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Good morning Buddies.

Tanae posted a message that she couldn?t post a blog or comments on other?s blogs (weird), and I didn?t have any new blogs to read this morning (totally weird), so I tried a short test blog and it posted (but I deleted it).

So on with the show!!!!!

Yesterday was a trying day!  Micheal had a dental appointment yesterday afternoon.  He needed to have a tooth pulled that has been bothering him for a while, and he really just wanted to get all the bottom ones pulled and get a full denture (he already has an upper).  He?d found an ad for a dentist in the phone book?they take all insurances, do same day dentures with extractions, emergencies welcome, evening and weekend appointments available, comparable pricing, etc.  All of this was listed in the phone book.  Sounds good, huh?

We get there and while he?s filling out the required paperwork, he tells me that I should make an appointment for myself.  I hate dentists, and haven?t been having any problems, but I haven?t been to one in a while, so I relented and made an appointment as they were taking him back.

After a little bit here comes Micheal and I?m thinking, ?that was quick?.  He has this silly little grin on his face, which kind of confused me.  I mean, here?s this man that hates dentists, and is absolutely terrified of needles, coming out of the dentist?s office with a smile on his face.  Did they give him laughing gas or something?

He grabs his coat, takes my arm, and as we?re heading for the door he whispers ?cancel your appointment?.  But he won?t explain til we get to the truck.  Come to find out, everything they advertised in the phone book was lies!  They don?t even handle emergencies!  They only do extractions on Tuesdays, and they were booked up for them for yesterday, so they wanted to make an appointment for him to come back in two weeks to get the tooth pulled that?s hurting him NOW!  They?re only open one Saturday a month and only open late one evening a week.

He wanted the remainder of his lowers pulled and a denture made.  They can do that all in one day, right?  According to their ad they can.  They wanted to just pull the offending tooth (in a couple of weeks) and then make a partial.  They said that, yes, in 4-5 years he would need a full plate, but that they didn?t want him to do that yet.  They wanted to do the partial and then change it if he needs other extractions done!  Oh and one extraction was $95 and a partial was $2800 total!

Can we say false advertisement and extortion??  Needless to say, I called and canceled my appointment!

So that?s the drama for yesterday.  We spent the rest of the day out shopping?walking around stores and just looking.  We?d park in the middle of a parking lot and walk from store to store.  I think we walked for nearly 2 hours total!!!

And I did good with my food again.  I got in all my water, and stayed within my 1900-2000 calorie range.  I even had a low-fat ice cream bar for dessert!  So I?m doing ok.

Well, I?m gonna see if this will post.  Have a wonderful day everybody!

I woke up hurting, and spent the whole day hurting.  Ok, I hurt all the time, but I was hurting bad enough that I was just barely able to move around.  I?d go from the recliner to the computer, from the computer to the bathroom, and then reverse that track.  Yup, you have to pass the computer between the recliner and the bathroom, so that was my stopping and resting point.  I hate pain pills?refuse to even keep them around.  So I took some ibuprofen and let it go at that.

No, I wasn?t hurting as bad as I was back in January and June of last year.  It was more of a really strong ache that went from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.  The toes on my right foot were even curling.  Micheal laughs and says that?s the one way he can tell I?m really hurting!  I?m still hurting this morning, but not quite as bad.  I wonder if the weather has anything to do with it??

So yesterday was pretty much a bust.  I didn?t do much of anything.  And I napped a couple of times in the recliner.  I couldn?t seem to get warm, so I?d pull my afghan up over me, and bingo…I?d be out like a light!  I didn?t eat much during the day, and Micheal ordered pizza for dinner.  But he ordered thin crust Hawaiian for me, so he?s learning, and I stayed within my calorie range.

Today is gonna be a busy day, so it?s good that I?m not hurting as bad.  Micheal has a dental appointment, we have to pick up some books he ordered from Borders, and I need to go shopping for a few things.  But I think I?m gonna play it save and use my cane today.  I don?t want to push it too hard.  Man I hate that cane, but I do use it when I really need to.

So now I?m gonna go read a few blogs and kick back for a while.  I don?t want to overdo before we even get out of the house!

Hope everybody has a wonderful day!

And remember:  Don?t let a little slip  ruin your trip!!!

Good morning, Buddies.

