@CMorning99 Sounds like your runs are going great. That's an awesome pace. Fingers crossed for you that the soil report comes back and is what you want it to be. Also glad Grey cat seems to be doing some better. I always hated to buy new uniforms.

@CMorning99 - glad you got the report back even if you don't know what it says. With things like that I always hope there is a summary or something that just says, everything is fine or these things need to be fixed... I guess maybe they don't expect a lay person to need to read or understand it.

The house sounds awful but maybe you can cover some of it up? I would tolerate it too for the low rent, as long as it is clean.

My weight went up a bit more and has come down exactly 1 lb... I am eating well, working out at least 6 days/week in some form, running at least 4 of them. I have to trust that it will come down again. I am also going to update my spreadsheets that trend over time (months) to see what has changed. Am I eating too many calories (don't think so), too little (don't think so), not burning enough calories... 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hey @swenson19d - how are you and all your kitties and puppies doing?
Hey @Avidkeo - how is your winter going?
Hey @rheddmobile - how are you doing and what about all your raccoon buddies?

I don't think MFP sends any kind of notification so I have no clue if they will even see that but I miss all of them!

@CMorning99 Glad you got the soil test back. It sounds like that is getting things moving at least. Since you will only be renting the house until you get yours built, I think you can probably tolerate the bad décor. Sorry that Grey Cat is having a hard time. I hope changing the anti-biotic will help. Those hard "easy" miles are the worst. But, that is what makes us stronger - at least that is what I tell myself. Hang in there.

@shanaber It is frustrating when you are doing everything right and the weight doesn't cooperate. Hopefully you will have a swhoosh day soon! I miss hearing from those three too. I hope they are okay and just busy.

I have actually lost a couple of pounds this week. I'm pretty sure it is water weight, but I'll take it. I'm loosely logging food again, which helps me know when I am way over. I started a training plan on Monday for my 10 mile race in December. I decided on the HM plan that I did last year, with a little modification for the start, since I haven't been doing many long runs so far this year.

I'm leaving in about an hour to go to Beckly WVA for a friend's retirement celebration. She was the Park Supervisor for the Andrew Johnson park here in town before getting transferred to New River Gorge in W VA. She is one of the ladies I used to play tennis with and a very good friend. I am just staying overnight and leaving Tippy here, so I'm a little anxious about that, but I'm sure she will be okay. Mom and William, my neighbor, are going to come up tonight and feed her and then again in the morning to let her out and feed her. The person I normally board her with is out of town and it just didn't seem worth taking her to someone new when it was just one day.

@CMorning99 I hope the worker made it. That's so sad and scary when it happens all of a sudden like that. Weird that you are getting Amazon stuff at the base. Why do people do things like that? As for the hormones, do you know when your mom went through "the change." I have heard that we tend to follow our mom's. I know I did. She stopped in her late 30's and I was 46, but probably would have stopped sooner had I not been taking the pill. I'm glad grey cat is feeling some better and hope black cat did okay with his chemo today. Hang in there. You do have a lot going on.

Good morning.

Grey cat is hanging in there. I got my uniform and I don't know who does the sizing and it is different depending where you buy it. My pants are now hammer pants LOL...they are a bit ridiculous. The sizing went from 31R to 35R as the next size but I swear I now have about 8 inches of extra fabric. Probably a dudes idea. But they are really comfy LOL.

Ran yesterday and effortlessly held an 11:14 pace and was only varying by +/- 3 seconds for 1.75 miles. It was so much cooler yesterday, guess that heat training is working.


Vitamins daily (1/7)
Run (3.5/12)
Strength (.5/3)
5K steps a day (1/7)
Track calories (0/7) Loosely
Weight (-.3/12lbs) 1Aug-15 Oct based on smoothing app.

@CMorning99 - I think so many of the military uniforms are designed for men and they still haven't really updated them for women. I saw a program about it one but I think it was focused on the Army.
A comment about Vet Techs... having worked in Vet offices for several years when I was in college (planning to be a Vet) I found that like some nurses who really want to be a doctor, they are wanna-be Vets who for whatever reason couldn't get in or afford Vet school. Many are very bitter and often think they know as much as the Vet and would be better at it than the Vet they are working for. I wouldn't be surprised if that Tech just decided you should come in and may not have even said anything to the Vet. I would document (like you have here) the process you have gone through and the result - make it like a diary entry so the Vet can see what has happened each time. I hope you can get to the bottom of it so Grey kitty is more comfortable and happy. How is Black kitty doing?

On menupause/perimenopause... I think the average for actually hitting official menopause is around 50 but perimenopause can start in your early 40's or even late 30's. My mom was right in with the average, 50 or 51ish but I was late at 56. I also started my period really early as did my daughter. I wish I had known the symptoms and changes of perimenopause when I was in my 40's it certainly would have explained a lot to me - especially the overwhelming anxiety, insomnia and inability to lose any weight no matter what I did or how little I ate. I also may have taken more steps to help myself like even hormone therapy which back then was considered a big no-no because of the Women's Health study (much of the results of which have now been found to be wrong...).

That 'Hit Play Not Pause' podcast I have mentioned before has lots of information and there are also a couple of books by Stacy Sims and Selene Yeager (host of the podcast) that you might want to check out. Roar is one that is more about nutrition requirements and how changes in our hormones affect our performance. Their latest book is Next Level and it goes more into perimenopause, and menopause specifically..

