@MusicCandy @SadMe70 A place to communicate

So sorry that you have to start the year off sick. No 2 lb loss for me. I did keep my no carbs for the 2 weeks, but I didn't lose weight, just felt less bloated. Now, I'm just trying to watch the carbs and be more mindful. I made a point to eat a veggie wrap first and water. It is my birthday so, I am giving myself a break until Monday. Tomorrow we are going to the Armenian Festival to celebrate my b-day and my daughter's - also Sept. There will be a lot of food and wine, and what I like too, kabobs and grape leaves and cheese turnovers, and of course baklava.

I'll have a slice for you too- and I really hope you feel better soon. All eyes on FL and we pray they will heed the warnings. I have sisters in the middle of the state and they are sheltering some relatives from Miami. I'll be back here sometime next week, so get some rest and drink fluids and you know all that already!

Have a wonderful birthday my friend!! The Armenian Festival sounds great. I would like that food a lot. Enjoy your birthday weekend!

Thank you for the good wishes. We had a nice time, although we were on the tail end of it and they RAN OUT of pastries! Oh well, better get there early next time. We had some good food though and some wine and later cupcakes at my daughter's apt. It was a nice day and fun, despite my Mother's "know-it-all" comments. I mentally let them float away.

I am going to try to stay on the low carb plan for now, but still not giving up the wine so I know I won't lose any weight.. just trying not to lose my mind working all these shifts. Looks like I'm off the preschool teacher list - but it is odd and I think rude to not have contacted me at all. I thought about just showing up first day with my music box of materials and saying "I know you are busy, I hope you have the class scedule ready for me !" Not even worth it. I hope you feel better. We are on alert in the Fan for-"no permit people coming in from TN to protest the statues" on Saturday. Craziness. We should send them all to TX to do something productive to help.

I'm glad you had a good time and good food, and glad you had a cupcake backup after the pastries ran out!! Sorry that your mother felt the need to make those comments. Everything you say about her is so much like my mother-in-law.

I am feeling mostly better, which unfortunately led me to have 2 glasses of wine Sunday night, which led me to eat too much chocolate, and one of my 2 lost pounds is back with me already. Last night I virtously drank chamomile tea and no wine. I wish I could do that more nights. I just love the wine so much!

I bet giving up the carbs will have some effect on your weight eventually. And meanwhile, you are feeling better, so it's worth it! Stick with it! Are you still skipping wine on certain days? I understand entirely the benefits of wine on morale, so I totally understand not giving it up entirely.

I can't fathom the director not even contacting you. She does not sound like she has good management skills at all. That is unprofessional, and definitely rude! I'm very sorry it has gone that way. I know how much you liked the music class!

I hate that statues are being torn down or defaced. I lived in or near Baltimore for a long time, and it made me angry that the city went in and took theirs down themselves in the middle of the night. I hope Richmond will continue to protect theirs. I do wish people who had so much time on their hands would use it for good works like you say. Go help clean up TX or FL where people desperately need help!

I hope your day is good, and I'm so glad you had a nice birthday outing!

Hi ..I am glad you are feeling better. As for the wine and the chocolate after being sick - it is understandable. I think its funny that the 2 of us are dealing with pretty much the same exact issues. Like you- I enjoy the wine and after hard days and nights, there is not a substitute for the pleasure and relaxation. Oh well. I am not trying to skip wine days/night now. I am cutting back a lot on carbs though and choosing protein when I have it available. That's about it for now. But my scedule will be a little more regular now and that should help.

I don't know what to thik about the Preschool Director either. You know I talked about how we really weren't jiving last year and I assume she just didn't know or want to find a good reason for me not coming back. I was not lookimg forward to dealing with her another year but, like you said, I will miss the children. If my life eases up enough, I may do some volunteer classes in the area of town that kids don't get quality enrichments.

As for Saturday and the "illegal" protest, we will have to wait and see. There are alerts around the neighborhood andI'm sure VCU too. My daughter will be out of town for her birthday week-end - she lives a few blocks from here. I'll be working at 3. I don't know what time this is supposed to happen, but I may plan to come in early in case there are roadblocks. We are in total agreement that this is a waste of resources and they could certainly use their time to help down south. I also wish the media - and everyone else- would ignore them. They only want publicity and if no one paid attention to them they would go away. The statues are history, not hate.

That's our soapbox anyway! Have a fun Friday with your kiddos .I'll catch back up with you soon.

On Friday I started feeling bad again - snuffy, sore throat, tired. I took Claritin-D and today I am feeling ok, so maybe it's allergies this time. Fingers crossed that it will stay under control! I was really discouraged yesterday and spent almost the whole day in bed. I needed the rest, but now I won't get all my stuff done this weekend. Grrrr.

I did get an email from VCU about the protest. I looked at a news update yesterday evening and it looks like they marched right near the campus but it doesn't seem to have gotten very violent. I hope Richmond government doesn't cave and take all those statues down like Baltimore did. It makes me sad.

