Ugh, ugh, and double ugh!!! I have been missing you all SO MUCH!! And I'm not getting notifications about new postings.

First of all - welcome Darlene!! I'm so happy to "meet" you and glad to have you aboard.

Deb - I know you are going to whip that BR into shape in no time. Hope all goes well with your company - and all of your painting gets done.

TS - How's the hair, girl? Hope you are happy with it.

Margie - Disneyland sounds fun! Hope you have a great time. Congrats on reaching your goal early!

Things have been miserably unproductive for me since before my birthday. I haven't even been on the scale lately.

We are going to my parents for Thanksgiving and my mom has lost a bunch of weight, so I'm happy for her and frustrated with myself.

Oh well, can't lose serious poundage in the next few hours, so I am determined to enjoy my holiday without obsessing over it. Moderate enjoyment, mind you. Then, I will do an official weigh-in Monday and get back on track.

I hope that CC is back on track by then, too, so I can keep in touch with you guys.

Well, gotta go finish packing. Just wanted to let you all know that I am thinking of you, and wishing you the very best of Turkey Days!! God bless!

Just checking in quick to say Happy Thanksgiving everyone--we're off to Nebraska to spend the holidays with the family--6 hr. drive but I love to catch up on reading and sleeping!!! Take care!

Stacy - I have no doubt that you will get back on track. I'm sure that seeing your mom will also give you more motivation. I agree, I wouldn't obsess over every little bite you eat on Thanksgiving day. Enjoy yourself. Monday will be here soon enough
Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving. If you're traveling, be careful and stay safe and give us a shout when you get back.....

Hey Monkeys!!

I've missed ya'll. I've been getting swo frustrated that every time I come to reply the site goes down. So I have put off replying.

I love the new hair! I have bangs now, rather than those wispy things that hung down the side of my face. The rest of it isn't as short as I had thought about going and am tempted to go shorter next hair cut. It is a little more maintance than before the cut, but that is good I think. It forces me to actually do something. Because I have a cowlick (yeah I'm sure I spelled that wrong! Don't laugh!) I have to blow dry my bangs so they don't split. Then I put it and the rest of it in those velcro curlers while I do my make up. It gives it some life and doesn't really add alot of time to my getting ready. And it looks okay if I don't put the rollers on it.

I'm on my mom's lap top so I don't have a picture on here, but if you have a myspace account you can go look at it. http://www.myspace.com/xebubbles

Momma liked her hair at first, but now she isn't sure. The color looks alot better than before. The cut is nice, not as short as I wanted her to go thougth. She'll grow to like it or get it changed at the next appointment.

For some reason I decided to do my nails, so I put acrilic nails on Wednesday night. We will see how they work when I start my new Wilton classes and am doing the fondant/gum paste class. I haven't had them since I started really getting in to cake decorating. Maybe my upcoming birthday is starting to get to me and I'm trying to make myself feel better the few ways I know how.

I know my weight is up a little bit, but I'm not sure exactly how much. I missed my weigh in monday morning and have only hit the scale in the aftternoon and evenings. So I don't have an accurate weight at the moment. I'm not surprised though that I may be up. Its time I really crack down again.

I had to laugh. I sat beside my grandma at Thanksgiving dinner and she leaned over and was like you can forget your diet today. I was like, oh don't worry I did. Didn't you see my plate of food? It was a good day though, except I had a headache most of the day and cousins that expected everyone else to watch their 2 year olds they were letting roam around grandma's house with all her breakables. So frustrating!

So how was everyone else's holiday?

We have less than a month to go to Christmas and it is so unbelievable that another year has passed so quickly. Right now I am undecided if I want to put up my Christmas Tree and decorations up. This is my first year to have a cat, and I have this fear he will try to climb up the tree when I am not home and knock it over. Then I see my dog running over and hiking his leg on the fallen tree. It could be an irrational fear, though. I've told myself if I don't do it this weekend I'll skip it this year and maybe next year the cat will be a little older and out of the mess with everything stage. He is only 9 months old right now.

Has anyone talked to Krystyne? She hasn't posted in a long time. Was wondering if she has made it home yet.

Okay everyone... Tell us what is going on in your life?

