age 45-50 group. Anyone interested?

I have looked for twins and poked around other groups without finding a real support group.

I am 48, 5'5", SW 151, CW 134, GW 128

I am the school teaching mother of three in their upper teens, wife of my 3 lbs from goal hubby.

SO...

Anyone interested?

Tru - It's such fun hearing about your traditions and what's going on there.

Aly - I'm joining in with you on being tired.

Tammy - great job for the holidays.

I hope everyone on my prayer list are doing well.... Suz, Janet, Connie, Sue's daughter

Betsy ??? How are you?

Hi to all the rest of our great ladies. 

I was at the Bass Pro Shop at 6 yesterday morning when they opened even though I drove up when the doors opened and didn't stand in that crazy line I managed to get J's gift that was on his list and a few things I wanted to pick up for my stepson and son-in-law and was out in 15 minutes.  Then I went to Target that had opened at the same time.  I was after a DVD player for my parents.  The clerk supposedly gave me one of the last 2 and when I went to check out it wasn't the right one and they were out.    I was upset about that and stopped by McDonald's sleepy, tired, and hungry and ate a Big Breakfast!   Note to self.... if I go next year have a low cal snack on hand or eat a good breakfast before hand!  Later my dinner/lunch combo was Mexican with my daughter. 

Today I'm swearing off buffets, Chinese, and Mexican until I get back into control.  I shopped again today with my sister and bought clothes for me this time to cover up my Thanksgiving dessert belly.  I also have eaten really well today.  We had lunch at Logan's Roadhouse where the servings are huge so we divided a meal between us.  Grilled salmon, broccoli, and a sweet potato.  Then tonight I made a veggie soup with the small amount of turkey that was left so after I exercise maybe I'll feel better.

Good morning all!  Back in Bermuda now, and feeling much better day by day.  It is now 7 days since my procedure, and I must admit I have enjoyed a fairly easy recovery!  I am now allowed to start some gentle exercising again, but think grocery shopping and errands will be enough "exercise" for me today.  Then I will maybe go for a short walk tomorrow, and build things up from there. Hope nothing backfires now   Got on the scales today and I am down to 188.2.  Determined NOT to slide up over the 190 mark, which happened a couple of weeks ago!!

You will all probably think I am crazy, (and I have had moments of thinking it myself!) but I am going to go to London with my husband on Thursday, a 6.5 hour flight.  He has business meetings there on Friday and then plans to pop over to Northern Ireland to spend a few days with our families there.  Then the following weekend our daughter will be going over too, once she finishes uni for the Xmas holidays.  So I would be the only one "missing out" on the family time, right before the hols.  My dad is now 85 and mum 80....and we haven't seen them since September...so hubby (just yesterday) helped convince me to make the trip with him. 

Hope everyone is doing okay - I see it's been kinda quiet on here last couple of days!  But i suppose all that eating and shopping has taken it's toll, lol.

Wow, December 1st already!!  Enjoy the busy days ahead!  

Suz xx 

Suz - I think that's great that you'll be able to go on that trip.  Just take good care of yourself and try to rest as often as you can.  The time we have remaining with our parents is to be treasured.  My Dad will be 81 in January and my Mom is 77. 

Back at work today.  My boss is all hyper because everyone is wanting everything like yesterday!  I'm on my break right now and if I'm not careful he'll be in my office bugging me even during my break. 

I hope everyone manages to get back to normal life again this week without too much of a problem.  Those 4 days sure flew by.

Hello all,

Pack me in your suitcase Suz! Have a blast and I am sure your family will take even better care of you than you would have at home by yourself!

Like you Lucy, I am swamped at work with tons of stuff that was to be done "yesterday". And Like you Tammy, I lost over the holiday! My hormones are to blame/thank there because I have been sure this 2-4 lb gain had more to do with water than food.

Gotta run, I have outside recess duty ... and we got another 3 inches of snow last night!

Alylou

Well, the other day I weighed 174 and today was 170! 

Today is not a good back day.  I was fine until I put my butt in the car!  I got a little ways down the road and my back went into spasms.

I can't sit here long just happy I've lost some weight finally.

be back later.......maybe! lol

Congrats Tammy, hope the back calms down!

Alylou

HI everyone,

When you wait too long to read posts, it becomes almost impossible to respond to everyone. I do read them all and I love hearing how you are all doing. Your thanksgivings seem like quite an event. Glad to see you all got through them ok. Truus, your customs are fascinating too.

Our thanksgivings in Canada are MUCH more subdued. I am also a French Acadian Canadian and so our customs are even different from the majority.

