Dona's Journey to a Better Me

[donac]

I have been on a weight loss journey for almost two years now. I have lost about 25 - 30 pounds since Feb 2005. This year I wanted to lose the final 50 pounds that I have to get to 150. I am about 5 poounds closer than I was in Jan. I have been playing with the same 7 pounds since Oct.

[donac]

Execise 50 minutes of walking

A little about me:

I am 51 years old.. I have been working at the same job since I was 22 (yes my 30th year this year). I teach high school math. For the last 5 years I have been teaching calculus to juniors and seniors. I love the challenge of this and really enjoy my job even after all these years.

I have been married for 28 years and we have two sons 21 and 16. The 21 yr old is away at college and the 16 year old is a junior. I am involved with some of his activities in school such as marching band parent and working with the cosutmes for his school's play

[Princess Michelle]

Hi Dona, it's nice to have you here. Best wishes to you on reaching your goal. :cheer2:

[donac]

Got up an walked for 25 minutes. Was not into to walk 40 this morning

Breakfast 1 egg rye breadw/butter milk
snack banana tea with low fat milk
lunch cottage cheese with peaches, orange
snack yogurt tea
dinner macaroni (whole wheat for me) and meatballs

[craps7or11]

Sounds like you are doing well. Keep up the good work.

[tbstein]

Hello Dona!

Nice to see you here at the journal page!

Good luck!

Keep walking, because it is a great way to go!

Wendy

[CJK]

Hello fellow Purple Team member! :thumbsup2 Welcome to the journals! I hope you find it helpful as you continue along your journey. You've worked so hard and we're all here to support one another. Best wishes!!! :sunny:

[DisDee]

Hi Dona and a belated welcome to the WISH journals. I'm also from Joisey...my son works at Monmouth University which is probably in your neck of the woods.I've found this board to be a great motivational factor in my weight loss and healthy lifestyle quest. I'm sure it will be the same for you. Much success to you! Denise

[donac]

DisDee you don't know how close I am to Monmouth. I live in MU's town. I am on the other side but we are very close. My sister in law also works there. Small world.

I started the day with a 20 minute walk

Breakfast 1 cranberry English Muffin and a banana/yogurt/blueberry smoothie with flaxseed and bran

snack yogurt clementine
lunch tomato soup celery carrots snow peas apple
dinner meatballs withrice cooked in a fat free brown gravy, brocolli, mashed potatoes salad

[donac]

I felt lousy yesterday and didn't eat all my veggies and fruit. Hopefully today will be better but my stomach is upset and my head still hurts. I did almost finish my shopping. Just a couple of stops this afternoon and I should be done. My letter to in with my cards is just getting printed out as we speak and the cards should go out tomorrow morning. The house is almost clean but I still have to do the kitchen floor. The presents are all wrapped but I have to finish decorating the tree.

Breakfast pruine juice, yogurt smoothie and cranberry english muffin

Will report the rest either later or tomorrow morning.

[donac]

Well it is New years Day. I always feel older on New Years Day than any other day. I will be weighing in on Wed morning. Tomorrow I will be doing a light day and also getting back to exercise and back to work. We shall see how I did this year. As long as it is the same or less than last year I will be happy. I know that it will not be more.

Back to a better eating plan tomorrow

[DisDee]

Happy New Year, Dona! Continued success to you with your healthy lifestyle. Don't think of yourself as older, just better!

[goldcupmom]

Wow, Donac, I wish I had know you teach calculus!! DS17 does school online and just finished his Pre-Calc using a 300 level college text. Boy did we have troubles! I'm NOT a math person and DH is an engineer, but it was TOUGH!!

Hope you have a Happy, Healthy 2007! Thanks for hosting the Exercise Challenge!

[donac]

Well it has been almost two months since I have posted. I have had a tough couple of months. I got sick in Jan with a resp thing and when I thought it was gone it has come back and doesn't want to leave. I cough a great deal during the day but at least I am sleeping at night.

I just got back to trying to eat right and exercise. This has not been easy since I fell last week iin the ice we had last week. I thought I had hurt my leg but when I woke up the next morning it wasn't my leg that hurt but my butt. I think I bruised my tailbone. Whenever I stretch or sit the wrong way it hurts. I can walk but some yoga moves are definitely out. I have been sitting on a heating pad to help ease the pain.

The next two weeks are crazy since ds's school play opens next week for two weekends. I help out with the costumes. The trick is to make sure that I eat on a regular schedule and pack healthy things to eat.

Thursday Walked 30 minutes 10 minutes on legs
Breakfast yogurt, granola, bagel w/butter and tea
Snack rest of the yogurt and granola, half a bagel and tea
Lunch salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers,hard boiled egg and fat free ranch dressing and a banana
Dinner chicken catachtorie(sp) and pasta
Snack yogurt, dried fruit cookie

Water on third 500 ml bottle
Pills medication, calcium and multivitamin

Off to write a test before I leave school and then home to finish a quilt top and make dinner

[donac]

Friday walked 30 minutes I wanted to stop after 20 but made myself walk for 30.
Breakfast1 special K meal replacement bars, banana, tea
Snackyogurt, orange
Lunchsalad with cucumbers, tomatoes, egg and ff dressing
Snack
DinnerIt's Friday in Lent what else PIZZA but I will try to only have one slice and then a salad with a light vinegrette

WaterTwo bottles down already
Pills medication, calcium multi

Today I have to finish a quilt top and then run it down to the quilt shop first thing in the morning. Tomorrow will be busy. Quilt shop and then to ds's high school for costume checks at 1. If I get there early we will be working on the girls hats. Sunday we are finishing the parasols and the rest of the costumes since the first dress rehersal is Sunday night.

School is a no brainer today. I am giving tests to my basic geometry classes and in my calculus classes most of the seniors are going on a field trip. In one class I only have 1 student. I am sending him to the library so I can get some work done probably shredding old tests. I want a clean room and all my papers graded before I leave tonight.

[DisDee]

Hi Dona, Welcome back to the WISH journals! You sound like you've had a couple of busy days! I miss all those high school and marching band functions. My DS participated in a bunch of activities, and I always volunteered too..it was a nice feeling to be there for all those great kids.

You're doing a good job of posting your food and exercise here on Wish. I use a notebook to write things down, but never seem to get around to posting online.

Have a wonderful week and keep on posting!

[donac]

It was snowy rainy night around here. We have slush everywhere but it should be gone by the time I get out of school.

I survived the weekend and costumes for Pirates. WE did the costume parade on Sat and noted all the work that needed to be done. I go home about 6 from that and was told by dh that we were going over friends house to sit in their hottub. It felt good after being up down and all around on but we didn't get home until 10:30 and we had to be up for 7:30 mass on Sunday morning.

We went to mass, had breakfast, I went grocery shopping, put everything away. Then back to the store to pick up the sandwich tray for the sweatshop moms and off to the high school to finish the costumes. The sweatshop moms have been helping the costume guy and I finish costumes for the last few years. For some this is their last year and it will be sad to see them go butI also only have one more year before my son moves on. We finished and then sorted the costumes onto racks for the dressing rooms. They served us dinner. Chicken fingers and baked cheese raviolis. I only got one small piece of chicken and I am not a big fan of store bought raviolis. My mom makes a meat one that the recipe has been in the family for years and it is the one that I love even though it takes forever to make it. I did have another small sandwich besides because I knew what was down there.

Then I went home (5 minutes away) and had to make some phone callls for the scout troop and see dh. I went back to take notes during the first dress rehersal.. They started late but the killer was that the set up for the second act had never been practiced and it took a half an hour. After the show we had to get all the costumes back into the auditorium and around 11:15 we got home. Well of course dh had to talk to me about a problem he found out about dealing with scouts. I just barely walked into the door and he started to talk and by the time he was finished 11:45 so I had to stay up and watch the last few awards of the Oscars. The alarm went off to 4:30 this morning and I did not do m normal walking. I will get it in walking the halll of ds's high school checking on costumes tonight.

I can't believe that my weekend is over. (I also can't believe all that I di either)

[donac]

Monday night was the worst. The directors were so slow that the rehersal end until 10:30 but then the choreographer wanted to work with the kids so we could get the costumes taken care of but the crew were stuck because they were using the stage and the stuff in the hall needed to be put on the stage. We finally got home at 12:15. I fell asleep on the couch and my dh woke me up at 5 (a half an hour late but I wasn't going to work out anyway.

Whatever virus I have had I can't get rid of it. It sounds like it is going into my chest. I used an inaler this afternoon and it made my heart race so don't think I am going to do that again.

Eating before I get home from school has been okay but when I get home I have not made good choices. It is stupid since I can't taste or smell anything why am I eating..

