The Daily Water Cooler Thread

Shirley61

Yea Starla has a great pic she looks beautifu. Mine was taken in November in Jamaica when my
daughter got married. Maybe I will think about a new pic.

Mizpaden: Tell that person at work to mind their own business, everyone reacts differently about work
and their responsibilities. Not everyone can be up all the time.

Jenny: I hope your mom is doing better.

Starla: Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend and had fun. Sometimes you just would like to
throw caution to the wind and say screw it on what I am eating and drinking. Did I say that :drinker:
That's how I got into this weight gain mess. LOL

Well it is raining again here. I am beginningto believe we will be building the Ark pretty soon. No relief until
Thursday. Oh what do the weather men know anyway. :ohwell:
Went out for lunch today with a cooworker and had chicken breast, side salad with fat free Italian dressing. It was
considered a Weight Watcher lunch.

Mitzpaden: I don't know about the align products. The US gets new products first and Canada gets them later.
So this is new to me.

As far as exercising goes, I do exercise everyday like Jenny at least 30 mins. and more on the weekends.
I try to take one day off depending how things are going and how busy life gets. Tomorrow is day off work so I plan
on doing 55 mins. of Strength Training with a DVD.

Have a good day ladies!!

Let your mind be challenged,
Your spirit be free,
and your heart be full of love.

Starlage

Aww thanks ladies :blushing: it DID take like 12 shots of bad pictures but I finally did get a good one- and it's worth it. Profile pics are the only impression some people have of you right? Should be good.

HEY!!! great news: down another pound!! despite dinners out and no exercise since friday (didn't get around to it last night..... had some other things going on) WAHOO! Just tells me I'm making the right food choices and helping my metabolism work like it's supposed to. I'm thrilled!!

mizpaden: no idea about the align products but they're always worth a try- especially since they're on sale. Sounds like for work you need to find someone to confide in that'll be a little more sympathetic! I'm sure there's SOMEONE you could sit with at lunch or something and chat/vent with. I know I do that with some coworkers that I get along with- it helps definitely.

Shirley: Good choice on lunch out!! It's tough to make those good choices when there are so many tempting bad ones

Jenny: I feel similar about the bin laden thing... I understand the relief that he's dead but find it disturbing how thrilled some people are. I had a friend on facebook post the perfect quote from martin luther king, jr: ‎"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." - MLK, Jr.- so while like I said i understand relief I really don't like how thrilled people are. And on top of that how could people think it's over just beacuse he died? There will be someone from his followers to take his place, follow out his wishes...

anyways, that's too controversial to talk about moving on.

I'm thinking the difference in my weight could be the addition of the dance aerobics/circuit training ish dvd? Maybe I just need to be better about switching it up more often! I HAVE been thinking about going to get a couple more DVDs- something different to switch out.

It's busy here at work- better quit slackin! Have a good day ladies

jrbanta

Hi Ladies- Beautiful evening tonight so I rode my bike for 32 minutes and then hubbie and I walked for 30 minutes. I can feel it in my legs.

My Mom was awake today so maybe she's doing better? I didn't call my sister for details but am encouraged she was atleast awake.

I've never heard of the align products. What do they do?

I'd love a new picture. I tried to take some last weekend but when I uploaded the one I chose there was no head! I tried to crop it but still no head. I'm not photogenic at all so I'll never look as nice as Starla. I'll see what I can do about an updated picture. Mine on here is at least 4 years old! My hair is cut different and I don't look the same.

Well I'm watching my taped show The Good Wife and it's late so I have to finish it and get to bed.

Good night!:yawn:

Jenny

Shirley61

Morning Ladies:

Just finished 55 mins of Strength Training and now I have to hit the shower. Running errands today
and making chili for my lunches at work.

Starla: I agree with you about Bin Laden. There will be someone in the wings to carry out his master
plan. Love the quote from Martin Luther King.

Jenny: Let's see a new pic 4 years is along time and we do change.

