Good Morning!
I'm optimistic today will be a good day! Thank you so much for all of your kind words!
Hope everyone has a great day today!
This has nothing to do with you. Pardon me for being blunt but your mom is the one with an issue. Dont let her put you down. Im sure if you were jealous of your sister the last thing you would do would be her laundry.

Hang in there. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for you. You are amazing and dont let anyone tell you anything different.
Thanks for the well wishes...dh's nana is starting to do a bit better. If anyone remembers I had mentioned I have a friend my age (31) with a brain tumor. She just finished her 6 wks or chemo/radiation to shrink the tumor and hopefully stop her seizures she was having due to this. Unfortunately wed. She had a siezure at home, she was shaking but concious. Her mom called 911. In our local hospital she had a grand mal siezure and had to be transferred to philly. She is doing ok now just confused and sad. She was so positive about her treatments and really believed that it would help to get rid of the tumor and her siezures for good. I could cry in disbelief of what my dear friend is having to go through. It just saddens me. She does not deserve this one bit. Please send prayers her way.
Thank you for the wonderful compliments! I've long since figured out that she's the one with the issue, but I can't tell you how great it was to hear it from someone else!

on your friend. I will definitely keep her in my prayers.
I had another 45 minute walk and one slip up with eating. Someone at work made brownies to throw a surprise birthday celebration for me. I ate small one partially because they looked really good and partially becauase I felt bad not having one.
How do you all do it on celebreations?
Happy Birthday! I understand what you mean about feeling guilty when they were made for you. That is partially why I try not to eat too many of my weekly points. On some weeks, I like to spread them out so about 5 a day, but I'm good about only needing 18-20 points for what I really should be eating, so that leaves me at least 7 for something special, should it come up. I know, clear as mud.
Now, on known occasions, like Christmas Eve dinner (a huge to-do in my family) I try to eat a smaller breakfast and lunch that day. What saves me is that not eating salad is unacceptable and our appetizer is shrimp cocktail. Filling, not too point-heavy, and makes me less hungry for the main course. I can't remember when I mentioned the main course last, but it is fried, stuffed squid. The stuffing contains bread crumb, eggs (like a million), and parmesean cheese. Because we make it now that it making them is too much work for my grandmother, I have figured out the points and I can have enough to satisfy my grandmother without destroying my points budget for the day. Then, I'll use my weeklies for dessert. Because there are so many options, I usually chose the one that is the most uncommon, but still good. Like, my aunt and cousins often make chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, and peanut butter cookies. I can make those myself. I don't need Christmas Eve dinner to have them. But, my other aunt's friend often comes and brings a cake from an amazing bakery. A tiny slice is more than enough for anyone so I don't look any different and my healthier lifestyle that day didn't go down the drain. Again, clear as mud. I hope I helped at least a little.
CC you can come do laundry here anytime. Heck you can do any or all of the housework and I'd appreciate it. I think your Mom over reacts.
Thank you for saying that as well! I love when I'm not the only one who gets the reality of the situation.
I am so sorry to hear about your friend. We were in her shoes a year ago. My 12 year old son had a grand mal seizure that sent him to the emergency room. After several days and several tests he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was having frequent petite mal seizures, probably for years that we never picked up on. He would stare blankly into space, but what kid doesn't? We were given 2 choices, operate and hope for the best, but plan for the worst (could have been back to infancy in his language skills meaning he wouldn't be able to communicate at all) or we could do nothing and watch him lose his ability to communicate as the tumor grew. We opted to have the tumor removed as quickly as possible. It was unquestionable the toughest time in our lives. We were all scared, had no idea what the future held and not knowing when or if the next seizure would come. They put him on anti seizure meds and they worked well for him. Surgery came and the quick biopsy that was done during surgery proved that the tumor would regrow if they didn't get every last cell of it. The surgeon said that she had to scrape his brain and that his detriments would be significant. We had no idea if he would be able to communicate of if he'd even recognize us. We could have had a 12 year old infant. God was looking out for him. When he awoke from surgery he looked at me and said "Mommy I need a hug". I knew then that everything was going to be okay

