Hanging in here using only Dove sensitive skin soap and baby shampoo. My eyelids are itching some today, which causes a bit of anxiety, but hopefully there will be no outbreaks until the testing on Friday. I finished the prednisone on Saturday and took my last benadryl on Sunday night. I was afraid that without the benadryl, I wouldn't sleep well, but hubby came down with a cold over the weekend and said he coughed all night last night, and I didn't hear a thing. But wait a minute. If he coughed a few times it turned into "all night." He is not a good patient, either! LOL

Sheesh, if I remember correctly, as of Thursday, we'll be the same age again! No--actually, we're all just one day older today than yesterday and younger than we'll ever be again! And Lois, you have the excitement of the Rhea watch!

I'm trying to focus on good things, too. We got mums planted down the driveway on Saturday, and I'm enjoying those. I love fall flowers. And although my appetite was a little up due to the meds, I didn't show much change on the scale today. However, we know that I always weigh less on Tuesday than on Wednesday!

And if you're watching national news you know that--yes, ladies--it continues to rain in the Nation's capital! Rain. Oh, good!

SW: 156
LW: 140.2
TW: 139.2

I can hardly believe this! Yesterday I was 139.6 and I thought for sure that something wrong with the scale! But I weighed twice today and I made sure that some time passed between my moving the scale until I got on it. Hubby told me that moving scales affects them unless you let them sit for a short time. Who knew? I am surprised that I did not gain, especially with all the prednisone.

Lois, you are 20 pounds lighter than when you started. Where is my cheerleader? I am NOT 20 pounds lighter. I'm 3.2 pounds from that benchmark. I got there plus a little once, but let's face it--I was once a lot of other things and those aren't reality today either! LOL

Kelly, I also suffer from lack of light overall and sunlight in particular. I enjoy the occasional rainy day and love the look of street lights on wet pavement and wet, dark bark on trees. But when it goes on and on, it affects me various ways. I have less energy, feel more negative, etc. Hope you get a few sunshiny days soon. We actually have some sun today for the first time since Saturday, but we're expecting heavy thunderstorms later this afternoon. More rain. Oh, good! A friend of ours who is in meteorologist school posted yesterday that the DC area had more rain this September than in the five Septembers before this combined. I just keep thinking that drought would be far worse and trying to enjoy the coming of fall. Hang in there.

Sheesh, your're quiet. I hope all is well in your corner of the world. I know that the mountains around you will soon be beautiful. I remember some of your posts of a walking trail in the fall.

Well lunch break is over. Oh, and by the way, they fired another one of my close coworkers yesterday. Makes the rest of us very nervous. She was talented and a great gal.

SW: 156
LW: 129
TW: 128.6

Whew. I little more reduction

Congratulations on getting into the 130's Sarah! That's terrific, especially with the prednisone and benedril. Good job! And, the beautiful mums in the fall are my favorite. Enjoy the nice days when you get them. I hope your eyes clear completely very soon. That is so miserable. In the past, I've had a rash on my eyelids, I think from an eyeliner. It took a long time to clear, and I remember that it kept itching and peeling and peeling. My doctor told me to get a tiny amount of oil on a q-tip and rub it along the lash line to get the dead skin off. It worked, but I don't remember what kind of oil I used. And, don't do it without asking your doctor.

You're right, I have been doing a lot of other stuff around here other than working out. I went to see a new doctor my friend goes to. She is a ND. (Naturopath) She is running some tests because I really want to get through the winter without getting sick this year, and I've been feeling more tired than usual lately. Maybe I'm just getting old, lol! But, she thinks I'm not absorbing certain nutrients very well, and that I might need a little boost of my Thyroid. So, I've been to see her twice this week (one visit for fasted blood and urine). Also, we went to the theatre on Tuesday night. ( I highly recommend "Waitress".) I also got some new glasses, and went out with friends one night to celebrate my birthday with them. We saw the movie "Life Itself" and sat there holding hands and crying our eyes out! It's really good. The perfect chick flick, ha ha!

Tomorrow, I have my trainer in the a.m., and then hubby is taking me over the border to Nevada for an overnighter with a nice dinner and gambling and golf on Friday. Sounds sexy, huh? Give me your lucky numbers for Keno or Roulette

Kelly, I did the Keto diet for most of August (21 days I think). I was so disciplined! 10 - 15 grams of carbs. I kept waiting for the energy to kick in, but it just never did. It really made me pee, haha! I got a bit dehydrated, and I had muscle cramps too. I had a migraine or two. I just couldn't do it. That's part of the reason I'm seeing this ND. I want to figure out what to eat that I can absorb and get more energy. I do a lot when I look at my schedule, but most of the time I'm dragging. So, I'm mostly not eating grains or much dairy, because this doc says most people have some issue with those. I try to keep my calories down, water up, and some exercise, including lifting twice a week. That's all I'm doing, and not being too crazy. I eat popcorn and sweets sometimes. And, I drank Sake the other night. But, I only drink when I'm out with friends, and only one or two. That's it. I'll keep you updated on what my doc tells me. You're in such a busy time of life! It's hard, but so fun and rewarding. Try to stay in the moment and enjoy it as much as you can. Sarah's right, we're one day older than yesterday, but younger than we'll ever be again. . .