Kinda late getting started here.  Micheal ended up working most of the night, and I finally fell asleep in the recliner.  He woke me up when he finished and we went to bed.  Surprisingly, his work cell didn?t start ringing and wake us up!

Yesterday was grocery day.  It was supposed to start snowing again, and continue for at least a couple of days, so we decided we needed to get prepared?groceries, ice melt, snow shovel!!!  We?d not had a need for a snow shovel cuz we?ve been gone most of the time, and the landlord always had everything pretty much cleared when we?d get home.

Now they?ve changed the forecast again, and there?s not gonna be much more that a few flurries, with very little accumulation, if any.  We?ve seen a few tiny flakes floating around out there this morning, but that?s it.

Ok, on with the show.  Nikki commented on a previous blog about her concern that I?d gone over my calorie allotment a couple of times when I?d been having trouble making it to my range for the most part.  Let me explain.  Those days I went over were mostly travel days.  One was on the way home from the DC area.  We were hitting blizzard after blizzard, so when we caught a break, we stopped at the first place we could find for lunch?yup, a burger joint.

Then we decided to stop and spend the night in Columbus?we were both just too tired to go on, and didn?t really want to take the risk of driving nasty roads after dark.  So we got a room and ordered a pizza for dinner.  Not the best choice in the world, but pretty much the only one without going back out again, and since we weren?t able to connect with any of my buddies, we decided we didn?t really want to do that.  And I was so tired, that pizza just kept going in?you know, mindless eating.

While we were in Virginia Beach, eating at the hotel, I made horrible choices and went over my range a little.

But there have been more times that I stayed within my range, or below it enough to make up for going over.  And the days I went over were not consecutive.  They were all preceded or followed by days that I was under.  I averaged it all out and had an average of 2019 calories a day over the past 14 days, and that works out just about perfect!  So I?m pretty much pleased with that.

That means, for the past 2 weeks, I?ve stayed pretty much on track, even with the traveling.  That?s pretty good for me.

The scale isn?t moving, but then it?s not been a week since I last weighed, and my rings are spinning on my finger again, so pffffffffftttttt on the scale!!!

Well, off to read blogs!  Have a wonderful day, my friends!!!

When we went to bed last night, ice was coming down so bad, we were concerned that we?d wake up without power this morning!  Ha!  It?s 35 degrees!  My truck still looks like a popsicle, and the road and ground look like mirrors, so I guess the temp came up pretty fast, or else there was an awful lot of ice.  But at least we didn?t lose power!

And actually, it?s raining right now, so maybe the ice will all melt off pretty quick.  I sure hope so?I need to go do laundry and get groceries today!

Yesterday was a fairly quiet, uneventful day?unless you consider a new TV a big event.  We bought a new one a little over two years ago?a couple of months before we put everything in storage.  And we packed it back in its original box when we put in storage.  But after we moved here, we brought it in, unpacked it, and watched it for about a month, then it quit on us.  We finally got a repairman out Thursday, who said it was gonna cost more than a hundred dollars to fix it?we didn?t pay much more than that for it.

Friday, Micheal had to go to Kinko?s to get some stuff printed off.  After he finished there, he wanted to go price TVs.  We made it to one store.  He found what he wanted at a really low price, and that was that.  Yeah, Micheal?s shopping trips tend to be wham bam!!!!  That?s why I usually try to go with him.  He says if it wasn?t for me, he?d stay broke all the time!  He?s an impulse buyer. (remember the computer?!?!?!)

So they finally delivered the TV yesterday afternoon, and Micheal was like a little kid.  He was checking out all the features and playing with them all.  You know what they say about men and their toys?

And while he was playing with his new toy, I was spending an hour or more cooking dinner.  Then after dinner, I spent the next 45 minutes putting things away, cleaning up, and washing dishes.  So he played and I worked.  No, maybe I should say, he played and I burned some calories!!!

Ok, maybe I will get to do my shopping and laundry today.  The temp?s already up to 37 degrees!  It?s going up fast!

Gonna go read some blogs.

And remember:  Don?t let a little slip  ruin your trip!!!

Happy Weekend, Buddies!

I have a question.  Where is everybody?  Several of my long-time Buddies haven?t been on here in days?well, some have been on the site, and some have even commented on a few blogs, but they?ve not written any blogs of their own!  What?s the deal? 

