New you Nov 1st-

Next time you go to Phoenix, tell me a little more ahead of time so I can come out and visit you there! It's not TOO far, maybe an eight-hour drive or less. I have never liked sushi though.

I need to exercise today too! Haven't done that yet. I'm going to have cereal for breakfast and navy bean soup for dinner, but I'm not sure what lunch will be. I spent the weekend eating really fattening comfort food because I was really stressed and sort of upset (nothing major, just a lot of little daily-life things piled up at once for scheduling reasons). Back into the normal food zone today!

I had a friend who did that once at the Body Shop fragrance counter, in high school. She put on peach, strawberry and, hm, I think it was some kind of citrus scent. Smelled like a fruit salad.

And Canada has WAY more land mass than the US, so eight hours shouldn't faze Hope a bit.

Breakfast: French toast and coffee with milk, from IHOP. Lunch: fish sticks with tartar sauce. Dinner will be (as I've mentioned elsewhere) Texas chili and Sam Adams beer (from Massachusetts). Lots of beer. I want to be numb in case it's a nail-biter. Plus some bourbon, to celebrate or drown my sorrows, depending. We have a friend coming over to watch the election returns with us. Since we're on the west coast and will start getting returns early in the day for us, I have to start drinking early.

That's terrible, I realize, but it will be the third time in my entire life I've gotten drunk to spare myself emotional pain, so it's not very often.

I read something in a magazine: if you drink coffee all day, you have energetic peaks and valleys. But if you drink tea or half-caf coffee in small amounts all day, you'll just be peppy.

Hello all,

I think I did pretty good this Thanksgiving. I ate a little of everything i wanted, only had 1 roll......1 roll! That's something good in itself. But it was fairly easy because it was different than what i'm use to at my mom's. And her dressing isn't the same, good, but not so tempting to over do. We were having wine tastings too and sometimes with some wine in me i can overdo with the food but I didn't. But my pants were still tight the next day. So now i'm back to having a shake for breakfast and my coffee. I do better if I start off the morning well. I got a roasted chicken last night too, had a breast last night, but going to shred the rest of it today and have it on top of salads.

I'm at work this a.m... and not too happy to be here. We had to work yesterday too, which was really the pits. But it's less than a month before i leave for CA, so i have to just remember that.

We had our 1st snowfall last night, it sure is pretty, but i'd be happy with no snow. I know, why am i living in MN then. I don't know.

Peace,
Michele

I love living vicariously!

Ouch on that back! Sounds like you're going to be working on some serious preventive stuff, improving posture and all that, as well as keeping up with the chiro.

ummm... I'm still trying to dig the old me out of the abyss I've fallen into recently. I seem to be getting worse at recovering from anything chaotic, getting back on track with the ordinary and not-so-ordinary things that need doing. I can still rise well to a crisis (especially when I'm left holding the baby as I was a couple of days ago!) but it takes me so much longer to get back to normal afterwards. In fact at the moment it seems like I don't have time to recover from one crisis or detour before the next one comes along and knocks me sideways. Small wonder I don't get over Christmas until March these days, and that's with minimal celebrations for Christmas and Chinese New Year.

my SIL has volunteered to babysit for us this Saturday (my birthday) so let's see if I can come up with something more refreshing than the cinema and dinner! This is why I've put up with my SIL so successfully for so many years - a live-in babysitter in a place like Singapore is priceless.

Kerri.

Long time no see! Sorry to hear about your poor back Sounds awful.

I am doing nothing at all to qualify as a New You person at the moment. I walk the dog sometimes. Will that do?

Next year, New Me. That's what I'm telling myself.............

those things have gotta be bad fo your health. Most of them seem to be quite distorted too, and it's bad for depression, possibly bad for anyone with or without a heart condition or high blood pressure. Stay away from them Hope.

We went to a restaurant here recently that had monster servings. No surprise to hear that it was an American style diner type restaurant (50s style I think - all chrome and red leatherette!). The children's portion DS had was a chicken burger with two whole chicken breasts! No wonder American's have an even bigger problem with obesity than the rest of the world, although I've seen with my own eyes that the UK is catching up. They're beginning to make a fuss here, but mostly we just have people who are obsessed with weight. Period. They just aren't even in the same league as the UK and US, and most are underweight and unpleasantly bony.

