*** Supportive Friends -- Looking to Release 50+ Pounds ***

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  • TheRunningGuppy
    TheRunningGuppy Posts: 651 Member
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    @Jane, what I wouldn't give for a quiet weekend! Glad you get one anyway :happy: And good workout!

    @Ron, glad you got your visa, sounds like just getting ready to go to India is an adventure! Also, I'm curious to see this evil visa photo...

    I'm finishing up my morning coffee, and then I'm going to go for a run. The sun is just starting to clear off the morning fog, should be a great run! The rest of my day will be spent preparing for the family gathering I'm leaving for at noon, and the next 3 days I'll be spending with my husbands side of the family in eastern Washington. And then of course, going to said family gathering. At least I only have to drive to my parents house, riding with them for the hour plus drive.
    Ok, done with coffee, off I go!
  • _tru_
    _tru_ Posts: 96
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    @Jane – We all met last weekend to pull weeds. We got most of them out before the rain began, but really that just provided a great excuse to get brunch. They suggested we continue the trend for the rest of the summer. I like the idea, but I just can't afford the extra calories every week. That would require a lot more weeding to burn off all those home fries. Lol Are you and Jillian still competing in shouting matches! I had to tone down my yelling as I was starting to lose my voice. But I still yell quite loudly in my head! It sounds like you are starting to settle back into work. I find the same thing. When I work from home I am more productive and have more time in my day. I hope you can get some gardening in!

    @Meg – Big City burbs. But further out than other burbs. I had BBQ a few summers back one of the girls described the drive as follows: “Well, first you drive through the city, then past the city, then through the country, and THEN you get to your house.” I was quite amused by that, but really I'm not THAT far out. Congrats on the inch and weight loss from you challenge! WOW – that is crazy busy! And very impressive! Try to get some rest in there!

    @Steph – Sounds like you are also super busy. Glad to see that you are still able to hop on. How did the parent/teacher interviews go? Hope you are able to get in a workout now and again. Sending sleeping vibes to Little Miss to sleep in later than 4am!

    @Lisa – I don't currently belong to a gym, but when I did, I just couldn't afford the trainers. The gyms here only let you sign up with a trainer if you purchase a package. The least expensive ones work out to $60.00 per session and usually the minimum number of sessions are 10. Too expensive for me! I do think it is a great idea to get a trainer to show you how to use the machines and show you proper form. I always take things slowly until I have the movements down and then go from there. I wouldn't worry about the excess skin. It is better to be healthy! I've heard losing weight slowly, drinking plenty of water, and strength training will all help minimize excess skin. Well, that and genetics. Can't do much about the last one. As for the popcorn and coke, I agree with Ron. It's just water retention. Try not to think of anything as “forbidden”. All food is fuel. Some foods are more nutritious, while others are less. Just try to maximize the higher nutrition and minimize the lower.

    @TotallEvilIndianRon – Glad to see that exercise has treated you well. Perhaps you will try it again someday! :tongue: Glad to hear that your visa has been approved so quickly! I have heard that water is an issue in India, as well as other places. I'd suggest staying away from ice-cubes, questionable restaurants, and to brush your teeth with bottle water as well. I have a friend that returned from an extended trip there and she had acquired some nasty parasites from the water. She lost a lot of weight (she really couldn't afford to) and all of her hair fell out. Not that I'm totally trying to scare anyone from travelling to India.... Please stay safe! Enjoy your time in Fatherland as well!

    It is raining here, but I am not complaining. Just means I won't be going to the gardens. As for rain complaints... my cousin and several of my friends have been evacuated from their homes due to the horrible flooding in Calgary. I hope the water there lets up sometime soon, but sadly they are saying it hasn't peaked yet. Yikes!

    I don't have much new to report as this was a horrendously busy week at work. I kept up with Jill for a few days, but then had to shelve her once again. I hope to restart today and be able to do the program from start to finish. Fingers crossed! Inside yelling voice ready!

    Here is a cute video of baby moose and mommy in a sprinkler. Why? Why not! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNy9jTeolUk

    Have a wonderful weekend!!
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    @Jane - I think India is going to be difficult calorie wise as I'm not familiar with the North Indian cuisine so I think I'm just going to have to take it as it comes, weigh myself when I get back and take the consequences whatever they are. I imagine it is going to be very hard to log accurately, though no doubt I will try.