I used to read dozens of new blogs daily from people on my buddy list, and others that aren?t on my list, but lately I mostly find new blogs every day from my new buddies, and only maybe one or two a day from my old buddies.  What gives?

Now don?t get me wrong?I love my new buddies, but I miss my old ones.

I value my Buddies too much to just disappear like that.  When I?m gonna be away for a day or two, I let everybody know that my blogs and comments will be hit-or-miss for a couple of days.  And a couple of my old buddies do the same.  But some have been quite elusive lately.

Yeah, I know I blogged about this a few days ago, and a couple of those elusive buddies have written a blog or two since then, but they?ve become elusive again.

And no, I don?t care that they don?t comment on my blog anymore.  I care that they don?t blog anymore.  I care that they?re not here like before.  And I worry that they?re maybe not doing so hot themselves, or maybe just feel they don?t need BuddySlim anymore.

If you?re one of our elusive buddies, and you?re reading this, just know that you are missed.  Whether you become more active again or not it up to you, just know that your absence has been noticed.

Now, as for me and my journey?I?ve been staying on track.  For the most part I have been staying within my 1900-2100 calorie range.  There have been a couple of days that I went 100-300 calories above that range, but there have also been a couple that I?ve been below that, so I think it all balances out in the end.

A couple of people have said they would be afraid to up their calories that high.  I was very afraid of doing it.  I was fighting to stay in a 1200-1500 calorie range, and not losing any weight?as a matter of fact, I was gaining!  I?d gained back almost 10 lbs of the weight I?d worked so hard to lose!  And I was so ashamed of it, I didn?t change my ticker, and I didn?t fully disclose how much I?d gained back.

So sometimes, if what you?re doing isn?t working, you just have to take a chance on something different.  I decided to up my calories, and since then I?ve lost all the weight I had gained back.  I?m now back down to what my ticker shows?329 lbs.  And I?m gonna keep at it.

And if the weight loss stops and I start to gain again, I?ll do something else.  I?m gonna win this fight, one way or another!  And I hope my buddies will be here to celebrate with me when I do!

And remember:  Don?t let a little slip  ruin your trip!!!

Gooood Morning, Buddies!!!!!!!!

I?m getting sooooo good at this!  Once again, I stayed in my calorie range.  And we even went out to eat last night?huge Porterhouse steak, salad and baked potato!!!  Yup, I?m bad!  Been eating sooo much fish and chicken lately that I just had a craving for a good steak, so we went to the restaurant down the street and had one.  I even had a small dish of ice cream for dessert and still stayed within my calorie range!

Ya know something?  I think I?ve got it figured out!  All those times I failed at all those diets, it was because I was literally starving myself!  I know?duh!!!!!  I was doing what everybody else told me to do except my own body!  Everybody else, including doctors, was telling me to cut calories, don?t eat over 1200 calories a day, don?t eat fat, don?t eat any sugar, don?t eat any bread, don?t don?t don?t!!!!!!  If I had weighed 170 lbs, the 1200 calories a day would have worked, but I weighed over 300 ( I know, still do, but I?m working on it!).  My body was always saying ?FEED ME?!!!  And when I didn?t, it rebelled!  It quit losing weight and started gaining it!

Now I?m feeding it.  Am I counting calories?  Yes, I?m staying between 1900-2100 daily (for the most part).  Am I cutting fat?  Yes.  Am I limiting sugar?  Yes.  Am I eating bread?  Yes, in moderation and only wheat.  I?m doing things the right way for the first time in my life!

Can you imagine, if somebody?d (me) figured this out a long time ago, I would never have gotten as big as I am now!  I?d have had this weight off a long time ago

Then again, if I?d figured this out years ago, I?d never have found BuddySlim, and all my wonderful Buddies, so I guess it was worth it!!!  But to be totally honest, if I had to choose between my buddies and losing the weight years ago, I?d have to kick the buddies to the curb!!!!

Love you guys!!!

And remember:  Don?t let a little slip  ruin your trip!!!

Is anybody interested in participating in a BuddySlim Get-together, either one central location for everybody, or several regional locations so there would be a better chance more could make shorter trips?  Tasha, not trying to steal your thunder here, just thought this would be a way to get people checking the forum thread.