I came home from the rehersal and I am going to Vicks for children and get some rest. DH is going to pick up ds from play practice so I can get some sleep.

Off to bed

[goldcupmom]

I hope you can get some rest and will start to feel better soon! Try to take some down time for you at least this weekend!

Hope the play goes well!

[donac]

All the activity finally caught up with me. I had a cold last month and then a couple of weeks ago it came back and I just can't seem to shake it. So I went to the doctor this afternoon on my way home from school. I went to a walk in clinic that my doctor is associated with. I have a sinus and ear infection. I started the antibioticss as soon as I got home. I went to ds's school to do a little sewing and then came home. I was going to stay but the costume guy said he wanted me healthy for the show. So here I am. I think I am going to go to bed soon and get some sleep.

[donac]

Went to the final dress rehersal last night and I thought I was starting to feel better but by the end of the night I was dragging. So much so that I gave up going to the opening night gala. I am still coughin some and am very tired. Better to get some rest tonighT. Dh and I are going to see the show on Sat night and then he is going to visit his dad for his dad's birthday on Sunday. (This was his idea and I was shocked) We will see the show again next weekend with his mother and two of his sisters.

Right everything tastes like nothing. I even put garlic on my pizza tonight and I couldn't taste it. What's the sense of eating if you can't taste anything.

THis morning I stepped into the shower and my foot went out from under me and I grabbed the shower curtain and landed on the floor of the bathroom. I wasn't hurt. When I came downstairs to leave for work my dh said that somehthing must have crashed on the roof because he heard a loud noise. NO KIDDING :rotfl: :rotfl: He laughed when I told him it was me. At least I wasn't hurt. The fall last week is still bothering me.

[donac]

Food

Breakfast special K replacement bar, banana, tea
Lunch salad with ranch dressing, roll, butter, milk, apple
Snack4 pieces of chocolate
Dinner 2 pieces of pizza and a half of glass of soda

PIllsmedication except for Lipitor , calcium, multi, musinex
tonight antibiotic, musinex

WaterI think I have been through 2 bottles

[DisDee]

Hang in ther Dona, and take care of yourself!

[hockeygirl]

Hi Dona--I hope you are feeling better soon...I know the feeling. I started feeling sick about a month ago, and I am still coughing a bit, but feeling much better.

That is cool that you are a HS math teacher. I teach elementary physical education, and I LOVE it. I used to teach HS phys. ed, and i liked it but I like elementary better.

It sounds like fun that you help out with your DS school musical. I hope the show goes well. When I was working at the High School level, I always enjoyed going to the school musicals. I am always amazed at how great the shows are that they put on.

Hope you have a great weekend!!

[donac]

Monday is a new day. Time to make better choices and to make a turn around and get back on track.

I am still coughing and blowing my nose. I took my last antibiotic last night. If I am not better by Wed I will call my doctor and see about getting something else.

The play went well. I saw it on Sat night. One more weekend to go. We have a rehersal on Thursday, a performance on Friday and two on Sat and then on Sunday we start to take it apart. At least we have a couple of nights off before we start again.

I haven't gotten back to exercising but I am hope some time this week. My eating has been pretty good since I can't smell or taste anything what's the point of eating.

Food

Breakfast Special K protein bar, banana, prunes, tea
Lunchsalad with ranch dressing, roll with butter, milk
Snackgrapes crackers, cheese, cookies, hershy kisses
Dinnersteak, baked potatowith butter, corn, milk

Pills medication, calcium, multi, musinex

Water

[hockeygirl]

Sorry to hear you are not feeling better! I know the feeling, I had that stinking cough for almost a month before I felt like it was really gone. Hang in there and take care of yourself!

Glad to hear the play went well...sounds like you have a busy week coming up with that!

[donac]

I think I am starting to feel better. I can breath easier than the last couple of days and not coughing as much. Not as much is coming out of my nose as the last few days. I got a good nights sleep and plan to get another one tonight.

A couple more days and I think I will start back exercising.


Food

Breakfast Special K protein bar, banana, prunes, tea, yogurt drink
Lunch cup of pea soup
Snackyogurt, apple, 3 hershey kissses, 1 scoop of ice cream with chocolate syrup and nuts
Dinnermacaroni with light spread and cheese

Pills medication, calcium, multi, musinex

Water3 bottles

Got to bed at 9 last night and had a pretty good night sleep.
__________________

[hockeygirl]

Hey Dona--Glad to hear you are starting to feel a little bit better! hang in there and try to get some rest! Sending some pixiedust: for you to feel better!!

[goldcupmom]

Glad you're feeling better & that you didn't get hurt when you fell.

You're so good not eating when you can't taste - I tend to eat anything & everything wanting to taste. Wrong thing to do!!

You're doing great with the journalling - it's REALLY hard for me!

Have a great rest of the week! And get all the way better!!

[ZerasPride]

Hi Dona,

I'm just stopping by to see how you are doing. I posted to Julie's thread about a journal challenge and wanted to come over and get to know some of you ladies.

I'm glad to read that you're feeling better. What do you do for exercising? Your meal plans look very healthy. Good for you. I can certainly make better food choices so I'm always interested in what other ladies are eating. Thanks for sharing your journey with us!

[donac]

Food

Breakfast special K replacement bar, banana, tea
Lunch 1/2 salad with ranch dressing, roll, butter, milk,
Snack100 cal pack of chips ahoy cookies
Dinner chicken breast, brown rice and roasted cauliflower, tea

PIlls medication, calcium, multi, musinex

Water 3 bottles

I have not started back on exercising yet. Occasionally I feel a little wheezy.

[goldcupmom]

I saw your 100 cal pk chips ahoy - have you tried the 100 cal hostess cupcakes??? Just like the real thing & they're SO CUTE!!! 3 /pk for 100 cal.

[donac]

Food

Breakfast special K replacement bar, banana, tea
Lunch egg salad with 6 crackers
Snackyogurt, 4 hershey kisses, tea, 100 cal grasshoppers
Dinner hamburger, apple and yogurt salad
Snack tea 3 cookies

PIlls medication, calcium, multi

Water 3 bottles

Julie, I have to find those 100 cal hostess cakes. I have not seen them but I will try them when I do find them.

[donac]

Food

Breakfast special K replacement bar, banana, tea
Lunch piece of fish, cole slaw, cauliflower, milk, tarter sauce
Snackapple, tea
Dinner 2 slices of pizza
Snack tea apple turnover

PIlls medication, calcium, multi

Water 3 bottles

[DisDee]

Have a good week Dona, and check in soon!

[donac]

Food Saturday

Breakfast 2 boiled eggs, 1 piece of wheat toast
Lunch lc pizza
Snack
Dinner veggie lo mein, boneless spare ribs
Snack3 cookies

PIlls medication, calcium, multi

Water 3 bottles



Food SUnday

Breakfast milk, bagel
Lunch tea,veggies and dip
Snackraisins, 6 cookies
Dinner corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, irish soda bread
Snack 2 cookies

PIlls medication, calcium, multi

Water 2 bottles

Food Monday

Breakfast fiber one bar banana, tea, irish soda bread
Lunch tomato soup roll, 2 cookies
Snack
Dinner
Snack

PIlls medication, calcium, multi

Water 2 bottles

Yesterday wasn't too good because I skipped lunch and never had the time to get it. I should have made the time.

I am exhausted and hope to get a good night sleep tonight and wake up raring to go.

[donac]

Food

Breakfastfiber one bar, banana, tea
Snack3 hershey kisses 1 Kashi bar
Lunch Minestrone, 1 Kashi bar
Snack strawberries
Dinnermeatballs and pasta

PIllspills, calcium, multi, musinex

Water 2 bottles

I am still coughing and still tired. HOpefully will feel better tomorrow morning.

[donac]

Food Wednesday

Breakfast 1/2 pieces of irish soda bread, fiber one bar, banana tea
Lunch soup, 1/2 Kashi bar, 4 hershey kisses
snack orange, 1/2 Kashi bar
dinner corned beef and cabbbage and brown rice
snack cup of hot chocolate

water 4 bottles

medication pills, calcium, multi

Exercise 20 minutes walk, 10 minutes yoga

Food Thursday

Breakfast 1/2 pieces of irish soda bread, fiber one bar, banana tea
Lunch soup, 1/2 Kashi bar, 4 hershey kisses
snack orange, 1/2 Kashi bar
dinner small meatball sub, milk, 4 hershey kisses
snack piece of corned beef,

water 2 bottles

medication pills, calcium, multi

Exercise 20 minutes walk,

It has been crazy the last couple of days and tomorrow it is supposed to snow north and west of here and that is where I am going to a conference

[DisDee]

Sounds to me like you need a long, lazy weekend Dona! Maybe the conference will be cancelled due to bad weather. I live just east of Philly, so I don't expect that we'll have much accumulation, but at least I'll have a casual day tomorrow. Hang in there and take care of yourself. Denise

[tbstein]

Dona, I noticed that you drink lots of water. I do not drink as much as I should. So, I was wondering, do you drink plain water or a flavored water? have you tried Lipton's Diet Green Tea? I really need to kick up the intake, but need help!