2 days to my surgery. Pray for me that they don't cancel again! I've been working like crazy doing everything I can before I am forced on the couch again. School work, house work, Christmas shopping, decorating...I need to go to surgery to get some rest....lol. Just kidding.

Talk to you all soon. Take care.

janet

Aly-  my daughter joins you in not enjoying the outside duty at school during bad weather.  I really do think teachers are very special people to get though everything they have to these days.

Tammy - good job

Janet - I stopped and said a prayer before typing this.  Please keep us updated and I pray that this surgery takes care of all of it once and for all and that you'll have a speedy recovery.  God Bless.

Where's everyone at?  Maybe everyone is staying sleepy from leftover turkey sandwiches.  LOL 

Today I feel sore - and deeply satisfied: I made it through 1 hour of full training and another 3/4 of an hour playing badminton, competitive level, yeah! Very tiring and so many muscles I haven't used in a long time - but so much fun and you sleep so well afterwards 

Janet tell them to take really good care of you or else your whole gang of forum-friends will take some serious action!!! Good luck, I send you lots of positive thoughts

Tammy hopefully your back is quiet now - but well done with your weight, wauw!

Suz so glad you're feeling better. Have a great trip - enjoy, that'll make resting in between a lot more pleasant 

Lucy maybe you should think about another job - for your boss! Sure am glad I'm my own boss, though that can be annoying sometimes - noone but yourself to blame 

Take care everyone - talk to you all soon 

Hi Ladies!

I just wanted to check in and say hello. Glad you all are doing well. Many prayers and good thoughts to you Janet.  Momo/Tammy Great news on the weight loss and expecially since turkey day was involved! Hope your back gets better soon. Suz sounds like a great trip and maybe help get you well even faster! Also great news on the weight down! Lucy if you keep all that up we will be calling you ZIPPY next! Tru you are such an interesting person and such a good "KEEPER"!

Aly Sue Betsy Axe Paws....sending smiles your way! Miss talking to everybody.

Its hard to catch up these days so forgive me if I overlook anything important with anybody ok?!

By the way have we lost Dip and lisapenguin?

Have a great day everyone.

Connie

Tru There was news on Stevia on Good morning America this morning so you might look up GMA and see if it gives you any added information!

Lucyalus,

I meant to ask you more about the mardi gras. I find it fascinating.  I'm assuming that you are in the New Orleans area. Being an Acadian (which is where the cajuns comes from) I always wanted to go there. We don't celebrate mardi gras like you do. It sort of stayed a religious event around here for generations until it died down in most of our Acadian areas.

In many of our areas, we celebrate mi-carême and tintamarre which have similar customs to mardi gras. Masks, costumes, noisy parades.

I just read a book that spoke about those balls and parades that you mentionned. It spoke of "krewes". Am I getting that right? Have you ever been to any of the balls? I really hope to go someday (maybe not the balls but the parades anyway).

Hi to everyone else. I hope you are all having a great day.

Janet

Janet - I live near the coast of Alabama.  Our main parades are in Mobile but we also have them on Dauphin Island and orange beach.  It's probably just a tad not as wild as the one in New Orleans but they are all they same thing.  There are quite a few Krewes (or societies) that participate.  For instance the Krewe of Colombus will have a parade on a Friday night and their ball will be after the parade.  The parades are a little much for me.  Too many people trying to get free candy but I've been to several balls and it's a lot of fun.  The women wear really formal gowns and the men wear just the standard tux with tails.  Each small group that rides on a float has food set up in different rooms so you can go from room to room.  You pay like $50 for a ticket and you have to know someone in the society to get one but you get all the free food and drinks you want.  They usually have a large dance floor and a band.  Sometimes they also have other bands playing in smaller areas.  The ones I went to we stayed until they closed the doors.  We don't drink anymore so it probably wouldn't be quite as much fun.

A little history....Mardi Gras actually dates back to Pagan times.  My brother always told me a story that the Catholic church in order to get the pagans to attend church offered the pagans this one time of the year to frolic which ends on Fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  Then on Ash Wednesday they were to repent and give up something for Lent.  I know parts of this is true but how much I'm not sure.  There's lots of different stories.  Everyone I know that is actually a member of a society is Catholic but I have no idea what the requirements are to join one.  I know anyone with a ticket that's dressed correctly can attend the balls.   If I can locate one of my old pictures I'll post it.  I was "skinny" the last time I went.

 Here's links http://www.mobile.org/vis_mardigras.php

http://www.novareinna.com/festive/mardi.html

Tru- I love my job just have to whine sometimes.

Connie - good to hear from you.