TS - So glad that you like the new hair-do. Please post a picture when you get a chance. My bangs have a tendency to split and it drives me CRAZY!! I'm constantly wetting them down and drying them straight down. I recently got my hair cut also and I'm glad that I did. I love long hair but when you get to my age, I think it looks better shorter.
So, how did everyone do this past week? I know it was a challenge with Thanksgiving and all the cooking and nibbling. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I don't have leftovers to worry about this year but I did start making my chocolate fudge yesterday. Wow, now that was a real challenge to stay away from. I did have to take a taste out of one batch though because I couldn't remember if I had put in the vanilla flavoring. It tasted pretty good so I guess I did. ) I did manage to lose another 2 pounds last week so I'm pretty happy about that. But now it's almost vacation time so we'll see how that goes..
Ok, take care Chunky Monkey's and I hope everyone has a happy and successful week.

I've been allowing myself one cheat day a month, so this month it was Thanksgiving. However, I'm going to have to allow for two next month: Christmas Eve and Christmas. DH and I have Christmas Eve dinner with his family and then Christmas Day we have dinner with mine.

I just refuse to let myself be miserable when everyone else is eating the yummies that I want.

So, that being said, I ate the yummies I wanted to on Thanksgiving, and now it's back to the regular fare. I'm up a couple of pounds, but I think it's a combo of my eating on Thanksgiving and it being that time of the month. Either way, my doctor is pleased that I have lost weight.

Yeah Jade, I know exactly what you mean. It's hard sitting amongst people who are eating cake and pie and you're trying to be good. Sometimes it's just not worth the deprivation! I didn't eat any pie when everyone else was because my cholesterol was pretty high on my last visit. I'm really trying to watch the saturated fats, etc. because I sure don't want to be put on medication. If it weren't for that, trust me, I'd have been right in there with everyone else.

Hello everyone...I am a newbie here. I love CC, and I was so excited to find this thread.

I am 53, I just found out today that I have hypothyroidism...like my mom. I have been baking cakes for about 4 months. I am very careful not to do taste test...but it is so hard not to do it.

I noticed that I had started to feel real sluggish, and I had started putting on weight rapidly. I am active, and could not understand what the deal was. My doctor says normal range is between 5 and 6...mine was 12.5. My thyroid was struggling to put out any hormones at all. They put me on synthroid and said within a couple of weeks I should tell a BIG difference.

I am 5' 3"...need to drop some weight. 160 lbs is not very attractive on my short frame.

May I please join this group? I sure could use some motivation. I have cried most of the day since finding out about the thyroid disorder.

Thanks,
Robin

Hi there Robin. Of course you can join the group. Welcome, new Chunky Monkey. I am so sorry to hear about your thyroid situation. I'm glad however that it has been diagnosed and you are on medication to correct the problem. With some determination and dedication, you will be back to your goal weight before ya know it. So glad to meet you and I look forward to getting to know you better!!
Margie

Margie and Jade...Thank you so much for the kind words of encouragement...it means a lot to me.

Robin

Hello my lovely monkey buddies.

I have heard rumor that the email notification issue is because threads have become corrupted. So one way to "correct" this is to start new threads. To that end I have started a new Chunky Monkey Thread in the lounge. You can find it at http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-611625.html.

I don't care which thread we use, but It would be great to be able to see the responses again.

Also, my weekly weigh in officially is 285, but today i peeked and saw 283 pop up on the scale. WOO HOO.

Welcome Robin!

Butternut, the blow drying is helping my bang staying together. Of course she also kinda bulked them out so I don't just have a wispy set of bangs.

My weight is up a little bit. I really can't blame it on the holiday though, just life in general. Trying to crack down again, so we will see how it goes. I went shopping for some new slacks and I'm inbetween the 12 and 14. I bought a couple of 12s but they are just a bit too tight. Gotta lose some more weight to be able to fit in them and breathe comfortably.

