Hi gals.

Oh my, we have had the most beautiful stretch of July weather! Cool and breezy and dry. I am in heaven. If summer could always be like this, it would be my fave season. Am missing some good thunder showers, but if you live here you need only wait for the next change. It always changes. I love that.

Lori---You quit!!!! Good for you. I was surprised to hear they were going to give you grief over your trip to take care of your sister. Dumb management. So now they are going to cost the company all the hours involved in replacing you and training that person into your spot, with no guarantee that person will be worth the time and money. They KNEW you were.

There are many reasons brick and mortar stores are struggling and this is one of them. As long as they see their employees as easy and replaceable parts, they are going to sink further into the quagmire they are in. As it is, I dread shopping at many brick and mortar stores because they are painfully understaffed, particularly big box stores. I don't like wandering around forever to find some help, and when I do, guy/gal says to me "be with you in a minute." Usually it's significantly longer than that, and not that employee's fault.

Anyway, Trig is totally right, imo. Take a vacay from working at all for a while and see how it suits you. if you find yourself restless or in search of fun money, you have many choices that would be happy to have your maturity and your accountability.

Nic---Wheeeeeew! In-laws not staying w/you. I think this deserves a Very good news. Even MY shoulders let down a bit when I read it.

Wow on the electricity cycling day. We don't have that hear, yet. Fine if it's happening when it's not so hot, not so fine if it's hotter than blue blazes, as August can be.

Thanks for that one word: grace. To me that word is a religion in itself and I am asking for it thru my prayers---which involve both God if it is so, and the universe and not sure which is which, or how any of this works.

Only know, when I slow down a bit, when I am finally brought to my knees in prayer, and ask for grace, I ALWAYS receive it. Always is a big word, but I don't take it back. When I ask for grace, I get it. Not in exact answers or solutions, or winning the lottery, or any kind of magic wand. These things imo, are not what grace is about. But I have never been unanswered in my prayers for grace in that things just seem to get a bit more clearer. The fight seems less. The calmness more. I love that word, "grace" it says so much to me. and has meant so much to me.

Jaz---You will "stop the train." I know you will. When in Rome---business luncheons that offer no LC alternatives, imo, you go along with it, like you did. And I'm sorry but bringing your own bag lunch to an event like this is not kindly looked upon by corp folks---unless you can say you have multiple allergies and might die from eating the lunch they ordered. When in Rome...Sometimes we just have to do with what is there and expected, although of course, we can eat less of it. But this is VERY hard for we carb hounds, and I entirely get it.

Yes, calories are important, but not in the old way they used to be, imo. I think our experience on LC teaches us where they are important and where they are not.

I have heard from both you and Trig, "simply eating too much." I think this is a gut instinct, one we cannot ignore. But, don't think the answer to that is feeling hungry, ever. No need for that. Yes, we may have to scale down our expectations a bit, and allow our tummies to get used to it. Painful week or two at most, but nothing more.

Like I said to Trig, no need to blast the castle wall down in one day. IMO, start slow and easy and give time to your body to adjust rather than trying to boss it around. 100 or 200 less calories a day is imo, a good start. Go ahead and start small. Just start. And, in my experience, mojo kicks in for this and wants to do more.

K-mom---Aren't we all thinking about her and wishing her the best trip ever!? She put so much into this, from hard cold dollars, to T shirts and notes and whatever that will make her family feel so cared for and so drawn together on this trip of a life time. So happy for her, and hoping she comes back full of the joy of it.


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We have been meeting with realtors. It's all getting so REAL.

Came down to between two, apples and oranges. One is the darlin' young son of an old time pal of ours. He is adorable, hungry, and doing so well for himself.

The other is a guy who has sold in our neighborhood for 30 years. He is also adorable, in an older way. He was much tougher than the younger one. Really laid it out for us, didn't spare us a thing. He brought up so many things to think about the the younger one didn't.

SIGH. So we're going with the older, more experienced groovy guy, ponytail and all. He's a fighter too, man is he. VERY HARD choice and feel for hubby who has to break the news to his friend and his son.

Oh, and it's not like I'm judging these guys by how "groovy" they are, but I CAN see those who have kept up and have a strong brand. That look with it and ready to go. Both the guys we came down to had this.

Anyway, more on all this later, pretty overwhelming, but bottom line is, we need to put the pedal to metal and do some things we hoped to avoid---like re-roofing. We always knew we might have to---we have shingle roof, very old and very charming, but also in need of A LOT of work

The guy we chose said, get it done. You won't lose money, you might not make money on it, but you'll get a good many MORE lookers who wouldn't consider your aged roof unless they had ideas of bidding you down. And like he said, once they feel the nail in our armor---our roof---they begin to look for everything else.

So, hard decision made today, but feel good about it. He wants us to go like hell and put this house on the market by mid September at the latest.

Wow, after so long of more easing along, everything is going into super high gear. So much to say on that, but will spare y'all for tonight. Weeks of turmoil ahead for us, plenty of time to talk about it.

As for the woe. Yep, we are ALL struggling right now, one way or the other. And THAT is why we're here first, as much as we have all become friends---that part is so freaking fun and saves us from being like other threads I've been on where everything is about food and weight, same old over and over again, and eventually bores me to death.

The thing that keeps me going here is YOU GALS. I don't know how it all happened and we came together from so many different parts of the country and with different ideas about LC from the get go---but somehow seems to me their is a dusting of grace and fairy dust , and a REASON why we all hang together in success and failure.

Anyhow, my weekend is a social whirl. SIL's b'day party tomorrow, B'day club Sunday morning, and yet ANOTHER B'day dinner Sunday.

So, I'm going to save myself some failures and just say, my goal is to get back on board THIS MONDAY, which includes counting cals and NCs.