Amazingly he has no deficites at all. His 6 month MRI showed no sign of regrowth. Over the course of the last year, we have heard literally hundreds of stories about people with brain tumors, people we know well that had had tumors removed and we had no idea. I hope that your friend finds a method of treatment that works for her. Can they operate? What are her options? I've heard many miraculous stories, don't give up hope.
I knew your son had a brain tumor, but I had no idea what the doctors told you and DH. That was definitely a very difficult decision to make. Seizures can be so awful and have lasting effects whether or not a tumor is involved. I can only imagine what you and DH must have been going through. I am so happy for DS, you, and DH. That first sentence post-op must have been
I'm not a WWer, but I would love if they started making and marketing their meals and snacks with "clean" ingredients. I like convenience foods. With frozen meals, for example, I generally stick with Kashi or Amy's brands but it'd be great if WW could compete in that market!
Me too! It would be so nice if I could actually pronounce all the ingredients listed. My sister can, but her bachelor's is in chemistry education and her master's is in organic chemistry.
That's just bizarre, CC. I hope it's better by morning too.
Thanks! So far, she barely knows I am awake. I took the max amount of sleeping pills I can and slept for almost 11 hours.
Alright... here's that recap that I promised myself.
Today:
Breakfast - yogurt, granola, berries, walnut
Lunch - Subway sandwich (6" wheat, ham, pepperjack, double lettuce, double tomatos, cucumbers, banana peppers, lite mayo, spicy mustard), apple slices
Snack - string cheese, orange
Dinner - spaghetti, steamed veggies
Workout - weight lifting; string cheese
A funny thing happened at lunch... at Subway, I picked up a Minute Maid Cranberry Apple juice. I know fruit juice can be high in calories (in this case 120 cals per serving, 2 servings per container), but it just really sounded good and I figured I'd drink half and save the other half for another day. Well, as I walked out of the mall and out to my car, I started reading the label a little closer. 25% juice. Ingredients: "Purified water, sweeteners (HFCS, sugar), juices..." So, I just purchased a bottle full of sugar-water. Juice-FLAVORED, sugar-water. Driving back to work I went back and forth in my head about drinking it because I paid for it or give it away or what to do with it. But, I mean really, it's not like I'm gonna walk up to a friend and say "Hey, I'm not gonna drink this juice because I don't think it's very healthy. You want it?" So, I wrote "take me" on a sticky note, stuck it to the top and left it on the table in the hall (where our department sets up snacks and stuff occassionally). So, I wasted a buck or two on the stupid "juice", but I feel good about skipping the calories and the HFCS. Lesson: read the label BEFORE you fork over the cash!!! DUH!
Tomorrow:
Breakfast - oatmeal w/diced apple
Long run - shooting for 11.5 miles; egg-white omelet w/cheese
Lunch - leftover spagetti, veggies
Snack - oikos, berries, walnuts
Dinner - ??? I need to peruse some cookbooks and go grocery shopping!
Okay. I gotta get up early to get that run in. Y'all have a great weekend!!
Great job yesterday! I usually stick to salads at Subway because of that whole low-salt thing, but sounds like you had quite the salad in your roll!
Thanks for the reminder!

I am good about checking ingredients at the grocery store, but rarely remember at a place like Subway.
Good Saturday morning everyone. A quiet weekend planned. I may just spend the weekend working on some quilts. I have them in various stages so I can rotate during the days. I also have some pillow cases to wash for my friend.
Yesterday was a great day. I got myself very organized at school. When I got in on Monday morningI only have 1 class set of papers to grade and 1 pile of papers to organize into a notebook. I do need to pick up some dividers for the notebook so that it why I didn't feel like organizing the last pile yesterday.
I think I have something to do at church tomorrow morning. I know I have to help out at the nursing home at 9 and then maybe go grocery shopping. I think I really only need some veggies so that shouldn't be too bad. I might even be able to put that off until Monday.
Enjoy your weekend!
cc...doing laundry because you're jealous?
That's a new one. I hope dd gets jealous soon! Sorry - I don't mean to make light of your situation and it stinks that you were doing a good thing and somehow it was twisted in your mom's mind as a means of manipulation. As hard as it is to not let Mom's comments get to you, just know that your intentions were good and that was your motivation - you are a good person! If you feel the urge do it again and try to let Mom's comments go.
That's what I said too!
Glad you could find some humor in this!

I definitely need that this morning.
I saw that your work week is Tues.-Sat. I have to say there are some real advantages of having Monday off. Most people don't, so when I go out on Monday, it's much more leisurely. None of the 10+ carts in the meat department or 5 people ahead of you at the deli at the grocery store. Our library is open on Monday and there are only a few people there. But, that being said, I understand what you mean about having DH and DD around able to do anything they want.
Saturday's QOTD
What character's personality do you think you are most like and why? Feel free to google the characters and use the wiki description they are really good.
Hmm. Good question! Are there any jealous characters?

Thanks for making me feel so much better everyone!
I'm a lot like Nemo's dad. I worry too much, think about things for too long, dwell on the past, etc. Then when something goes wrong, I react a bit and then solve the problem head on.
Enjoy the party today! I love what you did for your staff!
Tigger is feeling SOOOO much better this morning!!!!

Enjoy Redwalker's party! Love your costume idea!
