Hi! FINALLY! a computer that works! I have so much catching up to do! I am down another 2 lbs this week! I have taken Jen's challenge to heart and exercised 6/7 days this past week. Jen, I am only doing Curves right now till the knee is better, but I have a goal set for myself to switch to a regular gym by November. I love the emails you send We are on the same page. DeeMarie how wonderful to present those scholarships! I think that must have been awesome. I am glad that your knee is doing better. NH Suzanne, I love the word pictures that you paint. I will say it again; you should submit some of your thoughts, adventures, musings to a nature magazine. I'll bet you would be published in an instant! I named my Burmese cat Blue, many a moon ago. How did you pick that name? Hey Marci, wait up!! I'll have to walk VERY fast to meet up with you, DeeMarie and Raeanne! Hi Milkdud! Glad that knee is on the mend. Veggies are a good thing! Heard from Patti lately? Hey Zig!! How are ya?? Raeanne, yes, I am still planning on buying a kayak. I am still in hopes of winning one on Paddling net. Ha ha! I enter that darn contest every day... I am going to use that kayak as a reward for reaching my fitness goals. What??? I can't blame Mercury?? Oy vey... Qod: (I am SO behind) Location, location, location! aka equity / rent from property investment via a self directed IRA and profits/eventual royalties from my growing business. Qod: I have Verizon too. I would love to talk with any of you who do too. How nice if we could get to know eachother better for free! Donna, where are you? Where are all of the other MIAS? Seems to me that BJ's class should be about over... John? Besh? Maddie? Amy? Patti? Hard to type with cat sitting on keyboard... Tikanas

I have two portuguese water dogs (male and female) and use a Rubbermade dog bin purchased from Petsmart. The male eats from a bowl. The female is picky about where she eats and is currently on bowl-embargo. If I put food in her bowl she'll loudly protest and stand over it bark bark barking. Ditto for a plate. If you put it directly on the tile, she's fine. At some point she'll decide the bowl is okay again. The last time she went on bowl embargo she preferred to have her kibble on a placemat. It's probably some form of alpha-dog-logic and she's testing me. Hubs thinks it's because she's crazy. My dogs are counter-surfing-food-crazed beasts. They'll sometimes even swipe napkins from your lap while dining. They ate a whole watermelon...rind included. Couldn't pry it from their mouths. They eat everything. We're on friendly terms with Animal Poison Control and our vet calls them The Indestructibles. In the new kitchen remodel, I'd like to incorporate food storage in a drawer like someone else upstream mentioned. Funny how two furry clowns can dictate so many kitchen and home decor decisions ( dog friendly materials, etc) without voicing a single suggestion. Laughing over all the stories. Pets do make our lives interesting.

I had friend that I suspected is nearing the 600 lb mark. Her behavior does and doesn't resemble this. At home she is a tyrant. Her husband MUST do the cooking and waiting on her. Right down to putting her slippers on for her. If he does not comply there is foul mouthed screaming. He is at the peace-at-any-cost stage. He has to work full time, clean, cook, shop, do laundry and yard work. She is "ill" Arthritis and diabetes. I consider him abused. However, her behavior at lunch in restaurant is very controlled. She has the same portion size as the rest of us and skips dessert. She claims her "pills" put the weight on her and that she eats the same amount as skinny people. We have all politely disagreed over the years. She has refused weight loss surgery as she "wouldn't do that to her body". You can't help someone who will not even acknowledge to themselves that there is a problem. In the few conversations I have had with her about her weight, I have continued to maintain that excess eating causes excess weight. Her denial is overwhelming.

Super old thread but I thought it would be fun to have a "4 years after" post! Houzz ate my last post so I'm going to try this in parts... Most of my plants did very well over the years, until least year where I had a major fungal problem and it killed many of my best plants extremely quickly. I wasn't able to stop the fungus at the time and lost a large portion of my collection. Now I have some fungicide and can handle such a problem, but the damage is already done. Crassula aborescens has been downsized in pot but thickened up substantially. Many leaves are damaged due to squirrel attacks this summer. Overall I can't believe the difference. Echeveria purposorum (or likely dionysis) has gotten substantially taller with a very thick stem. I find it hard to balance watering so the leaves don't dry out on the bottom but also don't split from too much water. Alworthia 'Black Gem' was sold off and the offsets were kept in far too bright light until yesterday. Hopefully one of them survives! I put it in a better spot now. Crassula 'Gollum' has grown upwards and outwards, looking very different from years ago. It's in a smaller pot because I couldn't handle growing a huge specimen indoors over winter. I never had good luck with Pleiospilos nelii for some reason, even though other Pleiospilos are not a problem at all. In general my mesembs have grown a lot and look more 'aged' and chunky rather than small and cute. Crassula 'tricolor' has been downsized to a smaller pot and much smaller leaves due to higher light now. The bigger pot made such a big different and it has really slowed down growth since.