A Post from the blog Administration!

Congratulations to all you stick-to-it Winners! I'm truly amazed by the numbers that have been crunched to smaller sizes here! And congratulations, Andrea, on your graduation! Lots of hard work in every direction!

Now it is time to crunch the sidebars of this blog to have it truly reflect the current activity.

In the next little while all inactive members will be transferred to an alumni file and all active members will be given the more lofty positions in the sidebar. If you find yourself in the file and would like to be put back in the open sidebar, just leave me a note in the comment section. Remember, this is a "Winners" blog -- you are always rated "A" in our books! "A" for Alumni or "A" for Active!

Pretty good, eh?

Happy Birthday, Jeanette!

You'll have to let us know after spending time lifting those weights: the biceps that now hang beneath the arm in middle age -- do they surface to the top again with exercise or do they just continue to swing low only with more bulk?

Happy 55th!


Jeanette's answer --

Thanks, Carol-Ann! I have had a very happy birthday. Funny thing, I don't feel any older than I did yesterday!

This afternoon I used my new age of 55 to my advantage!

The phone rang, right when I was in the middle of busy kitchen cleaning. Riiinnnggg.... "Hello," I said politely. A man with a slight accent answered, "This is Tom from the Delightful Research Company [or some name like that]. I have some questions to ask about what you watch on TV." Without pausing for breath, he rushed right on. I'm sure experience has taught him what will happen if he stops to gasp for air! "Is there a female in your household between the ages of 18 and 54 [note that he said 54....54!] who could answer my questions?" I just could not hold back the glee in my voice! "No, I'm sorry! The only one here in that age group is disabled and would not be able to answer any questions!!" Now he could breathe! "Thank you for your time. Good-bye!" Click! ... Yippee! That was easy!

Thus I have embarked on life as a senior!!

(Sagging biceps? Flapping upper arms?? Swinging wings??? Of what dost thou speak, dear sister???)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Coral!

Love and hugs and kisses from Aunt Carol-Ann and Uncle Bruce and Kinza!
(Make Elmo behave today because it's your birthday!!!)

Update!

It's time for me to acknowledge my gaps here on The Winners' Log! First of all, we have a new Winner who has not yet been formally introduced ... most of us know her already, but I hope to have her post ready on the weekend.

Jeanette asked me by email this morning for an update re my exercise and BP and stuff! Regarding the "exercise" let me say that I don't upgrade it because I don't know what to put! I haven't done specific "Now I set me out to walk" exercise but ...

Last week was the "Take Our Kids to Work Day" in Ontario when Grade Niners get to go with a parent to work. I've waited for this day for oh....shall we say....14 years! At the end of the day Kinza and I had visited my clients, been to the office, she made a call for me to the nurse at the Day Treatment to let her know something about one of the guys we saw, we'd been shopping for a toaster for a cancer patient, we went to several different stores to look for insolation to pack around a window unit airconditioner for a client, we went and packed it around the airconditioner, we dealt with the traffic nuts in North York and we finished off with buying coffee and going to visit one final lady (who loves her coffee and this is usually my ticket in the door) but she refused to open and see us. At the end of it all I still hadn't done my charting or statistics ... (oh yes, and I was fired through email by another client so I had that to deal with) ... when we got home she flopped into the easy chair with a little white face and declared she was beat. Anyway ... all that to say ... does any of that count for my exercise chart????

For my 52nd birthday, Mama gave me a BP machine and according to it, my BP is back down to its usual sub zero! You'd think that would have an effect on my general weight because now I am light-headed! I have finished all my sinus meds --except the puffy stuffy -- so we shall see. It's hard to notice a big diff there right now.

We have had snow predicted in Toronto for later today. I can hardly wait! I just love my snow!

Wake-up Call!