@CMorning99 Glad things seem to be moving along on the mobile home, no pun intended. I never did have uniforms that fit well when I was in the AF. Like you said, they would "try" to make changes, but they never really fit my body well. I'm glad to here the cats are doing okay. Sounds to me like you are doing great with the running. Just don't overdo too soon and get injured.

I'm still eating birthday stuff. I'm hoping to get rid of it all this week. After that, I hope I will be able to get back on track as far as food goes. I'm just not going to stress about the weight I have gained. If I do, it'll just make it worse.

@swenson19d - so glad to see you here! Kevin is such a sweetie! Sandy probably too! I do think Mallory looks like a snuggler - such a cute face! and she really doesn't look that big!
We had a feral cat a long time ago that had kittens in our garage. The kittens crawled up on the wheels and somewhere in the engine. I am guessing it was nice and warm. One was killed when we unknowingly backed out of the garage but the other two were found snuggled up in the engine area. Looked to be about the same age as your stowaway.
I am RA positive with a couple of different patterns (not sure what that means exactly) but the rheumatologist didn't find anything else that confirmed lupus or another specific autoimmune. I am on Plaquenil (off label use for RA and lupus) and the symptoms (fatigue, aching/sore all over and inflammation) have abated for the most part thankfully. I can't stay on it long term but for now it is really helping. I hope the Lyrica helps you - I can't believe how expensive these drugs are.
Hope the nursing classes are going well!

@cmorning99 - did the mobile home get moved successfully?

I am back in that situation of trying to lose weight and it is not moving at all. So frustrating! I am trying to add in some speed/sprint intervals once a week or so to hopefully get it to move. It is silly, but I have an appointment with my pcp in early Oct. and I really would like it to be down a bit by then.

Good morning folks!

Glad to see ya'll! I was so tired last week by the time I got mid way through, I gave it a solid F it all. I am dreading to see the damage I did and so I am giving myself today today flush and see if we can soften the blow LOL

The mobile is MOVED! We aren't done but the hard part is over. It was a *kitten* show from the day before it started LOL The lead mover guy called me and said he didn't know if he was going to make it out there b/c he was having heart rhythm issues, but he was going to send his son out. The first snafu was the hitch broke, it was so rusted they had to weld a new one on. I was concerned if that broke, what else was weak. They got it jacked up and moved away from the deck and tires on it no problem. Now we live in sand, it looks solid and packed but if something is heavy, it sinks. There was a 20 foot patch of sand between the 2 plots and that bad boy sank to the floor . It took his 1ton truck and a tractor to yank it out...I was sure they were going to rip the back end off it, not to mention all my tenants stuff was still in it. But they got it out, and in the process the tires fell off so then they dragged it on the wheels, and by the time they got it parked, the axels were coming off. End of day one, I drank when I got home! The second day, these guys were sooo inefficient, they came out and looked at the utilities and then went out and bought what they needed, wasted the whole morning. By the end of that day they got the electric and sewer done. The 3rd day they got the gas and water done. We had no idea where the electric was buried so our gas line is only 18 inches underground. Lead guy also made a lot of promises of what he could do, but I guess later realized he didn't want to do them. Like put the skirting back on and move the deck. I also need to find a mobile home repair company (who will actually call me back) to give it a once over. There is some water damage b/c the tenant won't tell me when stuff is broken. I am so glad it is over, mostly. All that is left is to build new skirting, and the fence guy is coming out on thursday to give me a quote. That just leaves the deck and repairs.

I also had a long talk with our builder. I realized it had been 6 months since we signed the contract with the draftsman and we are no where near where he said he would be (he promised we would be nearly done). The builder had a "man to man" talk with him and the guy promised to see our project through and that the plans were with the structural engineer. My neighbor said that my builder had relieved him of some projects because he was costing him money because he was waiting so long.

We also had court. They didn't say what the last Doc said in his report but they moved forward with scheduling the trial. Jury selection starts 26 Jan 23 and then the trial probably the week after? If all goes to plan, which I am sure it wont, we will go to trial 27 months after mom died.

So that is why I was tired. I also worked Thurs/Friday. No runs, no counting. I did get my step count in though LOL. I brought my new running shoes, I got a pair of the carbon plate ones, Saucony. I have had them a week and I never even opened the box I was so tired LOL. Gotta get back to food watching too..DH (he was trying to be nice) said maybe this is my "new normal". Gak. Fitness test in 6 weeks and I can do a whooping 4 push-ups.

It is a short week (4 days) so I best get to it!

Wow @CMorning99 - what an 'adventure' with the mobile home! Refresh my memory as to why it had to move so close to where it already was? Also where is the tenant while all this is going on? If I were her I would be freaking out! I guess she just wants to continue to have a place to live and doesn't care?
It is crazy how long it takes to get a criminal trial set and done and no wonder they lose witnesses and people can't remember things. I find it interesting too that it varies so much by county. There was a DUI/manslaughter case here recently that happened maybe 3 or 4 months ago and the guy has already been found guilty and sentenced. I guess maybe his lawyer didn't have a lot of defense to put up.

I weighed in on Saturday and my weight was up another 2.5 pounds. I am really confused and can only think it is water retention. I am not eating differently but I am running and working out more/harder. I weighed again today worried it would be up yet again and whew it was down a pound but I am still at that OMG stage and I can't figure out what to change. I am only eating around 1500 calories give or take and trying to get my protein levels up. I really can't and don't think I should cut that back much or I won't have any energy to run.
I have an appointment (video) with the rheumatologist next week. I may mention it to her and see if it is a side affect of the medication she has me on. I don't think it is, I haven't see it listed anywhere but who knows.