melmar02

Thanks Belle and Diana!

The zoo was a success. Everyone else we saw was wearing their mask, and it wasn't very crowded. We have to go through downtown Dallas to get there, and I only got lost once this time. I don't know how I drove without GPS growing up! The kids got to feed the giraffes (did you know they have really long tounges), and we saw the lion cubs this time. In September when we went, they weren't old enough to be in the enclosure yet. I definitely got my steps in today!

Congratulations Jan! 

Diana, I try to avoid the grocery store the week of a holiday too. Too many people out!

Belle, I've been in the kitchen all weekend. I had my last double wedding for a few weeks this weekend. My next wedding is Dec 19... two weddings on the same day. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I booked them both. 🤪 

I have to share today's groom's cake. I love when the couple wants something that reflects their lives - he works for Southwest Airlines, but I believe it speaks to all of us travel enthusiasts. 

I'm taking the kids back to the zoo tomorrow. It's going to be pretty chilly all day, so hopefully it won't be crowded. 

51 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I'm going through some stuff right now and unconsciously ate a box of cookies. Now I'm even more upset 😡 

Ugh - the guilt that follows stress eating is the worst! Tomorrow's a new day though. 

Belle - Glad you have made plans. Sorry your daughter has to work on Thanksgiving. 

Diana - fortunately I had some leftover spaghetti and meatballs for him. I think maybe it was too close to DH's actual turkey burger recipe, but wasn't quite it, so he was just really disappointed. Both the kids LOVE his turkey burgers.

Not sure what we're having tonight. We're thinking picking up something, but we also want it to be healthy so the options are pretty slim. What's everyone else having for dinner?

Sorry you're up Belle.

Ombud, good that clothes aren't tight.

Well I made that turkey burger -sneak- in- the- zucchini- casserole dish tonight. My DD (Autistic and a super taster) was the one I was worried about. She noticed the green right away, and I told her it's less zucchini than what I put in zucchini apple muffins, which she loves. She ate about 3/4 of what was on her plate and said it wasn't her favorite, but it was good. I almost fell out of my chair! My DS on the other hand who eats any veggie we put in front of him hated it, and started crying. 🙄  

Hi all,

Thanks for starting us Belle.

I'm up .5# from last week. So much for that 30# loss. 😆 I'm sure it's stress from all these double wedding weekends and hormones - nothing else has changed. I have a few weeks off after this weekend, so hopefully I drop a lot then.

Jo - Great staying under 170. I know snacking makes a huge difference for me. Cutting them out may be just what your body needs to jump start a loss. Sorry about your cruise.

Diana - You've been really consistent around your goal!

Jan - It can be so frustrating to stay the same when we do everything right. Hoping you have good news!

Ombud - be careful with the fence. I picture myself in that situation and it becomes an I Love Lucy episode. 😆

Diana - It really was so good. I'm just worried I'll mess something up, and the dish won't live up to expectations. I may have to get DH to make it - he's the cook in the family.

Belle - Washing clothes is the worst part about the vacation! I don't mind before we go because it's part of the planning fun to think about what I'll wear, but after is just a sad reminder that the vacation is over. It's almost chili weather here. It's supposed to be 55° and rainy on Monday, so I think I'll make it then.

Our numbers are still going up too, but nothing's changing yet. The Dallas county judge has asked the Gov. to close things again, but so far no reply. They are close to 1500 new cases every day now in just that county. I'm the county just north and we're closer to 300. I have another 2 wedding weekend (but both small), and then I don't have anything until Dec 19. I think the December weddings will have to reschedule - surely they'll start re-closing things again soon. 

Belle - welcome back. I'm glad you had a nice visit with your son!

Diana - Your Asian chicken salad sounds good. I've been wanting to add a stir fry to the menu for a couple weeks now, but it always seems to get pushed out for something else.