    @Meg - I must remember to scan my visa and post it. Reminds me of when I lived in Africa and the local photo shops were run by Indians. Everything was black and white in those days, and you'd put a film in and it would come out with everyone looking like Indians, something to do with the exposure!!

    @_tru_- nothing wrong with pulling weed as long as you smoke it afterwards :happy: I seem to remember (you have to understand it was a loooooong time ago) s*x under the influence was fantastic, strung out orgasms. Mind you I was lucky enough to live in Africa at the time where you bought the stuff for peanuts from the vegetable seller along with your potatoes and onions! Incidentally, re your coment about the water, we were advised by an American who visits the Indian office regularly "Take some duck tape with you and first thing put it over the faucet in the hotel bathroom so you are not tempted to use the water. Brush your teeth with bottled water. Put another piece of duck tape over your mouth when you get into the shower. However, despite the precautions, you will get ill, so take plenty of anti nausea and anti Diarrhea pills with you.". OMG!!

    Can I just say I would be happy to be a personal trainer for any/all of you for free. Nothing I like better than shouting at people and making them suffer, both prime requisites for a personal trainer. I also know enough about exercise to stay away from it personally while encouraging others to strain every muscle they have!

    Well, to my delight I have had no ill effects, and no dead arm from my injections yesterday, a cocktail of three in each arm along with a verbal warning about dengue fever and mosquitos in general (the nurse was not impressed when I pointed out I'd had malaria three times so knew sort of what to expect!) along with it being pointed out that if I was taken to hospital, say as a result of a road accident, and had open wounds, the nurses and doctors should wear gloves, as that is how Hepatitis B is passed on........ This conjures up all sorts of weird scenarios with me shouting in an Indian accent at medical staff trying to revive me "Please to be doing the needful and be wearing gloves, isn't it.....". Considering I'm staying in a five star hotel and have a limo backwards and forwards to the office it is probably overkill, but, who knows.......... I was also warned that rabies is endemic and if you get licked by a dog and have even a paper cut, seek medical advice. When I lived in Zambia, we had to carry a golf club at all times on the golf course in case of attack by a rabid dog, so I think I can cope with that! It will certainly be an experience. Thanks to it being cheaper by two thirds to fly on a Sunday, I have a day and a bit free in Delhi to do a bit of sightseeing (good excuse you see!). Delhi should be a little more civilised I hope and again I'm in a five star hotel! I may just sleep.......

    To be honest I find this all very amusing, I have travelled to all sorts of places in my life, some of them very primitive, so I'm not concerned in the slightest about any of this. I should imagine it will end up being pretty ordinary. People tend to be people wherever you go.
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    @_tru_ - love the music track to the baby mooses, I assume it's Alison Krauss, certainly sounds like her.
  • janetay01
    janetay01 Posts: 1,298 Member
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    @ron - sounds like you will be having lots of fun in India. We will expect to hear all the stories!!

    @tru - love the moose video! Re: my shouting match with JM, I've toned it down as I've found shouting at her during the workout just uses energy that I can't spare!! I've made a deal with myself that I will move to level 2 when I can do both rounds of push-ups properly rather than following the 'beginner' option that she offers. At current progress I will be on level 1 for a while!!

    Feel like I've had a good weekend despite being over my calories on Saturday. A little dissapointed by my sodium levels today but high sodium is fairly rare for me so not getting too hung up on it. I have decided that I will be focussing on measurements for the next few months rather than the number on the scale. Took my measurements today and they are all too high -as is body fat percentage. So, waist and body fat tackling here I come!!

    Currently looking at options to have a wood burning stove installed - pricey but its something we've always wanted and given the way the weather us going in this country we'll get good use and value from it!

    Work again in the morning - back to the political minefield that is the project I'm involved in - sigh! Have a good Monday everyone.
  • stephaniezoundi
    stephaniezoundi Posts: 1,148 Member
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    Still here my friends and plodding along. Out tonight for a well deserved adults dinner with a great friend. Both leaving the kiddies with the hubbies. Scale seems to be doing the right thing. Working hard on getting the food right. Hope you are all well. Will do more personal response later!
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    This has been a disgustingly busy week so far, they keep expecting me to do work! Most unfair!! Been very quiet around here, I know Meg's been away, but.............

