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Shoegal

Shoegal

Cathlete
I thought I would get a jump on the new thread for May. I did the muscle conditioning portion from the Wedding Video and upped the weights - and was thinking that I used to do all of this floorwork with the Firm all the time but that you don't really see it too often anymore. Wonder why? I found the lying legs to be challenging. AND THEN - I actually did more 1 Rep Max testing. Yes - I even shocked myself. I set a very small goal to do just 10 exercises. And then I quickly revised that to 8 exercises but then I decided to do the 10 anyway. I could have actually finished all the testing for the second disc because there were only 4 or so exercises left - but decided to complete the goal I had originally set and not push it to a point where it will take me a good long time to get back to finishing this. It was actually a good time to do it - following a fairly moderate weight training workout.

Ironlady - glad to hear from you - not so glad to hear about the heel spur and I don't have any experience with heel spurs either - although I have heard that they were painful. Hang in though - and keep us posted when you can.

Alright - hope everyone has a great day - and a great first day of May!!!
 
Happy May Day!

Today I'm taking a break. I think my cough may have finally left my body. I was absolutely exhausted yesterday. Ended up going to sleep at 6 pm--slept until 9, got up, ate a little and went right back to bed. Slept straight through until 8 this morning. Obviously, my body needed some rest and I'm hoping that the rest has kicked my cough.

Ironlady: good to hear from you. One of my lady friends gimped around for about a year or so with a heel spur. It would really bother her, then it would get a little better. Finally, it just bothered her all the time and she was limping more and more. She finally had surgery to get rid of the dang thing. This may not be what you want to hear, but it is my one observation of someone with a heel spur. They are definitely no fun.

Shoegal: I need to start doing some 1RM testing. I noticed that the Cathe website indicates that the demos for each 1RM test are now online. I haven't checked them out yet. All I know is that I definitely need to see a demo so I know what it is that I'm supposed to be doing.

Shadowpup: Did you crumble and use your 20 percent discount before it expired?

~michelle
 
Shoegal, I love the Wedding Video, but I mostly do the cardio section with a couple of risers or also with the bosu. Very intense with the bosu, sometimes have to modify with it, but Oh my. Glad to see you are continuing with the 1 rep max. You are going to love STS! With my active rest week, there are no lifting weights, just cardio and ab work.

Michelle, Enjoy your rest day. Glad to see you are feeling much better. I think your body did indeed need the rest. Thank you so much for the encouragement about chin ups. I needed that. Shoegal is right, get the cardio hits. They are all really great step workouts.

Ironlady, Heels spurs are not fun. Let us know how is goes K?

Laura, Walking on the beach this week is not an option, but I do have Cathe to rely on. LOL

Shadowpup, good job on your workouts. For my rest week, I'll be doing yoga, step, walking outside amongst the trees, treadmill...anything to keep going with the active rest period. Oh yes, and ab work, I think 2 or 3 times a week.

Janie
 
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Ironlady, ouch! What a shame :( Hopefully you'll find ways to work around that - it's going to be tough, with your job, to have sore feet nagging at you. Nice to know you are lurking with us still :D

Michelle, it was a very near thing. The whole Cardio Hits thing nearly got me. I actually had that and a few other items in my cart, and was eying that STS tower again; when I found myself about to type in my discount code "just to see" it came to me that I had better just shut everything down. And so I did. But now it is May and all bets are off :) Maybe ebay will have a copy ... I also wanted that low impact circuit dvd. But really, a Squat rack or Power cage or something like that would be the biggest help. I'm glad you're feeling better; did you end up getting any extra dvds? Glad to see you're taking it easy. That nasty flu I had earlier this year took a long time to go away. It goes faster if you rest. Easy to say, hard to do.

Shoegal, congratulations on doing so well with your 1RMS! It's so worthwhile - I find myself going back to the originals when I want to check on my improvements, too, so be sure to save yours. You'll probably find yourself adjusting them during the STS program as you get stronger and it is fun to look back and the earlier numbers and kind of gloat over how much stronger you are getting! On the floorwork, yes, that's true. Personally I have trouble doing work that requires me to get down on the floor. Stiff lower back.

Laura, speaking of lower back - that Power Yoga does seem to be helping a bit already. I'm pretty sure my heels are inching (make that, micro-metering) towards the floor. The floor definitely seemed closer in those downward dogs. And, I made it all the way to minute 27, where we stood on one leg with one hand on the floor and the other leg up in some kind of torture stance that had a name like 'moon'. My whole body was shaking after that. But I liked it :) None of my poses look anything like Rodney's original, so it is just as well I am by myself! Are there other dvds you recommend like this one? Seeing as it is May ... ?:D

Janie, your rest week sounds active indeed! So much variety - and such a lovely time to be walking around outside. Great pointer on the bosu; mine is beginning to gather a little dust. Haven't used it lately but perhaps could try it with basic step.


