[Choco-cat]

Hey girls.
My weigh in was 145, so I was down another pound. Yay!

Thanks for asking Virgo, my dad is very good. He's got lots more energy now. He had his first follow up appt today and I think it went well. I assume it did, otherwise I would've heard about it already.

But my uncle is in the hospital now and he's not doing well. He's suffering from complete renal failure, which is causing heart failure, which is causing him to stop breathing. He's like my grandpa. I didn't have a grandfather on that side of the family so he just slid right into that role. I was at the hospital all day/night with my aunt today, and I'll be going back tomorrow. Sorry if I'm kinda MIA this weekend.

But yes Chester, I will take you up on a cardio challenge. I only got 20 minutes in today but I plan to do at least45 tomorrow morning.

Hugs.

[chester12]

Geezzee Choco!

That is wonderful news about your Dad, but sad news about your Uncle. It's nice that you live so close to your family that you can be there to support them during this time. That is one thing that I carry so much guilt over. I can't just drop everything and rush right over to be with a loved one. I'll keep you all in my prayers.

I see your 45 minutes and I raise ya to 46....

[Choco-cat]

46?
shoot.
I'll see your 46 and raise you 1.
47.
Look out E, here I come!

and thanks for the prayers. It's so hard to sit in there and not tear up. I started crying twice yesterday just sitting in the room when everything was fine. I hid it both times so as to not upset my aunt, but I just have such a hard time accepting what's inevitable. I try to remember the good memories but even those make me cry because that is so not who he is anymore. After a heart attack and a stroke and now this he's not anywhere close to the boisterous, strong-as-an-ox, funny, outspoken, old-school Democrat (loves politics - don't get him started!) that he used to be. He was amazing. He was a POW in the Korean war for 28 months. Can you even imagine? Twenty eight months he was tortured, beaten, mentally abused, stripped naked, made to eat fish with maggots, and he came out of it. Years later he was changing the tire on a semi when it blew out, causing him to spend a month in the hospital. He lost his right eye, they had to remove bone from his hip for complete reconstructive surgery on his face to rebuild his eye socket and his nose, his mouth was wired shut for 6 months. And all that was even before I was born.
And he's never called me by my real name, not even once. From the day I was born he has called me Natalie. He said that sounded better with my brother's name (Nathan) than my real name did, and he wasn't going to call me by my real name. He said I'd be Natalie until the day he died. That's just the hard-headed kind of rationale he's always had, and that's what makes it so hard now, because he's lost that. Now he just lays there helpless.

Sorry I'm a downer.
I've gotta go work out to get my mind elsewhere.
Thanks for listening.

[Virgo66]

Choco Sweetie, I'm sending you a really really big hug!

Hubby's at our regular Saturday morning auction, and I'm home trying to finish up tax paperwork. As you can see, I'm working really hard on it! But I've gotta go pick him up in about an hour, so I guess I'd better get at it! I went with him for the preview and went over what we should buy (we buy/sell antiques & collectibles), so hopefully he'll have a few goodies when I get back! Then it's home for a few hours and out for our Saturday night auction. Hopefully I'll have the paperwork done so I can go out tonight... So the only cardio I'll be getting in today is with my fingers, and maybe later on I'll get some arm work in when I raise my bidding card... Tomorrow will be better, I'll get my big ole butt on the life cycle & then we've got a friend coming to pick up some stuff in the afternoon, so there will be some heavy lifting.

See ya later!

[lmball]

choco, double hugs! I know its tough, my mom is not the same either. Its really sad because she has always been on top of things and now she can't even keep her medication straight..... We are here if you need us...

[chester12]

Hey guys. I've been good and bad today. Good in that I did the E for 47 minutes (thanks Choco! I was thinking of you that last minute on there ) And then bad because I went to a birthday party tonight for my friends son. I had 2 pieces of pizza and cake and ice cream. Wow! Typing it makes it sound even worse! But it was so wonderful. I don't want to deprive myself of enjoying food, I just need to learn moderation. Learning that skill seems to be right up there with rocket science though.

I talk to this girl friend weekly, but I haven't seen her in almost two months. When I walked in she said "Wow." I didn't know what she was wowing for, so I said, oh yea you haven't seen my hair cut this short yet. Then she was like, no, I haven't seen you this skinny before. Me SKINNY? I haven't heard those words spoken out loud before. It was a good feeling. I still have a long road to go, but it's nice to get a pat on the back every now and then for a job well done. So here's me patting all of you on the back right now also. ((((Pat, Pat, Pat)))) We've all done a good job and deserve a little praise.

Choco - You've got me all choked up over here. Sending more hugs and prayers your way!

Virgo - I hope the tax stars aligned for you as well!

IM - Howdy girl! Are your little people feeling better? Macho still has the bug.

