WEll, BRat, one timeshare I got for letting a salesperson come out and try to sell me a solar heating system for the pool. We used that hotel for vacation to Universal Studios. I got one for test driving a new vehicle, and this one to Ft Lauderdale I think came with either trying the Carbolix, or my husband trying a cassette program. I dont remember which. There all over the place, ecspecially in Florida.

Glad to hear you both did very well with your dieting. I want lie, I didnt diet. I only gained a pound. Im going to start induction on tomorrow or Monday. Im going to a matchbox concert on Friday, and my friend and I both get to go with 38 other girls backstage to meet them..Im VERY EXCITED about that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I can make it back down to 145 by then. Hopefully I can get pictures and I will post them. WE just got back in town today. I havent been able to check mail from out of town with my provider, very aggravating.

CT, you did very well dieting, Im very proud of you. The dip has 2 grams fiber, doesnt that 0 out the carbs? Check and see, Im hoping Ive been figureing that correctly. The big turkey didnt get me, the two pieces of cheesecake did , however. According to my mom n laws tanita scales Ive been a 1 or so rough on myself. I hope I figured that dip correctly because it makes induction easier. I just love it. Well talk to you guys later, want to rest, my friend and I are taking our kids to the movies tonight.

No CT, the small losses since summer were the tail end of it. I started the day after Memorial day and lost most of my weight the next few months. Since the NYS Faire I am down about seven pounds give or take.

Was it the blockers that helped you, don't know. I took block and bind myself prior to dessert and preceded that with straight blockers for the potato and stuffing on Thursday. Had the nerve to look at the scale last night, looks like a two pound gain for the turkey season. Appears they really don't seem to have an effect on me, maybe they do for you.

Renee, I have seen those deals, they show up on the fax machine at work all the time. I always figured it was either BS and had a catch or the room was a dump and the cruise that was included was on a car carrier . You certainly have made out with it all though, good going!

Ahhh, the NYS Fair! We always try to get there. This year, the day we went, the weather was perfect for roaming around. I didn't think that the butter sculpture was as good this year...but someone told me that it was underway during the blackout and that affected it! Did you see (or try) the deep fried oreos??? I didn't try them, but they sounded interesting. If you didn't mind the lines they were giving ice cream away free. We also watched the horse competition for a while. Anyway, it was fun. And it was before my LC'ing, so it wasn't a guilt-ridden experience for me.

I started reading about "refeeding" in the "Tips and Stalls" forum yesterday. Ever heard of it? It's like 24-48 hours of eating anything you want and then going right back on strict LC'ing. It's amazing the people who swear by it...do it every week or two and still average a 2-3 lb./week loss. Ya know, come to think of it, a number of years ago I went to Weight Watchers with a friend who would meet me downtown. We got weighed in at Sibleys, then we each would buy a pound of chocolates in their candy department and eat it on the way to our favorite Italian restaurant. We might even top the night off with an Abbotts custard! The next day we were back on the diet and we both had consistant weight loss each week! Hmmmm!
I'm ready to try anything at this point.

Renee- I've thrown the box away, but I could have sworn that I looked at the fiber count as well. It would have had some fiber because of the spinach...maybe you're right...but it is yummy!

The LC cheesecake with the crushed almond crust was only 6 carbs! And pretty easy to make.

BRat- I'm having difficulty posting my picture. I scanned it and saved it into a file. When I went into my profile and bugged "add a picture" and browse, I brought up the file. The first message that I got was that the picture size was too large. I, then scanned it at 50% size and redid the above procedure. Then the message I got was that it wasn't in the right format. It's a TIF file...not sure how to scan it in as a jpg. I'm not exactly computer savie...but if you could walk me through it I'd appreciate it. I have Windows 98, if that matters.

CT my nephew and his dad have done that diet. I watched them eat everything in site on a Saturday, chocolates by the handful, you name it. They then stuck to a rigid diet all week and claimed it worked. I could not eat that way myself but it seems to work for some.

I tried to PM you to explain some tricks in detail but here is the readers digest version. When you save the file it should give you a drop down box with several file type choices, pick the one you want. You can check your file size by right clicking on the file, choose properties when the box appears. Hope this helps.

Brat

BRat, the only catch with most of the offers is you have to attend an 1 1/2 timeshare presentation. But I usually get an extra day for attending one. Like the Ft Lauderdale vacation we have planned, It was originally 2 nights 3 days. But I agreed to the presentation and they uped it to 3 nights 4 days. Oh yea, it ended up costing 5.00 a child and a 50.00 refundable room deposit. Ive used this hotel marketing company before and I know they are true to their word. They gave us back our 50 during registration. This vacation will cost us $10.00 If you ever get info from Mini Vacations in Orlando, they are legit. Im going to take a ride up I75 in the summer to get a deal for a hotel near Universal. We have more tickets to use and I think we are going this summer.