Lois, I keep watching and waiting with you! Be sure to post on Facebook so I don't miss it! I'll keep checking

Well I thought that I'd have more info tonight since I went to the allergist today. But that ended up just being an information gathering appointment so they can put together the patch test. But I just love this doc. I felt like we were friends by the end of the appointment. She explained everything so well and told me she did the same thing one time--put on some make-up that stung, then instead of ditching it, waited a few days and tried it again and it seemed okay, but then next time she had a terrible reaction and lost about half her eyelashes for a while! I told her I felt stupid for not just ditching it the first time, but she said that's not human nature. We always seem to think, well--let's make sure. Anyway, I can't go backwards now. My reaction was so severe two weeks ago it went far beyond red and itchy to looking like someone threw acid on me and having my eyes and lips swell and my lips feel tingly for days. I never want to go through that again. Fortunately, I had pics from the ER to share with her. So Monday I go back to have patches on my back. Then I go back Wednesday to have them removed, and I go back on Friday to have the places observed. She told me it was okay to start adding back some make-up and moisturizer provided they were products I've used for a long time with no reaction. But I'm kind of leery until after the tests.

Thanks everyone for the kudos, although my weight went up to 140 on Thursday. That's okay as long as the low end of bouncing stays a bit l lower. It's still progress and I always bounce.

After the past two days, I'm afraid to weigh again though. Last night, I left right after work and did some volunteer work. On the way home, we decided to try a pizza place that a friend recommended. And the killer is that I let myself get too hungry and instead of making some salad to go with it, I just scarfed up two and half pieces of pizza. Then tonight, I did well. I had a salad with some chicken. But then for some reason, I decided to have a little Ben & Jerry's that turned into at least twice as much as I intended. So I HAVE to watch the intake for the next few days. And I haven't walked in the past two days. I wish I had a good excuse, but if I'm honest, I just didn't have a lot of energy and did not push myself. I know that if I'll push myself, once I start my energy my perk up--but I did not!

Lois I hope Rhea gets here soon and I hope the tummy issues calm down. My sister has irritable bowel very badly and she shares how hard that can be.

Sheesh, I see you're having fun golfing, and Kelly, I hope that all the wedding and house plans keep moving along. Honestly, time goes so fast, you're going to be a married woman before we can blink. Are you registered somewhere?

I'm back doing Keto. More lazy Keto because I don't follow all of the rules though. I mostly just make sure I'm sticking to the lower carb, higher fat style lifestyle. I felt so good when I was doing it and even though I only started yesterday, I can already notice how much better I feel today. It gives me focus. I'm drinking more water and paying attention to what I'm shoveling into my mouth. I've been watching a ton of YouTube videos from people who are doing it and it's giving me the motivation I was lacking. I'm paying attention to my body cues and know how to be better prepared for the muscle cramps too.

Sarah - Good job on starting the day off right even though it's a tough anniversary day! Glad to hear the weather is finally nice for you too! Today here.. it's snowing

Sheesh - Loved the pic on facebook of you and your hubby golfing

Online working on a monthly report (arghhh) and popped by here to log my food and check in. Sheesh, thank you for your kind words and your support, my friend. This allergy thing has really been hard on me. But it's motivated me to pay more attention to my health and occasionally take some time off to go to docs and do other things I need to do to stay healthy. There are some things besides this allergic reaction that I've just been trying to live with and I'm tired of doing that. Once I get back from NC I'm going to address some of those things.

Kelly, snow already? We had our last day at our pool today. The water is heated and it was fine once you got in, but the air was really chilly when you got out wet. However, when I was in the water enjoying that last swim, I thought of you. And I also thought about the fun you're going to have in Mexico not that long from now.

Lois, I do hope that your tummy gets better and that Rhea arrives very soon. I sent you some good vibes that day that you were crowding in a day's work in a couple of hours. I have so been there!

Ladies, I think we all agree that eating less sugar, dairy, and processed foods is a good goal to have. I love my milk, yogurt and cheese, so the dairy is especially hard, but I've been reading that those three things I mentioned are things people with allergic issues or skin issues of almost any type should try to minimize.

Well, it's rolling toward midnight here, so I am going to log off. Monday morning will be here way too soon!