

Debby - of course 48.5 counts!!!! You know, lately I've been feeling so "bloated". My weight has gone up some, too. And I honestly don't think I've been really off. I admit, I went off the calories for the christmas, but I don't think I am now. But I still feel "bloated" and have this "middle age spread" that I really didn't have before, or at least not as much.

Sandykendrick - my dh is the same way -- he has to have a certain kind of mattress or he has a hard time (if not impossible) time sleeping. Not me. I'm a heavy sleeper and can sleep just about anywhere.

Jane in CO - happy birthday!

gmom - all the best for your mom and you. Let us know the final verdict, OK?

Jane - praying for Thelma

Sylvia - I can tell in your post just how happy you are! You know, I'd never heard of pigs in a blanket with hot dogs in crescent rolls until we moved to NC. To me, pigs in the blanket were always cabbage rolls. Which reminds me, that's something that I should make, we haven't had in a long time. Only Vince won't eat the cabbage, only I will. But I like it. I hope the plumber is able to totally fix it.

Carol in NC - today WAS nice, wasn't it? But I understand that we're due for more cold weather. It can ge bitterly cold at the end of Feb, I don't have a problem with that especially since we'll be in FL

kimber in SC - yea on the weight loss

Marni - I don't know if I like the Wii zumba or not. I would like to be able to do different type of dances, but you evidentally have to get it "unlocked" in order to do others. I'm not a real zumba person (that's putting it mildly), but it IS good for a change.

Well, today has been a really busy day. It started out by my doing a little bit more of that bellydance DVD, then bought gas on my way to the extremepump class. Took the class then went to the soup kitchen planning to drop off the donations. I was shocked, to put it mildly, that they weren't open! j People are hungry regardless if it is MLK day or not. Then went to the mall, wound up returning the sweater Lynette got for me (the only thing you really could wear under it was a turtleneck and that would just make me look shorter) but I did find this really nice sweater that has green in it. I'm always looking for something green since I have a pair of pants that will match it.

Then on to the movies. "Saving Mr. Banks" was good, but honestly, I don't think I would have paid $8.50 to see it. Then they wanted to go out to dinner but I needed (really wanted) to get home to make Vince's dinner. Found out that what I thougtht I had defrosted, I really didn't so he wound up having ravioli. Then to mahjongg. The gal laminated the workouts for me. She made some of those chocolate chip brownies -- I think I told you about them. They're really brownie mix with chocolate chips in them. I had one to be nice, brought about 3 home for Vince. We're going to have mahjongg at another lady's house next week. I'm not real crazy about going to her house, her driveway is SOOOO narrow and you have to be careful because there is a big ditch on one side. Well, the following week I'll suggest we have it here.

After mahjongg stopped at Lowe's Foods and got some organic apples. I didn't realize how low I was on them.

Planning to do a spinning downloadable workout tomorrow. Haven't done spinning in a while. Then I'll take the things to the soup kitchen, since I'll be right by the post office I'll mail Denise's package and see about Bryan's, then take the cake to Lynette.

michele in NC

jmkmomm

Michelle, I wish my daughter realizes how lovely she is. She is 5'11", overweight but not that much. She would much rather be changing oil in the car or spark plugs or whatever than sitting in a living room talking to a punch of women. She loves BIG dogs, has 3 of them. Loves rescue animals. She is not feminine in her actions, very comfortable climbing inside the industrial dryers where she works or even doing repairs. These dryers to me look like giant pizza ovens. and she climbs right inside them, cleans the lint traps, does routine maintenence on them. Finds a good bit of money in them also which helps her ailing budget. She has gorgeous thick reddish brown hair which she would rather keep short so she can wrap a bandana around it at work. Because of all she works around her skin and nails are never pretty. But she is the most precious woman. Sense of humor, very giving. You know if you have Michelle for a friend that you are a lucky person. She has a tiny house, luckily it is two story which does increase the size a little. She has these 3 big dogs and frequently sitting another big dog. The more the merrier. she felt very inferior and gangly when she was a teenager because of her height. Therefore you are accepted into the wrong crowd. So later teen year and college time was bad for all of us. She saw we accepted her and stood by her and waited for her. She now is the loving daughter I always knew was in there. She hates what she did to us those school years and won't hvae anything to do with any of them when she sees them. She has an extemely bright mind and can do so much without any education. Her goal when she was younger was to be a vet to the larger animals, including horses and exotic pets like snakes. Very poor grades in school and unable to complete even one year in college didn't allow any of that to happen. Now she has to work to live, no extra time or money for any courses. I would love for her to be able to see her dreams come true. But for now she has made a lot of mistakes and is making the best of her life considering where her mistakes took her. I love you Michelle. Oh, that is meant for my Michelle!!! Your'e pretty great here to Michelle.