Hello to everyone else. I hope you're having a skinny weekend full of cardio and H2O!

[LZ]

Finally feeling somewhat better. Weigh in 143, which is up. No exercise or water for four days. I will start fresh tomorrow.

Choco, sorry to hear about your Uncle.

Chester, where did you grow up? Congrats on your refund. I will take our stuff to the CPA next week.

Oh, Good news for us. we are the proud parents of another new baby boy calf.Hubby wants to name him A-1.

Have a great evening. TTYL.

[Choco-cat]

Hi ladies! (and Mark )

Today was exhausting. Went to the gym for 51 minutes of cardio, came home and showered, went to the hospital from 11:30 am until 9:30pm. Ugh. I'm pooped.

Uncle Bill had another session of dialysis today. He's so disoriented and confused still. They said after another session or two of dialysis he should start to regain some of his mental abilities because his blood will be cleaner. Fingers crossed.

I'll put in another 30 minutes of cardio tomorrow.

Hugs to you all.

[chester12]

Go Choco Go on the 51 minutes of cardio. I thought you were just going to do 47, but you had to go all Jane Fonda on me and do 51 minutes.

Fingers crossed! ((Hugs))

LZ - I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida. I am only the second one out of all of my family (very large extended family) to move away. My grandfather came over from Cuba with his 12 brothers and sisters and settled in Tampa. He met my grandmother while she was a cigar roller in the historic part of downtown called Ybor City. We did live in Tennessee for a few years when I was an infant, but I don't remember anything from that period except that my sister and I had a play room that had a purple octopus on the door. Let me describe my grandparents house for you (typical Cuban family)...
You walk in and the first thing you notice is that it's just as hot inside their house as it is outside. They do not turn the air on, but will have several fans going and are both waving hand held fans with a wooden stick. The Spanish channel "Univision" is blasting some Spanish soap opera where all the women are scantly dressed with a ton of make up on. There are two recliners, one for each of them, facing the TV, covered with some Mexican looking blanket thrown over both. If you look around the room you will see the "Wall of Fame" as my sister and I have dubbed it many years ago. There are so many pictures on this one wall, that I think the wall may fall over from the weight. Then you also have your giant crucifix with an additional giant picture of Jesus right next to it. On the wall behind the sofa covered in plastic is a mural of a small city with a bull fighter in the middle of the street. Why? Couldn't tell ya! My grandfather is in his typical brown pants (yes, pants) with his "Hispanic old man shirt" on and his white tank top underneath. The "Hispanic old man shirt" is a distinct shirt. It is VERY thin, see through, if you will; and has this embroidered detail going down the front on both sides. His are normally light blue or white. He sits in his rocker all day and watches soap operas or western movies and yells at the TV if he doesn't like what's happening. He speaks very little english and gets annoyed that most of the grandchildren do not speak spanish. He still talks to me in spanish even after I tell him "ENGLISH." My grandmother never sits down. She has on her "mu-mu" gown, house slippers, rollers in her hair with a scarf over it, and her fan. She will keep the rollers in her hair for about two days before taking them out. Yep, she sleeps with them in. She is constantly cooking something that is sure to add 5 pounds on you just by smelling it. Now my parents are not AS BAD as they are. They are firm believers in air conditioning. Then I went off and married the whitest All-American boy I could find. He was blown away by my family and our crazy ways. You should have seen our wedding pictures. It was the Mayberry's meet the Spanish Mafia. I think they were a little scared of us. Lots of banjo picking and salsa music at the reception. It was a hoot!

And you just wanted to know where I grew up. Ha! Gotta paint the picture for ya!

[lmball]

Chester- LMAO!! I can so see your grandparents in my head ... That is too funny, I bet grampa was pissed when you brought home the white american boy.... I bet your family scared the hell out of your hubby too, you should write a book!

[Choco-cat]

Lol Chester! That was awesome.

Well I did 43 minutes of cardio today, so that added to my 51 for yesterday and my 20 from Friday makes a grand total of: 114 minutes! That's one hour and 54 minutes! Woo-hoo! Good for me. I'm glad I'm finally getting back into it. Lord knows its taken me long enough.

[chester12]

Hey guys. I didn't get any cardio in today unless you count doing laundry.

IM - His family scared me even more! They're a crazy lot

Choco - Wow! I guess you won the cardio challenge. That's awesome.

Let me count for you how many times I ate pizza this weekend...
Friday night, two pieces...
Saturday, one for lunch, two at the birthday party
Sunday, two for lunch
Stop gasping in horror! I know, it's terrible. So, I Chester 12, do hereby declare that I will not eat another piece of pizza until my husband returns home. You guys can think of my punishment if I do.

Well, gotta get Ms. Thang in bed.

[Choco-cat]

Chester!!!
Argh! I think you're turning into a pizza pie!
That's