When my MIL was here, we got a big ham and turkey breast and froze most of it. We'll have some more for Thanksgiving and a couple of sides. I picked up a pre-made side at Whole Foods a few weeks ago that was delicious and may try to recreate it - roasted butternut squash with wilted spinach and dried cranberries. We added some nuts to it at the table, and it was so good! Probably mashed potatoes for DD and corn for DS. I'll make bread, add a salad, and call it done!

The kids love when DH makes turkey burgers. I'm going to try to make his recipe into a casserole so I can sneak in some grated zucchini - the kids definitely don't get enough veggies.  

Ombud - I was very athletic growing up, so I know all too well how off the BMI charts can be. Fortunately my scale also measures fat, so I'm keeping an eye on that too. I've got quite a ways to go before I'm going to have to worry about having any numbers that are too low. 😉  I'm sorry you need unexpected dental work. 

Our microwave shorted out the other day, and it's going to be month at least before we can get a replacement with a trim kit. I'm going to run into Walmart to get a cheap counter model, but then it's no going into stores for awhile again for us. Our numbers are back up too, and DH and I counted 6 people that we know in the last week that have come down with Covid. Unfortunately, no new / revised closures yet. Everything's still open - restaurants at 75% even.

Thanks for the encouragement! I did it! I hit the 30 pound mark. I'm still in the obese category on a BMI chart, and have a little over 20 pounds to go before I'm just in the overweight category  (40 pounds to go before I hit the normal range). But my next 10 pound goal weight is my wedding day weight, and that's really exciting!

Hi all

Diana - thanks for starting the thread. I'm sure Belle is having a great time! Sorry you're back to working out at home. It works, but sure can get repetitive.

Jo - sorry your counts are going up. Stay safe!

Izena - .8 is good. Haven't you lost 2+ pounds each week for a couple weeks? Maybe your body is just adjusting, or you've added a little leg muscle from all that walking!

Ombud - same is good. I agree about the food. I wanted chili earlier today, but we don't have the stuff to make it.

Jan - I'm  glad that you stayed the same with your pain. Are you feeling better?

I was down 1.8 this week which is a milestone for me. I'm now the lowest I have been in 12 years and .4 from a 30 pound loss. Woohoo! I'm also celebrating because we picked our AK cruise, and I told the travel agent to take my money! I'm one of those people who likes to watch all the Youtube videos before I go on vacation, so I have something new to watch if we go back on lockdown. 

I hope everyone has a good week!

The scale was nice to me this morning, and I finally shed the last of the gain I had when my MIL was here. Hoping it stays off! I'm not sure how much walking I'll be able to get in the rest of the week though. I'm overbooked for this weekend and will be living in my kitchen from now to Sunday.

Jan - I'm glad you're feeling a little better and hope you have a quick recovery. 

Diana - We won't hit freezing for a while yet. Usually it's December. My MIL is a 6 hour drive from us, and they've already had snow. 

Belle - have a nice trip! Sorry to hear about your friend and their family in Texas. Masks are still mandatory here, but not everyone uses them. I see the occasional person in the grocery store without one when I have to go in.

Diana - sorry I got that mixed up (but glad that it's not your family). I have a really bad habit of skimming the thread and not absorbing all the details when I haven't been in the boards in a couple days. A 26 TA sounds wonderful! We're looking at adding the land packages to the the Alaska and Canada ends of our trip in 2022, so it will probably wind up around 18-20 days. We're supposed to be able to book sometime this week, and I keep checking Royal's website to see if it's open yet.

It's been beautiful here - upper 70's, so I've had the kids out on their bikes while I walk. Trying to lower carbs a little this week with the IF to get the rest of the weight off from when my MIL was here. It's being really stubborn this time!

Ombud, nice your dress was able to zip up. Keep it up, and you'll get to the new goal! Our herb garden died out in August I think. We were actually using one of those big self watering containers where you pour water into a pipe on the side of the container once a day and it all sits at the bottom until the plants need it. Our exterminator said it would harbor mosquitos, so we just let it go when the plants started to get stressed by the heat. West Nile has been a big deal in years past here in Dallas.