Your volunteering idea sounds really great. One component of a new program we are doing with our K kids who know less than five letters is to read them a poem at the end of each lesson. It is partly because they are probably not getting read to at home, and it exposes them to some form of literature in a fun way. Kids like that would really benefit from the kind of music program you have been doing too!

Have a good rest of your weekend!

It must have been allergies this time because the Claritin is working. I only felt bad on Saturday.

I am trying to resist drinking wine every night. I had some Sunday but none last night or tonight. I think I will try to mainly drink weekends when I can more afford to sleep poorly, and maybe one night a week. Otherwise I'm not doing anything different with my diet. My shoulder and back are sore, so exercise-wise I'm just plodding along with whatever my decrepit body will allow me to do! I miss the online cardio workouts I was doing over the summer. I keep meaning to do one each weekend but never seem to. I have discovered a few dance fitness videos that are 3-4 minutes long and easy enough for me to sort of follow (most that I've seen before are way too complicated). I do 1 or 2 of those on mornings when I can't exercise. It gets me looser and feeling positive.

Good for you resisting the carbs and processed snacks! That is definitely a good thing to do. Stick with it! What kinds of protein do you like to take to work? For breakfasts/lunch/snack, I do a lot of peanut butter, yogurt, and whole unsalted almonds. A 12 hour overnight shift sounds really hard. Kudos to you!! I hope things are going ok there.

It is good that the claritin is working. My daughter has the same issues every season change.Hope that will get better overall.

I am also trying to cut back at least a little on wine nights. I know that my work shifts are so erratic that when I get home I really only need to go to sleep, not drink wine to wind down ( that is what i do - wine , putter around the yard or house, have a bedtime snack and read) This evening when I needed to get an afternoon/before work nap I took a melatonin and went right to sleep. I am going to try to do that more often and save the wine for late nights when I am not working during the week. It only affects my sleep when I have more than a glass and a half. That is usually once a week and it involves candles and you know what else. My fiance does not drink at all. I wish you well on your cutting back.

I am doing better on the carbs. There are donuts at work tonight but I sm not having one. I prepacked a salad bowl for the 3 nights I am working this week-end. The other protein I brought is sliced deli meat and cheese. I can be crazy with the cheese. I also like yogurt, but I forget anout it. I read that cottage cheese is a great protein, and I need to remember to get it snd eat it, not let it mold and sit in the frig! I like the dance videos online too. I miss dancing a lot - iI used to couples dance and teach balltroom and disco, then zumba and I don't get the chance to do either now-- too busy. My fiance is willing to learn, but again- time. He was a martial arts enthusiast and I'd like to try some of that too--one day. You have the week-end off- so enjoy. It is supposed to be nice weather.

I am feeling pretty good this week allergy-wise. I didn't drink during the week last week but made up for it over the weekend. I slept really badly Sunday night. Last night I had chamomile tea instead of wine and slept better! I am going to try and stick with little or no wine during the week. On Sunday I went hiking at a state park about 40 minutes east of me. About 4 years ago I used to go there fairly often with my dog, but have not been back since she died about 2 years ago. I really enjoyed it. The weather was nice, it's mostly in the woods, and part of the hike is steep so I get some good cardio. That got me energized and I spent the rest of the day cooking 3 meals. I have enough food for all week plus I froze half of a cabbage dish I made in the crockpot.

How is your wine and carb control coming along? Sounds like you are resisting the carbs well and bringing good food with you. Keep it up! I think greek yogurt and cottage cheese are both good protein sources. I make yogurt regularly and when I have time I drain it through a very fine sieve I have for that purpose, so it should be high in protein.

I always thought a dance class would be fun, ballroom or salsa maybe, but never had the opportunity. I would not be good at it but I think it would be fun! I did do zumba a few times and loved it, but my joints just can't take even the low impact version. I took ju-jitsu in high school. It was ok. I think I mostly enjoyed the socializing aspect back then!

Have a great week!! Keep up the good work with your meals and wine!

Good for you with the meal prep - I know that helps you stay on track. I am keeping up with the low carbs. Not perfect, but I have resisted the cakes,bread,cookies( well most of them anyway) and having protein instead. I only had one day no wine last week. I still want to do the no wine on work week-ends, but last week work was terrible. I did find that getting a higher quality wine ( also more expensive) was better for quantity, I didn't drink as much. It is just plain hard to give up something we really enjoy.

I know what you mean about the nature hikes. Fiance & I did that today too, it was a nice early Fall weather day.The Japanese have a practice called " forest bathing" - walking and using all the senses to just absorb the beauty and relaxation. It helps me so much when I'm cooped up or sleeping a lot of daylight hours.

Do you make yogurt from the goat milk? I never tried to make yogurt but It sounds wonderful. I packed salads for work - a salad ..weird in the middle of the night, but it is just what my body needs so I just do it! Hope your week-end includes some time outdoors- it is supposed to be beautiful. We will Chat again soon.