Mizpaden: I hope you can sort out the problems at work with talking to a fellow cooworker. The only
thing with that is you have to be careful who you can trust. Sometimes you pour out your
thoughts and it can come back and bite you in the butt. Be careful. Been there done that:ohwell:
I agree you have to let off steam or you will go crazy.

See all you loveleys' later.

mizpaden74

I am really going to try to snap a new pic this week. This will be hard - I stopped liking the camera results and stopped getting in front. I need to luv myself now. I DO luv myself now.

Totally agree about Osama - it's not that I'm not ok that he's gone - but there is/will be another wackadoo to take over - and what if he's worse

Oh crap - back to the crazies

Later luvs - Marla

mizpaden74

OK - I did it. I had to have Caleb with me for courage, but oops - there it is.

Shirley61

Nice Pic Marla, you look great.:happy:

Here is my new pic, just took it tonight. I need my hair colored you can see the
white.

jrbanta

Lovely pics ladies! You shared your name mizpaden/Marla! I haven't had time to take new pictures but I'll work on it this weekend or sooner.

My dog is breathing very heavy and sounds so raspy. I have a feeling I'll need to make a decision about him in the next months.

Tomorrow I go to acupuncture. Can't wait! It really does help and my hands have been sore and stiff. I've been doing a little shopping to find new tops for spring/summer. Now that the weather is nice I need to go through my clothes and see what fits, has stains, and needs to be tossed or go to Good Will. That's a rainy day job!:huh:

Well work is interesting this week. How do some people get hired to do administrative positions when they have no people skills, compassion, or common sense? Question of the year...

Well good night ladies and have a nice day tomorrow. I'll report in after acupuncture...:bigsmile:

Jenny

mizpaden74

Hey we are 75% updated! I know you will get to it this weekend Jenny. I thought I had posted my name before. Hunh. No matter - that's right I 'tis none other than Marla Kay.

Shirley - you look great! Luv that sassy hair do.

Oh Jenny - when it rains it pours doesn't it....no words can help ease all your burdens - but we are hear to lift you up anyway we can. :brokenheart:

Had to slam on my brakes this morning and lost a full cup of coffee when it went shooting out of the cup holder. BAH!! :grumble:

Tomorrow is field for the school kids and do you how much I hate field day? I would rather be at work. HATE field day.:grumble:

Shirley61

Goodmorning,

Sunny today and I am planning on walking at lunch today. FINALLY !

I get in usually 25 mins. of walking and then when i get home I do a little
more to get my total exercise in.
Hubby took off today to work on our new/old boat. It had some leaks on the
deck. I should show you a picture. If can find it I will add it to my profile and
let you guys know about it.

Have a wonderful day !!
Remember drink that water and stay motivated.

Starlage

hey ladies! didn't check in yesterday- was very busy!

Marla and Shirley what beautiful pictures!! Nice to have an updated shot of yourself isn't it? Jenny just wait until you're all dolled up for something and shoot one- that's what I did. I'd love to see a pic of the boat Shirley! I can be envious

Well, BUSY DAY TODAY! I'm lucky enough to have a dentist that stays open every other thursday until 8PM- so generous of her makes getting to the dentist much more convenient for us daytime workin folks! So tonight I've got my appointment at 7pm. I get off work at 5 but because it's a 45 minute drive (I've been seeing her since I was little- worth the drive for a dentist you've been seeing and love for so long!) I'm not going to have enough time to go home first- just in case traffic's bad. Therefore, no exercising today! Not enough time. I've brought regular clothes with me to change into and dinner to munch on, and of course my toothbrush so I can clean before my cleaning. Funny how we do that isn't it? I figure it's common courtesy. Someone's scraping around in there so it shouldn't be nasty from the food etc I've eaten all day. lol. I'm glad teeth cleanings are only twice a year, wouldn't want to have to do this more often! Makes for a super long day, won't get home til around 830 i think. Oh well though, I've planned food for the day and as long as I stick to that plan I'll come out under my goal. I had a fantastic workout yesterday- It's nice to feel my stamina improving. When I first started all this a couple of months ago I'd be POOPED after just a half hour of sweaty exercising but now I'm able to go a good hour and feel fine afterwards. Yesterday I did the crunch bikini body dvd I have (kind of a cross between dance aerobics and circuit training i think) and then my mtv yoga dvd. WHOO! Glad I can go for longer now :happy:

