All is well here. Lots of rain. We had wind earlier and expect it again later. We have not lost power
We have no water in our basement. My parents started getting water in their basement, but their bulkhead drain had somehow become clogged. A coat hanger and shop vac got it unclogged so they think it will dry out. Thier pool was over flowing so Dad went out and started back washing it. That means we've gotten 6 + inches as the water level is kept at least 6 inches below the pool deck. I should probably go out and check on the camper, but it's raining so hard and the reality is that if it does leak I can't do anything about until it stops raining.
Glad you are doing okay..... sorry about your parents' basement.
You guys definitely got it worse than we did. We never lost power or anything.
Glad to hear that everyone seems to be okay. My sons are out looking around.
The only tree problem we had the tree from the guy behind us fell and landed on our fence. He came over this morning with a chain saw and he, dh and ds's got rid of it. The tree hit the fence between two posts so when the tree got off of it the fnce went back to where it was supposed to be.
Have a happy and healthy day
Glad it was mostly a "non-event" for you too! Nice that the neighbor was prompt about taking care of the tree.
Hi all. It's a bright beautiful day here. The day after a hurricane passes always seems to be a beautiful day. Maybe you guys in the Northeast will see this tomorrow. In my area I see lots of leaves and branches all over the place but no trees down. I don't hear any chain saws either. I know there was bad flooding and damage to the East of us. I've seen some pictures of lots of damage near Richmond, Va on my Fb page too.
Lindsay, so sorry to hear about your water in the basement. Hope you guys can get it all cleaned up.
I made a full grocery run this morning and now I'm back to unpacking boxes. Ugh, very slow going. DH & DS went out shopping for new clothes for DS.
I'm going to the Y around 4:00 today. Enjoy your day and stay safe if you are still getting winds and rain!
No YMCA for me today.... ours is closed (saw that on the news). NOt sure why... probably lack of power.
Glad you made it through safely. And you are right .... it is BEAUTIFUL here today! Already have a full load on the clothes line and opened up a few windows..... sunny and breezy and high predicted to be about 80 today.... perfect!
We got the water out of our basement and now we are just drying the floor with our fans and dehumidifier. We just use the basement for storage and laundry. We also have our computer desk down there but the computer is up off of the floor so no worries with that. The floor is concrete and I had picked up the area rugs in preparation so we didnt have anything ruined.
We just have really bad winds right now, no rain. I am amazed we havent lost power yet but hopefully we wont. The trees around us look like they are going to blow over...
I am preparing Ryans stuff for the first day of 1st grade tomorrow. He is so excited. Some of the schools have been closed but I think our district will still open....I dont see why not unless there are schools without power.
I also have off tomorrow so I am looking forward to time alone.
Now I am going to make a meal plan for the week. dh and I have decided to give south beach a try. Never did this before and I am a big carb eater. I am not found of alot of veggies either. Not sure how I will do but I am going to give it my all. Any tips or suggestions?
Sorry about the water int he basement, but at least you were prepared for it.
Let me know if you have any specific questions about SB (since our resident expert, LTS, isn't available right now). You've GOT to find some veggies you like or you will really be unhappy, especially during the first few weeks!
I'll try to come back later and give some general suggestions.
Hey Pam! Thanks!
Mom is having a bad day today. Very depressed and saying she might as well give up. My sister said that it could be the meds that she is on and what she has come off of. It doesn't help my dad to hear her talk like that. She called me before 7 this morning checking in and telling me about her pain then someone called her. I called her back awhile ago once the storm calmed down and that's when she told me that she was done! Her favorite nurse is there so hopefully she can talk to her and cheer her up. She really wants to go home and is confusing my dad and making him see her side of things which is not what is right for her. She can be very manipulative.
Never lost power though my friend down the street is still without. My neighbor got it back awhile ago. Winds have picked up a little bit again. Rain is gone.
I think it's time for a shower. I could also use a nice long nap since I was up during the night. Probably just go to bed early.
TTFN
Sorry about Mom's depression. I'll be praying for her.
I was DEFINITELY thinking about you last night as the wind was HOWLING through the house. I finally got up and closed every window down TIGHT. I couldn't handle hearing it any more! I've GOT to find a tree company to come remove those close trees before this kind of storm ever happens again.
Good afternoon everyone!! I've missed you all. Hope you all had good weighins this weekend for the final weighin!
We got back from Maine a couple hours ago, and it's raining and windy, but not too bad here, luckily. Glad to hear everyone seems to be handling the storm ok. Tough floods out there. Crazy.
Had a very fun vacation in exotic Maine.
Shawn
We had a house about 2 trailer lengths from the beach so we could walk up to get drinks and food and stuff. We did a lot of beaching, boating, saw a minor league baseball game- american league,
, a wildlife park, and went to the drive in theater. The commercials between the 2 movies were just like at Sci-fi. It was so fun and the kids loved going to that. I also did a lot of eating and drinking, but also some walking and hiking. There's a 3 mile round trip up the street and up this huge hill, so my goal was to do it 4 times, and I did. We hiked a small mountain and went up the quick trail, and the kids were great, so we came down a longer trail which seemed to go up and done and around the mountain, and it took almost an hour and half to come down, and about 30 min up. So that was another good exercise day.
I'm still on vacation another week and a half, but am planning to eat better, and since it's just ds and I, I won't be drinking much. I stepped on the scale and am up 4 pounds for the week, but I'll offically take tomorrow mornings weight and call it done.