I looked at spa treatments to maybe celebrate my birthday with DH, but they are just too damn expensive for my taste. We'll stick to giving each other a bit of pampering here and there I think.

I've found a wonderful product range that doesn't seem to make my skin break out in scales. It's called 'Elemis' and it's a British company. They're the ones who couriered over a ton of 'samples' to DH a month or so ago. All very natural ingredients, and it really seems to do the trick for me. Not that it works on the super sore and currently scaly stuff, but even water hurts those bits at the moment. It does seem to be working well for the rest though, and not starting any new breakouts in sensitive areas, like the hands that rub it in! I think they've got a website, but I don't really want to over-promote them. If you can get hold of something to try, it might be worth considering, especially if you have sensitive skin. That's as close as I'll go to a recommendation. It works quite well for me so far, and I have incredibly fussy skin.

I'm going back to my soothing colouring. I'd go to bed, but DH will be calling me at midnight to wish me a happy birthday, so I may as well be awake. He had a farewell dinner for a close colleague, so I told him to go anyway, though he made a bit of a fuss.

Kerri.

Americans often say that restaurants in other countries are rip-offs because they charge the same amount of money for half the food. I think the ideal would be to charge less for everything, but of course it's mostly labor cost.

I've been swimming against the tide this week. School's kicking my butt. I'll post again, someday.... Cya!

Yay for me. I took a walk.

Im typin g with one hand and Alexa on my lap...

I need need need to get back on track with taking care of myself. Pre-Alexa I worked out, ate my veggies and drank my water, ate fruit and didnt eat fast food. Now I eat chinese food for breakfast and chocolate chip cookies for lunch!!!!!!! Yuck!!!

So I ahve started today and hope to do better each day.
~took vitamins
~am drinking lots of water
~tried to meditate but my mind is all over, need to do this more often
~lotioned my feet
~ate turkey and egg whites for breakfast
Probably wont get to exercise since I showered already, need to figure out how to fit this in and get dressed for the day all while Alexa naps. Can never time it right
Dinner is the Outback tonight and I am dying for cheese fries and an apple martini but I will get steamed veggies with my steak

Hope to join you girls more often Love Jackie

that MSG is one of the recommended food groups! Make it an oatmeal raisin cookie for lunch and you've got it cracked. Were you expecting a load of hard nuts over here, because you're really off course if you were. We're struggling, and badly most of the time. Probably the most positive thing is that we do keep trying, and we drag our sorry selves back over here when we've slipped for a while.

oh, and we try to keep each other going... no guilt! Well ok, just a little, but only in the most useful places!

Well done Hope!!! I'm seriously impressed with your efforts on the medical front. I have yet to take the next step in getting that nasty mole lasered, but it's looking a little awkward with both kids on my hands 24/7. This is the point at which I realise that homeschooling really would never have suited me, or leastways, not with the kids the way they are at the moment. Perhaps when they're older I'll enjoy their undiluted company more. Right now I'm thankful to have had two so they can be off amusing each other. Thankful also that they got along so well I guess!

And on that note... gratitude is probably very good for the soul, and with it being Thanksgiving week for most of you, this is a good place to address it. I found that just having everyone write down a number of things they are thankful for can be quite a soothing exercise - it calmed the kids down at one point last year when they started to get the gimmes and everyone got a little irate. If everyone writes down five or ten, depending on how big your group is, and then reads them aloud the everyone else, it can make you think. Ten is good because the first five is usually easy with the people in your family and your health and the other obvious ones.

anybody go over to Comfort Queen regularly?? There's a little daily thing over there called 'Instant Soothing' which can be anything from a long slow stretch, to calling a loved one, right now while you think of it, to tell them how much they mean to you. One thing that popped up the other day, which fits here and decluttering, is the idea of getting rid of one small, nagging chore - sewing a button back on or making a phone call - a little something which can relieve a disproportionate amount of stress. Worth considering.

And now that I'm awake I'm going to try and get back to my morning pages before I run out of time. I did take my medication yesterday Hope - all in one lump, thanks to Becky's useful information - but I haven't been consistent at all. Still working on it. Better get myself a jug of water over here too, because I haven't been drinking enough in ages, and it also helps me to take my tablets if there's water around when I think of them.

