WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

GOOD ADVICE & GARAGE SALES

Jean, that's very sound advice. As a fallen away Weight Watchers member I can advise all you ladies to weigh no more than once a week and that should be at the same time of day in relation to the same meal. I choose to do it Sunday morning after visiting the bathroom and prior to dress and eating. That way there are no excuses for the three pound difference clothing and proximity to a meal can make. I go up and down from day to day and I suspect that most of us do. My history with WW is checkered. The first time around in '77 was highly successful. Of course I had far less to lose and I was smoking like a chimney. I lost so much that they warned me to go on maintenance and Al complained about too many bones. That didn't last long but I kept it near the goal for a couple of years. Next time I made it to goal but it was more of a struggle. I was working 50-60 hrs. a week and had little time for exercise; I just lit up another cigarette. Next time was after I retired and after quitting smoking. The latter move caused me a thirty pound gain over the next few years but I was increasing exercise by walking in the mountains here and getting serious about weight training because of a diagnosis of osteoporosis. DD#2, an occupational therapist, had found it useful in her lifetime struggle with weight. The weight training actually reduced the effects of osteoporosis until just the past year but I just see-sawed on the weight due largely to being unable to discipline myself adequately. I got demoralized and after feeling tearful at all that weighing and measuring of the food threw in the towel. As much as they said it's no longer necessary to do all that weighing and measuring (of food), it is if you have a serious portion control problem. I know how to eat, I just do too much of it. I working at it and have gone down minimally and will continue with the struggle with portion control. As a friend of mine said years ago, "If it doesn't have hair on it or move on my plate, I'll eat it." That lady has since gone very low fat and exercises maniacally. She looks great.

Re: garage sale. I have been to one or two and never saw anything that I thought worth my time. I have always suspected that it was done by people who rid themselves of their own junk in exchange for someone else's. Since moving over two years ago into a house with no basement and having been moved by wonderful neighbors when I was too crippled to do inventory and properly pack I've had an obscene mess in my generous two car garage to the point where I could barely get the car in there and had no idea what was in there and couldn't find the stuff that I knew probably was in there but couldn't get to over the other stuff or couldn't even find. I have a neighbor who is not only fifteen years younger than I but has incredible energy and serious managerial talent. She who hasn't been employed since the day she said "I do" would make it big time in business. Anyway she's always got some scheme and she loves garage sales. She organized a community garage sale in the local community center, figured out everything, rented the space, placed the ad in two newspapers, made signs all that good stuff. I thought I'd give it a try as I had a good stereo system out there, a pile of good quality wool braided rugs I had no need for and lots of other stuff. I worked in the garage for three days for as long as I could stand to be on my aching legs and feet in the heat (one day it was crowding 90F) to get that stuff out, clean it up and price it. There was also a bunch of clothes I've outgrown, some of it hardly worn and all sorts of small items. I have a lot of stuff from Al's workshop like jars of fasteners, roofing nails and such but figured nobody would want them. Ha, did I have it wrong. It was pouring rain today and we had a disappointing turn out. The majority of buyers who did show up were men and they were buying, guess what? Jars of roofing nails, rusty faucets and all that crap. No one even looked at my rugs. I did sell the FM tuner and the old turn table. For some reason that man didn't want the Boston Acoustics top of the line speaker set and the five CD changer. I bargained for the other items with him and was prepared to do the same with the remaining ones but he declined even though he said he was buying them for resale. The various participants and I agreed to try again tomorrow afternoon to catch the after church crowd. The signs have been changed and since the ad was buried in the personals no one saw it anyway. I came out the booby prize winner at $31.00 so far. Would anyone outside of Indonesia work for $10 a day? All the left over stuff that the seller refuses to take home will go to the hospital auxiliary thrift shop or the battered women's shelter thrift shop. That's what I was planning to do anyway. As long as I don't have to pay anyone to haul it away I'll be happy. DD#1 warned me years ago that no garage sale is worth the effort unless you enjoy the process. Just think, I could have been in my air conditioned house quilting. NEVER AGAIN SAY I!

Tomorrow, if the weather is appropriate, before going back to the sale, I will set up the tripod and my good Rebel G Cannon camera to photograph birds at my feeders. I can get far enough away with my telephoto lens so as not to spook them. I'll use the digital camera too and compare results. Will post anything worth while. The rose breasted grosbeaks are resting and fattening up before they leave to finish their migration north for most and uphill into the Smokies as 6,000 ft. elevation for some. I'm so happy when they stop off here in May but wish they would stay but I guess it's too warm here. You folks in the northern US and Canada are to be envied.

Jane in went and chilly NC (but we are desperate for rain so are glad to have the weather even if I did turn the heat on for the first time in over a week)

posted by Jane in NC @ 4:39 PM