Wendy

[donac]

Yes Wendy I do try to drink a lot of water. My body works better when I have a lot of water. I bought a bottle with a lid that has a straw in it. It also fits into a slot in my purse so I carry it with me at all time. I also don't drink very cold water. Tap water goes down so much easier. I do sometimes add a Celestrial Seasonings to the waater. They have Blueberry Green Tea and a Peach tea packet that will flavor the water with no calories

[tbstein]

Thanks. I will look for those products. I have a few other suggestions so I am sure I will make that leap into 'water drinker'. :goodvibes

Wendy

[goldcupmom]

You are doing GREAT, Dona! Glad you seem to be feeling a bit better.

Did you get the snow where you are going? I hope not! We were actually 80 yesterday - HOT!

Have a great week!

[tbstein]

Hello Dona.

Hope you had a good trip and relaxing time at your conference. Hope the weather was good for you.

Enjoy!


Wendy

[donac]

This has been a crappy month for me. The beginning of the month I had a sinus and ear infection. THis past week I just started feeling better and I had a great weekend with my husband. My ds1 was at college and ds2 was camping so we were all alone. Friday night we went out to see Wild Hogs and got some good laughs. Saturday afternoon we went to his school play and then out to dinner and then went to seee the school play at my school. Sunday I took ds2 to a concert that some of my students and his friends were in. SUnday night it hit me. I ended up in the bathroom and I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. Yesterday all I ate was 2 pieces of toast, 2 bananas and a half a cup of rice krispies. This morning I had a banana and a protein bar and some tea and I don't know how that is going to stay down. I am hoping pretty good since I have to teach classes today. Yesterday I called in sick but with only 4 days left before spring break I can't be out any more this week. I also have to be healthy for the beginning of the break. WE are going college shopping Sat, SUn, Mon,Tues and I think I have to make an appointment for Wed also. Then to top it all off ds1 called last night and was on his way to the hospital. He jumped down the last couple of step at his apartment and fell on his foot wrong and broke a bone in the foot. Now I have to find him an orthopedist who will look at him on either Friday after 2:30 or Sat morning. Not an easy thing.

[donac]

Enough feeling sorry for my self. Let's get down to work.

Breakfast prunes, banana, atkins bar and tea
Snack yogurt
Lunch
Dinner macaroni and sauce and a salad
Snack some fruit

Medicationpills, multi and calcium

No exercise yet.

Last night was a mess. I spent over an hour and I still did not get ds1 an appointment for Friday for his foot. THe only good thing that I found out was that they usuallly don't cast this kind of break dbil had this kind of break a couple of years ago. I am still waiting to hear from one place and if that doesn't work out then We will try for an appointment next week.

Tonight I ihave to quilt the quilt I have been puttin off. It will be fine.

[tbstein]

Hi Dona

Sounds like you need a big dose of pixie dust. pixiedust: pixiedust:



Hope you were able to relax and quilt!

Wendy

[donac]

I finished my quilt on Friday and brought it back to back to the shop on Friday. I also signed up for a class on April 21st. It is a mystery class, which means that I have no idea what it is going to look like. I picked a pick color scheme because I loved the print. It looked like cherry blossoms with some gold. I think the scheme it too light for Dena but I will make it anyway and maybe she will like it.

College shopping has been crazy. Rowan was great. It is fairly small and the engineering school is very small. They only admit 120 for the engineering school. The down side is that they don't allow freshman cars and it is almost 2 hours to get there. Rutgers is a little too big but we will find out about the engineering school on the 14th and it is only about an hour from the house.

Eating hasn't been too good and I am trying to make it better.

Tuesday

Breakfast prunes, fiber one bar, banana and tea

[DisDee]

Hi Dona, We know many kids who attended Rowan. It does have a excellent reputation, in fact I wanted my son to attend there instead of Monmouth. He couldn't be swayed though with his decision since Monmouth was opening a new high-tech Communications building. Now he works in that same building. Sometimes I think that he thinks they built it just for him. LOL!

I admire the passion you have for quilting. I've dabbled with that and many other crafts and sewing projects, but really don't do anything seriously. I feel like my creative side is lacking these days. The surprise class sounds like fun!

Hang in there with your food plan! Some days are just easier than others.

[goldcupmom]

Wow, Dona! What a week! Hope things calm down a bit and SOON!!

You're doing remarkably well, though! Hope your DS foot heals quickly.

Have a GREAT rest of the week!

[donac]

Had yesterday off from college shopping. It was pouring here but since Penney's had a sale we had to go and get ds2 some shorts. Ds1 was still home from his doctor's visit on Tuesday. They put the smallest cast I have ever seen on a foot. It starts below the ankle bone and goes to the toes. I don't know if he can get regular pants on but at least he can move the ankle.

Ds1 works at Penney's so he went with us clothes shopping. All the shorts ds2 picked up were 50% off, then ds1 found a discount card to use with his credit card. He knows how to read the bar code so he found one to get us another 30% off. Then you take off his employees discount and hhis $15 birthday card and it was quite a bargain. It cost me $90 to get 7 pairs of shorts, 1 bathing suit and 2 packs of socks. Not bad.

THe last two mornings I have gotten up early to exercise but I fell back to sleep and never made it. It is vacation this week.

Sunday we are going to my mom's house. She is planning ham, chicken wings, twice baked potatoes, veggies, cobbler and chocolate mousse pie. It will just be my parents two of my sisters and dh, myself and our two boys. I did buy some candy for Easter baskets but now I have to find something else to put in them. It is much harder when they are older. MAybe gift cards to the movies. They would love them.

Eating
Breakfast prunes, banana, fiber one bar and tea
Snack low fat yogurt, kiwi
lunch turkey burger, small pita, 100 calorie cakes, milk
Snack 2 thin mints
Dinner macaroni, sausage, grated cheese
Snack tea, 1 thin mint and 1 hershey kiss

Medications pills, multi, calcium

water 1 bottle

[donac]

I have a lot to do today. Haircuts, trophy shop to order SML trophies. I have a problem because the guy who set up the list of trophies did not get them right so I may not get them the names until Monday or Tuesday. I then have to call my sister and a friend to check for a date that we had set up for ds2 Eagle ceremony. Hopefully the day will work out. SOme of the guys he has been friends with throughout Scouts are getting ready to go to college. My neices also are going away one to Japan and one to Africa and I want them there. Hopefully Aug 18th will be okay. I am lucky that the course that I am planning to take finishes on the 16th.

Breakfast prunes, fiber one bar, tea

Don't know for the rest of the day.

[donac]

Breakfast
Prunes, dried, 6 prune
Kashi - Go Lean Protein & Fiber Bar, 1 serving



Lunch
Au Bon Pain Turkey Cobb Salad, 1 serving
Cake, chocolate, with chocolate frosting, 0.5 piece (1/8 of 18 oz cake)
Milk, nonfat, 1 cup
Dinner Rolls, 1 roll (pan, dinner, or small roll)
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Light Spread (Soft)

Snack tea

Dinner macaroni and meatballs and tomatoes and cucumbers

Started South's Biggest Loser Challenge today. I have gained some weight since I started school but I don't weigh what I weighed two years ago. I am really hoping for 25 pounds because that would get me out of the obese catagory. It would be nice.

[donac]

Well yesterday didn't go the way I wanted it to go. Ds2 did not make into the program he applied to this summer. They only take 100 students and if it is one from every high school in the state then he was up against a good number of students. I still felt bad for him. I am also a little jealous since my neice made it into the program she applied for and he didn't. Well at least he can get his license in July instead of putting it off. Now he has to get a job. Then we found out some other news and the evening was just crazy. The phone was off the hook all evening.

Good news. down 4 pounds from yesterday. I know it won't stay but it was nice to see.

Breakfast prunes, orange, fiber one bar tea
Lunch small pita tuna or egg salad, apple
snack orange
dinner spaghetti squash, meatballs, sauce, cheese, tomato and cucumber salad

[donac]

I can't believe all the crap that is going on. The billfrom the hospital was not paid by the insurance companies. What went wrong. Tuition for this semester is dues and as soon as that is paid the other one is due.

