Hi Beautiful Peeps!

Hi and hugs for my much-missed pals! {{{{{{{{{{}}}}}}}}} Hope you have all been well and know how very, very much I have missed spending time with you. Since getting the kittens I now bow very humbly to Shawn and am SO AMAZED that she is a full-time infant mommie because being a kitty mommie has been so hard. LOL...the sleep deprivation, being covered in kitty formula, wiping bottoms, wiping faces...oy! This is NOTHING compared to dealing 24/7 with a real baby and it has me so tired. They are now six weeks old...soon to be seven and by their eight-week mark we should be able to stop hand-feeding them the formula and life should settle down. These folks are so cute but so stubborn...they will gladly lap up the gourmet-puree'd chicken I make them (how convenient is it for them that I had bypass and remember the puree recipe?!) but hate their formula. They have to have it tho, along with their liquid vits. and that has to be medicine-droppered into their very unwilling little mouths with razor sharp kitten teeth. They still don't even weigh a pound each yet! So delightfully fuzzy and kissable, let me tell ya. I have tried unsuccessfully to keep up with my food journalling and it is awful! Not knowing what is going in my mouth worries me and then I know I'm eating way too many carbs and not enough protein. Some days it is just opposite. My weight is holding right around 136-137 so not too disasterous there but i'd much rather be at 130-133. Still pms'ing too, hope that'll end soon. From scanning through the message posts I see we haven't gotten started on the Beck Diet book yet. We should be pretty much ready to go right? Or have most of you started it on your own and we could just pick a common time area of the book to begin here? Say the one or two week point? What do you think? I promise to get better about being online. Have some family stuff to do today but hope to get a lot of online time this weekend, I need your company to keep me on track! Melissa...how was the race? I had to drive to work when they were setting up for ours last Sunday. Hope you had fun. Bloomsday is May 4th for me and I have NOT been training...ack! Think I'll be able to walk at all the next day? hahaha Hugs....so glad to have time to visit with you again!!!! Molly

Hey, Buddy!!! Miss U 2!!! At least you have 2 good reasons for being MIA!!! Do we all PMS and "whatever" together now? HeHeHe You've been so good with the journaling... Get back to it The Beck timeline sounds good. Waiting for "GO"! So proud that the "racers" are making a difference.. Good Luck!

Hi Ro! Hugs and kitty kisses! I think we have been PMS'ing and nearly 'whatever'-ing for awhile now. Sure seems like it goes in waves around here. The extra magnesium and evening primrose oil aren't totally curing my pms but at least the edge is off a bit and the world's supply of chocolate seems safe for now. Rice hoarding? Methinks not! CHOCOLATE, BABY! My race really isn't a race, it is a big community event and doesn't make a difference except in my self-esteem. For too many years there was just no way my big old body could handle it and now it is nice to know I'm capable of doing it! How does Monday sound for starting the book? Do you want to start at the beginning or futher along the timeline? Molly

Hi, Molly! AARP's March/April magazine notes that Dark Chocolate helps with the absorption of other foods. It mentioned some other foods, but chocolate. Do you think that SF Dark Chocolate is the same as the regular? I sure hope so! So sorry to hear about your little guy swallowing glass... prayers to you guys. Here's a ((((BigHug)))) after reading about the accidental death of your beloved cat. There is an Obesity Awareness Walk at the hospital were I had my surgery. Same format as yours... personal best and accomplishment! DH & I are thinking of walking, but I get over-stimulated in crowds of moving, talking people so we'll see, if it's possible. We may just attend and sponsor another walker. They are going to have a lot of family events planned so it should be a good day! Monday is fine for me, but the others may need more time, as they may not see this post. I'd probably see how fast we can get through the beginning so that everyone covers the whole book. Ro