For anyone that?s interested and doesn?t read the forums, there?s a thread on there about a BuddySlim get-together.  If you?re even remotely interested, check it out and let us know what you think about it.  I?ve already put my 2 cents worth in.  The reason I mentioned it in my blog is because I know a lot of you don?t read, or forget to check the forums.  I figured if I posted a blog with this title, it would get some attention and get people to read the forum thread that otherwise normally wouldn?t.

Ok, now on to ME!!ME!!ME!!ME!!ME!! (and Micheal)

Yesterday was a good day?didn?t do much but it was a good day.  I ate like I should?stayed within my 1900-2100 calorie range and drank all my water.

We pretty much stayed in all day.  I was on this computer and Micheal was on his laptop.  Crazy people at work are talking about sending him on a project in New York City for a couple of months!  He told his boss he?d turned down full time permanent jobs in the past paying 2 & 3 times more than he gets now just to stay OUT of New York City!  Then he asked if they were willing to pay hazard pay!!  We don?t really want to go there.  I mean we REALLY don?t want to go there?except maybe just passing through or just for a short visit.  We won?t be able to take our truck?no place to park it.  Well, I guess you can say we have very deep reservations about going to New York City!  But if they really want him to go, he will?just don?t know if I?d be able to go with him.  So now Micheal?s waiting on an e-mail or phone call from his boss.

And today we?re gonna do more of the same.  Micheal has work he has to do, and I?ll be a good little wifey and sit quietly, and bring him water and snacks and stuff!!  Maybe I?ll go shopping!!!!

Hope everybody has a wonderful day!

 And remember:  Don?t let a little slip  ruin your trip!!!

Good morning, Buddies!!!

I want to tell you how much I really appreciate all of you.  Whether it?s on my diet journey or our travels with Micheal?s work, you guys are always here to offer encouragement and support.

Yesterday was my 1 year anniversary with BuddySlim!!  There are a few of my Buddies who?ve been here with me for a long time.  Jojo?you were my very first Buddy.  I didn?t really get active on here for a couple of weeks after I signed up ? it took me a couple of days before I posted my first blog ? but you were the first one that I put on my Buddy list, and you?re still here!!!  And you?ve been sooo here for me!  You always have my back, and you?re always at my back, trying to give me that extra push!!!

Nikki & Erika?you guys are always here for me.  Period.  Maybe you haven?t been here as long as Jo and I have, but you?re just as precious to me.  You always know the right thing to say, and you never worry about hurting my feelings.  If it needs to be said, you say it!!!

Char, you?re not here as much with the new job, but you always have words of encouragement?and an occasional silly e-mail!!!

I?m gonna quit naming names, cuz if I don?t, I?m gonna leave someone out and they?re gonna be upset with me!

In the 1 year I?ve been on here, I have accumulated more than 100 Buddies?yeah, it shows I only have 87, and that number may go down some more.  But when a Buddy hasn?t been on in several months, and they don?t answer e-mails, I finally delete them from my list.  Am I being a bad Buddy when I do that?  Nope, just cleaning house.  Hey, you?ve got to be gone for 4-5 months before I drop you!!!

Also, during that year, I?ve typed up 246 blogs (counting this one) and my Buddies have given me 3154 thumbs up!!!  Do you know how much that pumps up my ego?  Some of you turkeys have only given me 1 or even no thumbs up when you comment, but that?s ok.  I still love you!!

So this blog is to say THANK YOU to all my Buddies, especially those that have hung here with me for a while and the newer ones who have stood by me and given me hope that one day I will have a bod that guys will take a second look at!!!  (yeah, I know I?m married, but just because you?re on a diet, doesn?t mean you can?t look in the candy shop window!!!)

Good morning, Buddies!!!

I?M HOME1111111111

We got in a little after noon yesterday.  And we had 4 ft high snow drifts around our front door!!!  There was a path cleared to the front door, but the drifts to either side were still there!  At first Micheal tried to tell me that was just snow that they?d shoveled off the walk, but I had to explain to him that snow only looks smooth and silky like that when it falls that way?that when it?s shoveled, it just doesn?t look the same anymore.  Micheal is a city boy?a California city boy!!!!!  Anyway, I pointed to the snow along the sides end of the driveway and pointed out the differences.  Now he knows the differences!!!!!