If dh says WE one more time I am going to scream:headache: :headache: :headache: Everytime he says We he really means ME I am tired of it. Why do I get to do all the crappy paper work.

[donac]

Let's have a pity party right now. MY dh and ds2 went away for the weekend and I am at loose ends. I never sleep well the first night that they are gone.

WE are very concerned about money for the summer and next year's tuition for ds1 since tuition is due July 5th which is a month earlier than last year. (No school teachers do not get paid during the summer) so I don't want to spend a lot of money because Monday is payday. But I am second guessing myself about a purchase I made. I returned something that i bought so I had the money but I think dh will think it is a stupid purchase. I bought a new lawn mower today. The kind that you do all the work with. I know that we have a fairly big yard but it is ridiculus to spend all that gas and money for gas to mow the lawn. I just went to a Global Warming Awarness Fair a couple of weeks ago and with Earth Day last week it has gotten me thinking about what I can do to help the world. I gave myself a really good workout using it today. It will be a lot easier if we didn't have so much onion grass this time of year. It was hard the first pass and much easier the second pass (which you always have to do in the spring even with a gas mower.

My exercise has been very light but my eating has been pretty good this week. I brought my breakfast and lunch to work everyday this week except for the day I went into the city with ds's band.

Tomorrow starts another week we need to make a u-turn and get back on the right road. Good luck everyone.

[tbstein]

Dona--I am going to join the party. You are right, it does seems as if it all is due at the same time. It is like that here. DS goes to school for the first time this fall, and we are still in the dark on some of the financial aid. DS says it is all on line, rather than sending it snail mail. So,we will have to do it all that way, and it is a bit scarey for me. We also had to pay in for IRS--again. DH is a professor, and you are right, teachers do not get paid in the summer. About a year ago, DH became what is facualty, so now he has a yearly salary, and regular hours over the summer. His classes change with each quarter, but at least we know what his income is over the summer, when before it was always a worry if it would be enough for everything.

I am sending you a hug :hug: to help.

Sounds like I need to see what is up in the kitchen!

Have a good week. Take care of yourself!

Wendy

[mabenoab]

donac: I just found your journals and want to send you some pixie dustpixiedust: Things always seem to come in pouring, don't they? I'm not quite there with the college thing and DS yet (next year) but I do know what its like when things all happen at once...it can be daunting.

I also want to say HOORAY for you for your efforts to the save the planet. Is your new lawnmower one of those push kinds with the scissor action? Those are great exercise to push! If we chose just one gas powered machine to say good bye to, imagine the impact we'd have. Good for you!

[donac]

Thanks for the kind words.

DH was not mad at me about the lawn mower. I think that he realizes that now I will help with the lawn (less work for him:rotfl: )

Mabenoab Welcome to my journal. Good luck with the college thing. ds2 will be 17 in June. At least he has an idea of what he wants to do and where he wants to go to college

Eating was okay but not great today.

[donac]

Monday April 30th (where did the month go)

Got up and exercised this morning. 25 minutes walking and 20 minutes of weights and pilates. I may even go and mow some more lawn this afternoon.

Breakfast prunes, fiber one bar, banana, tea
snack yogurt
Lunch yogurt, Kashi bar
Dinner manwich and roll and veggies.

Medications pills, multi, calcium

It felt good to get soe exercise in this morning. I may even do some mowing of the lawn this afternoon.

[tbstein]

Wonderful to see you all together Dona!

Hmm....I don't know if I can convince myself to mow. DS does it 99% of the time. I would hate to deny him the pleasure! :rotfl2:

Take care! Keep exercising.

Wendy

[donac]

I got on the scale today and found out that I have lost 5 pounds. It made me happy and a little bit sad. I have not worked as hard as could for the last couple of weeks. It makes me think if I had been working harder what the loss could have been. I am glad for the loss.

I am also happy that I seem to be back on track. I have worked out every morning this week. I have stayed within my calorie range every day this week and I seem to be making good choices. This is really encouraging me to keep it up.

[tbstein]

Wonderful Dona! You did just fine! A 5 pound loss is nothing to frown about. You are on track and the rest is right there for you.

Have a wonderfu weekend

Wendy

[donac]

What a day. Subboss came to my first period class today to tell me that I would not be teaching all of the AP calc classes. I would have the BC and two of the three AB classes. She kept blaming it on the administration. She wanted another teacher jm to teach the other course. I wasn't happy about it but We should be training someone to take my place and I think jm woould be a good choice. I was not happy to be told this in the middle of my class. She could have called me at home last night or she could have come in early to talk to me. My one big fear is that she will give it to someone that I would have a tough time working with. I spoke to jm and she said she couldn't do it and I could understand her reason. when I talked to subboss she suggested someone that embaressed me at a workshop in front of math teachers from both high schools. I still have not forgiven him. Then she suggested another teacher who thinks he is the greatest teacher in the world (only been teaching for 3 years before that he was in industry). He can't even teach a basic algebra course. His kids come to me and can't solve a simple equation. I can't imagine what he would do with an AP class.

I talked to my vp about it at the end of the day. He wanted the same person that I wanted and we shall see next week who they pick if they pick anyone. I also got two good geometry classes but I really like the lower level geometry class.

I know that this is coming from administration but I think that isall based on the subboss and what she has done this year. She took all the same course this year to teach and she is not a great teacher. The class that she picked is class that needs to give the kids a strong background. When she started at the beginning of the year she was a hard teacher but as the kids started having problems she started getting easier and the grades she gave were gifts and the kids have learned very little. Admin does not want her to teach all the same courses but they couldn't just single her out so they made a blanket statement and we are being hurt. Subboss has been a pain in the last year since she made a bad showing at an interview and didn't get the job. The crazy part is that she thinks she made a great showing at the interview but my friend was there and she made a bad showing.

I just have to do my job the best that I can. Admin knows that I am doing a good job and I have to just keep doing what I have been doing.

[tbstein]

Hi Dona.

Wow, My DH is a college professor, and sometimes he will tell me stories about other teachers and such. He will occassionally mention the politics that goes along with running the college. Many of the teachers are also in industry that teach as adjunt. DH really enjoys his job. He teaches upper level business, and is the director of one of the business programs. He is also very involved in what is considered a hybrid class.(part on campus and part on line) He has been teaching for nearly 18 years at the same college. I still remember him reading term papers to my DS when he was an infant. :goodvibes

Tires as a b-day gift is pretty good. As we know, they are pricey. And, can't wait to see your DS's prom pics. They always looks so amazing all dressed up with a pretty girl on their arm!

Hope the class situation gets worked out so it benefits the students the best!

Wendy

[tbstein]

Hello Dona. Just sending some good vibes along!


:goodvibes


Wendy

[donac]

well it is now almost the middle of October and where has the time gone.

My weight is where it was back in May about 20 pounds higher than Sept 2006. The summer or 2006 was magical. I was at my lowest weight in a long time It has been going up since then..At least it has not reached my all time high. I am still about 16 pounds away from that.


Life has been up and down since May. I had three sinus and ear infections since May and the no voice for almost 6 weeks this summer. I went on another antibiotic in Aug and luckily got my voice back in time to go back to school this past Sept. This week my throat has been giving me a little trouble and I have been coughing more than I should but we are have a change of season type of weather so I am hoping that that is the reason. I rinse my sinuses out every morning and am using a special nasal spray every day also.

Food has been okay but exercise has been very irregular. My knee is bother me. I twisted it one night trying to get the cat off my feet. When I walk it is not too bad. I can't sit with my legs under me since it hurts. I am going to try to start walking after school tomorrow afternoon and do yoga in the morning. I think the two of them could help.

I have been the Black Team Captain on BL3 here on Dis since Sept. I have an accumulated weight lossof .5 pounds, I need to get back on track to help out the team and to get me feeling better about myself.

I feel so lonely here at the school these days. I don't any close friends like to good old days. At home it is even crazier. I thought I had a good friend but for the second year in a row she has forgotten my birthday. Now I have to help her husband plan her surprise 50th. Not a lot of fun.

DS2 is getting ready for college and so this is my last year working with his marching band. It is sort of bitter sweet. It is nice to see him so excited about going off to study civil engineering but it will be lonely here without him.

I need to start posting my exercise and my food. I will be back later with my food plan for the day.

