Posts by simignonne

Danni!!! I'm so glad that you're back!!  You are right about cutting connections, it helps it really feel like a vacation doesn't it?  I can't wait to hear about it, you'll fill us in right?  Catch up on work first alright?  Oh and your I'm Baaaack!  I totally laughed at that.

Stacy I wanted to tell you that every now and again our choir director at EWTN will email us something a viewer said about our choir (gotta keep the moral up right?!) and today we got an email from someone in Canada, Alberta.  I thought of you. :)

Hello holisticcuteness, tell us more about yourself!

hey again to gurl0411, you should log in more often, we hardly know you!

Sarah (is that how you spell your name? With an H or without an H?) Your running sounds like it's going so well!  That's wonderful news.  I don't know how you do it. I'm down here in Birmingham and when it dips below 40 I'm freezing!  No way would I be running in weather like that.  Maybe it's just an attidute thing :)

I was going to workout this morning and woke up early but I'm still feeling icky.  So i'm going to give it a few days and since I don't have to teach this week I might try working out in the afternoon after all my sinuses have calmed down.  It's like i have to blow my nose for a long time in the mornings :) Oh well.

Holiday Exchange stuff coming along well ladies?  Try to mail things out this week if you haven't already!  I know I am going to try to get things out this week so I don't get behind.

oh, and does anyone have any good recipes for pecans?  I think I'm getting a bag or two this week and besides just eating them plain or putting them in a pie (Jaime and I both don't really like pecan pie) what can I do?  and while I'm at it, any butternut squash recipes? We've got one we're going to cook with this week.

And one more thing!  I found a great 'recipe' (it's not really) for low cal and low fat muffin/cup cakes.  Take a box of cake mix (any kind) and mix it with pureed pumpkin (canned is fine) and voila!  Muffin's under 200 calories, even less if you make them smaller.  And they are super tasty.  I think I'm going to put some chocolate chips in with mine, Jaime got yellow cake with pumpkin.  They are very moist and not that bad for you, yay breakfast ideas!  Just imagine what they would be like with some sort of pumpkin cake stuff?

Stacy you are so funny!  I'm so surprised that you asked your doctor.  I don't know how I would start that conversation... so doc.. my insides don't feel like the picture looks.  lol.  How funny that you found that out though, very enlightening.  Perhaps I should ask my doctor about it :)  I don't know if it's my cervex though.. I don't know.  Maybe the tuna thing is because I don't really like tuna and my mom usually makes very bland tasting food so I don't have much to pull from.  And yay for your gift ideas!  Yay yay yay!  I found out a similar thing as you, something I was going to buy and I can't find it now.  I'm going to hunt some more.  Maybe like you I'll find something even better than what I imagined.

Greta that wind sounds horrible.  Is it still that bad now?  You put on fb that it kept your son awake, is that for real?  That's intense.  Birmingham is prone to tornados.. bet you didn't know that did you :)  We have tornado sirens that are tested the first wednesday of every month.  But I still haven't had wind like you.  Weird!  Did you get your run in anyway?  And today was a long run day too right?  Too many questions?  I'll stop :)  Oh and yes I'll remind you guys about the 18th.

EWTN stands for Eternal Word Televsion Network.  Mother Angelica and all.  I do the morning mass on Tuesday and Friday.. but now that the holidays are here I'm doing them this Sunday and not next week.. etc etc etc.. weird schedule.  I get to sing at 11pm Christmas Eve.. neato huh?  Way to ring in Christmas right?  With the Catholics.

I have to tell you guys that I weighed in today at an all time low.. I haven't weighed myself for several days because my eating has been sub par.  and to be completely honest yesterday I cut calories since the night before I ate my body weight in yogurt and chocolate.  So that might have something to do with it but I've found that this system is working for me.  Am I crazy?  Is this just how you have to do it?  Anyway, today I saw 128.5 for the very first time :)  That 128 number just lit up my day.  Lit it up!

I'm also going through some nervous issues right now because I dropped my dogs off to get groomed at a new place and it looked like it was kinda in the ghetto... and the store was nice, the lady was nice, but I'm always nervous that someone is going to steal my dogs (because I obviously think they are the most wonderful things in the world).  We'll see how that goes down.  Churchill was very very upset for being left by me in a strange place.  I could hear him in the parking lot... poor baby.  They will be beautiful though when they are finished and Churchill gets a free tooth brushing :)  Oh, and I took before and after pictures so I'll have to let you guys see those.

