Penpal match? Just turned 50, want to lose 75!

[Dreamcometru]

Hello everyone:

Sue, I'm glad your son came hope to decompress. It will do him good. It must be a media circus there. Yay on planting the trees. That's a lot of hard work. Yesterday we had so much hail, it looked like it had snowed. Everything was white. So, another day I won't get to my flower beds. My poor pansies look decrepid. They are struggling to stay alive after being drenched for days. It's sunny today though. DS has a golf tournament so I'm glad it's not ugly weather.

Kayan: I fight the cookie monster, the candy monster, the dorito monster and any other monster lurking. We don't have many goodies in the house, but I got a few in for the family last weekend which are still hanging around. Hopefully DH and DS will finish them up soon so I don't have to look at them anymore. You are strong to be able to stick with M/E. But from what I hear, it really works.

Pam: I hope you get through the state testing. What an onerous task.

I couldn't find a dress for the wedding, so I ordered one. It came yesterday. I held it up and instantly became depressed. It looked waaaayy to small. DS told me to try it on. He said Mom, you aren't the same person you were six months ago. So I did. It fits beautifully. I'm so excited. I can't wait to wear it. Even if I lose 20 by the wedding day (wishful thinking), it should still fit just fine. It's somewhat fitted so it shows my new size. I do look different in it, that's for sure. I got a 16 Misses which is a far cry from 22/24 womens I used to wear.

Have a great day everyone.

[kayan]

Morning All

Sue: Glad your your son made it home safe and sound. One can't begin to understand such senseless violence and to be so close to it can make one question everything in life that he has learned so far. It must make you proud that he finds home a safe haven where he can process all that has happened. He is so lucky to have a home like tjat so many kids don't.

Pam: How is the testing going?

Leslie: Thank goodness, I have only one real big monster, I don't know if I could keep control of so many big ones. I do have several baby ones, Homemade breads, chip and dips, candy, but for some reason I can keep those under control, but the ice cream monster is another story. I can even have a regular dessert out in a restaurant a couple times a year ( I allow myself that, if its a real special dessert) without any backlash problems.
Go figure why I have such trouble with ice cream.

Great job on your new dress size, I bet that felt so good. When something like that happens it makes it all worth it.

Have the laundry done , now need to get my butt out down, dozen of errands I have to do. I am going to try and prune and restart some branches from "Fred". My rubber tree of 30 years. He is in need of "taming"

everyone have a good day and will see you later

Kayan

[Pam in TX]

Morning,

So glad that today is Friday..... Is going to be a very busy day at work though.... and probably a very long one also....

Sue: I must have missed your post yesterday.... Glad that you are getting to spend some time with your son right now.... he is probably trying to process all of this.... I really feel for all those kids, and adults, that must have so many thoughts going on right now in their heads.... Good job on getting your plantings done....

Leslie: Glad you found your dress.... always makes you feel good to buy something smaller..... How about a pic?

Kayan: wow 30 year old plant.... that is amazing.... heard a news story yesterday that women rated ice cream as their number 1 comfort food.... guess you are not alone.....

Think I will get ready early and go workout before work since I don't know what the day is going to hold......

Have a great Friday everyone....

[Suji]

WooHoo on the dress size finding Leslie! Rah rah!
I'm making this a quick hello.
Guess what got delivered to the farm yesterday. The spruce trees! GAH! I have drafted my two older sons to help. One is going to get a few truckloads of composted wood mulch and then dash off home to make his classes and the other is going to help me plant (tote wheel barrow, etc.) These trees are supposed to be in ground no later than 36 hours after delivery, so time *is* of the essence. Wouldn't you know it that youngest son (who was supposed to have a day off) has to be a school 2x today for both track practice and dance decoration committee. Couldn't logistically be at a worse time! I think a bike ride is going to be his home transport this morning. Hopefully he will get a ride this afternoon. I keep telling him that he should have a list of phone numbers of school friends he could call on, but nooooo. It's like asking for directions or something!

So, I am still preparing this morning!
Kayan, my Grandma had a rubber tree that went to the ceiling and then bent over and grew toward the floor! Can someone say "prune" ? Hee hee.

Well, I'll probably be either aching or tired as heck tomorrow wqhich will be another day planting at the farm!!!

Later!
Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hello Ladies:

Sounds like everyone is so busy. We don't have any real plans for the weekend. It's supposed to rain cats and dogs, so no yard work will get done. I'm going to try to mow the lawn again this evening because it's supposted to stay dry today.