And I hope everyone had as lovely a May Day as I did. It was so gorgeous outside - I skipped lunch and instead went walking around, taking pictures of flowers, checking on the bees, playing with the dogs - a fun half hour in the sun. Well worth sitting at the computer to eat my sandwich between teleconferences later on.
 
Shadowpup said:
Janie, your rest week sounds active indeed! So much variety - and such a lovely time to be walking around outside. Great pointer on the bosu; mine is beginning to gather a little dust. Haven't used it lately but perhaps could try it with basic step.
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Shadowpup, The more you do yoga the better flexibility you will have. Make sure your body is ready by letting it decide when to go deeper. Your body all of a sudden will go into a deeper pose all by itself. It's really cool how it does that. I did gardening all day yesterday, the weather was so beautiful outside. Did lots of work for a couple of hours. Called it my cardio day. The bosu is great for Basic Step. It's a whole new level. You are going to love it! Any step that may be too easy to do now, just use the bosu with it and you will be surprised the level of difficulty there is.

Haven't decided what cardio to do yet. I'll check back later and post it.

Janie
 
Hi Ladies, I missed a few days there I think. I am fighting off a flu or something I am so exhausted. Not sleeping well sure doesn't help out either. I took thursday off and Friday I did Step Jump and Pump. The step came easily for me on that routine. Maybe I am just getting a hang of stepping again. I am really happy with the Body Blast Series although the weight lifting isn't that intense. I only have Super Sets left to do which I will probably do tomorrow. The girls had their schools Spring Faire today so was there all day and feeling to bone tired to do anything now...

Iron Lady, Bummer on the heel spur. A pain in the foot is so awful cause you can't really get off it. I hope you are better soon.

ShadowPup: I like all of Giam's Yoga Dvd's and Rodney Yee has a yoga website with them that has tutorials that you might want to check out. Suzanne Deason is also good. Glad the Dvd is helping you lengthen out.

Michelle: man that cold really got you down I hope that isn't what I got. You don't think it was the Swine Flu do you? It seems like you have been really sick for awhile now.

Janey: Enjoy that cardio. That was pretty much what I did while I was on my trip. I just ran and did yoga and corework. It was nice but I started missing the weights after awhile.
 
I posted earlier and then lost my connection to the internet, so my thread disappeared into thin air.

Did a B&G premix: floor work and abs. Feeling alot better and pretty much done with the cough. We'll see how things go when I get back to cardio on Monday.

Laura: I just had a cold--no swine flu. Sounds like you might also be coming down with a cold.

Janie: your life sounds so tranquil--that's the way retirement should be.

Shadowpup: you've inspired me to work on my push-ups. Did 30 incline pushups today on toes. I'm getting there.

I got an email from step 'n motion yesterday, my slanted risers should be delivered early this week. Yeah!

~michelle
 
Laura, Hope you feel better soon. Went to a fair? We do anything for our children, yes we do. I do miss the weight work, but if it's any indication from Meso 1 and Meso 2, we're in for some workouts with Meso 3. Yikes!;)

Michelle, Don't you just hate that when your computer...? Hope you didn't spend too much time on it. Does get frustrating. Great to here you are feeling much better. Love the premixes in B&G. Good job. Tranquil life? That's sweet to read, but I'm afraid it's ebb and tide. But, I'm an optimist and prefer to make sure my glass is half full. I have my Joey, and he keeps me busy/angry/happy and life is good.LOL:p. We're waiting for the slanted risers too, we ordered in April, but in order to get the 20% off the risers they charged our card May 1. I preordered the STS Cardio.:rolleyes:

Shoegal, thanks for starting our thread.

Take care. Hi to everyone else who follows.

Janie
 
Hello All You Lovely Ladies!

Thanks all for your comments... I will let you know what the doc says on Wed. Conservative treatment first.... hope I don't have to have it sugically removed as I have n insurance and I don't even want to think about the cost of that!

Laura I hope you feel better soon! I have so far not gotten any of the cold/flu bugs going around this year! (knocking on wood and washing my hands here! LOL)

Shadowpup sounds like you had a really nice lunch... isn't it nice to just get out and enjoy nature sometimes?