[donac]

What a day. I just came home from a meeting that I thought would be a disaster and the part that was supposed to be didn't turn out to be. But the part that was supposed to be just a report to the group I had someone attack me about the way I do a volunteer job. My dh and I have been involved with the Boy Scouts in this town for over 15 years. My dh just stopped being Scoutmaster a year ago June but stayed on as an assistant. In the time my dh was really in charge of the troop ( about 4 years as head guy) He had 9 kids make Eagle SCout. We only have a small troop of usually less than 30 Scout so 9 in 4 years is a great accomplishment. I have been in charge of the popcorn sales in the last 3 years and worked on it with my friend for the two years prior. One lady at the meeting tonight was upset that I couldn't meet her Sunday night to give her more popcorn. Then she wanted to meet on Monday morning. Well guess what I had to work!! Tonight she attacked me at the committee meeting. If the job was too much for me maybe she could help. She is the first person who has wanted more popcorn. She also had to be called because she didn't come the original date set to pick up popcorn and when I talked to her she sounded completely out of it and had no idea. She was upset because we weren't doing any blitz sales. I have spent the last two year running around giving Then she had the nerve to call our house after the meeting to ask my dh something about her son's merit badges.

Another lady at the meeting had talked to my dh about the new scoutmaster and I had been told that she was going to blast him. She kept her mouth shut. I couldn't believe it. She was a bigger chicken than I thought.

Food for the day.
Breakfast banana, cup of tea, 140 cal trail bar and 100 cal protein bar
Snack yogurt, wheat germ, flaxseed, blueberries 2 hershey kisses
Lunch small pita, 1 tbls ricotta cheese, 3/4 c roasted veggies, pear
Snack apple
Dinner corn, mashed potatoes and porcipines, tea,
After meeting hot cocoa (sugar, cocoa, and skim milk)

porcipines for those who are curious are meatballs with rice cooked in a beef gravy (an old family recipe) The same meatballs cooked in a sweet and sour sauce are also good.

No exercise for today because my knee was bothering me(Oops, I forgot to take the ibuprophen before I got into bed.) It has been feeling better this evening.

I will post our point total for the team challenge tomorrow. If you have point please let me know I have to tunr them in tomorrow.

Thanks for letting me our team's Jillian. I agree that she has a soft side but she can be pretty rough at time if you are a slacker.

Have a great night. Now I have to go and think of tomorrow question of the day.

[donac]

Good evening. Not too bad of a day. My sinuses have been driving me crazy with this change of weather we are having here in NJ. I woke up at 3 AM coughing from a tickle in the back of my throat. I made it until 12:30 without coughing and then I started in my geometry class. SOme of the kids were laughing about it but I was coughing so hard that I couldn't say anything. THen someone in my calc 1 class gave me a hard time about moving his seat. He was right in front of me and I can't stand to have anyone in front of me who doesn't do his work and he didn't. It was annoying. Oh well all in a day at the high school.

Breakfast tea, fiber one bar, banana
Snack yogurt, wheat germ, flaxseed and blueberries
Lunch pita, ricotta cheese, roasted veggies, pear
Snack tea, 100 cal snack
Dinner small bowl of clam chowder, pita, roasted veggies, 1 hershey kiss
Snack glass of warm milk

I am hoping that tomorrow morning I can start my workout.

[larry's girl]

Hi, Dona. I went back and read your journal from the beginning. Glad to see you back journaling again! I find that it helps me stay on track, although I have recently suffered a back injury and that has put everything on hold for me. Still, it is good to see such a great example in you - you keep moving forward, no matter what obstacles get in your way. Thanks for helping out newbies like me, giving us the courage to hang in there when we are ready to quit.

Have a good day!:goodvibes

Susan

[donac]

Got up this morning and walked for 10 minutes. KNee was a little sore at the start but seems to be easing up as I walk. I know last week it was sore but less on days when I did something. Maybe arthritis which does run in the family.

Busy day today. I have letters to write. SOme tests to make up for Tuesday and classes are shorter so we can have DEAR for the uppper classmen and peer mediation for freshmen. At least they gave us plenty of warning about it.

Breakfast banana, tea, fiber one bar
snack cheese stick, snow peas, 2 hershey kisses
lunch porcipines, snow pear,
snack pear
dinner homemade pizza, soda, 2 hershey kisses

Football game tonight. Dh may be going since his friend is work at the ambulance and asked him to go. He hardly ever goes (thinks high school football is more social than a game. I do agree but I go for the band)

Will get some more exercise tonight carrying the coolers to the band table. Can't wait to see the band tonight. They were so good last week that I need to bring my videocamera tonight so I can get this performance on tape.

[DisDee]

Hi Dona, It's nice to have you journaling again! I've been there- done that with the scouting issues. I know what you're going thru. I served as committee chair for the pack and troop, and also worked as an employee for Camden County Council. We made some wonderful friendships with our scouting family, but also dealt with a lot of kooks too!

One of these days I'm going to check out the BL thread. I'm not sure what that is all about.

Have a great weekend!

[donac]

I know that I didn't log in this weekend so here goes my food for Sat and Sunday

Sat
Breakfast 2 blueberry pancakes made with whole wheat flour and sugarless syrup
Lunch left over veggie pizza
snack nachos and cheese at the band competition
dinner mini turkey sub on a whole wheat roll

When I got home from the band competition dh looks at me and says you weren't supposed to be so late. He didn't eat dinner and neither did ds1 and his girlfriend. So I wasn't going to cook so I ended up going out for subs

Sunday
breakfast muffin (dh bought at the bake sale at church
lunch muffin and 2 hard boiled eggs
dinner roast beef sub on a hard roll

I made a roast for dinner but dh and ds2 went out to an Eagle Ceremony and ate there. We were going to have sandwiches anyway so I put the roast away and then we can sandwiches tonight when I dopn't get home until 6 and have to be at another meeting at 7:15

My knee was really hurting Sat night and yesterday. I just keep twisting iit the wrong way just when it is feeling better. I bought a brace Sunday and with the ibuprophen it felt really good last night. I have it on under my dress slacks today

I did a little walking in place this morning for about 15 minutes and it felt pretty good. Maybe tomorrow I might try a light yoga routine.

Hope everyone has a great day today. Mine is pretty busy school this morning and a math team competition this afternoon and then a Boy Scout meeting tonight. I think as soon as I get home from the meeting tonight I will hop in bed and try to get some sleep.

[donac]

Here is my food and exercise from yesterday.

Monday's Food and exercise

Breakfast Cliff Bar, banana, tea
Snack Lara Bar , 2 hershey kisses
Lunch egg salad, small pita, snow peas
Snack cookie, tea, 2 crackers with 2 small pieces of cheese
Dinner Roast beef sandwich on a whole wheat roll with small amount of mayo.

Exercise for Monday 15 minute walk

It was a long day. I lost my voice and my knee was oaky but I had it in a brace for the entire day. I also had SML so I didn't get home until after 5 and then I had 5 Boards of Review at 7:30. I finally got to sit down at 9:15 last night.

Today I need to go to the bank, stop at AC Moore, call the credit union and was the dishes in the sink. I would like to take a walk when I get home. I only have the knee in an ace bandage today but I am not teaching most of the day due to tests. I will put the brace on if I go for a walk this afternoon.

I still don't have much of a voice but I am not talking much in school today. I don't have anywhere to go tonight so it should be getting better. I don't feel too bad but I did hack up some nasty stuff before.

I got up this morning and walked for 20 minutes. Not too ffast but I did walk and that is a step in the right direction.

I lost a pound in the last week but I thought I would lose more. I think I need to weigh myself every day. I don't want to but I think it might help me to keep better track of where I am going.

[donac]

I haven't posted all week. I have had no voice this week so I should have posted to get my thoughts out without talking.

I am coughing and if it doesn't stop by Monday I am calling the ENT guy that my doctor told me about

KNee gave me some problem last night but it is feeling better this morning since i have been moving around. I also ddid not take anything before I went to bed last night so that could have been the problem.

I have been working on the eating challenge this week. I have been getting in my berries and fruits and veggies everday this week. I also have been doing the milk everyday and eatting beans. Whole grain is a little harder since i do eat a lot of whole grains. I will look today when I go and pick up my prescriptions.

I need to clean the house and do something aroung here. Then I need to pick up Sean from the football game and then up to see my mom and dad. Tomorrow is church, grocery shop, shore to help with fittings for the play and some work on costumes and then to one of the last band competitions. They are playing at 4:40 but the awards are not until 10:30. The band director is sending the kids back and is staying with just one or two of the captains. I offered to ride the bus there and back with the other band director. I am missing the costume measurements for the show but my committment this time of the year is the band not the play. I can help with the band members who are in the show but will be leaving on the bus when the other play members are being measured. I can't do everything.

Friday Food
Breakfast banana, tea and fiber one bar
snack grapes and piece of cheese
lunch soup with beans, apple
snack berries milk
dinner pizza

Sat food
Breakfast blueberry pancakes (mostly blueberries with pancake mix holding them together), milk

Snack
Lunch soup with beans
Dinner ??????

