***Stupendous Saturday Roll Call***

My sister lives in Montpelier and VT is my favorite place in the world - even though it rained for much of last week.  Lake Champlain is beautiful!!!  I've been to Mozart in the park during the summer.  This time we went to the ECHO museum in Burlington which I've never been to before - all about the history of Lake Champlain.  It was a freezing cold, windy day with whitecaps on the lake!  --Carol

David's house is north of Burlington - actually it's the 8th house from Canada! They live full time in St. Johnsbury, as well as #2 son Matt, who is a teacher now deplyed to Afghanistan with the VT National Guard.

I love the food coop in Montpelier, as well as the cool bookstore downtown!

WOW!!!  What a great family.

We shop at the co-op everyday :-) ANd as for the bookstores - NONE of them had 'WLS for dummies' - I had to order it online!  Reading it now.

Good morning, friends.

I've been a bit silent on the boards this week due to a bunch of stuff going on in my life.  But I've been getting wonderful support and have been making it through the tough times.  The "ride" isn't quite over yet, but it's getting a lot better than it was early in the week.  One day at a time... one hour at a time. 

I am not going to today's Barix meeting.  I just need to be around the house and dealing with things here, and am too physically and emotionally tired to deal with being elsewhere, no matter how healing and supportive.  

Becky and her boyfriend and a few of their other friends are goign to Disney this summer as their senior post-graduation trip.  They really want me to go with them and I am so tempted... just can't justify the expense.  But the thought right now of being away is just so tantalizing.  Sigh.

The kitchen renovation is coming along.  The floor is in, the countertops were installed yesterday (yay!) but they started to install the sink and it was cracked.  Of course, it's a special order, so we have more plywood and holes for 2 weeks until the replacement comes in.  But at least there's countertops!  And a working dishwasher!  hooray!  Just trying to damp down some more of that chaos now.

And, I have now finally joined the century club.  100.2 pounds down.  I waited until the scale read that way for 3 days running to really believe it.  Amazing what stress can do to a person, eh?  At least I haven't been running to the food for self-medication this week.

This morning, Becky and I went to the new gym to swim for our workout.  She's not been lap swimming in 2 years, I have NEVER done it (and am not a great swimmer to start with).  We did half an hour (me, I took breaks after every lap - don't laugh).  I can run (now), I can lift weights.  Swimming nearly killed me.  What a workout!  Becky said "Gee, when I was 7 I didn't feel the workout - just got in the pool and swam."  (I just looked at her... she's only 18 and is not in bad shape at all... said "try 47, then talk to me").

Anyway, I hope to be more back on track with online support this week. 

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.  BETH - enjoy Disney!!!  Dee is gonna be so excited!  (We surprised the girls that way back when they were 6 and 9 and it was so funny and great!)

Karen

Karen- Thanks, I am sure we will!!! I will be posting pics on FB as I can....

I will so be thinking of you all....NOT!!! Just kidding...

Gotta go, it is almost time for bed , yes at 7pm I am getting ready for bed.... have to get up at 1am.


Have a wonderful holiday everyone!!!

Beth

Karen, we missed you today but it sounds like you made a wise decision.

As for the swimming - years ago I did some lap swimming and I remember thinking, "This is INSTANTLY aerobic!" I love the pool but am not a really "efficient" swimmer...but who knows, maybe I'll try some laps this spring. Have you tried RUNNING laps in the pool?

haha - nope, haven't tried running laps but i plan to (they have a lane for water walkers, complete with the weight belts and all).  But I also want to learn to be a more "efficient" (i like your term for it - contrasts nicely with 'flailing around' which is what I felt like I was doing) swimmer.    And yes, INSTANTLY aerobic pretty much describes it.  One lap and my heart rate was WAY up there!

All i know is that I'm not sure I'll be able to move tomorrow - good thing the gym is closed!  (but I'll go out for an outside run at some point if I can move anything...)

I feel like I made a good decision today - we had a good, quiet day, got a lot done on the kitchen (the lighting is up!!!), got a lot of talking done, and it was very peace-ful.  Exactly what we both needed.

Karen

I laughed when I read about the swimming.  I used to swim laps regularly and thought I'd try it again - had to start with 5 - working my way up to 15 !!!  I never thought I'd find swimming so exhausting.  I did, however, get the aquajogger which is a belt so you can jog in the pool.  Haven't used it yet so stay tuned!

afternoon all... this morning we went to synagogue, where Siehara did part of the service for the first time.  She did a wonderful job, of course!!

We just got home and were planning to spend this beautiful afternoon at the LV Zoo, but I got a phone call from David telling me that this morning when she was at their house, he caught her not only ON the computer, but ON ZWINKY.. the website that got her in trouble in the first place with the guy and the sexting.  SO, there went that plan for today.  They are open tomorrow, so I think I will have her do some chores around the house today and if she does it without complaining, we can go tomorrow.  I also had her write down why it was wrong for her to be on the computer. 

SIGH... sometimes being a mom really sucks.  I was looking forward to going to the zoo.

Guess, I'll go sit out on the patio and finally start reading "Anatomy of a Food Addiction"  At least I'll get some sun and fresh air. 

Hope everyone enjoys this beautiful weather!

Good afternoon everyone.  Taking a little breather in my hectic day.  Picked up the kids at their aunt's house this morning, picked up a ham we won at the butcher shop, took the ham to my in-laws, took Hannah to the Farmers Market, came home and then took both girls to the an Egg Hunt.  The bunny at this egghunt was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life.  Almost every kid was terrified of this thing. 

Tonight I am making dinner for Erin, my grandmother and I.  The menu consists of filet mignon on the grill and scallops just in case the filet doesn't work.  I haven't had much luck with steak but a few weeks ago I had some very tender London Broil from the same place and it went just fine.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Also doing asparagus and likely a potatoe for my grandmother. 

Only other plan I have is to try to make a Hot Bacon Dressing that won't kill me.  We will see how that works.  I wouldn't even bother normally, but I found a bag of dandelion at the farmer's market and I could not resist.  I have memories of my Pappy picking dandelion from the neighbor's field to make dandelion salad for Easter dinner.  Stay tuned to see how the dressing works out. 

Have a great day, weekend, Easter....whatever it is you're doing this weekend, make it great!