    @jane - you'll be the first to know about my Indian adventures, though they will probably be humdrum, airport, hotel, office, blah, blah!! Wood stoves are nice but you have to store the wood and keep it dry which can be a bit of a pain. Also you have to empty the ashes........... burn a few calories as well I would imagine!

    @Steph - you may be quiet, but you are doing very well and losing weight I see!! Keep it up.

    I've been shooting rats. They come out of the farm/woodland at the back of the house and feed off the pickings that fall from the bird table. I wouldn't mind but one got under the floor a couple of years ago, bit through an electric cable and died, so we had to have the floor up to remove the source of the smell and repair the cable, cost a fortune, so I don't like the little buggers............... I got two yesterday and one this morning. The dogs see them and start to bark and I dive for the gun. And before you think "cruel person", it is the most humane way to dispatch them and much better than poison which dehydrates them and they take 5 days to die. A .22 pellet through the brain does it quickly and cleanly and I'm very accurate!
  • TheRunningGuppy
    TheRunningGuppy Posts: 651 Member
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    @Ron, Shooting the rats sounds like something my dad would do. We used to have a problem at a house I grew up in, where woodpeckers would start in on our house (wood siding) and he would run outside with his BB gun. He taught my brother to do that too.
    So you want to be our personal trainer? I think we all need a get together! LOL, Ron can yell at us all.

    @Steph, good to hear from you! Obviously you're doing something right :bigsmile: Great loss that you posted! Hope your night out was fun :happy:

    @Jane, I grew up with a wood burning stove. Just make sure when you have kids, that you block it off somehow. That way there will be no chance of a child warming herself up after a bath laying down in front of that stove buck nekkid and burning her bum. LOL, yes, that happened to me. What's even worse, I was so embarrassed when my mom made me show my burns to my grandma.
    I hear you though, they are great for keeping a house warm. We have thought about putting a wood stove insert in our fireplace, but not sure we want to that.

    @Tru, cute moose video!

    As Ron mentioned, I went out of town for a few days, to visit my husbands grandparents. It was about a 5 hour drive one way. They live in the middle of farm country pretty much smack dab in the middle of Washington State. I was very glad that cell reception was decent, didn't want to lose my logging streak! I did go for a run on Monday morning. Had to laugh, I ran 3.13 miles, and it took me about 40 minutes. In all that time I saw only 4 cars.
    I had an OK time there, it was good to see family. My husbands aunt from Las Vegas was there, and her son and his kids. Things were a little dull for me though. Hanging out with a bunch of people who were a minimum of 30 years older than me (other than hubby's cousin & his kids) was not my idea of a delightful time. Hubby's cousin did bring his girlfriend (same age range as me), and she brought her kids as well, so there were 7 kids running around the place. One of her kids was the exact same age as my older son. As in, born same day, month and year. Let my older son stay there, and he'll come home with my mom in law on Friday.
    Drove home yesterday morning, and on my way my little sister called me. She said I needed to be careful not to drive off the road, she had some news. She let me know I'm going to be an aunt again!
    To my surprise, this morning when I weighed in, I'd lost almost 2 lbs! Amazing, since I don't feel like I ate well the days I was gone...
  • _tru_
    _tru_ Posts: 96
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    @Ron – Yes, I do believe that is Alison Krauss. With how you describe India and all of the “prep” needed, it's no wonder you haven't been chosen as their official Spokesman! We'll put in a good word for ya! :p But in all seriousness, I hope your trip there goes without incident. And for goodness sake, do not smoke the er, potatoes and go around licking the dogs!

    @Jane – That's a wonderful deal! As for when you get there, doesn't matter. Just as long as you are progressing forward, it's all good! I'm so bad at push-ups myself that I once had a trainer give up on me and recommend someone else. Love, love, LOVE wood-burning fireplaces! My parents have one as their main source of heat and it is so comfy-cozy in there house. I have a natural-gas fireplace and it does heat well, but somehow it is just not the same. I hope work is treating you well!

    @Steph – Saw your loss on the feed. You are not just back on the wagon, you are driving it! Way to go!!! Hope you had a great time at your Adults Dinner!