DS had another JV golf tournament yesterday. This time he was the only one from "the four" invited up. And go figure, he scored better than two of the regular JV'ers. His coach was really pleased.

My scale (old unreliable) says I'm down another lb this morning. So I'm thinking the carb shifting is working. Only yesterday was a "shift day" and all I had different was half an apple, so I really didn't change it up much. Oh well, the weekends are my time to add a piece of lc bread or perhaps eat a half a cup of whole grain cereal for breakfast. Even some soup that doesn't have potatoes, noodles or rice in it. We'll see. I'm definitely purchasing a digital scale this weekend so I can really tell whether I'm losing or not.

Sue: It sounds like you are always working so hard. Planting is really rewarding though. Hope you don't get too sore.

Pam: You also sound like to day is going to be a long one. Perhaps being so busy will make the time fly.

Kayan: Fred. I love it. I have a rubber tree in my office that's going crazy. I haven't named it though, but perhaps I will.

In case I get busy this weekend, hope you all have a good one.

[Suji]

Well, back to the farm today! Yesterday we planted all 25 spruce trees. They were a very nice size bunch that came bareroot. I sure hope they take. The soil was so soggy so I tried to plant them kind of high.

Today, the new mower gets a workout. DH bought himself a zero turn radius riding mower and was working to put brake lights on the trailer last night to tow the thing to the farm. He was charging the battery last night.
I plan to plant all the large pear trees and berry bushes. If I get to the grapes--great! I also need to lay out the nut orchard with stakes.

Finally, beautiful weather!
I was working so hard I didn't eat and was drinking soda. WHen I got home I just scarfed whatever I could find in the pantry since I was too tired to stand, prep and cook. SO, I pretty much did poorly on LC. THis is typical when I am expending a lot of physical labor--no food backup plan. Foo.

Talk to you on Monday. Enjoy your weekends!
Sue

[Pam in TX]

Happy Saturday Morning,

Looks to be a beautiful day today..... I am going to my nephew's baseball game today... It is Senior day and they are recognizing seniors and their family.... My sister wants me to take pics for her.... Can't believe he is graduating from college already...

Scale was down those pseky 2 lbs this morning.... finally it took all week for them to let go.....

Sue: sounds like you have a full weekend planned.... You always amaze me with all you do.... You have so much energy.... I have found that cooking extra meat when making dinner and then freezing in individual portion sizes really helps me from grabbing the wrong things when i am tired or in a hurry....

Leslie: WTG for DS on the golf accomplishment..... He has worked so hard to get recognized for his efforts.... Good job on the lb loss also.... I have thought about looking at a new scale also., but this one is pretty consistent so it is hard to justify...let me know what you decide on.....

Time for more coffee..... Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend....

[sleepysue07]

Hi everybody! Moving is in full swing. The wind up here on top of the hill is brutal! I didn't realize what a low spot we were in before.

We are exhausted and DH and I are each fighting a cold. Ugh!

Anyway, Leslie way to go with the dress!

I was just wondering, are any of you to the stage where you can wear a belt and look good? That is my dream. I just want to have a waist small enough to wear a belt.

My eating is not so good with the moving. We are eating out more than I would like, but I am getting a lot of excercise, but little sleep. I am thinking we should be settled by Wednesday. (fingers crossing).

Oh Sue, I wanted to tell you, last week we stopped at a home improvement store just as they were bringing plants inside the front door. A manager jokingly asked us if we would like to buy some trees. My husband said "Sure if you will give me a good deal on them." He sold us twenty-two fruit trees and some willow trees for $2 each (he just didn't want to have to drag them back into the garden center!) Now I can have have my own little orchard. Earlier that morning I told DH that you have a small orchard and I wanted one. He just rolled his eyes at me. On the way home with the truck loaded with trees he said, "Well you asked for it, and now I guess I'll have to plant it." "Don't ask for any thing else that requires my manual labor for at least a couple of weeks, between the move, and the orchard I'll be busy for a while."

Pam, I love the your bluebonnets, they're so pretty. I took pictures of ours in the snow, and will post them when I am able to locate my camera again.

Gotta go, I hear him calling my name out there,

Have a great weekend everybody!

Carolyn

[Pam in TX]

Only a minute before I need to go get ready to head down to the hospital to be there for my dad's heart cath.....

Yesterday still on track with eating.... Only drank about 2 liters of water.....

Carolyn: thanks for the kudos on the pic.... took that one out near Burnet last year.... I have a couple of them in the snow also.... will attach a couple here..... These are out near Burnet also.... Did you get your orchard planted? Pretty cool story and a great bargain...... Hope you and DH are feeling better soon.... I can sometimes wear a shirt tucked in with a belt....