Diana, Your 2 # bags of veggies made me chuckle at something I saw yesterday. I made a Restaurant Depot (restaurant supply store) run yesterday for my sugar, chocolate, and vanilla. They usually only sell things by the case or in big restaurant size packages since you have to have a business tax id or dba to shop there and they aren't open to the public. However they started opening up to the public when the pandemic started and now you can get smaller packages of just a few produce items - a bag of 6 cucumbers or 3 big heads of romaine instead of a whole case of them. I got lots of salad stuff, but a lot of things are still by the case only. I stood there in the warehouse refrigerator trying to decide if our family could eat 10# of bell peppers, zucchini, or melon this week. I think maybe we need to rejoin Costco again to get better sizes. 😆

Belle, I know what you mean about time being slow/fast this week. It was a normal week for us, and I didn't even have any orders, but I have no idea where the time went. I think I was so absorbed in the election until yesterday that all my free time just slipped away.

Jan and Diana - I hope you family members are doing ok and symptoms are staying mild.

Jo - nice job on the bone density scan!

Izena - another great loss! 

Good morning all,

I'm up .3 pounds this week. Not surprising with my 2.5 pound gain over the weekend. I really over ate at dinner last night too. It's almost all gone though. Next week should be a loss.

Belle - sorry about your neck. I'm glad your son was able to take care of a few things around the house for you, and I hope you feel better soon! 

Most of the weekend weight has come off - I'm hoping I'll be even (or maybe even a little down) with last week's weigh in. I need to walk a bit today too.

We close this afternoon on our refinance. HOA has approved the design, and now we're just waiting on the city permits which take between 2-4 weeks depending on who you ask. We should have a giant hole in our yard by the first week of December!

Hi all! We had a good visit with my MIL, but we ate way too much. I gained 2.4 pounds while she was here, but I know it's mostly water and salt and should come off soon. We walked the neighborhood to look at Halloween decorations and let the kids get candy from those few that were taking precautions - masks and gloves or pre-bagged candy spread out on a table. We were the only family wearing masks while walking around so we didn't stay out long.

Royal Caribbean is supposed to open up 2022 Alaska bookings next week, so I'm in full on planning mode. It's nice that it feels a little normal anyway.

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Thanks for the poem Belle. Good to stay the same with ice cream!

Jan - Nice loss. sorry you're feeling down. 

Izena - Great loss!

Jo - nice to hear from you. Same is good.

Diana - same is good.

Ombud - sorry you're up this week. 

I'm ready for the election to be over too. I can't stand the ads on TV.

I'm actually a little excited about the time change this year. The science curriculum we use has the astronomy unit at the end of the year when it gets dark after the kids bedtime. I've always had to tweak the experiments for the kids. I finally got smart this year, and I'm moving it up to start in a week or two.  

Candy hasn't been an issue for me this year since I bagged it all up and sealed the bags with a heat sealer. The kids haven't even asked for any! We got some teal pumpkin goodies to give out as well - slime, bubbles, and some jumping emoji toys are all sealed up too.

Our family is the opposite. DH always spoke to his family more than I spoke to my Mom. I would talk to mine every week and a half or so, and we call his mom every week like clockwork. With my DD's autism, I'm sure my son will initiate calls with us more than she will when they're adults. 

My MIL is here tomorrow, so I probably won't check in again until Monday evening or Tuesday. Have a great week everyone!

Diana - hope you didn't get any damage from the winds. 

Belle - Nice your daughter was able to enjoy some of your roast with you. 

Just to be safe we all decided to move my MIL's visit to Friday so there will be plenty of time for the roads to thaw. She'll stay until Monday now.

I don't even know what our county is doing right now. I stopped paying attention because our family is just going to keep to ourselves until a vaccine or good treatment becomes available. The kids were taking tae kwon do until everything closed down. When their studio started back, they offered virtual classes for just a few weeks and then only in person classes so we stopped going. They post pictures of the classes on Facebook - huge numbers in the classes, no one is wearing a mask, and they are sparring with each other (close contact practice fighting). The owner's mom just moved in with them a month or two ago, and she now has Covid and is in the hospital. They think she may have gotten it from church, but it wouldn't be hard to believe that an asymptomatic kid gave it to the owners who could have been asymptomatic and took it home to her. 😞 Regardless, it's so sad.