Here's the pic of the new hair... (adding a picture of the before too)

Wow TS--you are gorgeous! I think your new cut makes you look older (but in a good way you know what I mean ! My weight is still about the same (just to check in on that subject). My life has been incredibly crazy lately. My husband had to have a heart cath done--you know the procedure where they go in through the femoral artery and take a look around the heart--there's absolutely nothing wrong with him, but it was still a pain to sit around the hospital all day and he's now on very light duty so I get to do his stuff around the house too not to mention cakes, attempting to get my commercial kitchen set up (that's going far too slowly for me), my full-time job and kid's activities and getting ready for the holidays----whew! You all know what I mean, but in the midst of all of this life I'm attempting to eat sanely in small portions although yesterday I kind of blew it but what the heck, today's a new day......and even if I'm not writing in often, I'm reading what everyone else is writing and thinking good thoughts for all my chunky monkey buddies ! Keep up the good work!!

Hey guys. So glad to hear from everyone.
Deb - Congrats on the 2 pounds!!! Doesn't that make ya feel really good? Sometimes I'll sneak a peek before the "official" weigh in day but I've been burned a couple of times so I don't do it very often Keep up the great work. You're gonna make it!!
TS - Geeeez, what can I say? That is a GREAT hair cut for you!! WOW!!! Honestly, I think the style fits your face perfectly. You are soooo pretty.
Diane - so glad the tests results came out with no problems for your hubby. I know the waiting must have been difficult. Yep, you're right. Today is a new day and you'll do better today. It has taken me years to think that way. It used to be that once I screwed up and indulged too much, I would say "ok, I ruined it, might as well go ahead and eat" and that would start a process of gaining the weight back again. Thank the Lord, I finally got into the right mindframe and I know that it's not the end of the world if I'm not good one day. Tomorrow is always another day and I get right back on the horse again. I'm so glad that I've finally got that into my head.
Take care all my Chunky Monkey pals and have a GREAT day!!
Margie

Awww, thank you ladies! After I got it I couldn't decide if it made me look older or younger. I think it does both. I don't look my age but I do think it is an 'older cut' than before. I think it's more of a sophisticated look for me.

Deb, I'm so glad you like the BR job. I ended up with only one course this month. I'll enjoy the break, but miss the money from it.

Diane, glad ot hear your husband is doing okay. Tell him no more of those for a while! I hate sitting and waiting in hospitals. Never, ever any fun.

Margie, you are so right about the one day at a time thing. What we eat today shouldn't dictate how good or bad we eat tomorrow. I've got get back to that.

Hope the Chunky Monkeys are having a good weekend. I'm doing xmas cookies here, and lets just say I haven't been good at resisting them. UGH! After I get them all baked they are going out of sight, so hopefully they will be out of mind as well.

Well Hello ladies of the monkey sort.

It's wednesday. I have so much to do. I have to work at BR for a couple hours, then I have a class to teach tonight, I have my final philosophy paper to write, but it might wait until tomorrow. I have Christmas cards to fill out and send out and a house to finish painting and a cat to take to the vet and lions and tigers and bears OH MY!

But honestly I sure do look forward to your wonderful stories of inspiration and support. I just wish we could get the notices tha said we had something posted.

Today was official weigh in day and the scale showed 279. That's a 90 lb loss since Feb. I can hardly believe it. I've been watching biggest loser and I see the girls that have lost 70 and 76 lbs and they look GREAT. I've lost 90 and I'm barely half way to goal. I can hardly imagine what my body will be able to do when I'm down even another 50 lbs let alone another 100.

I have a Christmas party cake to do this weekend. It's totally up to me what flavors and design I use so I'm trying to figure it out. I'm half considering doing some sugar or gingerbread cookies also just because I want to use my cookie cutters. =)

Wish me luck my lovely lady monkeys. And keep up the GREAT work.

Hey girls!

Finally got around to tracking down the Chunky Monkey thread. No e-mail notifications is bad news when your brain is on overload already!

Welcome to Robin, it's great to meet another wonderful person.

TS - your hair BEAUTIFUL and so are you!

Deb - you are a BUSY woman! Congrats on the weight loss! YOU ROCK!

Diane - My goodness, so much going on in your life! Glad your hubby is okay. You need a spa day!

Margie - you are an inspiration as always. I am so grateful for your posts. I can always count on you to be motivational.

Things are crazy here with the holiday festivities. I have granted myself permission to put my weight-loss efforts on hold until the new year. I am just adding extra stress to my already stressed-out self worrying about it right now.