I wish you all would come to Black Christmas!  I know what you mean by gay :)  We have a very good friend who just 'came out of the closet' and we always say that things are gay around him just to tease him!  Poor guy.  My husband doesn't use the word gay but he thinks things are too 'hipster' and 'trendy'.  It's silly.  And he did end up buying the shirt, it looked good on him.  He was just trying to figure out if he would fill it out in the right areas.  I think he wants to look like Arnold Schwartzenager (however you spell that) and he's got some extra love on his chest, that I adore :)  He just doesn't adore it.

Awe I missed you guys today!  I think I just have a rotten cold.  This morning was really rough.  All the pressure built up in my sinues, my ears were stopped up and I woke up with a migraine (you guys know how I seem to love migraines... or they love me).  So I went to work like that and we had a teachers meeting at work so I was busy working through that.  It got worse and worse and finally my boss let me go home at 1pm and I took medicine and then taught at 4 and then I got to have dinner with friends at MOES at 5!  And by then I felt so much better.  I think it was the musinex d that really did it, it cleared up my sinues and without the pressure my headache went right away.  AMAZING.  I do sound like a man though and I'm getting a nasty cough ;) 

So that's where I was today.  I'm so glad that I'm feeling better, this morning was no fun at all and I do not want to repeat that tomorrow.

So Tracy's wedding pictures are amazing :)  I can't wait to hear about your honeymoon and your goals for the rest of the year!  I can't say how much I love the pink shoes with your dress.  My roommate in college is getting married next summer and I just got my bridesmaid dress in the mail, weddings are everywhere!

Greta you had a house before you got married?!  Wow, I think we'll probably have a baby before we have a house.  Things are absolutely expensive here in birmingham.  My parents house sold for almost 25 grand less than what the smallest house we could afford here.  I wish it wasn't that way but until things change we'll be renting :)  Who knows, next summer we could be house hunting.  Good luck weaning the baby, is it working out for him so far?  I'd totally give you a pass on weighing in this week.

Margo is planning a wedding!  what plans do you have so far?  Colors?  You said fall wedding?  I'm so excited for you I can't wait to hear all about it.

Heather did you ever finish up the couch to five k?  How is working out going?!

Stacy I'm glad that you're still doing the p90x.  I'm also glad that you pushed through that hard part that you had.  Plus your diet sounds so amazing. I really need to get on top of that.  This week has been a fail as far as diet goes, being sick makes me just want to eat comfort food.  I don't even care as long as I have some food in me.  If I feel better tomorrow I'll totally bring my veggies with me to lunch instead of skipping lunch and then eating junk for dinner :)  You're making me think of getting p90x some day.  We'll see.

Waffle Cone Wednesday!!

So workouts are a wash for me this week, obviously, I can't wait to get back on track.  Right now I'm just waiting for the nyquil to kick in so I can fall asleep, it's really hard to fall asleep with a sore throat.

Greta I'm sorry that you had to spend the day without much interaction!  Sad!  I'll be back around tomorrow :)

Oh and FYI (and tmi) since the biposy I've had a period since.  This means almost two weeks ladies.  That makes these past two weeks rough, two week long period... and still going strong (you'd think i'd run out of blood or something, ok tmi but still right?  Right?) someone broke into my facebook, and I get slammed with the crud sickness.  wtf.  At least my mood hasn't been affected much.  Just a crazy couple of weeks. 

Ok just a few things before I have to go inventory some books that just came in.

One, last night I had amazing pizza, it was one of those expensive frozen pizzas that is stuffed crust, and because I didn't feel well and (thanks Ali!) was on Nyquil I stuffed my face with it, and a whole bunch of candy.  It was not like me at all, I just ate everything in sight.  Weird part was this morning I weighed in at 129.5 again.  Crazy right?  I'm not complaining.  Although I had a very low cal lunch, 100 calories of soup and some special K and an apple.  I just wasn't that hungry so I guess that the caloreis added up.

Second thing, I'm sick.  I woke up in the middle of the night not able to swallow because my throat hurts so badly and blew yellow and brown out of my nose, not a good sign.  No fever so I don't know what the heck is going on.  Right now my sinuses and ears are so stopped up I can't really hear anything.