[donac]

SOrry I haven't posted all weekend. It has been crazy around here. Friday night was pretty quiet just ds2 and I home. We both fell asleep around 10. Sat morning we got up and went to get his phone fixed. Never put a phone in the same pocket as a pencil. He learned the hard way but he also paid for it to be fixed. Then he was off to get ready to play for the band at a football game,. I picked him up from the game and we traveled north to see my parents and my sister. It was nice just hanging out with them and no else around. We had dinner and were watching Rear Window but it was getting late so he missed the end of it.

Sunday we got up to go to church, had breakfast and then I ran to do some grocery shopping. We then went to his school where I helped take some measurements for costumes, helped to cut some costumes out and worked on a backdrop Did I tell you they are doing Beauty and the Beast? I was helping to cut out napkin costumes and detail the bar room drop. Then I got on a bus with the marching band and went to a competition and got home about 9 last night.

Today has to be the worst. I am going to an inservice day. WE have no speaker it is a day to "share" ideas. 6 hours of sharing while sitting on cafeteria benches. What a waste of a day.

[donac]

Got back from the doctor yesterday about my no voice. Nothing serious and everything in the sinuses and vocal chords looks normal. He just added another nose spray to complement the one I am already on. My body was able to fight off the infection from last week which is great. I must be doing something right.

My knee is feeling better than ever. Still a little funny if I wear the wrong shoes but not bad.

Last night was the first night in a week that I slept all the way through. I woke up this morning feeling great.

[donac]

:headache: What a day yesterday. Church, breakfast, nursing home, groceries and then popcorn take in. I yelled at the pain from bs because she had the nerve to mess up three ordersand then came at 2:50 with over 3000 worth of sales to get straightened out. I should have told her to take the popcorn and show up on Monday night but I didn't. I did yell about the mess that she was giving me.:headache: It took me over an hour to straighten out the mess and I still don't think it is right. I have to look it over again tonight. I shouldn't have lost my temper but I did. But she had a heckk of a nerve to come at 10 to 3 when she knows that it said 1 to 3. She ruined my evening last night she can't ruin my day.

I got up this morning and did 20 minutes walkingand the knee is feeling pretty good. My eating has been terrible but that will change today. I have 7 weeks un til the end of the challenge. I need to get back into the weigght loss mode. Exercise needs to be 1 on my schedule.

Off to work.

Food for the day
Breakfast cereal milk, tea, banana
Snack kashi bar
lunch chili snow peas pear
Snack apple
Dinner pork, lo mein and beef with broccolli
ice cream cake for dh's birthday

Exercise 20 minutes walking

[donac]

I went to sit down with Sean to check out his calc and I reinjured my knee. Then to top it off I have no voice today. I got my appointment resheduled for this afternoon instead of Thursday. Let's see what he has to say today.

I need a good night's sleep. I still need to organize the popcorn orders and take inventory. I also need to get popcorn from one parent . Then there is the never ending dishes.

[donac]

Popcorn is almost over. Just to finish the last take order sales. I will finish those on Thursday.

What a weekend. Last football game with senior night. I didn't cry I was very proud of myself. Sunday we went to Allentown for the last competition. That is when I cried. After their last performance. They were very good but they came in dead last. We can't understand it. They didn't deserve last. Even KP was puzzled.

Knee swelled up on Friday night and was very painful on Sat. I wore the brace on Sunday to Allentown and it is feeling better today. I couldn't work out this morning. Everyone was up at 4:30 so I had no private time. It won't happen again tomorrow so back on track tomorrow.

Eating has been not the best. I can't seem to stay away from Sean's halloweeen candy. Why can't he be like everyone else and eat it all in one day. It will be gone soon.

I have to plan thanksgiving for dmil. Will do that this week. dm's birthday is at the end of the month so we should do something for that. ANd df's birthday party is coming up. This week is the senior fashion show. Set is Tuesday night and Wed afternoon. The party is Wed night. I hope that they can raise a good amount of money.

[donac]

Senior Fashio n show tonight. I was there for a few hours last night setting up and we finish the set up at 3 this afternoon. Then we have to be back there at 6. I can't stand these things. Too loud and my ds2 is not going to be modeling but he will be a runner with the prizzes. I also always lose at these things.

ENT doc appointment wasn't too bad. He wants he on antibiotics for another 10 days to make sure that we got everything. He also wants to check my blood glucose level. If that is off then I could be prone to more infections. Strange combination. He asked me if I had gained any weight. I haven't since last Feb but before that I had lost and gained 20 pounds. I thinkk I really need to get super back on track with my diet and exercise plan if there is connection.

Thanks geety for the pickle. We have a glass one that hangs on our tree every year. My dh is german and so we have been doing that since I found out about that tradition. Beside ds2 is a pickle freek. We can not keep a jar of pickles in the house once they have been opened. He has been given a 5 gallon jar twice as birthday presents since he loves them so much. So the pickle means a lot to me.

[donac]

Good Thursday morning guys. I am sorry that I did not get back to everyone last night. Once I left school (and I ran out of the building as soon as the bell rang. I looked like one of the kids) I had a stop to make to get my blood work sheet from my doctor, a stop at a house to pick up gift baskets, a stop at my house to pick up brownies and then to the high school to finish setting up for the fashion show. Needless to say the lady who ran the gift baskets got no help from her committee so I made endless trips back and forth to the car to get them and then set up took forever because you never really know how much table space you need. We ended up adding two more tables before we could get it right.

Then I ran home and found out ds2 got into the college that he really wants to go to. He has not gotten his formal letter yet but he has been emailing the associate dean of the engineering dept and he emailed him with the good news last night. Then shower dinner and to the fashion show. It was everything I thought it would be and more. It was noisy and very few people helped with the gift baskets. (again the committee) I must have walked for over a half an hour moving gift baskets. Then after was take down and clean up. We had that all done in about 45 minutes But with all the help that I gave the gift basket lady she just left and never offered to help us with clean up.

The killer was when I got to my car my battery was dead. At least dh was there to help clean up and then drive me home. It is now in the shop.

[donac]

It is cloudy here with a bit of a chill. I have a few more days off until I go back to work. I just finished a meeting with someone I am throwing a party with and it was a very good meeting. Got a lot accomplished.

Ds2 had his last football game last night and their last time out as a band. With it being cold and wet it was not their best show but they got to play their last show on home field so that was nice.

Ds 2 and dh are out collecting food for the scouts. I hope that they get a lot because the food pantries could use it.

[postesf]

HI Dona! Just wanted to wish you well on your journey!!!

Stacie

[donac]

A friend is turning 50 tomorrow and her husband got a group of us together to plan a surprise birthday party. She loves surprises and we really fooled her. She was in shock when she walked in. IT was great. Many of her sisters were there and some college friends that she hadn't seen in several years. We worked our tails off this weekend but it turned out great.

The room for the party looked lovely. I told the husband that I would not be any part of a party that was done in black and was over the hill was the theme. One of the people on the committee wanted all black and I said that I wouldn't work on the party if that was the color scheme. I think the husband was going to back me on this since he knew I would be doing a lot of the work. This lady never showed up to help set up yesterday morning and when the rest of us came at 3 she showed up at almost 4. She also got mad at us because we put the desserts out we didn't pass around her cake as if it were a wedding cake. (We had a potluck dinner since we knew the guest of honor would like that) Besides it looked terrible and who wants lousy looking cake when there were at least 3 different cheesecakes to eat.

The room had dark green table clothes. For the centerpieces whe used left over things from the 4 parties she had for her kids for their Bar(Bat)Mitzhas (sp) Her husband snuck that stuff to me a few weeks ago. SHe had at least 60 cowboy hats left over from her son's party. We stuck silk mums throught the top in 10 of them for the tables and then put left over stuff on the brims including happy face shakers. We put two sets of silk flowers in hats upside down and spread them around the room. We also used upside down hats for the utensils and napkins and the packets of sugar. She loved the fact that we used things left over.

I haven't finished her present. Her daughter wrote a song back in June and I am taking the lyrics and cross stitching them on to a piece of navy blue cross stitch fabric. I have finished the words and am adding the stars (little cross stitches in metalic thread. The hardest part is threading the needle. I should finish it this week.

Knee and leg are still bothering me but not as much as it did yesterday. I was in a lot of pain yesterday. Not too much stress today and it seems to be doing okay. Maybe yoga tomorrow morning.

[larry's girl]

Sorry your knee is giving you so much trouble. Please do try to take care of it so it doesn't get any worse.

It sounds as if you are very creative and good at decorating, crafts and organization. I so admire people like that! I am good at none of those things, so I am always in awe of folks who are.

Hope you have a good evening!