I love the new research about dark chocolate! And definitely why wouldn't the sf variety be just as good? You are still getting the chocolate part. I found a great hershey's product made with splenda...loved it, ate it, can't remember where I bought it and can't find it now. Have you tried the Coco Via? That is really good too and wrapped in nice, skinny little 100 cal bars. There's nothing like the safety of built-in portion control! How long is your walk? Ours is 10k and it feels like the whole city is there walking; it would drive you nutz. But they have bands and cheering people all along the way to make it fun and once you get past that first mile or so the crowd opens up a bit and feels a lot more like you can 'breathe' again. The little guy is still doing just fine, we'll feel so much better once we get through Sunday and can speak to the vet on Monday. Thank you for the hugs and prayers! Molly

Hi Molly!! Oh how I have missed you and everyone on this board. Your kittens are just ADORABLE! I love the new avatar!!! How awesome and so artistic too!!!! Just cute cute cute!!!! Sounds like you have really been keeping busy there lady.. I would say they are a lot of work but so worth it I am sure! How is your husband handling the new arrivals? Does he love kittens as much as you do? As for the weight gain.. well I hear you.. I am still holding out around 140ish.. argh. I hate that but like Shawn told me (she got on to me good lol, thank you shawn) that I am too hard on myself. When I think back.. 140 was my original goal and I have been bouncing in a 10 lb window since november.. 133-143 basically. That's a huge window but seems my body likes 138-140 the best. I am still trying to get back on my normal diet and at times I go off. But NOW i can faithfully say the house is PAINTED and almost all put together and it looks LOVELY! I am so impressed with how the colors turned out. We painted the main living area, 3/4 of dining room, hallway, bathrooms and all bedrooms the same color.. a medium deep golden color that has a hint of olive to it.. hard to describe. Then in the kitchen and one wall into the dining room we painted a color called brick oven. It is a mix between a deeper pumkin orange and some red.. its hard to describe also but very Eddie Bauer/potter barn like colors.. oh I am just in LOVE! We also finished redoing the celings and now have knock down, bright white ceilings instead of dingy popcorn! LOVE IT! Next is flooring and that will be this summer, so one more time for the house to be a wreck (God help me) and then its DONE DONE DONE.. except for cosmetic things.. we have been redoing some hardware on the bathroom cabinets etc.. will do the kitchen also. Gonna lay a patio and put up a fence this summer. Soon this house will really feel like its ours.. its very exciting the further we go with it. Makes me gitty.. however when its a mess and in a disaray and there is dust everywhere (from the ceilings being scraped) it makes me mad woman and gets me more anxious than anything.. I have spent a lot of time outside the house b/c I just couldn't take it while it was in the process of being done Now that it is back to normal I feel like I can breath again. Ironically my eating is better and I just don't feel that "itch" inside me to cram food in my mouth over it. Anyways.. look at me babble on. I am going to KC this week to see my family. Last time I saw them was a day after the cruise basically.. nothing to speak of I had "company" with me if you remember.. so really it has been since Christmas since I seen them. I have no agenda.. just me and mom hanging out. May look at new curtains for my bedroom etc. Ahhh so glorious and stress free (I hope!) and then I come back on Friday so I can work the weekend then Monday is my plastic surgery consult! I am freaked out yet excited!!! I hear the consult without insurance is 256 bucks! Ouch.. I went ahead and told Aaron this.. he still says "lets go"! Ok I say! My run was great Molly!!! I cried when I crossed the finish line!!! I did not walk ONE step.. if you can believe it.. oh how I wanted to many times though. I ran it in 30:04 seconds (5k = 3.1 miles) so that averages out to 9 minutes and 41 seconds a mile! OMG! I never did that in practice.. so this was total adrenaline pumping!!! I seriously bawled when I looked at my watch when I crossed the line (wouldn't look at it till I did cross it) and saw 9:30 when we started at 9:00. Wow..... what a ru**** goes up there with the top things in my life.. saying "I do" to my husband, getting approval letter for RNY and owning my own home. I am sure having a kid will be way up there too someday I am running another 5k on May 17th, a race for the cure (women's cancers.. breast and uterine) and my Angel is getting chemo currently for breast cancer. I am running this one for her and she knows that and is going to attend to cheer me on.. what an honor to run for her! I am excited! It is at my hospital where I work. Anyways.. gosh look all talk about me.. how nice.. lol. I am so sorry. I was so excited to see you posting I about jumped out of my chair! Once I get back from KC.. I swear this time things look to be calming down now that the house is back in order. At least till we rip it apart do the flooring again.. I wanna get more active on this board again.. it does a body and a mind good I miss everyone.. its like family here. Yes, I wanna do the beck discussion! You guys let me know what your plan is and I will be glad to participate. I bought the book on CD and have been listening to it in the car. It is nice.. I plan to listen on the way to KC. I can log on in the evenings there.. gonna take my laptop with me. Hope all is well, sounds like you are doing great and staying busy. I will talk to you soon, have a great weekend! Hugs, Melissa