Hope everyone has a good day....

[Dreamcometru]

Hey everyone:

Had a really busy weekend. I got my digital scale. It confirms I'm down, but not by much. I'm going to continue to weigh for a couple of days to make sure before I change my stats.

DD2's car died Saturday night about 40 miles from home. She was on her way back to college. Fortunately she had a friend with her. We arrived at around 11:00 pm. Tried to get it started, the AAA tow truck driver couldn't do anything, so we left it where it was and took the girls on to school. Came back to try to start it again. Left there at about 1:00 am. Got home at about 1:45 am. Finally got to sleep about 2:30 am. Got up at 6:45 am, so no sleep for me saturday night. We went back to have it towed on Sunday. Got it to a shop. Will hear the bad news today. In the meantime I have to figure out how I'm going to get to the shop to pick it up. DH went back to work and isn't so available. I may go to the shop, pay for it. Park it and DH and I can go back later in the evening and pick it up. The shop isn't close to home so it will mean a lot of driving for me. We had it towed to the closest place from where it broke down. Then we have to get it down to DD2. She said she may be able to get a ride to Portland from one of her college buddies.

Wow, Carolyn. Your own little orchard. That would be marvelous. You are so busy. Don't know how you do it.

Pam: I love your pics. They do show how flat it is in TX too.

Sue: Did your son go back to school today?

[Suji]

Hi Everyone,
I am BUSHED!! ANd it will be the same story tomorrow in order to avoid the rain. I planted 20 raspberry bushes and 4 grapevines. On the weekend, I planted blackberries and pears. It took me basically all day today (10-3:30) to measure, stake, dig, amend, plant and water... Tomorrow--the rest of the grapes, elderberries, hazelnuts, and maybe I'll lay out the nut orchard. WOW-Carolyn--what a great deal!!! $2 per tree?!
A belt--always exacerbates my "love handles" these days.

Leslie--yesm he drove back yesterday. Car karma must be in the works. He said people were coming up behind him and honking their horn and flashng their lights as he was about 2 1/2 hours out from home. Panic! Couldn't find anything wrong with his car visually, but it was making a bumping sound. Nothing like these messages to give parents a sound nights sleep-NOT! He e-mailed me this morning and said he got there safely (in the wee hours).

Pam, I didn't know you took that picture! (Lots of time people use stock photos for the icons)--I do miss seeing bluebonnets. I hope your Dad's cathetarization goes well. I don't imagine it is a comfortable procedure.

Guess I'd better figure out something LC enough for dinner.

Talk to you tomorrow afternoon,

Sue

[Pam in TX]

Morning,

Dad's procedure went well.... The dr said that his heart looks pretty good and that the grafts from the previous bypass are in good shape... there is a blockage in one of the smaller arteries that he feels trying to do surgery on might do more damage than it helps, so they are going to try and treat it with medication for now.... He did have some bleeding from the incision site and heavy bruising in the groin so they ended up keeping him in the hospital overnight.... He has had to lay flat since the procedure at noon.... So he isn't very comfortable, but he is in good spirits and making jokes.... Am getting ready to head back up there in a little while.... Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers....

Our weather here is supposed to get a little rough today with heavy rains an some severe storms this evening....

Leslie: sorry to hear about the car struggles..... I absolutely despise having to deal with car issues...... Ironically the area of TX that I live in is the "Hill Country", but those pics don't really show that... We are surrounded by rolling hills, not the typical flat plains of northern TX.... What kind of scale did you end up getting?

Sue: Wow!! you got a lot done.... but sounds like there is still quite a bit to go.... since you are doing so much planting is this a new property for you or do you do this much planting each year? Saw that the VT students were returning to school yesterday... How is your DS doing? I really feel for these kids dealing with such difficult life lessons....

Have managed to stay on track with eating and drinking these past couple of days.... Scale was down 2 lbs this morning..... Haven't gotten much exercise though....

Ok, off to start getting ready.... Have a great day....

[kayan]

Morning all

Quick note, We are looking to put a sun room on the back of our house and the dealer just called and said he was running a little late will be here in 10 mins.

Busy thisd weekend at work but have stayed true to this woe. I have been listening to some hypnosis tapes that I had done 2 years ago. They have been helping and I will get an updated session this Sunday. A friend of mine does hypnosis so I feel comfortable doing it. It does work but this time I am going to have her target the ice cream monster.