Sometimes "wake-up" calls do happen in a series of events like this crazy "clock" portrays!
I had the ball fall on my chest and pull the stopper outta the keg this week when I realized my blood-pressure was high! I won't bore you with all the chain reaction series of events leading up to it. The long and the short is that it has come down on its own without meds to still being high but not in the danger zone. In investigating it, the doctor at the emergency walk-in clinic thoroughly checked my sinuses to see if that might be the reason why I have a headache that won't go away even with tylenol. I have been to my regular doc several times with my hand over my right eye saying that my face feels like it's going to fall off. She always looks thoughtful, writes in her book and suggests I quit drinking coffee! OK, so today I made no mention of my eye and my face because I didn't want another doc to tell me that! Without me saying anything, he started poking different parts of my face and then looked in my right eye with his scope. He kept going round and round the eye till I wondered how long I could take the spot light. But when he shifted to the left eye he just did a quick glance there and turned the light off. "AHA!" I knew without him saying anything that I would do whatever he told me -- even to quit drinkin' coffee! It was kinda like Daniel telling the king what his dream had been as well as giving him its interpretation when the doc found the point of concern without being told the symptom!

Regarding my eye and face, he said I have a sinus infection for which I need two weeks of antibiotics and a prescription nasal spray.

Regarding the BP he has no idea except to say, "Cut down on salt, avoid caffeine (yes sir!), and go for a brisk half hour walk each day. As you do that, we'll just have to keep an eye on it."

So I went today for a 40 minute brisk walk! Can you believe it?

Thanks everyone for taking the time to learn your way around posting exercise time and weights! I plan to post the instructions and put a link to it right below the window containing the exercise log sheet for future reference (if we suffer memory lapse) and new members.

Also, I shall eventually move the archives into the new Google document window and then it will be up to each person to decide how much you want to keep and show and what you want to delete. As it is, I have simply been archiving the last entry for each month.

'Nuff techy stuff! Get exercising BEFORE you get a wake-up call!

Yawn, Stretch, Run, Fetch!

Ok y'all, it's time to shake things up here!
If ever I felt the drowsies in a project, it's here on our bloggie! Yes, I was the main contributor to the dull-drums! We all have our times, ya know!

For the first "shake", I decided to add our start weight to the front forehead of our profiles. And, as expected, it was startling. What was your reaction to seeing your start weight side-by-side with your present figure?

Michelle, you have done so well! This is very impressive! But, we are not going to be out-done by the new broom! We shall all start to sweep well and see impressive efforts at maintenance! Yes?

Welcome back to Roger and his courageous new start!

Re the Exercise Club, I have joined officially as of today. Help us all! What is this coming to? Carol-Ann actually plans to exercise? I may have to jog out to Mississauga and drag Pat out for a run. Let's see -- where could we go ... we could run over to Artisano's for a lemon-cranberry cloud and a cappuccino all dressed up with whipped cream!

Great stuff, Jeanette -- you've kept us going here lately.
Andrea, you are still below your start weight so let's kick some butt and hope that Grandma doesn't stop by to read this steel-hearted approach!

Summoning all Losers!

We have here gathered at the chicken coop to discuss our issues!

In the previous post, our Senior Blog Administrator (SBA) has called the meeting to order and appointed the Junior Blog Administrator (JBA) to bring us up to speed by reviewing the minutes from our last general meeting:

"10:15, 10:16, 10:17, 10:18, 10:19, ... adjourned at 10:45."

Thank you, Silly Goose! But why are you in with the chickens?!

New items for today's agenda are requested from the floor. Um, since there is nothing worth mentioning on the floor in this chicken coop ... the Executive decision is to keep moving right along!

Stop and think about it: there are few things in life to match the level of exhaustion provoked by trying to run down the up escalator! Yet we are faced with just such a challenge here as we strive to be winners by losing! The greatest difficulty we encounter on this moving staircase is not actually r/t to the impossibility of achieving our goals so much as to succumbing to fatigue in the process on the way down!

It is my personal observation that incredible momentum can be achieved through a great deal of flapping and squawking! We must be ready to make the feathers fly as we cheer each other on to the bottom step!

And this, dear friends, brings us to a brand new item on the agenda:

It has been suggested that each member in the sidebar be promoted from having squatter's rights to squawker's rights! There has been a lot of clucking over the summer about this.

We know that all chickens in the coop at this point are of true, pure Leghorn brand. Any posts submitted by any of the current members would certainly be up to scratch (should Mama happen to Google the site)! But .... what if a new member turns up with uncouth in their beak?

And then, there is the pecking thing to keep in mind! What if Charlie spends a great deal of time putting together his flap and two point three seconds after he posts, Esmeralda lets loose with a wide stream of chortle that moves Charlie's post clear outta sight?

