Good to know, Bill! Thanks for the tip. I hope you all continue to get more rain, though not all at once. I grew up in the desert, and I have memories of my dad's futile attempts at maintaining a lawn. Eventually he gave up and gave in to xenoscaping. P.S. Were you the one who changed my life (years ago) by sharing the wonders of grape seed oil for cast iron? If so, you are very wise :thumbup1:

Thanks for the advice CinV. I will pull weeds in the back when the kids are playing, and in the front in the morning when it's shady. I'll let DH handle the fertilizing and sod. We definitely want something natural. I was not aware of this product, which is why the yard has gotten so bad over the past few years (because I didn't like the idea of those chemicals running off into the drain). I really appreciate it!

Y'all are making me jealous. :glare: I'm not ready for spring, because Spring here is actually summer-lite, which I can deal with. But, if it's spring, that means summer is right around the corner. :scared: :svengo:

Congrats!!!

Seriously?!?! 😔 I have a couple of large bare spots in the back yard from where the dog used to pee. In the front there is sod throughout, just not full enough to prohibit weed growth. Is there anything I can do about that?

I love Asics and have used them for years. I chose to go with Brooks this last time because the Asics I tried on felt sloped as I ran on the treadmill in the store, causing my toes to hit the front of the shoe. I already have issues with my nails (I get horizontal ridges when I run) that require me to buy a size larger, so I went with the Brooks because I didn't have that problem.

Over the past few years we went from no weeds to lots of weeds. If I don't want to get a letter from the HOA, what can I do to remove the weeds and encourage new grass growth without using harmful fertilizers? I wish I had the time to sit and pull weeds, but the most I can spare is 15 minutes a day. Would it be okay this time of year to sprinkle grass seeds in the bare areas? We have St. Augustine grass and live in the Houston, TX area.

I've never heard of this Lisa. She has a podcast? Can someone point the way to find it? Never mind. It was an easy search. Thanks for sharing!

Plus they're very comfortable! I bought them for running, yet I find myself wanting to wear them out a lot. I gave in and wore them to the grocery store this morning since I'd at least be walking.

Brooks and under armour are both roomy in the toe area. I know there are other brands for runners, because my friend had to get some for an injured toe.

Tell me about it. I donated some clothes to Goodwill that were new with tags on that I couldn't return (well I could if I was willing to accept less than a dollar for each one) because I had procrastinated and they went on clearance. Weeks later I saw one of the shirts on the rack. The price portion of the original tag had been cut off, and the asking price from GW was significantly more than what I had paid.

Good for you!!! How do you feel?

I thought you were working out in a hot gym on purpose like the hot yoga you mentioned. I would die if I did that with a migraine. As it is, I sweat a ton.

I haven't posted in a while. I had been consistent until I reluctantly took last week off. After missing a couple of days for legitimate reasons, I decided to take off the whole week and enjoy sleeping in with dh. I was supposed to go to cardio workout this morning, but I'm so sleep deprived from driving back from a weekend trip that I went back to bed after dropping off the older kids at school. I need to get groceries and be back in time for dh to go to work. After that I'll probably do a quick HIIT workout. My goals for the week are to attend boot camp the rest of the week, run sprint intervals on Wednesday, and do a longer run on Saturday. Tuesday I'll work arms in the evening with dh, and Thursday I'll work legs with dh. Finally, I'm committing to doing the 5 minutes of exercises my trainer assigned before bed. I need to remember to bring the 5 pound dumbbells into my room for that. Does that sound like too much? Diet - scale back on the junk/fast food from this past week. Focus on getting back to my regular diet of no sugar and no processed food, with lean protein and veggies.

I agree with this, but when I've used this argument in the past, I have been told that that mother should be buying at second hand stores instead.

My daughter also knits hats for preemies. When my six year old was admitted to the hospital this past December, she was given a fleece no-sew princess blanket that volunteers had made. She got to take it home with her, and she loves it. It was one of the only good things about that hospital stay. I would love to do something similar in return.

We have an assortment of dumbbells, ankle weights, weighted balls, and plates. For lifting, we have a typical bench with a stand for an Olympic sized bar and another side for doing curls/leg extensions. We also have a squat stand that hasn't been used as much since we got a Smith machine. And the last piece of equipment is a combo pull-up/dip stand. My husband has a special bar that he uses for shrugs and sometimes deadlifts. I don't use it, because I don't like it and because it has hard to grab and move bumper plates. Oh and I have a big exercise ball that I got for a class a long time ago that I only use to sit on now. ETA I forgot about the treadmill and stationary bike. And yoga mats! All of this equipment takes up exactly two bays of our garage.

I have that book on my nightstand, and I've heard that the audio book is fantastic. I forgot about the series. Do you know if its coming to American TV?

Thanks for sharing! I'm very excited, as I really got into the first season of Serial. Was Serial season 2 as good as the first?

Deadlifts, kettlebell swings, and squats.

Long E. Grew up in West Texas, currently reside in southeast Texas.

That's funny. I didn't notice she was biracial. Then again I watched it on my tiny phone screen.

I used to buy paper plates when my kids were younger. I only used them on days I was too overwhelmed to add dishes on top of everything else. I only ever buy disposable forks and spoons for large parties.

It's good that you're maintaining. I'm sorry you're feeling so bad though. Have you brought it up with your doctor?

That's tough. Just a thought - Have you tried a fasting diet where you can eat however much within an eight hour window? I wonder if that would help or be pure torture. On days when I don't work out I skip breakfast and delay lunch until I'm hungry. I've found for myself that I get full faster and it lasts longer. I know everyone is different though.