Hugs, hugs, hugs! I'm so proud of you and happy you finished so wonderfully in your race. I was working that day but thinking of you and hoping you had great weather and a good time. A nine minute mile is spectacular!!! Woohoo!!!! It is awesome that you are doing another one on the 17th and very meaningful to be doing it for your angel with her cheering you on. Who would have thought a few years ago that you'd be doing such amazing stuff???? Your painting sounds great and I wish that the excitement would rub off on me. Our walls are looking tired and are needing to be redone but the outside of the house needs it worse. They painted it before putting it on the market in 2000 but used really cheap paint and it is oxidizing already....it is going to be awful to redo. We are still getting window estimates (two more next week) and hope to have the decision made soon and be done with it by mid-May. Hope so! Wish you could come decorate for me, your choices sound beautiful. Glad you get some hang-out time with your mom this weekend. Hope you manage to make it to Whole Foods and Costco too...bring home some goodies for you and DH! Kitties...oh we are having a bit of a scare today. Shujin (the little boy) bit the tip off the medicine dropper and swallowed it quick as a wink. Our vet doesn't work on the weekend so we searched the internet immediately for help and several sites recommend feeding puppies/kittens something to 'grab' the broken glass and protect the intestines as it passes. So we got a cotton ball and moistened it with some sardine juice and have been feeding tiny pieces of it to him for a few hours now. It is supposed to help it pass safely. We'll be on poop examination detail for a few days until we feel safe and of course if there is any blood or change in his eating we'll have to scour the city for an emergency vet. At this point, he is acting fine and probably the less we mess with him the better. We lost our first Siamese in Germany after she ate a threaded sewing needle. The vet said that if the needle hadn't been threaded it would have passed safely but the thread made it slow down through the intestines and perforated her. She got peritonitis, went into a coma and died three days later. We were devastated so you can imagine we are worried now. While the kitties were napping I got outside and did a big cleanup of the front yard. Not many roses there so it goes very fast. The backyard on the other hand...that will be about a month's worth of work. It has warmed up nicely and I think I'll get on a sleeveless top and go have some vitamin D time. Have a great weekend!!!! Molly

Awww.. i hope your boy kitty is doing better now. Interesting on the "sardine juice"! Wow.. I am so sad to hear about you losing your first cat to that sewing needle, how hard that must have been for you guys How awful! Let me know if it turned up.. I am worried now. Gotta love the warmer weather.. been going warm then cold in Iowa teasing us.. its warmer in kc but still still cooler than it should be... I think tomorrow mid 70's tho.. very nice. Hugs, Mel

Congrats on your fantastic run time! So proud of you! Good Tears of Joy! Sounds like you've taken Spring Cleaning to a whole new level... Have fun in KC with Mom! Glad that you have your consult so soon! WooHoo!!! Ro

Thanks Ro, having a good time here in KC! thanks for the congrats!