Third thing, I did tell my boss about what happened simply because he changed things like my sexual preference, said I hate all religions, made my address phone number and all my email addresses available, and then friended students, parents of students, and countless others back home.  That's what made me mad, it was my reputation on the line, you've all heard the story.  Well he was totally sympathetic and I think the guy might get fired for it.  I don't think I can tell anyone else this because I feel kind of guilty.  I mean, he's not a very good worker anyway so it wouldn't be horrible if he did and he always rubbed me the wrong way but I don't know.  I just feel kind of bad.  I thought his life was going better he was getting promoted at his weekly job (he only works weekends here) and he is getting married soon.  I don't know why he would flip out and do something like this.  I'm afraid that it's all my fault.

lol, Margo I was about to ask, when are you goin to tell us what happened on Saturday?!!?!  I see, it's in your journal.  I'm going to zip on over there really quickly.

Today I'm trying really really hard to keep my calories limited.  I was at 129.5 again this morning and I want to maintain if not lose... no gaining.

Rebekkah I know you aren't logging in but I thought of you and your Yogurt Pump yesterday.  I found out there is a place in Bham called Yogurt Mountain (I know right?) and you put your yogurt into a bucket looking thing and add all your toppings yourself and then THEN, they weigh it.  42 cents an ounce and then they give you a spoon. Jaime and I got tons of yogurt for only $8.  It was amazing :)  And I thought of you.  And all the other CC girls.

Happy Birthday to Margo!!  Happy Birthday to Greta's little man!!

I should ask for a plane ticket for christmas, a plane ticket to arizona, that leaves the day after christmas.

Productivity pills Greta?!  You just made 191 cookies.. omg.  OMG!  And the froyo that I had yesterday was chocolate with chocolate chips added in.  After the dentist declared my teeth 100% exactly wonderful I went to TCBY and the guy asked me if I wanted real chocolate chips or the no sugar chocolate chips.  I smiled and said, I want the sugar chocolate chips.  he said good choice.  I agree :)

After weight lifting yesterday my body is murdering me today.  I haven't been this sore in a while, it's like DOMS.  But that just means that I did something right.  What I did wrong was to not have a protein shake after working out.  That might have actually fixed some of this soreness before it happened.

Yesterday was a really good day.  My last student of the day who comes to my house for lessons had a cold and couldn't come so I had extra free time!  I started making spaghetti for dinner and my husband was all pouty about something so I said, why don't we go out for Sushi.  We strained the noodles and put them in the fridge for later and just hoped in the car about ate our fill of sushi (and it was wonderful).  Then I'm not sure what came over us but we totally pulled a teenage moment and drove to a dark church parking lot and fooled around!!  Got home and watched a movie together and then fell asleep.  How much better does it get?  Just had to share that.  We are never that adventurous in our sex life and it was really nice to feel younger and spontaneous.

I wish that I could do anything to make this day go by faster so that I could get home.

Oh and I'm planning our 3rd annual Christmas Party and as I went through the FB list of who to invite I passed over you girls and got really sad and wanted to invite you anyway.

Wow!  It's like everyone logged on later in the day yesterday.  Everyone but me :)

I finally got to the gym this morning but only did weight lifting.  I'm boycotting running right now.  I think it was Sarah that was talking about how tired she's been lately and that's exactly how I feel too!  It was so difficult to get out of bed and then once I was at the gym I just glared at the treadmills.  I don't know what's happened to me.  I guess I just needed a change of routine.  I'll be running again before you know it.  The guy that works in the morning at the gym was doing some bench presses and he looked at me and said "you didn't see me working out on the clock" and I said "no I didn't, do you need a spot?".  I loved it.  I really enjoy lifting in the free weights section.  I like looking tough and pushing myself and I really like seeing the results.  Enough.

Soooo m uch to catch up on.  Let's see how I do.

Rebecca I'm glad that you'd like to stick around :)  I think we'd all love it if you did!  Sounds like P90X is all the rage right now.  Maybe one of these days I'll have to buckle down and do it too, maybe after I have kids :)  Like in ten years.

Pear shapped people, I think I'm what you would call average shapped?  I guess?  Yeah, I'm pretty average.  Nothing is super skinnier or fatter than any other part really.  And I think my boobs are shrinking, which is to be expected since I've lost several pounds.

Hey Ali, sorry that you have so much homework!  That's a downer, at least the semester will be over soon right?  And nuvaring isn't really that scary, I handle it much better than trying to take a pill at the same time everyday.  I am also a treadmill runner, especially in cold weather.

Stacy!! I looked for your birthday pictures but I couldn't find them at all.  I did look under Pics of Stacy etc, I'll look again today.  Love the new profile picture though :)  You look like so much fun, all your pictures, I love it! You'll get back at your workouts soon enough, don't worry about it.  Sometimes I have to go through a period where I'm super unhealthy to actually jump start my healthy habits, you know?