Susan

[donac]

From Black team thread:

Well Black Team from initial reports it does not look good for us to retain the win in the weekly weigh in. We have all had a bad week and even with Thanksgiving looming ahead of us I think we can all have a great losing week next week. I don't know the total until tomorrow and then I will let you know.

I know that this has taught me that I need to keep eating my fruits and veggies and drinking my wAter. These are two major places that I have been neglecting this week. I also want to get back to exercising since my knee is less swollen than it was last week. I made it through the day with only one real twingle of pain.

This may not be the week we want but we are fortunate to all be here helping each other. Without each other where would we be. Probably 10 pounds heavier.

Let me give a different viewpoint. I just got an email from someone I know. Her mother died this past summer from breast cancer. Her father is not well so she has been dealing with both her mother and her father. Her father is in a nursing home and with her mother gone she thought that she would enjoy her son's last year of high school. She just found out that she has breast cancer and it now may be in both breasts. She is in the testing stages to find out the best cure.

When I got this email this morning it made me think. 3 pounds is nothing compared to what my friend is going through. Think about it.

What do you have to be grateful this Thanksgiving?

Even though I have had some health issues they are nothing compared to other people. Don't take your health for granted. You never know what is going to happen.

[larry's girl]

Hi, Dona. Your last post made me think, and you are right. NEVER TAKE YOUR HEALTH FOR GRANTED!! My own health problems have multiplied over the last couple of years, and this past year I finally found out what the basic problem was that was causing them. Now I have to incorporate the exercise and eating plan into my lifestyle that will help improve my health instead of laying around feeling sorry for myself and getting heavier and heavier. I do believe that the support we give each other here is vital to our success. Whether we have good days or bad days, we all know that we can come here to vent, cry, laugh, whatever and get the support and encouragement we need to keep on fighting the good fight. Here's hoping that the coming year will be a good one for all of us!

Take care!

Susan

[donac]

I could have lost nothing today because we are all very happy in my house today. Ds2 was informed yesterday that he has a scholarship to college. They will be giving him full tuition. We will be paying for fees and room and board. If he maintains a B average he could have all 4 years. It came out to be a lot of money over 4 years. He knew it was coming but he was still in shock when he saw the total amount.


Last night was ds2's Marching Band dinner. It was his last one since he is graduating. I have been involved with the band for 9 years, 7 of them as band parent president. It was a great night. I know I have great kids but it is nice to hear someone else tell you what great kids you have. Ds2 got "Hardest WOrking Band Member" award. the band director went on about what a great kid he is and how he has him for a few more months and he will miss him when he leaves. I got called up because of being band parent president. Before he called me up he spoke about me and my husband raising 2 great kids (ds1 was with him for 4 years) and how you can tell how the parents are by the work ethic the kids have. It was so nice to hear dh and I were very touched. He gave me a plaque and a bouquet of flowers. It was a great night and I didn't cry which surprised me. Then dh made in home to watch the Giants win so it was a good night.

These are from the last week. I have been very lax in posting over the last couple of months. I should have posted over Christmas. We had a great holiday. I remember walking through SHop Rite with ds2 and a song came on and I started singing to it and I looked around and he was singing too. We visited with some great friends. Had some crazy events with Boy Scouts. One of our Eagle candidates left the troop about 2 months from his board of review.

I have decided that I need to start posting more. I found an old journal from the 3 months where I weighed in the 190's. Food and exercise was listed everyday. I am hoping to bring that back here. I need a place to vent. Life has been crazy at times and this will be a good place to review what I have been doing.

Tues Jan 22
Exercise total 45 minutes
Walked 30 minutes pilates 15 minutes

Food
Breakfast hot chocolate, banana, yogurt, wheat germ, flax seed
snack 1 slice of thin bread, 1 pear, 1 tble gorganzola cheese
lunch soup, cup of cut up fruit, 1 deviled egg
snack almonds, apple
dinner grilled cheese (2 slices of light bread/laughin cow cheese) salad, sugar free jello

[donac]

Exercise
30 minutes walking 10 minutes of yoga stretches.

Food
Breakfast South Beach Meal Replacement Bar, Banana, tea w/skim milk
Snack yogurt, flaxseed, wheat germ
Lunch soup, snow peas
snack apple, cheddar cheese
dinner meatloaf, broccolli, salad

I have nothing planned for tonight. I have a department meeting after school:scared1: ::mad: Then after that I hope to get some laundry done and some sinks cleaned out. Maybe I can get som knitting done on my pink socks

[DisDee]

Hi Dona, Its good to see you on the WISH Journals again! Reading your comments about your Scout and Band activities makes me feel nostalgic. I miss those crazy, good times. My son is now 26 and married. Isn't it wonderful when other adults say nice things about your kids? You should feel very proud!

Have a great day and continue posting!

[donac]

Exercise
30 minutes walking
10 minutes pilates

Food
Breakfast South Beach meal replacement bar, banana, tea
Snack yogurt, wheat germ, flaxseed
Lunch 1 slice of low carb bread, gorgonzola spread, pear, snow peas, no sugar jello
Snack apple 10 almonds
Dinner spaghetti squash, meat sauce

Yesterday I also had about 3 cookies at our department meeting:scared1: I can't stand department meetings.

I have a play meeting tonight. I got the notice on Tuesday and it says MANDATORY on top. I also have to go on Sunday and inventory the costumes from last year so that another school can borrow them. This on top of everything else we usually do on Sunday.

[hockeygirl]

Hey Dona! Glad to see you are posting again. Looks like your working out has been going well.

Congrats to your DS for getting a scholarship! THat is so awesome!!! You must be so excited, proud, and relieved about it all being paid for!!

Oh, the days of marching band! I miss those days!! I was in the marching band for 5 years (we were allowed to march in 8th grade)...my senior year I was the drum major. Those were some of my favorite memories of HS. I know my mom misses those times to, she was very involved as well! So, I can relate to how you are feeling about the dinner!! My mom still tells me how she felt like she had nothing to do when I graduated HS, because she was so involved in everything I did. I always joked with her and told her to get a life!! :rotfl2:

Just kidding, I am sure your DS's totally appreciate all that you do for them!

Keep up the good work!!

[hockeygirl]

Hi Dona! Just checking in to see how you are doing! Hope all is well!

[lisaviolet]

Dona,

I didn't know you had a journal. I laughed when you were talking about the department meetings. Scattered pictures...memories. :lmao: Head's meetings were always the biggest blast for me. In our school it was always about, or seemed to be as I took it all in, who had the most anger in the room. Like a show. And nothing seemed to get accomplished. Which really isn't funny. Honestly, hope it's better at your school.

Anyway, just popping in to say hi.:surfweb: Thanks for all your support and congrats on all your progress. Keep it up.

Lisa

[donac]

Thanks everyone for visiting my journal. This week has been crazy with midterms starting.

Exercise
20 minutes of walking
This is the 5th day in a row that I have gotten up and worked out.

Food
Breakfast power bar, banana, tea

I will add in the rest later.

[donac]

I can't believe it has been a month since I visited here. Here is a recap of a lot of stuff I put on the biggest loser thread.
Good Saturday morning. I finally got a great night sleep last nigt but it didn't start until 2:30 this morning(UNfortunately I was eating but I didn't eat that much. I had been asked to join the production staff for a celebration dinner after the show last night. MOre on that later). I slept until 8:30. It is 10 AM and ds is still asleep but he too needs to catch up on his sleep.


Sorry that I have not been on as much lately. There has been too much drama in my life that I haven't been able to write about to do it justice. I wanted to wait until I had time to think about what I wanted to say and a lot of it has hit the fan this week when I have been averaging about 4 hours of sleep (and Thursday night it was 3).

First Scouts. My dh was Scoutmaster for a long time and last year stepped down but is still an assistant. He has to stay active in SCout until at least 2010 when he is set to work security at the National Jamboree. The guy who took over for him was going through a divorce so we thought that was why he was not getting back to kids or for his layed back attitude. Not the case. The divorce was final this past Aug and he has gotten worse,.. NOw we have to ask him to step down and as I as Troop Committee Chairperson has to do it. Dh and I have been talking about this a lot and we think we have come up with a solution that will let him step back without losing face. I need to do this in the next week and a half so wish me luck on this.

School DOn't get me wrong. I have been in the same school for 31 years. I get along with most people and I love the classes I am teaching. This week was the pits. Every year the school can nominate teachers for Teacher of the YEar. I have never been it and maybe someday I will get it but I am not holding my breathe. Many good teachers have gotten it in the past and I know how hard it is to pick just one person out of the great staff we have at our school.

About a month ago one of my collegues asked me for my resume and she did tell me that she was nominating me. I hoped that it would be my year but I gave up hope long time ago.