    @Ron, again – lol. I had to read that twice. “I've been shooting rats.”. It just seemed so abrupt and unexpected. Sorry to hear they are a bother, but I understand the need to kill them. I personally don't have the stomach for it, but I do prefer things suffer less rather than more.

    @Meg – Glad to hear the boonies were “OK”. I cannot remember where you are in your crazy-busy schedule. I remember a July 04th in there, but I cannot remember if it went passed that. I do hope you are getting some well-deserved rest in between the craziness! I love how you talk about your exercise so nonchalantly. Excellent sign that you are in great shape. Congrats on the surprise loss; always a wonderful feeling!

    I haven't been keeping up with Jillian this week. I fully intend to immerse myself back in her torture chamber on Saturday. We are hosting our annual work conference this week, so it is extremely busy to say the least. I have been doing my best to eat as well as I can, but I did have a hot dog today. It was calling my name.

    My cousin and I have been looking into Iceland. We just wanted to get an idea of what to see/do while we are there. And, YIKES – it is expensive there! Had no idea. So, we are going to re-assess our “sure, let's go for 3 weeks plan”. Looks like it may be a 1 weeks adventure after all. I am also hoping that we can be there for the Viking festival – should schedules permit. That just sounds like fun! Haha! But, this trip planning does also give rise to a more real mini-goal for me. Losing as much weight (in a reasonable manner) by then is in order. I don't have any specific numbers in mind, but at least now I have more of a push to get my *kitten* in gear.

    Wishing everyone well!
  • janetay01
    janetay01 Posts: 1,298 Member
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    @steph - hang in there, we are all plodding along with you! Hope the dinner out was good for you.

    @meg - oh dear, I did laugh at your wood stove story - I shall have to keep a close eye should little people come along. Mind you, we will have to keep a close eye on the cats too! Sounds like the visit was fun - though I sympathise with the age difference. Congrats on being an aunt again!

    @ron - hope you got all the rats. Like tru I wouldn't have the stomach - thankfully not a problem we've had - but agree far better than the slow death of poison. Don't start me off on the amount of work people expect us to do - it is just plain wrong!

    @tru - ah, a fellow convert to the stove idea. My parents had an open fire when I was a child and there is nothing like the warmth and comfort that you get from it. Work is not treating me well - I'm mired in politics and have decided that I hate the lot of them!

    so, so glad tomorrow is Friday - as above, work is driving me nuts this week. I finish early tomorrow and we go to watch Sussex play in the cricket (my local county team). Then a quiet weekend and lunch with friends on Sunday. Trying to maintain my workouts - another shouting match with JM this evening. Still not able to do full pushups all the way through!
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    I should perhaps make it clear that shooting rats is not something I get any pleasure from but the military taught me to shoot, and it's the most efficient way of despatching them so I do it. Fortunately I'm not squeamish! Kinda like paying taxes, no one likes it but you just have to do it! On a similar subject a few years ago Gordon Ramsey had a series during which he raised pigs and there was an episode where they finally went to the abattoir (slaughterhouse) which came with warnings to "people of a nervous disposition". I decided if I was going to eat pork, I should also understand the process that puts it on the table, and although it was a bit sad as we'd seen them raised from piglets, it also was comforting in that the pigs didn't suffer at all or even know what was going on. I continue to eat pork.

    I'd like to make something else clear. I am NOT a closet exerciser, the only closet I exercise is the one my clothes are in!! Exercise is like taxes, to be avoided whenever you can get away with it!

    @Meg - damn right I'd like to be the official personal trainer for the thread. All I'd need would be a motorbike and a megaphone and I could keep up and shout at you when I thought you were slacking! Congratulations on re-aunting (? That has to be the word, right?), the next question of course is is that going to make you broody and can we expect another little Blackburn in the not too distant future? That thing with the wood stove and the burned butt made me laugh, why do parents insist on doing that sort of thing? I remember my Mum making me display all sorts of damaged personal areas to relatives "He was climbing a tree and look what he did! Ron! Pull down your pants and show auntie Mary your bruises.........".

    @_tru_ - yes I had a (guitar repair) customer from Iceland once, he came over to pick up the repair, and we had a long chat in the pub about Iceland, and expensive was the word that comes to mind. Though to be fair, most of Europe is expensive including the UK.