By the way, I clicked on "stop watching this topic", then reclicked it to start watching it again and am now getting notifications again. You might try that, if nothing else is working.

Hugs to all of you! Go Chunky Monkeys!

Hey ladies!

Well I skipped weighing in on Monday. It was my birthday and I already know I am up on my weight some, so I figured I could skip a week. I have been horrible about eating and not doing the exercise thing. I had decided that I'd make a point to start over Monday. Of course things always come up and happen.

I got a call Monday afternoon from my mom telling me that my nephew was in the ER. He had had pain in his stomach all weekend, but we assumed it was a virus because we knew several people around us with the same symptoms that had a nasty virus. I got a call during my class telling me that he had a ruptured appendix. So after class I headed to the hospital.

They put in a drain yesterday morning, and me and my mom sat up here until early afternoon. Went home then came back around 6 to sit for a few hours. Been here all morning today as well. He'll be here for atleast 5 more days, getting IV antibotics, then goes home with oral ones. They are not going to remove the appendix until after the holidays. We have heard anywhere from 6-8 weeks.

So needless to say any thoughts of weight loss are just not on the front of my mind. I got home last night at 11:30 and was asleep by midnight, though like the night before I kept waking up every hour or so. I have no idea what time I'll be leaving here tonight. Hopefully I get some more sleep tonight.

He's doing well though. Started feeling better last night, visable you could see a difference in him. And he is totally okay with the tube in his stomach and the plastic bulb taped to him. He's a little nervious about the pic line they are going to put in him this afternoon, since he doesn't like needles. But we are pushing the fact that he either has it done or the IV removed every other day or so.

He is 13, but a little behind emotional (due to having mengitist (sp) when he was a baby.) He is also ADHD and haven't had his meds since yesterday morning. They would like to hold off on giving it to him, but did say if he was crawling off the walls they would give him some.

Thankfully he is handling it all well, having fun playing with the bed, claims to love hospital food, and says he wants to stay here forever. We are guessing though after a few more days that will wear off for him.

So that's what is going on for me this week. It proves to be a long one. I talked to my friend last night and was like I am so going to be ready for this weekend which is when me and her planned to go celebrate my birthday.

Hey Monkeys! How is everyone fairing?

I'm sitting at the hospital again and since our thread was getting closer to the bottom I thought I'd bring it back up.

Of course betweeen hospital food and quick fast food I haven't eaten well this week. Didn't really plan on it though. Maybe next week we can get a little order back to things. Last I heard the kiddo is suppose to get out of here tomorrow. Of course that isn't set in stone so we are waiting to see.

He's doing good though. He'll still have his appendix a while, so hopefully when we get out of here things keep going okay. There is always a risk of the infection coming back even on the oral antibotics.

I worked on a cake last night that was due this morning. It's for a past student of mine and I had agreed to do it last week. Thankfully it wasn't a hard design and didn't take alot of mental brain power.

Tonight I'm going out drinking with my best friend as a late b-day celebration. I'm so ready for it, but hope I can get a nap in before it. I was up until the wee hours of the morning working on the cake, then back up early again this morning. Dropped it off and have been up here at the hospital since 10ish. My relief is coming around 5, so I just might be able to work a nap in there. It is either a nap, pamper myself (paint toenails and what not) or clean up after the cake. Can you guess which one it won't be for sure?

Hope the Monkey Women out there are having a good weekend! HUGS!

Wow we are an impressive group. How do we manage to mind what we eat, take care of our sick loved ones, bake the family goodies, bake the consumer goodies, and still keep our sanity? It's so easy.... we support each other.

I encourage everyone to check in with this thread WHENEVER you need a pick me up or just want to write what you're feeling down. For me I can let go of the stress once I write it or type it or say it out loud. So during this busy busy time of year, don't forget to take the time to take care of yourself and let your sisters know what you need. We've all been in the same place you are and will give our tidbits of information we've gleamed or just offer that soft shoulder to unload onto.

With that being said I wanted to celebrate with you ladies. I had my sunday school holiday party today. I made a cake for them. I also made a cake for our instructors meeting at the store where I teach. You can find them here and here.