Oh, the other *fun* thing in my life- my kitten's in heat and driving me mad! AGH! I feel so bad for the poor thing. I've always had male cats in the past so I've never had to deal with this before. She's constantly yeowlying all over the apartment, writhing around on the floor, crouching on the floor at the ready with her bum in the air. :ohwell: Must be so confusing the first time for an indoor cat that's not around males. I am inpressed though at the power of instincts.... haha. I've got an appointment to get her fixed in a few weeks so let's hope she's not in torture until then! I've read online that sometimes they're in heat constantly off and on and sometimes it's like 5-7 days and then over. I found it ironic that she started on the first day of MY period- maybe we're syncing up, hahaha. Oh well, either way it'll be over in a few weeks if not sooner for her sake I hope, and I just try to pay her extra attention when I'm home for now (and pray that she's not yeowling loud enough to annoy the neighbors when I'm gone- she gets REALLY loud.... no complaints so far though)

Anyways, I need to get busy and quit slackin. Have a good day ladies!

jrbanta

I had acupuncture today. It was wonderful. I forgot how relaxing it is. After they put the needles in (you don't feel them) you relax in a room with very little light and meditative music for 30 minutes. My body gets so relaxed and I can feel the energy flow within my body. Hopefully I'll see some results. We are going to tackle arthritis, hot flashes, and sinusitis.

HRM is here and set up to try this weekend. Interested to see how it works.

Leo's (my dog) is breathing shallow and raspy. I fear I may need to make that decision very soon. I can't imagine life without him here and greeting me every day. I went for a walk without him tonight. I'll have to get use to that too.

I'll tackle my photo situation this weekend. It won't be pretty....:grumble:

Tired and need to go to bed:yawn:

Jenny

mizpaden74

Your picture will be luv-er-ly!

and just hugs...

working overnight so I can supervise the minion at field day....booo....field day...:grumble:

bye me luvs -

Starlage

morning ladies :happy:

another half a pound down today, wahoo!! I do need to break myself from the habit of stepping on the scale so often though- hard to resist when i've got the calibrated ones here at work with me ALL DAY!!! Oh well though, I'm just thrilled I'm still seeing changes.

HOWEVER, I DID NOT MAKE IT YESTERDAY!!! gosh. So I had stuck to my menu plan ALL DAY, had dinner super early right after work at 5 before leaving for me dental appt @ 7. I was right around 1200 cals for the day at that point. The dentist was behind- by the time it got to 745 I was HUNGRY! Laying back in the dental chair trying not to think about my growling tummy was quite a challenge. I should've known I'd be hungry though With dinner so early and eating so lightly all day it wasn't enough to sustain me, of course right! Duh. The problem though- after leaving the dentist around 815 my tummy was YELLING at me: "DINNER, DINNER, DINNER!! What are you doing??? FEEEED MEEEE!!!" and on the way back to the freeway there's a taco bell- a weakness of mine, right after mcdonald's, lol. So of course I stopped through the drive through. I had a 40-45 minute drive ahead of me to get home, so I needed to eat something. I didn't make the worst choice in the world- I got a 7 layer burrito. I logged it this morning and found out it's not as bad as I thought! I figured I'd have added like 800 cals or something crazy to the day- found out that it's only 500 cals, but a terrible 69 carbs, 18 fats, 5 sugars and 1,090 sodium. ACK! Really though- it was DELICIOUS!! I hadn't had taco bell in a few months. plus it only put me over in calories by around 400, which of course still just gets me a few hundred away from maintainence calories so it's not terrible. I plan on exercising tonight and tomorrow morning so that I get at least 4 workouts in this week.