Thank you so much for the information and the great history lesson.  It sounds wonderful. I will go visit those links. And I'd love to see your "skinny" pictures. (lol) I bet you had fun!  The balls sound quite formal. Are any of them costume balls?

As kids, we always gave up something for Lent and Mardi Gras was the day to eat to our heart's content. Also, for many, mi-carême (or mid-lent) was another opportunity. I didn't know about the Pagan link. It makes sense.

I'll have to brush up on my U.S. geography to find where you all live.

Thanks again.

Janet

Hi Janet,

The people that ride on the floats and belong to the society are in costume but the majority of the guest that pay for tickets are just in formal wear.   It is a lot of fun.  I'm east of New Orleans about 2.5 hours away. 

HI All -

Great reading from all of you - I haven't been on much as things have been in a little bit of a mess around here. Daughter is still sick - too much to go into here. But, she is getting stronger each day. Son had 2 doctor's check-ups today and also driving daughter back and forth to her school (she's too tired/dizzy to drive) has made for a full day.

Good luck to you Janet on the surgery. Prayers are with you. And Suz, congrats on your fast recovery - now still be cautious okay? Your trip sounds great. Aly, I'm sub-teaching on Thursday and will think of you when I'm on playground duty in our 75 degrees (Ooooooh, that was mean of me, wasn't it? First I B**tch all the time about the heat and now I rub it in. That's Arizonans for ya!)

I'm doing a Tuesday weigh-in. Miraculously lost a pound - but I'm sure it won't stick. So 161.5 for me. I did manage 2 trips to the gym in the last 10 days, but that's all. Tru - your badminton work-outs sound tough to me, but fun! Momo - best wishes on your back spasms.

Ok - this post is all over the place - sorta' like my thoughts lately :)

BTW, Hubby and I LOVE New Orleans - but have never been brave enough to go around Mardi Gras. We did visit twice - ohh, the food! Yum! (And, yes, the drinks do make the place ever that much better. Gotta' love a place with no open liquor laws. If you don't know, that means you can take your drink in a to-go cup and walk around the streets with it. At least in this part of the U.S., that's a no-no).

Hello to anyone I missed - Happy December. Sue

hello ladies!

I loved all the reading!  Busy ladies! lol

I'm on bed rest so I just lay in bed all day.....doing nothing but watching tv.  What an exciting day.  Day after day.  For the next week.  Gosh!!!!

Anyways, my son stayed home from school today, the flu.  But he's going tomorrow.

It was nice to read all the posts, I'm getting yelled at to get back in bed!  I better go so my kids don't tell on me for being out of bed to be on the computer! lol

I'll be back tomorrow for the weigh in!  Can't wait!!!

Sue - It's good to hear from you but I'm sorry your daughter is still sick.  I'm glad she's improving though.  I'm not brave enough to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans either even though we've been to New Orleans a lot.  My stepkids used to fly from the airport there to visit their mom every summer.  We actually avoided downtown and found a hole in the wall seafood restuarant near the airport that had great cheap food.  I'm not sure if it's still there since the hurricane.  Of course we also visited the zoo, the aquarium, and the river walk sometimes with the kids.  J and I spent one night there once when we had dropped the kids off and we stayed in a nice older hotel near the French Quarter and the Riverwalk.  Any loss this week is great! 

Tammy- Just when you were better what a shame.  Feel better soon and see you tomorrow at weighin.

Weigh-in Wed - down to 186.6. Woohoo!!!  Think I might just have finally broken through the seesaw that had me teetering between 189 and 191 two weeks ago. 

I am feeling stronger each day and am off to London tonight so I have quite a busy day today.  I won't have much internet access for next 12 days (parents never made it into the computer age!!) but I will hopefully be able to check in once or twice during my trip.  Will be thinking about you all though   

Best wishes to Janet, Tammy and Sue's daughter - hope you all recover quickly!

Suz xx

Busy times here in the Netherlands, Sinterklaas coming Friday an all... So just a quick hi to you all, I do read here every day as to not lose track of you  

Btw my knees are shrinking, ya know what I mean?   But I don't think I'm actually losing weight at the moment, - more importantly for now I'm gaining lots of energy and physical strength.   Also helping: I'm making a serious effort to put breaks in between the rest 

Each of you take care of yourself! Hugs to all, Truus

Weigh in Wednesday....137. At this point I don't even know what I weighed last week. I think that I haven't gained too badly. I have been stress eating like crazy and then there was thanksgiving so unless it catches up with me later I'll take the 137!

Hope everyone has a peaceful day. DON"T forget about me you guys!

Connie

Oh yeah today exactly one year ago is when I started my diet. I weighed 171!