Everyone sounds as busy as I am, I have to go to the vets today to get meds for our dog, he takes more than my DH and I combined , then I am going to "prune" Fred and re pot some plants


Pam: Hope your dad continues to do well. Good job on those pesky 2 lbs. What a beautiful picture. You should have it blown up and framed

Sue: Your "farm" sounds like it will be an estate. I wish i could see it all in Bloom

Carolyn: What a deal you got. Good for you and your DH

Leslie: Sorry to hear about your car troubles. It is never easy when things like that happen


everyone have a good day and I will check in when I get back from town

Kayan

[Dreamcometru]

Hey all:

Not much new to report. My scale says I'm up 2 lbs from yesterday. Hmmm, gotta wonder. I'm going to wait it out and check for a week.

I'm going back on induction for a couple of weeks. I ate waaaaay to many carbs yesterday, which probably explains the 2 lbs up. I pulled out my old food diaries from when I first started. Good grief, no wonder I lost. I'm eating way more now than I did when I first started. It's amazing how it creeps up on you without you noticing even though it's low carb. Time to cut back. It's going to be hard but I want to keep losing and if that's what it takes, that's what I'm gonna do.

Sue, you make me exhausted. You have been working so hard planting your trees.

Pam, congrats on the 2 lb loss. You sent it my way. I'm glad your dad is doing better. I hope he continues to improve.

Kayan: I've never known anyone who did hypnosis. It's great when there is yet something else out there to help in the weight loss battle.

The car damages weren't too bad. We still have to figure out how to go get it. Gas prices are through the roof here so I'm going to start driving the beater banger for a while. Although I look like a poor college student or something, it gets about twice the mileage that my explorer does.

Have a great day.

[Pam in TX]

Morning,

Well, it was a wet and active weather night..... but looks like we avoided the hardest parts of the storms.... but others close by weren't so lucky....

Dad got to go home yesterday.... Dr wants to see him in 2 weeks...

DH comes home this afternoon....

Have stayed on track with eating and drinking.... am ready to get back to exercising today.....

Leslie: didn't mean to send those lbs to you... maybe they are just visiting.... Glad that the car damages weren't too bad.... I agree those gas prices are unreal... Here we are paying about 2.65-2.70 a gallon.... Costs me about 40/fill-up in my car, but DH's truck is closer to 65/fill-up...

Kayan: will be interested to see how the hypnosis goes.... Our dog goes to the vet this week.... the only things he takes is his heartworm preventitive meds...

Time to go begin getting ready for the day..... Hope everyone has a good one...

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Pam, Sue, Kayan and Carolyn:

Picked up the car last night and drove it to daughter. It made for a late night.

I managed to eat at induction levels all day yesterday. Hope I can again today. I don't have to worry about the apples I bought, DH is finishing them off. I do have strawberries I need to get rid of. I might freeze them to use in protein shakes or cheesecake muffins after I move on from induction eating.

We are finally going to have a five day dry spell. My flower bed can get done. I hopefully can get other yard work done too.

Have a great day everyone.

[kayan]

Afternoon all

Made another trip into town to get more flower pots. I am transplanting all my house plants and I bought some herb plants yesterday also that needed planting/ Hasd to go to 3 stores till I found what I wanted. Does anyone else have trouble making up their minds when shopping? If I could just make up my mind then it would only take half the time to do the shopping!!!

DH is going to be late tonight so I am meeting a couple of girlfriends for supper at a local steak and seafood restaurant> I won't have any trouble staying on track. A nice glass of wine and either Salmon or Prime rib. depends on how my "teeth" feel. I am just getting able to chew again.

Transplanted "Fred". pruned him back a little bit. Still needs a lot more but I am afraid of doing to much and putting him into shock and killing him.

Leslie: Good Luck with induction. It is so easy to creep up on the carbs and not even realize it. I have been doing induction again and it has helped me get things under control again. I was also eating way to much. It is going to be another month before I can even think about outdoor flowers

Pam: The hypnosis cds have helped me already. I had 3 sessions a couple of years ago. So I have started playing them again. I already feel less stressed and more in control of my eating. But am going to go ahead with the session on Sunday to target the ice cream and to get more energy. Just heard about the wild weather you got. Glad you are safe.

Sue and Carolyn Hope all is well

Kayan

[Suji]

Day three--the farm... Says it all.
So, I managed to get aronias in, all the chestnut trees, pecan and mulberry, butter and buartnuts, hazelnut family and elderberries yesterday and today.
I have walnuts, hickory and another pecan to plant this weekend. I stillhave 8 apple tree babies in my frig. Everything bareroot should be planted by next week (apple trees will be last). Leslie, I think *we* are coming up on a "wet spell" for a few days. Thus I'll be staying home for the day until the weekend comes.