Big weekend ahead! Happy mommy's day you mommies. Tomorrow late morning I'm going to renton, wa (about a half hour away from me) to pick up my brother from the bus station. He lives in auburn, wa (like 45 mins away from me) but doesn't have a car. Mom hasn't seen him since christmas so he's coming to spend the night saturday and most of the day sunday before I take him home. I'm excited! I love when I get to spend time with my brother away from his girlfriend and her family (no matter how much i like them- always nice to get him to ourselves) so that might make a healthy diet and exercise a challenge... I'm going to wake up early enough tmrw so that I can try to exercise before I leave to pick him up and then sunday I might see if I can get a workout in after I take him home... but it might be kinda late so that might not happen. Oh well! I'll just do the best I can eating well. Going to the store after work today to get some more veggies so that I have that option!

marla, I LOVED field day when I was a kid! Why do you have to go? I don't remember parents coming unless they were volunteering to help out with things? It's a crazy day for parents and teachers but just think how thrilled the little ones are to get a break in their routine

jenny, sorry to hear about your dog :frown: what a hard decision. Good luck with that though, i'll pray for you I'm happy for you that you finally got into acupuncture! Hope it helps! I'm jealous you got an HRM, I need to invest in one! I'm never positive if I'm logging my dvd workouts properly- all I can do is guestimate!

Gotta get to work! Probably won't be checking in this weekend much if at all so have a great weekend!!

Starlage

i just realized i'm a third of the way to my short term goal of 150lbs, wahoo!

Shirley61

Starla: Congrats on your weight goal I just keep bouncing up and down. So tired of it. :sad:

Marla: Have fun on field day. Don't know what that is . Guess I am getting too old to remember

Jenny: Good luck with the acupuncture, hope it makes you feel better.

My weight was down as of yesterday, then hubby decided he wanted take out instead of grilling steak, sweet potatoe fries,
and salad. Instead we had Swiss Chalet quarter chicken, greek salad, multi grain roll and Chalet sauce. Today I am up a
pound probably from the sodium
Tonight we are having fresh fish pan fried, sweet potatoe fries and salad. Friends are coming over because the guys caught
the fish a few weekends ago. Its Perch by the way (mmmm). We will be indulging in alcohol, of course, so much for the diet again. I did walk for 40mins today and went shopping. Now I am going to do ironing and get ready for company.
Have a wonderful Friday!!

Also in case I forget, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO YOU ALL, who have kids:bigsmile:

Shirley61

Okay I have some boat pictures. This is the boat we just bought and my hubby just
did the ad for the boat we have now to sell.

So, the pictures are on my profile, take a peek.

jrbanta

Shirley- beautiful boat. Looks like it would be a lovely time. Do you sail on a large lake or are you on the ocean where you live? I grew up on a large lake and had a little sunfish that I use to sail for hours. It made for some very fun summer days! Love your photos too.

Well work is a pain and I have a big decision to make this weekend. As an educator who typically works 9 months of the year (187 days) with the rest unpaid unless I work an extended service agreement and teach summer school, my calendar is now going to a stretch with the 187 spread out over 12 months. This means a reduction in salary since teaching summer school for extra pay is not an option anymore. I do have the option to add 20 days of full pay and work a 207 day year but I don't get to flex any days and the district makes the calendar. The one they proposed is horrible and gives hardly any days off in the summer (nicest weather in MN) and most of the days off are in the bad weather months. The calendar they proposed would make it difficult to go on a driving vacation, cruise, or be away longer than a week because they don't give enough consecutive days off. So the pros are 1) I'm lucky to be employed, 2) It would be good money and the biggest raise I'll ever get in my career, 3) help pay off debt and put money away for unforseen expenses, help with college tuition, etc., and 4) boost my pension pay out when I retire.:bigsmile: The cons are 1) the schedule stinks, 2) it's a high burn-out job and the breaks are needed, 3) too short of consecutive days time to visit my family in Michigan or go on a trip somewhere, 4) no flexibility, 5) working in a building with no air conditioning (MN is very hot and humid), and 6) I'll be crabby. So what to do? I feel I need to make the money while I can in case future budget cuts pulls back those 20 extra days but I really dislike the calendars they offered.:grumble:

So this has been brewing the whole school year and it has been a very stressful process. I need to submit my my first 3 choices in the order of my preference from a possibility of 4 calendars by Monday at the end of the day.