    @jane - yes too much is expected of us nowadays work wise, though I enjoy my work so much, I don't really mind, after all it keeps me away from walking the streets......! Workplace politics is something I got out of nearly 20 years ago by going independent. It's great to be able to sit outside it all and though you still get a certain amount aimed at you, you just chill and laugh all the way to the bank! It's a different way of thinking though, if I give my advice/opinion/etc, as far as I'm concerned that is paid for and whether they choose to follow it or not is up to them. I don't feel it personally, whereas as a permanent employee it can be taken as a slight.

    Oh well, Friday at last, have a good weekend ahead everyone!
  • TheRunningGuppy
    TheRunningGuppy Posts: 651 Member
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    @Tru - a trip to Iceland sounds fun, even if it is expensive. Oh if only money grew on trees! I'm about half way through my time of insanity. LOL, got prep for the Young Lives fundraiser tonight, then actual fundraiser tomorrow. And then a whole list of stuff next week...

    @Jane, Good luck with the pushups! Hope work goes better for you, sounds kind of awful right now. And yes, cats are little mischief makers!

    @Ron, you paint quite the picture of yourself as "Official Supportive Friends Thread Trainer"!! Lol at re-aunting! This baby will make me an auntie for the 9th time. And unless some sort of miracle happens there will be no more little Blackburns. The surgeon closed up shop for me at my last c-section. Although, it has been know to happen, I have a cousin who came along after her mother had her tubes tied. I don't know why parents insist on showing off all their child's injuries! I'm just thankful that my boys have been mostly injury free to date. And the only major injury was a cut requiring stitches on my 4 year old's chin. No problem showing that one off! I have to say, I'm glad I didn't see that show about the pigs. Not sure I would still eat pork after it. I'm just a bit squeamish about that stuff.

    Today my 9 year old will be home from visiting the great grandparents. I hope he remembers all his stuff, he's notoriously forgetful. One time we visited my best friend, and her son happens to be my son's best friend. She texted me about a dozen times after we got home, "we found another thing that belongs to Jamie!".
    Today, I'm going to take a nice long bike ride. Then this evening I am going to set the table I'm hosting for a fundraiser, then tomorrow is the fundraiser. And I need to run very early tomorrow, because my hubby & Jamie will be picked up by my FIL and they are going to run the family firework stand on the reservation. For the WHOLE day.
    Ok, I need to stop dinking around on the computer and get up and do my yoga before work starts... Have a good day everyone!
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    @Meg - listen girl, you want training, I'm your man, you wanna lose weight, I can do that, I don't think you really appreciate how wonderful I actually am! I am the epitome of don't do what I do, do what I say, I am partially evil and partially....er.... not so evil, I am the omega and the beta (WTF?) and talk a lot of *kitten*, none of which matters a damn as long as you accept my wonderfulness. When I tell you I ring my son and his phone says "God calling", maybe you will understand my omnipotence and eternal love and mercy personified. (He's spooked out a few people with that!) That is true by the way. In whisky veritas as the Romans used to say..... Enjoy (or I hope you have enjoyed) your bike ride and take with you that Queen Classic ~"Bicycle, Bicycle, i want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike" . If you can live up to the video, you're genuinely my heroine! (Heroine is not a drug by the way!)

    Apologies, I am high on NSVs tonight :) I feel so good it hurts. I just hope the feeling lasts........................... ;-)
  • TheRunningGuppy
    TheRunningGuppy Posts: 651 Member
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    Thanks Ron, now I have the bicycle song stuck in my head! LOL And by the way, I think you're pretty awesome :happy: And more "not so evil" than "evil". Still at work for another hour, then I'll head out on my bicycle....
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    Specially for Meg -

    And almost inevitably, though I cast no aspersions - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMnjF1O4eH0

    purely included as the two songs ran together in the Queen 'Jazz' album and I like it!
  • TheRunningGuppy
    TheRunningGuppy Posts: 651 Member
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    Ron, are you getting back at me for the boobies comment? lol, cuz there's boobies in that first video, had to turn it off so my boys couldn't see! Boobies boobies boobies!!!!! Ok, yes, I just had a very juvenile moment... lol

    It was 90 here today. Frikkin hot! And guess what brilliant idea popped into my head? Go for a run. Yeah, I'm completely off my rocker. Kept it to 2 miles though, and drank LOTS of water.