I just placed my grocery order for the week including all the extra stuff for when my mother in law is here for our early Thanksgiving. I had forgotten how much extra I spend when entertaining and for holiday meals! 🤑 

She's driving to Dallas from west Texas on Thursday, and they are supposed to get 3-5 inches of snow and ice tonight and then it's supposed to snow a bit more on Wednesday. It's supposed to get up to 38 on Wednesday though and stay just above freezing Wednesday night. We're hoping it's enough of a thaw that roads will be clear, but we may shift her visit back a day. Our schedules are all pretty flexible - it's not like we're trying to catch a cruise ship. 😜

I'm staying on track so far this week - hopefully Thursday will be a really low number for all of us.

3 hours ago, melmar02 said:

Ombud - It's nice your husband can get the kids training while staying apart.

Ombud - I meant your son - sorry about that!

Izena - 4 miles is awesome! Sorry you weren't expecting it to be so far. Do you think your dog is skittish because of the snake bite?

Busy weekend here - today's my Sunday after that double wedding weekend! Still have to get the house ready for my MIL though. Gave DS a haircut this morning, laundry is going. Floors need to be mopped, but it will have to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday. It's raining, and I don't want dog prints all over it.

Yesterday was our free day so we had a big breakfast and lunch. We didn't want dinner after that, and today's our fast until dinner day. It's our first over 24 hour fast. Some people alternate fast (eat one day, not at all the next), but I don't think that would be a good lifestyle for me. I'll stick to a 4-8 hour eating window for now - so far it seem to still be working for me. 

Diana - I'm glad the weather is finally cooler for you.

Ombud - It's nice your husband can get the kids training while staying apart.

Belle - I think our next October cruise will go. Anything can happen, but I'm ready to buy drink packages with the Black Friday sale. That's always an easy refund if we need to move the cruise again. I'm excited to start planning Alaska 2022 as well.

Ombud - it will come off soon! I want more potatoes when it gets cold out - mashed, au gratin, soup... they all sound better when the temperatures drop to me. 

Belle - Glad you were able to get your shot. Sounds like you had a nice lunch with your daughter.

We finally got our refinance appraisal back and paid the deposit for the pool this morning. They're working on getting the construction plans together for permits and our HOA to approve. Permits are taking about 5 weeks right now, so they won't start digging until December. It will be mid-March at least before they are done with the whole project. Something to look forward to with no cruises booked until the end of next year. I'll be skinny and tan by my October '21 cruise!

Hi all,

Thanks Belle for starting the week.

Jan, nice loss. 

Izena, sorry about the park ranger. The stress may have your body holding onto weight. 

Diana - staying close to goal is awesome. Hopefully I'll be there with you sometime next year.

I'm down 1.5 # this week. I feel like it makes up for my .3 last week. DS has to make bread for his science lab this week. Then I wanted to make rosemary bread late next week for when my MIL is here. She's coming a week from today. I may have to shorten my eating window to make up for all the carbs between now and then. We're not going worry about fasting while she is here - it's our Hallo-Christmas-Giving so there will be lots of food! I don't do it often, but I love to host so I have all the meals planned. It will be interesting to see how 4 days of going back to a three meal a day eating schedule of not the healthiest foods affects the scale that first week of Nov. 

18 hours ago, Belle said:

Mel..glad you voted too.  Are you busy making the wedding cakes?

Yes, I've been in the kitchen a lot so far this week with a lot to go still. One wedding is Friday and the other is Sunday. I have a break until Nov. 12 after that because we were supposed to be on a cruise then. Next year! 

American Heritage Girls started back up this month for my daughter too, and I'm leading her unit again this year. It's weird because about half of our group is virtual, including me and DD, and the other half of the group is attending in person. I can't tell if the girls at the church can hear me over Zoom because it's so loud in their room. It feels like I'm just yelling at the girls who are all online. 😆