mdrai

We're Back! Had a very nice time @ bro in-laws house... the soccer games didn't go so well, lost the 2 yesterday, won the 1 today, but it wasn't enough to get into the finals so we came on home. Now it's time to gear up for the new week! Tried, tried, tried to be "good" w/food... did ok I think... am nervous to weigh in tomorrow but I must... Hi Lunasa... if at first you don't succeed, try, try again! Keep checking in w/us!! Fantastic job w/the no smoking, Tracy! Love the ring, Terry! If you're not feeling better, then go see a doc tomorrow, Laura!! A new pool! Lucky Suzie!! Great NSVs, Janie!! Glad the sleep-over went well, Judy. I can relate: there were 10 of us sleeping at my bro-in-law's! The kids got to all sleep in the playroom... talk about fun for them!! Hey Jen! How's the puppy adjusting, TracyKS? Everyone: Hi!

Good Morn, Vi's~~ Just popping in before we leave... am trying to get EVERYTHING done so we can pull out early... ha ha ha! Am taking care of my friend's cats so got to work out on her elliptical this a.m.... hadn't done that in awhile & it kicked my heinie! Yesterday I went on the field trip to the 8th grade band adjudication and they ended up earning all "1's, Superior" ratings, so now they'll go on to State! DS was so proud & happy about it!I thought they sounded great, but I'm a bit biased, so... That toilet lady story creeped me out... when I think about it my mind goes all sorts of weird places... 2 years??????? on a toilet??? Yuck only begins to describe my reaction. Yuck & psycho! Yikes! Ok... I've got tons to do before Noon... laundry, pack, make snacks/sandwiches, dust, vacuum... ack! "See" you all on Monday!! Make it a great weekend, everyone!!!

Tomorrow we're travelling to Richmond, VA, for a weekend soccer tournament... we're leaving early to try to beat the traffic on I-95S... ALWAYS a parking lot on Fridays... so if I don't get in here, make it a great weekend & I'll see ya'll on Monday! Make good choices!! :biggrin2:

Ugh. TOM arrived this a.m. & the munchies right along w/it. I have eaten all "legal" food today, but I'm thinking that 3 cups of sugar-free pudding isn't something I should do EVERY day. But I told myself that I could eat as much as it took to do the trick as long as it was legal... so... I guess that's better than the alternative!

Too cute!!! Awwwwwww.......

Good Morn, Vi's~~ Thanks for all the kind words on my b&a's, everyone. Seeing it like that is so powerful for me! Wow. Laura... you crack me up! You said, "I am up 3lbs for this week. I am not changin my ticker, but I am upset. TOM maybe? Snacks?" -- please refer to yesterday's "lunch" pic for a possible answer to this query. Let's see a pic of a nice healthy salad today, K?? (oh, and it has to be YOUR salad -- hahaha -- no taking pics of other people's lunches!!) :drool: Not much to report... a regular day today... housework, laundry, editing (yay, work!)... make it a great one, Vi's!

I'll take that as a compliment, Laura! I don't think I actually AM any smarter... in fact, I'm afraid the opposite may be true... but I'll be happy to bamboozle folks into thinking that I am!! I'm still iffy on the oats, Judy... but glad I'm not the only one experimenting! G'nite!

Ok... so look at this comparison... oh my gosh! ~~ & you can see the neck issue in the pic on the right, too... ack! fat but taut... thinner but wrinkly... what a choice!!!

Ok... here goes nothin'... the debut of my cute siggy box... THANK YOU, LAURA!!

Seriously, my neck is starting to look like my mom's, which is fine, except she is 70!! I am pms'ing like crazy, too. How come last month TOM came early while I was at Disney (why does it do that??) and now this month it's late?? Argh! So today I had to bake my fav cookies: oatmeal raisin... from scratch... for the "jump rope for heart" tomorrow after school... I've made them for this event every year for 8 years... the joke is that my kids always get an "A" in PE once I bake these for the PE teacher! ha! Sooooooooooo it was a DANGER... I wanted to gobble up the dough AND the warm cookies... but INSTEAD I made myself a bowl of wt-control brown sugar oatmeal and ate that! FYI... I hate cooked oatmeal... but everyone keeps raving about it, so I thought I'd give it a try as a b'fast alternative... I bought it just today... who knew I'd need it as a cookie alternative?? It was ok... too lumpity... needs more milk I think next time... but it DID save my a$$ -- I haven't eaten any!!

