Tuesday March 21

I couldn't agree more about fats not really being the enemy. And when I begin dieting down and feel fully unsatisfied, I often look to fat numbers first. BUT unfortunately I think 50% calories from fat is a bit too high :( I could maybe do 40% but I prefer 30%. However, calorie is king to me right now, followed by protein intake. I'll worry about the rest later.

Thanks!

150s !!!! Trumpets AND horns !! You've got this !!!!

Yay! I am rooting for you. My goal that seems so impossible is to be in the 150s. It really encourages and inspires me to see you work so hard for it. It takes a lot of work!

BB Brenda, congratulations! You have earned everything you're enjoying.

I have no idea if this will apply to you, but when I'm in a losing weight mode (pre- or post-vacations), it truly helps me to meditate on the truth that I'm practicing my new lifestyle and am not "on a diet."

BTW, your food / cooking choices sound stupendous! Mmmmm!

Remind me, are you permanently if Florida? In the process of moving there?

I don't envy you on floor replacement, but we are headed down that path. We have pets and so something must be done. I think our carpet might be from the 80's. Looks fine, but no to smell (bad little Yorkie). It has become one of those growing projects of "if you give a mouse a cookie." I don't necessarily want to put down more carpet because a) said Yorkie, and b) matching the remaining carpet in the house is impossible. So we're thinking wood floors. But we want to make sure we get all the areas we eventually want in wood at one time so we can have them matching. Also we have talked about replacing the old tile with marble, and it has been recommended that we do it together so the height of the flooring goes together. Not looking forward to the mess. Or the expense. So of course I just let things stay as they are for now.

Yes to painting over wallpaper. It had already been painted over when we moved into our house (tbh, I didn't even realize it was wallpaper until someone told us) and we recently painted over that color.

Where in FL? We have family in FL and visit frequently

I would recommend luxury vinyl flooring. Has the look of wood or tile but is waterproof. We have 2 Yorkie poos who did a number on our carpet as well. I did a lot of research before replacing the flooring and finally decided on the luxury vinyl flooring. Real wood flooring or laminate isn't really any better for pet accidents. The pee seeps under the wood and the smell is still there and you can get awful warping. You can even use this stuff in bathrooms!

We got ours at Home Depot and had someone install - looks like wood

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Vinyl-Flooring-Resilient -Flooring-Luxury-Vinyl-Planks/N-5yc1vZbzjz

Thanks for the info. I will have to look into that.

Problem is we just added a room and like a dodo I insisted on wood! It is upstairs but I wanted to keep with the same wood. ETA: because I overbought that wood and supposedly they won't take it back. Although it might be worth checking to see if they'd do an exchange if I'm buying more.

But you're right--I've worried about the warping, etc. I'm hoping that we'd be able to detect the accidents better than with our carpet situation. But definitely something to consider. We did have our wood floors upstairs polyurethaned but idk if that makes the difference. I know when my parents had an aging cat with kidney failure, their wood floors took a hit.

Wood floors with poly on them should be good. The solid luxury vinyls clip together and form a seal. But overall it is still a new product line. It is what I have in the airstream but I'm not 100% sold on it. I chose it because it sounded great.

Oh oh (to pee on wood floors). I try to clean it up asap. I think they are sealed enough to withstand it. I worry more about the grout around the kitchen tile when it ends up there.

We are living in Florida part-time (snowbirds from Massachusetts). We just bought a place in Port Charlotte in early February in preparation for my retirement some time between 7/1 and 1/1 (much angst over deciding). My husband is already retired and has been here since we came for the closing. I was here for the first 2 weeks, went home to work for 4 weeks and now am back south until we leave to drive home on 3/31. They started laying the tile today - I think it will look great. Our home in Massachusetts has all wood floors, most of which were in it when we bought it, but we added it in the few rooms which had carpet. Good thing as our elderly dogs (15 and 13) can't seem to make it through a day without peeing somewhere.