Oh my gosh y'all I think I may be losing my mind! I say that several times a day but I mean it a little more this time. Since I returned to my desk at lunch I can smell chocolate chip cookies baking. No one else can smell them. Someone may have heated something chocolate in the break room but my office is no longer by the break room. I put on the energy aromatherapy lotion from Bath and Body Works which has an orange scent to cover the chocolate scent. Occasionally I think I can smell odors that no one else can smell but that usually is fleeting. This is strange!!!

@2020pinktogo I can't imagine working with anyone one for 25 years. The only people I still know and interact with regularly that I have known that long are my family. I'm getting close with my friend Molly, but I've only known her for 16 years and much of that time we have lived in separate cities. I'm amazed at your stability!

@1skholloway -- I have very few male MFP "friends". If I get a friend request from a guy, I go to his profile and look at who his friends are. If they're all women, I do not accept. If it looks like he has a good % of male friends, I'll accept. ** Smells can be a big trigger. Good thinking with the lotion!

@2020pinktogo -- I'm one of those people who has had a number of different jobs and a couple of careers before retiring. The longest career I had was as a teacher, and that was for 8 years. :-) My briefest was a summer spent building artificial reefs for zoos and aquariums.

@blitzbis -- Happy Birthmonth! My sister also celebrates her birthday all month long.

I made the mistake of mentioning to my rehab guy that my arms were sore after jui jitsu because I don't have the arm strength I used to to fight off armbars (simply because I haven't been fighting off armbars!) Now, while we do knee rehab I have to use weights etc to work on my arms at the same time...

@blitzbiz Happy birthday month! I also celebrate for ages!!!

Next month I hit 10 years at my current employer. Benefit of that is I get 30 leave days per year from then!!!

@JanolaBarbara 9 days and counting until my cruise! Things have been so hectic at the office I will be so excited to be absolutely unreachable for 7 days!

@2020pinktogo I completely understand waiting until you find the right thing. I wish I could teach that to Chris. He'll spend money on a new guitar or guitar equipment then later want to sell it to get what he really wanted all along. So frustrating. I guess I'm glad I don't really have a hobby like that so I don't have anything to compare that desire to. Well, maybe fitness but I don't spend that much money on it. I can usually tell when Chris has spent money on something without discussing it with me because he'll start finding things he thinks I would want. Very transparent.

Doctor day went better today. Actually saw all the patients prior to 3:30. Now to see when he gets done with his charting. Maybe we will be done before 6;30 this week.

Weight still dropping slowly. Feeling more pleased lately than I can tell you.

Happy Wednesday everyone

@2020pinktogo looks like lots of job changes in the "pinktogo" family. Best of luck to your brother. I also looked up armbars. I was visualizing drinking games and arm wrestling. TEE HEE!
@CaptainBoing how was the swimming with the seal pups? any news on the online relationship?

Doctor actually left yesterday at 5:15. Of course we had several not show up but at least it was an early day. Hope you all have a great Thursday.

I haven't got to swim with the pups yet (they are nearly two years old but we still refer to them as pups even though Andy is over 50kgs!) Either weather or other commitments or pump problems which left the water too shallow. Going to try again in Sunday.

Online guy is travelling for work with some technical problems so very limited communication until he gets back. The plan is then to discuss meeting face to face!

Hey y'all! I'm glad to read that everyone is doing so well! I piddled away Saturday and Sunday so I wasn't as productive over the holiday weekend as I needed to be. This weekend I have to make up for wasted time. I have got to really kick it in to gear and start working on my second job and preparing for organizing Christmas sponsors. I also have a lot to do at home. Additionally, a new friend is having a double mastectomy today. I want to check on her some throughout the weekend.

I've tried a couple of new things at the gym this week - some good and some bad. I won't be trying the cardio and fat burning programs on the treadmill again. The way I had the programs set, the treadmill ended up with an incline of 10! I have seldom used an incline. That woke up my sciatica unfortunately! I will start using incline some but not at that level.

The trainer kicked at our butts in ab class last night. In between lifting weights, we had to do burpees, mountain climbers, jumping jacks, and such. He said we were the advanced class and he did the activities with us which he normally doesn't do. When we finished, I had only about 5,650 steps in for the day so I ate some full fat string cheese and got on the treadmill. Oh my gosh! I couldn't get up to my normal speed. Thankfully, I'm not sore today, just some sciatica pain. I surprised myself with my ability to keep up doing the cardio. I was the oldest one in the class. I was disappointed when I was how few calories I burned. Hopefully, I am losing some girth in my stomach and hips. I could wear a smaller size clothes if I could lose that. I didn't know how much harder it would be to lose belly fat once menopause set in.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Hey, guys, I was still stuck in August! I never moved on to the September thread!!! Didn't anybody miss me?

@NewOR2015 -- Yes, I saw that and I was just there reading your posts. Welcome to September! Glad you're back!!

@1skholloway -- I used to put chia seeds in my waterbottle. It did make drinking water more 'fun'. I've also tried to make chia desserts. One was a total fail. The chocolate pudding was pretty good. You do have to like the texture, which I do. (huh, I should make this again.) Well done keeping up with your advanced class!

@2020pinktogo -- I also love black. But, I will accessorize with bright colors, so I'm bright but mostly wearing my 'safe' dark colors.

My nephew is here for a short visit. He is home-schooled, so we're lucky his schedule has the flexibility for this visit! Actually went out to lunch twice, and I was able to find foods that fit my program (*whew*). Not sure if I'm losing weight, but I my GI feels a lot better and I seem to be a little less hungry. The last time I did this program, I had a hard time staying near 2000 cal/day. Now, I'm easily staying around 1600cal.