No good! No good! This worm has too many twists to be swallowed whole! So, for now, your Junior and Senior, Charter Member Blog Administrators will continue to publish the posts but we are asking for submissions! We'd like to put up a new post every Tuesday morning (a goal -- not a promise!) so that with one click in a week the rest can see how the others have weighed in and can read the Flap-'n-Squawk!

Continue to submit your Monday morning weights as usual for posting by Tuesday morning and send along, by email, any submissions for front page posting as well! Suggestions for consideration as to how to make this "Squawkers' Rights" thing happen will also be welcome!

Olympic Medals are Handed Out!

Well everybody, today Barry and Jeanette left for a few days of relaxation and I am inclined to think (since I just turned around and put on a pound right after breaking down into the 150's) that we all might do well with taking a little break!

Actually, Jeanette and I have been discussing some possible changes to the format of our little connection place here, so let's just kick back for a few weeks and then start up again with a will in a month's time. I'm suggesting our next weigh-in day be September 15th. That gives us just over a month to decide what kind of a surprise we want to present on the blog on the 15th!

STOP! DON'T CLICK AWAY YET!
THERE'S ONE MORE THING TO DO:

In order to go out with a bang and come back in with a swoosh, we need predictions! Please submit your hopeful prediction for September 15th in the comment section of this post. No specific numbers! Simply state your prediction of having gained, having lost or having earned the "Elmo Award":

And to close this Olympic round, let's take a look at the scores:

Jeanette: ....Started with ... 187.4 ...... Ended with ... 182.9 ......
Total lost ... 4.5
Carol-Ann: Started with ... 164.7 ...... Ended with ... 160.8 ......
Total lost ... 3.9
Roger: .........Started with ... 233.4 ...... Ended with ... 229.4 ......
Total lost ... 4.0
Pat: ..............Started with ... 160.5 ...... Ended with ... 157.5 ......
Total lost ... 3.0
Andrea: ......Started with ... 186.4 ...... Ended with ... 182.2 ......
Total lost ... 4.2
Michelle: ...Started with ... 213.0 ...... Ended with ... 214.0 ......
Total gain ... 1.0
Elmo: ..........Started with ....... 3.8 ...... Ended with ....... 3.8 .......
Total lost ... 0.0

Three Cheers for the winners of GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE
And because the Gold medalist has been both a Canadian and American citizen at different times of her life, we are all standing at attention while both anthems are played and we are ALL WINNERS!

By a special note of encouragement, Michelle, if you look at our scores you will see that we have all taken turns going up and down! Next time we tally up for our medals you shall have more than one week's worth of points to count!

Congratulations, all! Don't forget to enter your prediction in the comment section! See you in September!

Oh Poo-h!

Alrighty, everyone together now: "Oh Pooh! Oh Phooey!"

Michelle is up a pound on her first week! And not only that, but she put her back out and has not been giving much attention to food choices!

Well, we all know what this kind of a week feels like -- um, not quite -- I don't think I've ever put my back out! Doesn't sound good!

Hope you feel better soon!

Introducing: Michelle!

One of the most fun things in my summer thus far happened yesterday! Michelle sent me an email and put down her authorization to be signed up as a Winner! So here is her official introduction!

Although she lives in B.C. and is married to John ...

... the happy Mama of Isaiah ...

... and of Baby Hannah ...


... when Michelle and I first met, she was three years old and living in Ontario! She and her Mom came walking into our church during choir practice (as I recall) to ask when the Sunday services were held. I won't go into all the details now, but further on down the road (when Michelle was all grown up and in Grade One), she and her Mom invited me to live with them for a year while I saved up to go to Bible College. During that year, I discovered that little red-head could sing harmony! Can you believe it?! She was just adorable!

Welcome to our blog, Michelle, and the introductory blessing we bestow on you is: may you be the biggest loser!

Oh, by the way ...
I'm not sure if I have spoken yet on this blog
about my daughter: Kinza Michelle.

The Artisano Experience!

Now you just have to understand what happened when the Stress Triplets got together at Artisano's!