Laura... just sent you a pic from just now so you can please make me a cute Vi siggy box... it's a doofy pic... but I guess that's me!... Here's a general weight loss question for everyone: Now that I've lost a chunk of weight... why oh why am I getting a saggy, wrinkly turkey-neck?? It's FREAKING ME OUT!!! :drool:

Happy Birthday, Jen!!! I third what Terry said!!! This is YOUR YEAR!! You are WOMAN... hear you ROAR!! Make it a great day, EVERYONE! :huh2:

Happy Birthday, Denise! TracyKS!! It looks like you had a blast @ your wedding!! Yay! Love the last one...

Wow Laura! You look FANTASTIC!!

Good Sunday Morn, Vi's!~~ Just a quick pop-in... we're going to the school's Basket Bingo fundraiser in a few minutes... I've yet to get to yell "Bingo!" in the 4 years we've been doing it, but hope springs eternal! Maybe today will be my day! Good news! Today the scale read 237!! -80!!! Yay yay yay! (Tried to update my ticker/siggy last night but it wouldn't work... odd. Oh, & I would love one of yours, Laura, but haven't had time to get a pic to you, etc., so will do that someday!!) I am sooooo motivated to get to -100 before our trip!!! Terry, I'd love any 16w CASUAL clothes you might have, but don't need work stuff. Make it a great day, everyone!!!

Hello Vi's!~~ No, Judy, I did not get to rest or relax today... not yet, anyway. But it's rain-storming here now thru tomorrow so all ds's soccer practices & games for tonight & tomorrow have been cancelled, so I'm thinking that in a few I may crash on the couch & finally RELAX!! I had a MAJOR NSV today!! Today 2 friends & I went to "Let's Dish!", the food prep kitchen where I used to work part-time 'til last Fall, to dish up some tasty meals for the month. Even tho I don't work there, I still go there 1x/mo to dish dinners & chat w/everyone. So I'm there and in walks a former co-worker, Tammy, and I say, "Hi Tammy!" and she looks at me and... ready for it?... SHE DID NOT RECOGNIZE ME!! This is the first time that this has happened to me since banding! I've had people notice my wt loss (esp. this past week @ school, I've been basking in all the compliments, actually), but not completely not know it's me! Of course, once she realized it was me, she freaked out & wanted to know ALL about the band. She could use it. Not being mean, just honest. Hey, if a former fattie can't be honest w/a current one, then we're all doomed! So that was WAY COOL! But then we went out to lunch @ Red, Hot & Blue (a BBQ place) and I got the Chop salad w/chicken on it and I barely ate 3 or 4 bites and BAM! I knew I had to PB it all up... so off to the bathroom I go, and we all know what happened there, so I won't bore you w/the details... WEIRD! My 2nd full-fledged PB in a week! Of course, I didn't eat any more, brought it home, and am now starving (my tummy's even rumbling loudly) & I'm scared to eat it!! Grrrrr. And that's my day! How's yours??

Lunasa, I see you lurking there right now! C'mon, admit it... you just can't resist us!!!

Whew! Just got in from BF... was @ school for 13.5 hours today! :eek: Last night the PTA cooked dinner for the teachers because they stay 'til 8pm having parent conferences, and today I was starving so I go in the lounge to poke around to see what there was to eat and it was ALL CHOCOLATE!! Or pasta, or hoomemade pot-pie, or lasagna... oh my gosh! I finally found a tub of 7-bean salad, and I took a little bit, but it was very sugary. I beat it the heck out of there before the devil on my shoulder could rationalize diving into one of the pans of brownies!! How do you do it, Pam?? Sheesh! Talk about willpower!! I finally went out and got a Greek salad & a skinny caramel latte for me & the gal who was helping me... and I am proud to say that I DID NOT CAVE in the ease and availability of such bad foods!! I hope the scale rewards my efforts tomorrow. You know my theory of willpower... if you resist a temptation, you should automatically lose a half-pound. If it's really hard, then you should lose a pound, and so on. Today was probably at least a pounder!! I am beat, but also wired. I'm going to try to get some sleep. I wish I could sleep in tomorrow, but I've got crud to do in Va.... ack. G'nite! PS... Laura, that sounds like scary stuff! Yikes! Kat, hope you're healing! Hi Lunasa! So good to "see" you!! We're here for you when you're ready for us!! Hi TracyK... I thought you weren't supposed to check in @ work?? Hi Judy... How did I know you'd be a Book Fair fan?? Hi Terri, Janie, Jenn, TracyKS (where ARE you?), & everyone!!