Have a happy mother's day with family and enjoy your weekend.

Jenny

mizpaden74

oh ew. I know you didn't ask for opinions - but I'm good at giving it anyway. I'd vote for no. You could always come up with extra money via moonlighting job that would still give you more flex than that and honestly if you don't have the time or strength to enjoy it, what's the point. For me, I would only want to take on more hours/responsibility if it truly spoke to my soul in such a way that made it clear it was the way to go. Feel free to file the above in the circle file!!

Starla - I'm so happy you have another loss!! YOWZA GURL. You are rockin' it. You are lucky to have good memories of field day. My memories of field day are just like most of my other memories of school time. Being the 'faty-four-eyed' who is slow and always last. While I HATE field day for me - I keep trying to make it a good memory for the dudes. I am usually the loudest one in the stands or on the field and make sure to be yelling their name while they are running by. (I luv'd being on stage back in the day, but was always just the recipient of the polite applause. Not the hootin hollerin the populars would get.) So, I yell and scream, pack fun stuff to eat they don't normally have and pray tor minimal amounts of crying over whatever. So far no tears. But they will likely still come when they hand out ribbons at school later next week. Somebody will have 'better' or 'more' ribbons and well you know... feh. Oh and GAH - my back! Sitting on the grass and bleachers or five hours. OW! And windburn. ow. Ok, I'm done.

But, my day ended with the most beautiful arrangement of flowers I have ever received in my life. Seriously. Ever. From? My mom. Word. Like most people - we have ups and downs and we certainly get on each others nerves from time to time, but in families - when doesn't that happen.

The 6-year-old brought home his gift from school (a marigold) and jammed it into the smack middle of the landscape rock instead of the pot I thought I told him to - but if it survives - it will certainly stand and be a fun memory.:flowerforyou:

Crammed weekend - final soccer for 10-year-old, dance recital for my neice (freappin' 4 hours), play date for 10-year-old, and trying to get outside work done. Woo.

It may seem strange to say this... but when I count my blessings - I feel like this post is right at the top. HUGS!!!!


Marla

jrbanta

Marla- thanks for your input. I haven't sorted out my feelings on this yet. I really suspect they will pull these extra paid days away the following year due to budget cuts, lay-offs, etc. so part of me wants to do the year to pay off some short term debt and be sitting in a great position by next summer. With what I make per day and hourly the money I would make doing a side job would never compare or give me what I hope to accomplish. I have thought of that too but don't want to be away from my family in the evenings or on weekends. Now it is just to decide a cut in pay for great days off or more income to update my home, help put $ away for college, weekends away, etc.?:huh:

I volunteered at Track and Field Day one time and never again. The put me in charge of a group of at least 10 little kids and they were squirrelly and hard to manage. I'd rather just watch my kid. My boys have always done community sports leagues from Kindergarten on up so many of our weekends and evenings were spent on fields or gymnasiums. I never took work off after the first volunteer episode to watch track and field day. Foot ball camp, strength and conditioning and then another football season are not far away. My youngest will be a junior and he plays high school football. I wonder if he will be JV or Varsity next season? Hubbie and I volunteer at the games in the concessions to help them out. It's either very hot or very windy and cold on those nights.

So far today is beautiful out and I really should get dressed and go out to the gardens and start cleaning them up. I also want to set up the deck furniture today. My bike will be back from the bike doctor this afternoon so I plan to ride with my HRM and see what calories I burn doing that too. Fun little gizmo...

Have a nice Saturday!
Jenny