    Hope you all had a good weekend!
  • janetay01
    janetay01 Posts: 1,298 Member
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    @meg - possibly off your rocker but I think in off it with you! Hottest day of the year yesterday (apparently) and still making the cross trainer work hard - mad! Hope your lad got back with everything that he should have done!

    @ron - hope the NSV high lasted - it's a great feeling. 'God calling' indeed - not much one can say to that!!

    @tru - would live to visit Iceland. We talked about it last year for my birthday but as you've pointed out it looked so very expensive!

    Well I made a breakthrough this weekend - managed to do one set of JM push-ups the proper way - but absolutely couldn't make it through both sets! So making progress but not going on to level 2 yet. Had a lovely lunch with friends yesterday but didn't log well at all - always hard when it's not your own food to log. But never mind - a nice afternoon with lunch in the garden and winding up their ten year old daughter who is currently practising hard to be a stroppy teenager. God help them when she actually becomes one!!

    Back to work this morning - with a vow to not let all the nonsense get to me - life is too short for all that! Easier said than done but going to try. Happy Monday all.
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
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    @Meg - hehe about the boobies! Sorry you wouldn't let your sons see them, did you blindfold them when breast feeding? LOL. Be careful about running when it's very hot. Having suffered from heat exhaustion (a precursor to the much more dangerous heat stroke) through playing squash when it was very hot (in my much younger days!) it's pretty unpleasant. Fortunately when I vomited and then fainted they got me into the air conditioning very quickly! Sounds like you were sensible about drinking though. I've reviewed my opinion on this latest evidence, you're awesome but totally mad :wink:

    @Jane - The NSV high continues, pulled some more stuff out of the closet yesterday including a Polo Shirt I was given on a course in 2000, and it fitted!! OK it was probably big on me in those days, but still :happy: Just as well as the scale isn't moving these past few days, pretty sure it's water retention again, possibly due to the hot weather or because I've had more salt (as you tend to when it's hot and you sweat more) because I'm keeping at or under my calorie goal. The scale is not rising, and it's only been three days since I had a 0.8 lbs loss, so I'm not at all concerned, more interested in what causes this sort of thing. Sounds like you had a nice weekend though, and liked the bit about winding up the 10 year old. We used to have friends with two daughters about a year apart, and when they were at that age (sadly they're both in their mid thirties now.......) I used to enjoy doing that :laugh:

    Well, off to Germany (Munich area) early tomorrow morning for three days, it's a lovely area of Bavaria, lakes and forests and I always enjoy going there though I'll have to avoid the beer this time sadly :sad: just too many calories for comfort. Then off to India on Sunday. I feel sure that's going to be a challenge food wise as it will be difficult to calculate calories with unfamiliar food, much easier in Europe where you can figure out what is going into things, so if I come back no heavier than when I left, I'll be happy. Hell, if I put on a couple of pounds it won't be a disaster, and it's not every day I have this sort of experience so I'm going to enjoy it as best I can. Fortunately I have a day off Saturday 13th in Delhi so all things being equal I may be able to do the touristy bit!

    Monday morning again, enjoy your week all, I will continue to log while I'm away and will check in when I can!
  • _tru_
    _tru_ Posts: 96
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    @Jane – Work politics are the worst. The company I am at now is the first company that has minimal politics and it is such a relief. The red tape and glass ceilings at my previous company were ridiculous and frustrating to no end. Even my direct boss had secret agendas that we were not privy too. I hope that you find a way to make your time at the office as stress-free as possible. Congrats on the push-ups!!! That’s a HUGE accomplishment!