I ate way too much at the party but paid for too. Which just reminds me not to deprive myself, but set my limits. It's ok to indulge, but be mindful of moderation. If you want sweets and candy and cookies, wash it down with milk, unsweetened tea or water instead of soda. It's so easy to forget that you're losing weight for yourself and your health. Don't let the holidays be an excuse to binge.

I hope this helps. I know I need to remember my own advice. =)

Love you all![/url]

Ugh, the Christmas cookies need to go! Of course it doesn't help that we make hundreds of them. Sigh. I actually have another batch to make too.

My mom wants me to join her after mid Jan in losing weight. Of course while I was working on eating better and walking, she just switched from sugar to equal in her coffee then couldn't understand why she wasn't losing weight. She thinks calorie counting leads to stravation. I've tried to explain how many calories our bodies need at certain weights and about cutting back to help your body burn calories. She just hears the number and thinks she won't get to eat anything. So it could be quite interesting.

I have also talked to a very close online friend last night that brought up helping each other out and joining Sparkpeople.com at the same time. We have been online friends for years, even though we have never met. But we both feel the distance shouldn't make a difference when we are both after the same thing.

Since I will be out of town until the 3rd of January, our date to start is the 5th.

It's totally do-able. I mean I know I can lose weight. I have lost weight. I just kept losing my motivation along the way. I'm really tired of that. I'm ready to lose it and focus on keeping it off.

I just needed to cry to my friends. I'm feeling sick my nose is runny I'm supposed to work at BR tomorrow and I have to avoid dripping on the counters and the food. I'm miserable and we have orders to get out the door.

Thanks for letting me cry. =(

Awww! HUGS!!

I'm waiting for a cold. Isn't that sad? I usually get on this time of year. Last year it hit on Christmas eve. We leave town two days after Christmas and atleast one of us, if not more, have a cold or some other form of cough and stuffy nose thing going on. Just what you want when you are changing climates.

With the weather we have had in Texas, I'm really surprised alot more of us haven't gotten sick yet.

I got mine yesterday. I expected it too because of the change in weather from Florida to Va. It always starts out with a sore throat. YUK, I hate that because then I can't taste all of the goodies. Yep, I jumped ship and have been bad. Oh, SO BAD!!!!!

I'm gearing up for a new start in the new year. Hopefully everyone can forgive themselves for horrible eating behavors over the holidays and start fresh now that the holidays are almost over.

I'm leaving town in 2 hours, at 4am, to spend a week with the family. Exciting eh? I bought a new diet book that I am going to try to read after I finish Breaking Dawn. I also have another new diet book sitting by my bedside to work on when I get back. I'm hoping that maybe I will pick up a cool new tip from it. Or at the very least maybe finding more motivation by seeing what I have already learned in print again.

When I get back I will focus on losing weight and working out and working out.

I hope that even though everyone has been quiet the last month that that was just because it is such a busy time, and not because they have given up. I'm thinking maybe for the new year we can start a new thread. Maybe we will pick up some new people, and maybe those lost will find us again. What do ya'll think?

That sounds like a plan TS. I absolutely plan on getting back on track and finishing what I started. Shouldn't have been so bad but I have been and will probably continue until the 1st or 2nd of January. Just being realistic here. I think I would have been ok had we not gone on vacation for a week. That got it started and then I allowed the holidays to keep me going. I'm almost looking forward to the holidays being over so that I can get back on track. I'm disappointed in myself but I'm only human and it is what it is and I will make it better.
TS, hope you have a good time with your family. By the way, what's the name of your new diet books?

I can't stop eating hte gingerbread. =( It makes me sad that I keep eating it even though I know I don't really want to.

My weight is up a couple pounds. Actual weigh in isn't until Wed. Maybe I'll get it back down to a better level by then. Just gotta say no to Gingerbread and Yes to water.

OK, now I want gingerbread. That's about the only thing I haven't eaten yet. Oh, I've been oh sooooooo bad......

I had posted something, I thought, but apparently it didn't come through. I was saying that I have avoided the cookies for the last few days. But haven't eaten great and had a Starbucks today. Sigh.

I started the new thread even though we are a few days early. Hopefully the new one helps us get motivated again (we will have to revisit some of the past topics here just to help refresh us) and help those that get the alerts when new posts are made.

Wanna Lose Weight? Calling all Chunky Monkeys!