I hope to go back and catch up with everyone later. Hope all you eastcoasters are doing well.
Loved this question.
QOTD Sunday, August 28th
Here's a fun one. Pick your repsonse:
Disney World
Pink
Coffee
Walking- want to be more running though.
Captain Jack Sparrow
Beer Wine= another hard one. Hmmm, more wine today, beer yesterday. pina coladas thursday, raspberry run and coke friday, beergaritas wednesday. No wonder the scale is up.
Broccoli
Portion Control
Buzz Lightyear
American League
Thin crust
Thanks Rose for coaching this week, and thank you Lisa for last week. I'll definitely go back for the qotds at least to be inspired.
Enjoy your sunday afternoon, and stay safe everyone.
Missed you and I was thinking about you enjoying Maine! Hope you had a SUPER vacation! Enjoy the rest of your time off!
QOTD Monday, August 29th
Ok, time for a slightly more serious question. Since you have started on this healthy lifestyle has your attitude towards food changed? How so? Do you view food differently?
My food attitude has DEFINITELY changed.... but it has been a slow process. Don't forget, I've been on this journey continuously now for 3 years and 8 months! That has given me plenty of time to change my habits and views. And I'm STILL learning!
I am MUCH MORE concerned about eating for HEALTH now than about eating just to lose weight. I try hard to think about what kind of FUEL my body might be needing versus what I am just "craving". I find if I give my body the right kind of fuel, I have less cravings.
I don't spend Monday thru Friday thinking about what kind of "splurge" I can indulge in over the weekend.... or banking my points to eat crap. If I have a situation like this past weekend's BBQ and I know that the food will not the best, I bring along what I can, make the best choices available, and get RIGHT BACK to my healthy eating plan at the next meal!
I guess the BIGGEST change has been in my thinking that this "diet" has an END point. I know now it does not.... not if I want to maintain a healthy weight. That was always my biggest "failure" in past attempt at losing weight. I was always thinking about what I could eat when I was "done" dieting!! Seems stupid and obvious now, but that is 20/20 hindsight. I've found ways to ENJOY healthy eating.
Wow, the flooding is horrendous around here. Several covered bridges have been completely washed away, not to mention entire homes. Roads are closed everywhere. Many people will not be able to leave their homes for awhile as the roads are gone. It's still raining here and raining heavy North of us. All the water falling North of us feeds into the river and streams that are already over the roads. Eventually the Rivers south of us will be receiving all this water which means even more flooding. Insane. We live on a main road and I should be able to make it to work in the morning. I only need to cross on bridge and it was fine a couple of hours ago.
I did see on the news this morning that there was some significant flooding north of us. Glad you are okay. PLEASE be careful!
Hi friends! Just a quick check in tonight - I'm exhausted and ready for bed. Irene and my pregnant self have been a bad combo for sleep so I'm hoping to catch some Zzzzzs tonight. The wind is still whipping but no biggie.
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes! You're the best!
Night night all!!
So glad to hear that you are safe and sound. I was thinking of you and praying for you this weekend!
Hey everyone!!! I am home from vacation. We left Hilton Head Island on thursday at 4:00 pm, and drove straight up Route 95 to Boston. We weren't due to leave until Saturday. But after being through Hurricane Charlie when we were at WDW 7 years ago, we weren't taking any chances of having to drive through it. Or sit in traffic as the coastline of NC, NJ, DE etc. all evacuated. We had some lawn furniture to bring in, take down a gazebo, etc. Not too worried about the house - it's stood for 130 years and will probably stand for another 100 years. Never lost power, a couple of branches down - nothing big, we have had worse.
It killed me to leave HHI and loose a nights worth of points - but Disney being Disney - put the points back into my account in a holding status. I called when I got home and the very kind manager on duty banked the points for me. So I am a very happy camper.
Looking forward to getting back to my routine. Let's just say there was a fairly significant weight gain from vacation. Hope to get it off before the beginning of the next challenge.
Janis
That was nice of DIsney to do that for you! THat's why we love 'em!!
****************
Well.... as I mentioned, my YMCA is closed today... I'm guessing due to power outage.
We are just fine! No power loss, no damage (that I've seen so far). Hot tub is full of water and little tree and leaf bits (we brought the cover inside). Pool looks fine from here, but I will take a closer peek this afternoon.
We had a kind of lazy day yesterday. Lots of brainless TV. I did get a handful of scrapbook pages finished up!!
We played a few hands of Uno before dinner. The kids and I started watching Season 3 of Survivor on DVD (I got it for Christmas, but haven't taken the time to watch it yet).
Okay.... I'm not showered or dressed or anything and I need to leave here in 26 minutes! Guess I had better get moving along! Robotics team meeting at our house this afternoon, so after my appointments this morning (and a quick run to the grocery store), I need to get some vacuuming and picking up done around here.
TTYL..........................P
I say go ahead and try the developmental specialist and the speech therapist. In CT, many children receiving EI have both. I also wanted to say that I think having sessions at daycare is a great idea.
So many tunes to pick from. 
That is great that you got the points back.
So now my anticipation of a day off alone is down the tubes. I am home with my two boys. Now I have to find something to keep them busy today since we have been home most of the wkend. They are starting to go a little stir crazy. 
to Rose, Dona, CC, Connie, all our coaches, and all the participants -- I keep coming back to the BL Challenge because it's a fun and supportive place to be. You guys make it that way. We all deserve a big hand of applause! 