Of course, I'm not about to tell ALL!
But you do need to know that I was standing at the coffee bar fixing my 2nd refill of "bottomless cup" when a worried waitress walked by. She was carrying a frothy-topped cappuccino and calling out, "Cappuccino? Cappuccino?" As I stirred my tasty but regular, she visited each room and table looking for the customer who had decided to take a load off their feet while their cap was being puccino-ed.

When she passed by me I smiled and said, "I'll take it -- if it's been paid for!" I thought my humor was quite fitting but I detected ever such a tiny upward tilt of her chin and a slight narrowing of her eyes as she continued on her way! I was embarrassed! I had risked bringing a laugh into her doldrums shift and she had coldly walked away without a twitch of a smile! So I turned back to my little job of measuring out a squeeze of honey and a slurp of cream, hurt! Real sad!

But as I lifted my cup and turned back towards our table, she closed in the pattern of her final figure eight around the rooms and approached me with my free cappuccino! "You may as well have it," she said! "By the time they come to get it, it will be cold and I'll have to redo it anyway!"

Pat had just picked up a second cappaccino and I had just fixed my refill, so Jeanette was the recipient of the freebie! Hey! Ya gotta watch out for us when we get together -- a joint sum of more than 150 years of living experience! I'd say it was time we cashed in on a cuppa something!

And the Winner is ...

...drum roll...

The "Elmo Award"
goes to ... Pat, AGAIN!

SAME
SAME
SAME
SAME
SAME

Honorable mention to Andrea too -- for accomplishments other than weight-loss! Hey, there IS a life, girls, apart from our scales!

Up, Up and Away!

Well, I guess it should really say, "Down, Down, we're all down!" Now Pat, don't get stuck here again! Give your scale a tap on the side before you step on!

Good work, Andrea! Three pounds! Wow!

And as for you, oh thou 'umble "sickly-ickly", we're sad you've been up-chuckin' and actually hope that you'll have put something reasonable back on by next week!

I was happy to see myself at 159.0 until I came gleefully to post and realized that I have actually gone down only a twip over 5 pounds in FIVE MONTHS! At this rate it'll be almost a year before I reach my goal!

Oh well -- 2009 is coming ... do I want it to arrive and weigh 150 pounds or at best, still be at 164.7!

Jackpot?

Well, here I am being both late and early. Although I did weigh in on Monday last week, our internet was down so I couldn't record it! So I am recording that reading tonight and it is "late". This morning, for some unknown reason, I stepped on the scale a day early and was pleasantly surprised to see that I am down a bit! But since today is Easter and we were eating a bit of this and that extra today, I've decided to record an "early" weight! Who knows! By tomorrow morning I may have gained 3!

Now the eagerly anticipated reading for this week just has to be Pat's! Has she done it again?! We should start a jackpot like our local 680 News Radio -- they have a weather guarantee which climbs by 100 dollars a day whenever the weatherman's forecast has proven to be correct within a couple of degrees or so. The last I heard (haven't listened to the radio over the long weekend!) the jackpot was sitting at some outlandish sum of about $17 thousand dollars! For some reason I think of Pat whenever I hear 680 News has maintained their guarantee!

NOW I am quite done!

Who Let C-A Post to this Bloggie?

Zoom-Zoom!

Zooming in.

We just have to see this one closer up!

Congratulations to the New Broom!

Whew! What a relief! I love it when old sayings hold their ground and Andrea has not let us down:

Congratulations, New Broom!
Thou hast truly swept well!

Special recognition is also due to Roger who has done so well by gaining only .2 pounds in his time off!

Pat, remarkable! That's all I have to say about that! Three weeks in a row! Wow! Well, they say that's the way to lose weight -- lose some and maintain it there for awhile and then that is truly your new weight.

Well, J -- what can I say! Looks like you and I are stuck in sympathy pains! Actually, that's quite a trick we pulled off together! So I'd say this week we all deserve a round of applause!

Andrea is now a WINNER!

Andrea, it's no secret that in our books Gord's kids have always been winners! But it is official today that you are now one of OUR winners! Now if Aunt Jeanette would just break down and shift her goal, this could be known as the 150 club! But I guess Roger would seem kinda scrawny at 150!

Welcome to our sidebar and may you be the puff on our flickering candle flame that we've needed recently!