Exercise?? I'm turning into a slug, or maybe a hibernating bear for the winter. I think the primitive instincts are still in me, regardless of what the weather's like outside!

Kerri.

ps. the morning pages are quite a good form of meditation Jackie if you feel your mind is wandering. It allows you to write down all those wandering thoughts, but you're focussing on them and on what your inner voices are saying, so it's a form of meditation too. It might even clear your mind enough to try your regular meditation. Problem is the length of time it takes to write three pages when you've got a baby around. You could always fiddle with that and see what suits you.

I've only been meaning to ask you for, oh, 2 years or so!

Michele, you're not heading this way any time soon, are you? I'll be out of town December 15-January 3.

I need to eat lunch and exercise.

Breakfast was coffee with lots of milk and 2 handfuls of pecans. Lunch will be a Lean Cuisine shrimp alfredo thing. And possibly grapes. I should also take a calcium pill. I've been forgetting those. Also I've been forgetting vitamins (maybe that's part of why I'm a little low on energy!).

I haven't read it though. I have always quite fancied having a go at the morning pages though and once Kerri had explained it to me, I tried to write some once. An hour a day seems such a big commitment. I would like to have a go at the Daily Dialogue from Simple Abundance though, which seems similar but shorter. Does anyone else have the book Simple Abundance? Michele, if you liked CQ you might like it. It is divided into small chapters for each day of the year. Each chapter is around a page and is often something really inspirational. I try to read it every day (though of course I lapse - I'm a week behind right now!) and I often find that the day's chapter is particularly relevant to my life at that time.

Anyway? What thread am I on? Not sure whether to talk about the decluttering I haven't done, or the fruit and vegetables I haven't eaten........

Oh yes. New Me. Once a week when we used to get the bus over to my parents' house, for the past four weeks or so we have walked and taken the dog. It's about a 30-40 minute briskish walk. We were taking her through the park on the way but have had a problem with a huge and aggressive bull mastiff whose owner lets it run free and it attacks other dogs. I did try talking to him but he was aggressive too, so now we are walking around the roads instead

Other than that, my focus at the moment is just to try to get to bed before midnight, eat three meals a day and drink plenty. I have been slipping badly with all three of those lately. In the New Year I am determined to finally get fitter and lose some weight, but realistically I can't think about all that in the run-up to Christmas.

It's almost midday, I didn't eat breakfast (oops) and I need to think about lunch for myself and DS13. Tuna sandwiches I think I don't like lunch. I can never think of anything I want to eat.

Sorry I'll miss you again Michele! Maybe next year.

I did exercise yesterday and will again today. Haven't had breakfast yet. I'm thinking oatmeal.

Hope, were you trying to punish yourself for something?? THREE types of exfoliation in one shower??

Michele, me and WW came to an abrupt end about eight weeks after we started, which was over a year ago now. As is usual with me and diet clubs I lost a couple of pounds, gained it back, lost a pound, gained it back..........I always leave weighing about the same as when I started! I really enjoy diet clubs as a social occasion but I am not so keen on actually following their guidelines!

Hope, the tap IS quite a good workout, but I have stopped going to line dancing. The class was really cliquey and I just didn't enjoy it. I got funny looks if I stood in the wrong line, that kind of thing! I didn't realise they all had 'their' place to stand. I can't be doing with that

Just a flyby for me as we've been out since 11am and it's now 10.45 pm. Just got home and I'm planning to veg out with my book for a while then get an early (for me) night.

Happy Thanksgiving to the USians

O-kay, I ate myself silly and enjoyed it thoroughly. I also had some eggnog with Jack Daniels. Tomorrow, or maybe Saturday, the remaining eggnog will become French toast (sweet eggy bread w/ maple syrup).

I did sub some of the butter in recipes with olive oil, and we had a "pastured" turkey and "pastured" butter which supposedly contain more omega-3 fatty acids and fewer omega-6's. Also I didn't put any fat of any kind on the peas, and we all ate them anyway.

The kind in a can is pasteurized, and as I said, a lot of recipes sort of custard-ize the egg.

So. Today for breakfast: pancakes w/ leftover cranberry sauce in place of syrup. Lunch: leftover pumpkin pie. Dinner: turkey pot pie and leftover sweet potatoes.

That should take care of the rest of the Thanksgiving stuff.