The drive from Columbus to home yesterday was just beautiful!  It didn?t snow on us at all?the sun was so bright and then reflected off the snow.  It was as if someone turned up the intensity of the sun a few notches!  And the wind was blowing about 30 mph. and coming from the south, hitting us in the side, and blowing snow fingers across the highway (a section of the drive was a two-laned highway)!  It was odd to see?snow would be drifted 6 feet high on one side of the highway, and barely cover the ground on the other because of the wind!

Ok, I know what a couple of you are wondering?what did the scale say when she got home?  Well, true to form, I got on the scale shortly after we got in and got things unloaded.  And it was a bit disappointment.  BUT!!!!…I got on this morning first thing and???..ta daaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!  I?m back to the weight I was before my slip-up of a few weeks ago!!!  So my ticker is correct for the first time in weeks!!!!!!!!

You know what that means?  The Biggest Loser books are right.  I wasn?t eating enough!!  If we?d not been traveling so much and eating out all the time in Virginia Beach, I may have even had a significant loss!!!  But that?s ok.  I?m gonna keep pluggin?.  I know it?s gonna come off.

Well, now I?m gonna go try to catch up on all your blogs.  I?ve got a whole bunch of them to read.  If I don?t comment on your blog, don?t hate me.  I promise to do better after I get caught up.

And remember:  Don?t let a little slip  ruin your trip!!!

Good morning, BuddySlimmers!

Well, right now I?m sitting in a hotel room in Columbus, OH, but we?ll be home sometime early this afternoon.

We left Vienna about 9:00 yesterday morning, but hit one or two (or three or five) blizzards on the way out, so by the time we got to Columbus, we decided we?d had enough for one day.  Besides, we didn?t want to take the chance of hitting one of those blizzards after dark!  We followed a big rig during one of them and could barely see the back end of his truck!!  And his tracks were getting covered so fast we could barely see them!

When the snow let up, there was only one lane of the freeway that wasn?t totally covered with snow, and everybody in front of us was afraid to drive over 5 mph, so I decided to open the other lane.  Did I tell you I have an all-wheel-drive Subaru Baja?  That baby will flat go in the snow!!!  I didn?t have any trouble driving that snow covered lane that nobody else wanted to drive on!  But we?d already lost a lot of time, so by 4:00 we decided we?d had enough and spent the night in Columbus.

And, we?re only about 5 miles from where Dawnie lives.  I called and left her a message on her answering machine and told her we were here, but I guess they were gone all night cuz I didn?t hear from her.  Sorry Dawnie, I really did want to meet you!  And we?ll be passing within a few miles of where Scott lives this morning, but I haven?t heard from him either.  I didn?t have his phone number, but I?d said in my last blog that we were going to be passing nearby.  Guess he didn?t get to read it.  So I missed getting to meet a couple of buddies.

Erika?we came closer to where you live than we thought we would.  I tried calling you and didn?t get an answer, then when we got close, we ended up in the first of those blizzards and just kept driving.  We couldn?t even see the road signs to tell what exit we were at!

Well, that?s our exciting weekend.  Right now, Micheal is still sleeping, so I?m gonna let him.  We don?t have to check out til 11:00, and I?d rather wait til morning rush hour is over anyway before we leave.  And we?re only a little over 3 hours from home now anyway.

We?re anxious to be home.  As of this past Friday, it looks like we?re gonna get to be home for a couple of weeks before they send Micheal back out on another project.  He?ll be working from home on the one in Virginia.  They didn?t see the sense in us staying there when he can do the work from home, and neither did we!  Wow, our own bed, our recliner, our own kitchen?we?re gonna feel like we?re in hog heaven!!  The landlord has even cleared all the snow off our drive, sidewalk and patio!  (We have such great landlords!!!)

I?m gonna try to get caught up on a few blogs before Micheal wakes up and we get ready to head home!  The rest of the trip should be pretty easy?there?s no snow forecast for today, so we shouldn?t have to worry about more blizzards!!!

Haha?Micheal just woke up, so I guess reading blogs will have to wait til we get home this afternoon!  At least my internet connection will be a lot faster!!!

I hope everybody has a wonderful day!!!