Owie, owie, Kat & Tracy!! Hope your pains stop hurting soon! Was gone literally all day yesterday 'til after 8pm, then had to come home & do my "Scrooge McDuck" act and count all the $$ & do the financials to determine our profit earned & then do math (yuck!) to divide it up between the classroom teachers & the "specials" teachers. Took me 'til about midnight. I always worry that I've put the decimal point in the wrong place & that Scholastic will call me up looking for its additional $1K or something. It's never happened, but I fret about it as, while I'm GREAT w/words, numbers & I are a different story! Anyhoo... we have $2,846 in profits so each classroom is getting $126 in books & each specials is getting $55! Yay! This is why I do the Book Fair (& go crazy for a week)... the kids get new books! They love books & are so appreciative. Last night a girl was crying big honkin' tears because the book w/pencil set she wanted was the last copy so she'd have to order it... well, NO ONE cries at MY Book Fair! You should have seen her face (& her parents') when I said, "It's yours!" She was stunned & then so happy!! Between the Fall Fair & this one, the kids have gotten more than $6,000 in books this year for their libraries & classrooms!! & we're such a little school... only about 325 students, total! Of course, the week DOES kick my ass!! Today is "Teacher Shopping Day". I'm supposed to be there by 7:30am (ha!) and there's a very good likelihood that I'll be there 'til AFTER the PTA meeting tonight... so I'm thinking that maybe I'll be home around 9pm?? Whew! Make it a great day, everyone!

Eewww, Tracy! So sorry you have to go thru that again! Keep the silver lining (TT) & the Vi's in mind!!

((KAT)) ((JENN)) I wish both of you speedy recoveries!! Trust me, if I can even ENTERTAIN the THOUGHT of getting a TATTOO, that's a major breakthrough! It's quite likely I could be easily convinced to do it, especially with a little liquid help! :shades_smile: I'm thinking a small violet or two somewhere "hidden"... maybe left breast area below where my bra hits? Guess we'll see... Time to hit the sack... another LONG day tomorrow! (I don't know how you full-time workers do it!! This being "on-the-job" at school all day every day is KILLING ME! + cooking & housework?? FORGET IT!!) G'night Vi's... sleep tight! (we've got tornado warnings 'til 3am!)

YOO HOO -- JUDY! Loved cruisin' vicariously through you & your fabu pics! My funny favs are the "hmmm, cute butt" (ha ha!) one + you w/all the cannon balls... my serious fav is the formal one... you & Bob look FANTASTIC! I second whoever suggested that NEXT year's Vi gathering is a cruise (Laura maybe?)!

Good Morning... I managed to sneak away from the Book Fair for an hour... got there @ 8am and will be there 'til 4pm today... then a "Friends of Music" MS meeting @ 7pm... I'm just trying to juggle everything this week + the kids' spring activities begin this week = busy. Last night I had my first full-blown PB since October! On chicken & veggies... ugh. I was cranky & tired anyway, so I ate 2 cups of choc/brownie ice cream... it felt smooth & tasted good but it's been a LONG time since I've resorted to that type of stress relief... and ultimately, I know that that's what it was... so will need to be more aware & on guard the rest of the week! Make it a great one, Vi's!

Welcome home Judy! Ugh. A looooong day... but just the first in a week of them, so I guess I'd better just suck it up & deal w/it, yeah? Bleh. My stomach hurts. Not nauseaus (sp?) but owwie. Odd. ugh. I am grumpy.

Hey Vi's~~ I'm home! A fun weekend w/ds. Sat outside in 40mph winds yesterday for 6 hrs... can you say chapped lips? Today it was not as windy but felt colder... I was all bundled up w/ just my nose showing soaking up the sun. DS & I talked & laughed & had fun together... that's what it's all about. On the way home, we stopped @ my mom's & took her out to dinner. A good weekend. PAM!~~ Oh my gosh! It's kizmet or something, because I had the EXACT SAME THOUGHT the other day about the tattoos! And trust me, I am NOT a tattoo-type girl... I abhor needles!! But it popped into my head somehow and I actually thought about it... a little violet somewhere that wouldn't show to the world, but where I could see it... I never understood getting a tattoo on your back where you couldn't see it!? Hmmmmmmm... Ok... time to go put dd to bed... + take a nice hot bath to try to warm up from the weekend... & then get to sleep... the hotel room last night was on the ground floor w/a spot light shining DIRECTLY into the room... and the "blackout" curtains were bolted in place to the ceiling so they didn't move! + we were right next to the elevators... + there were roving gangs of soccer players roaming the halls laughing, etc... so not much sleep for me last night! G'night!