I oughta exercise.

That sounds wonderful! Are they easy to make?

Yes Hope, line dancing is kind of dorky over here too, but I still like it! Just not that particular place. Me and tap dancing aren't doing too well lately though, I have missed the last two classes. I think I may drop out We'll see. I might try to find another class at a different time in the week that suits me better. Monday morning isn't good for me really, I like to be here in the am to set DS13's work and supervise.

It's midnight, I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow!

has finally caught on over here and you occasionally walk into a large crowd of dancing people outside a shopping mall or something. Definitely a bit weird.

Don't give up the tap, just reschedule. Don't even think of it as 'giving up' or your own negative thinking will catch you out.

Since my last post on Decluttering I've just discovered that my FIL only has gastroenteritis. Thank heavens for that! A few days already and poor appetite according to my MIL, which probably helps explain the giddiness. Of course at 75 even a bout of gastroenteritis isn't that great, but since that hadn't even occurred to me I'm just plain relieved.

New Me?? No time. The only thing I've been doing well is getting plenty of sleep. Normal bedtimes mostly, and plenty of long naps! I forced DH to grab some broccoli from the minimart last night but that's the closest we've come to a non canned/non frozen veg in a long time. Pure laziness. We get fresh veg from Australia when it's out of season in the US, China or Europe so everything's in season all year round from here.

Gotta get the kids dressed for class... strong air-con!

Kerri.

Here I am! Reporting for duty!!

I started Monday on a lifechange. I'm trying not to make a dozen changes all at once because when I do that, I just get overwhelmed and give up and I don't want to do that this time around.

Here's the deal: I am 5'2 and I need to lose about 40-45 pounds. My problem is my stomach. Especially the lower tummy. I want to get a flatter tummy and be able to tuck a shirt in my jeans if I so choose. I asked a trusted friend yesterday to tell me how much she thought I weighed. She said about 30 pounds less than I weigh, so I guess I disguise it well! But, I can't disguise it from myself, DH or the mirror!

So, what I started doing this week:

To jump start things, I am drinking a slim fast shake for breakfast. I'm also allowing myself small snacks in the a.m. and p.m. of a small portion of pretzels, a Slim Fast snack bar, or a piece of fruit (I am NOT fond of fruit). Lunch is a Lean Cuisine meal or a bowl of low sodium tomato soup. Dinner is just *smaller* portions of our regular family dinner. I am also drinking 64 ounces of water per day. And I'm taking my vitamins every morning.

So, today is Day 3 and I am already feeling better. I think the water is REALLY helping me. I feel a little lighter and much more energized. Probably the vitamins as well.

I ordered and received a really neat journal to record my food and exercise in. It helps me immensely to see it in black & white.

AND, I plan to come here at least twice a week and post where I'm doing good & where I'm falling short. Karin and I are going to be partners in this & we'll give each other the details.

Exercise is a problem for me for many reasons. #1: I HATE it! I really hate it. I can tolerate walking, so I'm going to go to the community center and hit the treadmill, starting with 3 times per week. I start that tomorrow (we have church tonight). I'm also doing some ab crunches and variations from Denise Austin's book to try to whittle my waistline since that's my major trouble spot.

So, I'm on board! Y'all stay after me!!!

Vonnie

Kerri, I read your post and I'm thinking "where did she get the idea that I am 52?" I went back to what I wrote & I put that I am 5'2 -- 5 foot, 2 inches!! No, I am only a young 36 (well, OK, I'll be 37 in January)! But, yes, I know that my tummy will never be flat like it was when I was 21; those days are just plain over. But, just not having this roll is what I am going for. My weight loss goal equates to about 1.5 pounds per week. My past weight loss experience usually means I'll lose 5 pounds pretty quickly, go down to a pound a week for a few weeks, then even out around 2 pounds a week -- if I follow my plan!!!

Anyway, I've got to go get DD toward the bed. We just got back from Awana.

Cya!

Vonnie

Take my pills is right - Honey gave me the heads up on this, and I realised what I'd done only when I read her email. What was I thinking!?! I may not have been clear on your age, but it doesn't even begin to make sense. For the record, you're the same HEIGHT as me!

where's the blushing icon whan you need it.

could some kind soul please put up the Dec 1st thread so I can quickly lose the embarrassment...

Kerri.