Greta!  Snow already!  That's amazing.  I don't know if we'll have snow at all this year.  And good luck with weaning your son :)  I can't wait to be 128 either!!!

Danni!!!! a Cruise!!!!!

work just got crazy, I'll log back on in a little bit.

Heather, I'll send you a PM and clear things up for ya! :) Don't you worry.

Margo I love how you called Rennai statuesque, because it's such a fitting word, she really is.  Rennai you're so pretty!!  Margo I also love your note to your secret holiday person lol.  Nice.

Ingrid gosh I hope I can be just a smidge like you sometimes, even without the baby.  I was supposed to get up early this morning and just couldn't make myself.  I slept all the way until 8am.  I'll work out later tonight but wow, to get up that early and take care of things.. that's amazing.  Day after day.  I hope you feel appreciated!

So I know that people said not to weigh your self every day but I hope my explination of my weight NEVER fluctuating (well hardly ever) makes you feel a little bit better.  I did weigh in today and it swung between 129 and 129.5.  So things are back to normal, no need to panic.  Can't wait to see it dip down to 128!! 

I called my doctor and said that my body was going crazy and she said to leave the nuva in (even though it's like I'm on my totm) and  that I can use a tampon if I need it.  Tampon + nuvaring.... hmmm.  The only down part to this is that if I don't stop bleeding then I'll have almost 2 weeks of a period.  Crazy.  I'm guessing that this had a lot to do with the weight fluctuations.  And like I said above, I'm planning on working out tonight.  I think my body has just been through a lot lately.

Rebekkah - I know that you aren't really 'online' right now, but if you read this I have two different things to tell you.  I hope that they encourage you.  First off the information that Rebecca (welcome!) is giving you is amazing.  I don't know if you do or don't have a thyroid problem but it is amazing that someone would leave comments on a forum they aren't accustomed too just for you.  That's really awesome.  Also I totally know about the Free T3 stuff and had those tests done as well.  This might be good to look into. 

Second thing.  I was having dinner with a good friend of mine, Lauren, and I was explaining to her your troubles.  I don't know really what shape you are but by your pictures I'm guessing that you're closer to an apple shape, where you gain mostly in your mid section with thinner legs, if that makes sense.  If you aren't then ignore everything that I'm going to say :)  Lauren and I are the exact same height but she's apple shaped and I'm just average with bigger boobs *bleh*.  We were talking about you and she said, if you are apple shaped it can not only be more difficult to lose the weight but you will also tend to weigh more.  You would never guess it but she weighs almost 20 pounds more than I do.  And although she's rounder in her mid section you would never know it.  She talked to me about the fat in your midsection is surrounding organs and is all through your middle while the fat on people's arms or legs or butt is usually on the outside and therefore easier to lose.  I don't know how true any of this is but I can tell you that she is a nutritionist and is very healthy.  I just want to encourage you, not saying that you should weigh more, but saying that this actually might be more difficult if indeed you are apple shaped.  And that's ok, but keep pushing through, like we've all said before, we're not going anywhere.  And I really hope you come back soon because I'm already missing you thinking about WCW tomorrow without you.

Today is better, I stepped on the scale this morning and it was 129.5 and then it flickered between that and 130.  Mine only does half pound increments.  I know what everyone is saying about not weighing every day but I usually don't go overboard like I have been AND as most of you can attest, my weight hardly fluctuates, which is why I flipped.  So I feel better right now.  Tonight is pizza night so I'll keep that number if it's lower than tomorrow's number (cheating much?).  I also realized that what Margo said might be right, the stress from the biopsy might have had something to do with it.  Oh and speaking of.  I think the biopsy freaked my body into having my period.  My nuvaring is in place but I'm bleeding like it's my period.. weird?  I'm calling the doctor today to make sure that I can just count this as my flow.  I'd really like to just call the whole birth control thing quits.  But I'm not ready for a baby.. as much as that idea excites me.

So there is my update.

Anyone have any other comments on the gift exchange to help Greta out?  And whoever has Greta you'd better give her a kickin gift because it sounds like she's got some great ideas.  And Sarah as well.. I'm very curious because I have an idea of what you're going to do but I'm not sure.  And for those of you who need to know, Sarah had asked, and I'm thinking many of you need reminders.  Gifts need to be mailed out BY THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER.  You can send them earlier if you wish but that first week is our deadline. 