    @Ron a.k.a. Alpha&Omega – I see your pig story and raise you a chicken story. Okay, these are not really related at all, but you made me think of chickens. Growing up, we raised chickens for food. Okay, when I say ‘we’ I actually mean my parents... Anyways, I have seen them hatched from eggs (oh so cute), raised to adulthood (oh so territorial), and beheaded for dinner (egad!). There are 2 scary memories that I have that are as plain as day. The first was when our rooster flew up and ripped the glasses clean off of our friend’s face. Chickens do not like strangers in their yard. And the second was when the chicken flew away after its head was cut off. Yup, you really do need to tie them down by their feet before wielding the axe. Suffice to say, after getting to know chickens as aggressive and noisy, I wasn’t all too upset when they made it too my plate. (I warned you, not really the same.) Germany is on our travel list (2016, I believe?). We have relatives in the South, so we will be travelling all over Bavaria. Have a fantastic time in Germany! And, as for India, E-N-J-O-Y!!! Safe travels!

    @Meg – So, you are at about the 3/4 mark of insanity and I am uber-impressed that you are still walking and talking. Through all of this you have been multi-exercising and eating well – BRAVO!!!! So totally impressive!!! How did your fundraiser go? I am with you; had to turn the first video off cuz I am at work and didn’t want my co-workers to see boobies, boobies, boobies! (I work with all men. Sigh.)

    “Fat Bottom Girls”. That takes me back. That was our theme song back in high school. Used to drive around screaming along to Mercury at the top of our lungs. Haha!

    We spent 6 hours weeding our garden this weekend. I am pretty sure I broke all of my weeding muscles. On the bright side, with all the rain and crazy hot weather our veggies are all growing nicely and some have started to bloom. Exciting times! The only mystery is to why our beets have not grown, except for one rogue beet that seems to have made its way over to the lettuce patch.

    Yesterday was Canada Day and, as all holidays go, it did not go without its drama and embarrassment. My neighbour texted me around 9:30am in the morning: “I have a dead bunny in my yard. Get over here now”. I walked over and she was spreading a newspaper over it. Apparently she was going to mow and saw the bunnies in her yard. So she went to scare them away, only 1 ran and the other remained. I’m not exactly sure where she was going with the newspaper... Anyways, I reached down and touched him. He was still warm and appeared to be breathing and blinking. So, after scrambling on a holiday to find answers and a service that was open, humane society was on their way. Humane arrived about an hour later and looked at the bunny. After a quick assessment that, yes, the bunny was still alive, she then went to pick him up. And, he hopped away. HOW EMBARRASSING!!!! Apparently we were terrifying the poor thing so he froze and remained that way waiting for us to leave. All we had to do was leave the poor fella alone. In the end, all’s well that ends well. And my neighbour and I are just worse for wear.

    My cousin and I discussed our trip further. We are both okay with staying in hostels and possibly even camping (will depend on equipment) our way around Iceland. So, we should be able to at least cut our costs a little. But, I fear that rental car fee will be something to reckon with. I have also heard that the UK is expensive. Another place I have yet to get to; it’s on the list! So many places, so little money, so little time. Meg, when you find that money tree, let me know!

    Have a great one everyone!
  • stephaniezoundi
    stephaniezoundi Posts: 1,148 Member
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    Meg you continue to inspire me with your exercise. I was like that prepregnancy and miss it so much. My trainer once banned from the gym for a weekend because I was over training!

    Tru: happy Canada day! 10 years over here and none of my employers will give me the day off to celebrate!! There was a jog party in Trafalgar Square with a free concert. The headliners were Jann Arden and the Tragically Hip. I don't make it but have some fantastic albeit alcoholically hazy memories of past celebrations :-)

    Jane: I'm with you on the eating out, makes guessing hard. Kenzie has already mastered a mother please look at 11 months

    Ron: your trip to India sounds intriguing. It is one country I dot have a great deal of interest in visiting. I sympathise with you on a ll the warning. When I travelled I Burkina Faso for my wedding the list of Donts was huge...not that turning on a tap was even an option. It was shocking to me even though I studied and teach development. And the weather! 47c on my wedding day, I wanted to melt!!

    So me, well I've been struggling/plodding along. Had some nice NSVs such a people commenting on weight loss (even though the scale is the same) and got hit on in the grocery store on the weekend. Always nice for the confidence. Hubby and I have been getting along much better and he's even purchased me a oil
    Me up pamper session at a local nail/hair bar. The universe just seems to be transpirin to keep me out of the gym and I'm really frustrated with it. I went on Sunday as swam and it was fantastic. Was supposed to be at the gym tonight but it just didn't happen. Hoping pamper session will help get me out of my funk.