CT, I checked the dip box again. It does say 2 g c, and 2 g fiber. Thats great, because I love that dip. I started my diet today and am going to try and keep it between 20 and 30. I need to grocery shop. I had to eat Carbrite m and ms for breakfast. Our fridge is not getting cold so my husband doesnt want me to buy anthing for the freezer. Kinda makes it hard to shop when the fridge isnt working appropriately. I guess Ill be doing what BRat did awhile back and using up the meat in the freezer. It hasnt completely stop working because some of the stuff is still somewhat frozen. Dont want to take any chances, though. The carb blockers didnt do much for me either. I think they helped me stay where I was depending on how many carbs I binged with.

Renee,

In Vegas you generally have to give up 1/2 a day to be hauled around to look at the place then they sit you down and try to sell it. If you resist, they send in the high-pressure man and he will all but WWF you to sign. If you still resist, they drop you like a hot potato, no more catering coffee and danish at that point.


What do the hotels look like for those free trips, obviously you live close enough to look at them ahead of time but I don't have that option. I ended up in Detroit one day, the add for the Travelodge on the wall at the airport looked great. When I got there it was full of roaches and garbage in the halls. Obviously you have scoped these places out, the advantage of living so close. Are there any with websites I might be able to look at, or some you could recommend? If you don't want to post them you can send me a PM. Is the time frame something that can be tailored to your own schedule?

CT, any luck with the pictures?

Thanks,

BRAt

Check out minivacations.com (mvi marketing) I did a search for minivacations and there are several links. The hotels weve stayed in are 3 star hotels. They werent trashy. They were nice. They werent the Ritz Carlton(lol). One we stayed in was the maingate Clarion hotel in Orlando. You can do a search for that one also, and it shows a good picture of the place. They offered busing to Disney and had a restaurant, pool, etc. We never know where we will stay until about 30 days in advance. Ive never checked them out before hand but have had all good experiences so far. Knock on wood!!

Thanks a million Renee, I will check them out. Have the day off so I am on my way to work on the boat. Got a long way yesterday so I want to keep up the momentum. Hope your refrigerator problem is over, that was a bummer losing/cooking all that meat in one day. BIL liked it though, he scored venison, bacon and sausage to feed a family of 25.

BRat

B-Rat- Just got back from Eastview...I was surprized that it wasn't too busy. It'll probably start next week. The new addition wasn't as big as I thought...but I had fun looking around the new stores.

Last time we were in Las Vegas, we went to a timeshare speal at the Flamingo Hilton. We listened and hemmed and hawed (no way were we ready to cough up $15-$20K). The high pressure guy came in and made us an unusual offer (we thought). It was a minimum amount of points, enough for 3 to 6 weeks to be used in any of 6 different hotels in Las Vegas, Florida and Hawaii, the stay length was dependent on the time of year and location. It was like a "sampler" program that cost only a fraction of what a full timeshare unit would be, Since we were planning to go on an extended vacation to Hawaii the following year, we bought it. It worked out well for us, as we got a nice efficiency room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki for three weeks for a fraction of the cost of us just booking it ourselves. My DH hates to sit through those things especially with some of those obnoxious high pressure salesmen...but we always like the freebies!!!!

I checked the file size of the scanned photo and it was almost 4 kb. I scanned it at 50% and only 300dpi. Should I continue to reduce it down further? But I still don't have a clue as how to scan it as a JPG file rather than a TIF file.

Renee-got a question for you. We are interested in bringing down our laptop to Key Largo. Our local provider has an access number in the same area code (305) but I need to know whether it will be a local call or a toll call. Any idea what phone company services that area? I could call them if I knew and give them both the phone numbers and maybe they would tell me.
And thanks for the info on the dip...I think I'll eat the left-overs with my dinner tonight!

Bellsouth
825 N Homestead Blvd, Homestead, FL 33030
Phone: (305) 245-9495
Hope this helps.
BRat hows the boat coming?
CT, hows the picture coming along?

Renee- Thanks for the local phone number of Bell South. I think I'll give them a call today regarding my question.
I'm getting nowhere regarding the picture...just feel so stupid that I can't get it to post.
I'm really getting depressed over my weight. I just don't know what to do any more because nothing seems to work...and the snow and cold tempertures don't help either!!!
Well, I'm in a great mood, aren't I? Let's change the subject...
How old are your kids? You've got two, right?

Oh CT you are trying to post scanned pictures, I did not read your post thoroughly enough the first time, thought they were digital. I will try it and let you know what happens.

It seems the scan works fine as long as you can reduce the file size with your program. I did not get fancy with it but the choices of file type are clearly there after making the scan with my HP software. To make it fast and easy, I simply chose to send the picture by e-mail and the program reduced it to 11kb, probably a bit too much but you get the idea. I was surprised it could go that small, depending upon what software you are using it should give you choices of where to save your photos and how many kb you want them to be. I am spoiled by the digital camera, seldom scan pictures so I am a bit rusty with them. I know a printed document eats memory like crazy though. The site calls for a max dimension of 400x400, so you may want to check that when you resize as well, good luck.