Wed afternoon at the faculty meetingthey announce the teacher of the year. The principal started by saying it was someone in the math dept, so the girl who nominated me got excited. But it was not me it was another teacher in the department who is a total fool. She is a student's dream. She gives the students so many chance for extra credit that they could go from a C average to an A average. ANd this for an honors class. She is coordinator and is supposed to check on people who are absent but she is always late herself. When we have a department meeting she always talking about what she did and how late she stayed doing things (If she was more organized and had a life she wouldn't be there until 9 at night.) If I had to lose to someone why did it have to be an incompetent fool. My dh said If you hadn't been nominated you would be laughing about it. HOw true.

Then the drama with the play. WE are doing Beauty and the BEast at ds's school. I have been working with the guy who is in charge of the costumes and the sets for the last 8 years. He makes the costumes and while he is working on the sets I get together a group of moms to do the detailing and finishing them. The enchanted objects have kept us very busy and I have been in charge of a lotmore since the set is so extensive. This week was final tech week. Costume parade last Sat to see what needed to be finished and to add final details like hats and stuff. The moms and I worked Sat and all daySUn. We weren't finished but the costumes were finished enough so that the show could run. I could finish them at night on Mon Tues and Wed. Some moms came in on Monday to help me and we were in really good shape. The directors have been sick on and off for the past month and they have not had as many rehearsals as they have in the past. The kids were not ready beacuse of this but the director did not see it as his fault. He was blaming the costume and set guy, the lighting guy and the cast. He even walked out before the show on Tuesday (real mature for a guy almost 40) Thursday was the final dress rehersal in front of senior citizens who paid half price for their tickets. The kids were better not all the way but a long way from Sunday night.

Last night was opening night. It was a GALA performance with pre theater munchies, stuff to eat at intermission and coffee and dessert after the show. Well as someone said The theater fairies were smiling down at the cast. They were way above where they were last SUnday. Be Our Guest got a standing ovation. It was amazing what they pulled off last night. The entire productions staff were in shock.

After the show I was asked to join the production staff at for late night dinner. We didn't get there until 12 and I left at 2 when they wanted to close the restaurant

Three more shows this weekend and 4 and a rehersal for next week so I am going to be busy. At school we have a crazy schedule since we are doing state testing this week. This week guarantees to be just as crazy.

I am pretty proud of myself since I have done this without chocolate. It has been a month since I gave it up. I still crave it but I have gotten through a lot without it.

I have also been walking a lot. I have worn my pedometer a couple of days this week and one day I put in over 16000 steps and another 14000 so I have been pretty active. My eating hasn't been too bad either. I have been packing some 100 cal packs of almonds in case I got hungry during rehersal and have been bring my water bottle and keeping it full.

[donac]

Wel 2 months later and I am still within the same weight range that I started the year with. I had hoped that I would be at least under 200 but that has not happened. I haven't been consistent with workouts untill the last two weeks.

I have 3 months until we hit Disney I don't know where I am going with my weight but I know that my fitness is going to improve. A couple of times in the last two weeks I have walked during period 8 at school. I want to keep this up. I would like to walk after school and do a yoga or pilates routine in the morning. Hopefully I can get this accomplished.

My eating the last week has been really good. I have been trying very hard to keep a balanced menu each day. I know that I can do this.

[donac]

I had Sat to myself. I went for a blood test and when I came home I found out that they had forgotten to give me back my id and insurance cards. So back out I went and then up to my school to a flea market. I got some old fashioned corningware (You know the kind with the blue flower on the front) and some Christmas napkins. Then since it was in the area I went to a quilt show. That was fun since it is spread out over 4 buildings and it is at least a 1/4 mile (maybe more) each way between the main building and the barn/farmhouse. It was great weather for a walk. I bought some Japanese inspired fabrics for a wallhanging for my sister (She works for Panasonic) Then when dh and ds came home we went out to see the latest Narnia. I thought the special effects were really cool. I enjoyed it but it is not for really little kids Too much violence.

Yesterday was a crazy day. Church then to a local nursing home to help out with a mass they do every week (Had to go to church first since I was reading) Then grocery shopping started dinner in the crockpot (ribs) and then over to ds's school to get costumes ready for an awards show they are going to perform at on Wed night. They were nominated for 11 catagories for their Beauty and the Beast.

[donac]

My last full week at school. When I looked at my calendar last week I had something going on every night this week except Friday.

The stressors in my life are all good ones for the most part but anyone who has taken those stress tests know that even if they are good they are still stressors that you need to take into account.

May 10th ds1 graduated from college Took him 5 years and a lot of crying when we told him he couldn't go back after freshman year because his grades were so bad, a lot of happiness when he got his AA from the local community college and now he is finished with some very impressive grades including the last semester which was a 4.0

Downside he moved back with all his clothes and stuff and it is still in my front hall and living room

Downside he also got a puppy which we have not been helping him take care and are falling in love with.

Ds2 graduates from high school next week. I have cried over the last band concert and the senior awards night. I even got a little teary eyed about this being the last week I will be fixing him his pb&j

I have a good friend who is retiring and her party is next week. I really don't want to see her go because it means we have someone who will listen to us over at administration but she does deserve it and I am very happy for her but at the same time I am losing a very good friend.

I have a great deal to do in the next two weeks with finals, grades due, classroom to be cleaned out and two graduations (my school at 2 and ds2 at 6) and then off to orientation for ds2.

Once that is done it will be fine but then I have to finish the rest of the arrangements for our DW trip. In 9 weeks I will be on a plane to Ft Lauderdale to spend a few days with dh in the Fl keys. Then off to Orlando to a night by ourselves in AKL (thanks dsis) then 7 days at POP including doing a segway tour with our sons and my sister and her family. It should be a fun trip. As soon as we get home it will be time to send ds2 off to school. I am going to miss him a lot we have done alot of things together these past few years and it will be strange not to have him home

[donac]

Well it is about time I got back to journaling.

Dona,
It is time to get serious about your health. You have spent the last two weeks with shingles. Without doing your yoga or walking the stress of the last month has finally gotten to you. I didn't think it was that bad but it must have been.

YOu have 9 months to get yourself in shape before you have to have your foot worked on. It is a lot easier on crutches if you are in shape. YOu need to do this since you will be off your feet for a few weeks.

It is time I got serious about working out consistently. Watch what I eat. Journal your food and exercise. Be kind to yourself this will take a while especially with the shingles. I can't believe how little good sleep I have had in the last two weeks.

You can do this. YOu have a group behind you for the next few weeks. Talk to them and use their energy to help you.

YOu are a great person

Dona

[donac]

I need to vent about Thanksgiving. I was glad that we were all together with my family for the first time in a long time. I am even okay now that the menu was changed. What I am pissed about is Terry. She never called mom about coming to Thanksgiving. When mom called her on Thursday she told mom she wasn't coming to dinner. That day. What a crummy thing to do. Mom was very upset. Then I found out she almost didn't say good by to her.

[donac]

Wed and Thanksgiving day though I felt really funny when there was too much noise around me. On Wed the radio was playing and my son and his friends were talking in the back of the car and it was giving me the worst headache. Thanksgiving as everyone was getting ready to sit at the table everyone was talking )(and with 20 people in a small space that is a lot of noise and it got ot me so much so I was shaking a little. Maybe it is coming off the medication on Tuesday and it has to get out of my system. We'll see today. I have a surprise 60th birthday party to go to.

Well I am off to go grocery shopping and try to straighten out the house.

[donac]

I had a great time at Frank's party the other night. I don't know what he is going to do for Doreen when she turns 60 in APril. I was pretty good about eating.

SUnday was not the best eating day. I made fried bread for the boys for breakfsat. The rest of the day wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. I made up a couple of lasagna's to have and to put in the freezer.

Beth came over and we finished our socks. I then spent money on more sock yarn. We started Beth's next pair and just as she was about to leave I did one more clip and I cut the wrong yarn. Did I feel stupid. I have to call her today to see if she got them restarted by herself. Maybe she did. I hope so.

I plan to walk this afternoon for 25 minutes. I have challenged myself to 25 minute a day until Christmas Day. I have a lot to do. Nothing has been bought so I think this is the weekend to get things done. Sean is coming home on Thursday and he told me that he will be starting to bring home his stuff. Then he won't be coming home until after finals.

Well off to start my day. I will try to check in later after I have worked out.

[donac]

Yesterday I was going to walk outside but by the time I got home a cold breeze was blowing so I rode my exercise bike while watching Oprah talk to Barbara Walters. It was a great show.

This morning I overslept by 10 minutes which threw me completely off so I will have to work out when I get home. Fortunately a meeting I had for this afternoon has been cancelled.