Neato idea, what if we all plan a certain day to open them?

Margo it's very good to hear that you are still working out, even if it's not as much as you want, slow and steady wins the race.  And that's the truth.  Again, I can't say enough how glad I am you are back on the forum, it just wasn't the same with out you.

Sarah you are right about the weight.  I really have to focus on diet and exercise if I want to lose anything at all.  But the good thing so far is that my weight has been pretty steady 132 for a while then 131 etc.  so a steady decline is good.  I hate that we have to do that to just lose a few pounds but like you said, my body may like being at 131 or 132 but I really like my body better at 128 or so.  I'm sorry that the date didn't go very well at least it's easy to tell with him :)  like I always say, I think it's really awesome what you do with the children via the arts.  I know I say over and over again that I'm a musician and the arts are important blah blah, but living in the south football (Roll Tide!) is way more important so to see someone make their job a priority for the arts, that's really awesome.  You're inspiring.  I'll bet those kids love you.

ok so I have a few questions and a request for support :)

This morning I weighed in at 130.5 which isn't horrible, but it's not the 129 I saw last week.  I'm going to try to be really good this week with eating but I have questions about it.

Last week and the week before I limited my calorie intake but I don't know how much I limited it.  I haven't been counting just keeping up in my mind to keep it less than what it's been before.  You know?  So now I'm thinking I should count calories.. but I know that if I count I'll get in competition with myself and think that less is better, so that's why I haven't been counting.  Because if I count and I'm at 700 for the day I think.. if I limit my dinner then my deficit will be that much more.  You get me?

So the past few days I've been eating way too much candy.  Just a little here and there will really add up and I didn't just stop with one this weekend.  Today no candy until dinner time and then I can have one piece.  (I was packing several pieces in my lunch for work)  I also have two servings of veggies and a serving of red beans and rice.  I can't imagine it's that bad for you, kidney beans, tomaotes, green pepper, onion, rice, turkey sausage?  Right?

I'll be working out tonight after work.  I just don't want to hop right back up to 130 and I have a hard time thinking that if I don't limit my calorie intake it won't happen.  Does that make sense?  Obviously I'm not going to turn anorexic I love food way too much to do that, but I'm nervous that there is no other way to get my numbers down.  You know? 

me me me

EDIT: Happy Birthday Stacy!!!! Woo HOo and yes I do dream about CC ladies, all the freaking time! 

Oh and the cookies, I'm not a huge mint person either but if you crush them up a whole bunch.. oh my gosh it's to die for.  Not lying.  Try it this weekend, today, or tomorrow.  You'll love it I promise.

So first off Alabama is playing LSU today.  Just had to mention that.

Churchill feels like a million bucks today.  He does this really heavy breathing when he's happy, like when you pet him and we call it 'purring'.  He was alll about that this morning.  Jaime and I sat for almost 20 minutes just petting and rubbing him and he just LOVED it.  Before with the fleas he was miserable and didn't want to be around anyone.

I woke up at 6:15 this morning.. I needed to get started on the cookie dough that I'm bringing to the girls tonight but not that early.  Maybe the time change is affecting me.

Oh and last night, I fell asleep on the couch and I vaguely remember talking to my husband in my sleep.  He was asking about.. air conditioning or heat?  I don't know, but at one point I totally remember talking to him about the Chinook and he kept saying Chinuck and I said no it's a Nooook not a Nuck.  Then I fell back asleep.  I know that Stacy won't get this until Monday but anyway :)  There it is.

Greta the cookies I'm making are these chocolate chip and peppermint cookies.  You take 1/3 cup of white chocolate chips and melt it and add it to the butter and then sugar and you know how it goes, flour etc.  I think that is really neat that you add it to the dough.  Then you put 2/3 cup of white chocolate chips, 3/4 cup of dark chocolate or semi sweet, and like 12 mashed up peppermint candies.  It's crunchy but sweet.  Reminds me of Christmas 100%.  I just made the dough and haven't added the chips or anything, I thought the girls would like to help me do that.  The sugar cookies sound amazing, and in the number 2 as well?  Genius.  You should open a bakery and hire me as assistant ;)

EDIT: A while back I told you guys that I was asking my boss for a raise and that I didn't get it.  Well I wanted to update that every paycheck since then has had a 'bonus' that if added up would amount to more than what I would have asked for.  I just realized that I hadn't told you all, and I just got my paycheck and it also had another bonus in it.  My boss is a good man.