I am still eating weirdly with this work schedule. Once this push is over and I am not so exhausted that I will eat *anything* I will be glad. The flower garden isn't nearly so demanding short term. Got lots of seeds to start now that the last frost date is getting closer (traditionally Mother's Day).

Came home to find 4 new tires delivered--yay! I have been dealing with a slow leak in 2 driver side tires and having to "air 'em up" every couple of days. Now for the emissions test...

Well, I still have dirt under the nails (despite wearing gloves, too!) and a bit of a sunburn from the last 2 days, so I should go clean up and moisturize, I guess.

Good to hear from you Kayan and Pam. Waves to Carolyn! :-D

Sue

[Pam in TX]

Morning,

Was a busy day yesterday in the office..... sometimes being out really costs you when you get back....

Eating is still on track.... lifted and moved boxes most of the day so didn't go formally workout....

Leslie: Good job on the induction level eating.... hope you get to bet your yard work done.... I am hoping to get some done this weekend.....

Kayan: I sometimes will go back and look at the same item several times before deciding to by it or not....

Sue: What are aronias? I don't think I have ever heard of that before.... You are always so busy with your plantings...... Is probably great exercise for you.....

Supposed to be a gorgeous day today.... was yesterday... hope it sticks till the weekend....

Have a wonderful day.....

[Dreamcometru]

Good morning:

I've had enough of the yo yo scale readings, but the reading today was down to what it was two days ago, so I changed my stats. I'm hoping my at home scale is less merciful than the one at my group. I weigh in on May 8th. Eating at induction levels hopefully will jumpstart the weight loss again. I must have been consuming too many carbs because I had the wonderful headache for the last couple of days. I didn't wake up with it this morning though Yay.

Sue, do your walnut trees grow easily there? We are always cutting them down. The squirrels bury the nuts everywhere. They grow so fast it's unbelievable how big they get so quickly. If you don't pull them up by the root, they come back even after being cut off.

Pam: I didn't get to work in the yard last night, but according to the weather I have all weekend. Yay!

Kayan: I am such a picky shopper. DH has no patience with me. I always compare, recompare and try to get the best bargain. For groceries though, I refuse to jump from store to store just to pick up what's on sale, but I know some who do exactly that. I just don't have the time.

Yesterday I made asian coleslaw. It's so good. It's made with bokchoy and snow peas, snap peas, pea pods, whatever you want to call them. The dressing is made with sesame oil. MMMMM. It makes enough to last me a couple of days.

Gotta go. Bye.

[Suji]

Pam-hi. Aronias are a berry producing plant (aronia melancarpia-I think) that are supposed to have a lot of good stuff in them--"all the healthy attributes of the cranberry but also contains five to ten times the amount of anthocyanins and polyphenols". People blend the juice in with other sweeter ones or make wines with it. I thought I'd try a couple of bushes--and they don't mind poor draining soils which I have in that area. Yes--lots of exercise and sunburn. I need a garden hat with a wide brim!!

Leslie--not many walnut trees in these parts. I understand they grow "like weeds" on other parts of the country. I do have a very old black walnut near the stream meander, but I haven't gottne near it. Too much poison ivy interlacing the woods.

I have book club in a couple of hours. We are reading "Cup of Light" by Nicole Mones. It is set in modern day China and has to do with pursuit of porcelain, smuggling and a love story in the mix. Then off to fencing.

Talk to you later--it's a low key cloudy day here.

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hey everyone:

Sue: Your book club sounds great. I need some motivation to read the few books I have piled up. The last book I reserved at the library took about 3 months before it was available. When I got it, I couldn't even find the time to pick it up and had to return it. I saw the wide brimmed hats at the store yesterday in the garden section. Some of the new ones are really cute.

I stayed on induction yesterday except had a few bites of birthday cake at a party at my office. I was rewarded by being up two tenths of a pound this morning. Oh well, its my fault. Anyway, I'm still retaining water for some reason. I haven't retained water since last summer but now, ugh, my ankles are really ugly.

DD2 sent me an email. She's really disappointed because the two girls she was going to get an apartment with next year flaked on her. Now she's either got to find another person to live with or find a one bedroom apt. She was so disappointed she's considering transferring schools to one where she knows a lot of the kids and can easily find someone to live with. I am so sad for her. The tone of her message was she was really bummed.

Gotta get to work. Talk to you later. Hi, Pam, Kayan and Carolyn.