Shoegal I am doing my 1RM the same way a little at a time... got most of the 5 and 4 stars done, now on to the 3 haven't decided if I will do the 2 and 1 yet.... since I can't really do and cardio or heavy leg work I may just do that so at least I will have done something! :)

They are moving my Dad on Monday to a Hospice Facility (one of 3 in OK) that can take someone on a vent and feeding tube. About 160 miles from OK City. Mapquest says about an 8 hour drive so just about the same as the drive to the current facility.
His Twin (my uncle) has had 4 of 8 pre-chemo treatments and has lost 34 lbs. blood count is going down instead of up so they are going to stop at 6. of course, Medicare only covers 80 % of the cost and the chemo will cost around 2,000 a month.... prayers needed. Of course he is one of the most upbeat people.... He is a preacher and continually says how blessed he is and he truly is!
On a more upbeat note my DD is going to get to come home and will be here for Mother's Day! Haven't spent Mother's Day together since she left for boot camp on Mother's Day! :)

Hope everyone has a Great Day! TTYL
 
Hello Lovely Ladies,
So I have been dragging as you know but still not sick, just tired with mild sore throat and had two days off this week. I was still tired today but decided enough was enough and dragged myself up to the yurt. I did the BB Super Sets which had some new exercises in it for me. Not bad. Than really felt like more so I did Combos 1,2& 3 of Step Blast.. I am really liking that one. Gets me drenched in sweat. So now I feel better! Off to dinner in town with the family tonight.

Janie: I know how you feel about your Joey! That is how it is with my Old Man too! The full gamut of emotions and wouldn't miss any of them for a second.

Ironlady: Glad to hear you are going to the doctor about that heel. I bet you are excited to have your daughter here for Mother's Day. I wonder what we will do this year....

Michelle: I didn't really think you did have the Swine Flu but it was one nasty bug none the less, glad you are better! :eek:
 
Hi all,

Another Monday, another trip - I'll be gone til Friday or the weekend. It has been very nice to be home!

Laura, Janie, I'm continuing to enjoy the Power Yoga dvd, and am taking your advice not to push past what my body wants to do, and just go with the flow. Instead of becoming boring, it actually is more and more enjoyable each time I go through the workout - now I'm up to minute 27, which gets me through those half moon poses on one leg. My goodness! And it will be fun to try out the bosu with step. Might be two weeks out, next weekend will be STS, and then another trip the whole week following.

Ironlady, I truly respect how positively you are approaching these challenges. From heel spurs to family, life is not dealing you an easy hand. Hospice care - that acknowledgement of life ending is not an easy one. Prayers and good wishes definitely for your Uncle as well. Chemo is no fun; I still remember how hard that was ... But very neat that DD is coming home for mother's day :D And yes, I loved the nature walks. It is hard to leave all of this, but I have many pics to take along this time. Daffodils everywhere, every shape and color!


Michelle, very glad to know you are continuing to recover :D:D:D Excellent job on those pushups! 30 incline, that's outstanding!!!

Shoegal, hope you're having a terrific weekend. What kind of shoes???

And bye for now - probably can't post til I'm back.
 
Check in Monday 5/4/09

Hey you guys!!!

Weekend was sort of odd and nice and uneventful all at the same time. I CLEANED and CLEANED - since I was hitting the wine trail last weekend I didn't do my usual Saturday morning cleaning. So my DH packed up and went kayaking with Scout and left me & Dot there to clean to our heart's content. Dot didn't clean quite as much I did. Actually I had less resolve there than I usually do. After awhile I was like - blah. Tried to get on the forum on Saturday to find that I couldn't get on the internet at all so had to give it up and go back to cleaning. Sigh.

Have been practicing and practicing push ups - I'm not anywhere near Michelle and Shadowpup in accomplishments there and I'm sort of thinking if something doesn't break soon it will just be embarrassing. Serious lack of muscles in there. I think I probably have less than the average person - something must explain this complete lack of strength!!!

Ironlady - I'm afraid the only way I'm getting my 1 Rep Max testing done is a little at a time - I must set small goals - I am actually have decided that I will do some more tonight but also think - well, who knows? You do have a lot to deal with but you also seem to have a great attitude - and that makes all the difference. I am sending out my prayers for you and for your father and uncle and my own positive thoughts along with them.

Michelle - glad things are progressing for you on your end. Great job on those push ups - yes, I'm jealous. Finally that cold is gone - so glad. I also managed not to order Cardio Hits - although I'm not so sure if that is any thing to proud of.

Janie - isn't life just ebb and flow?? I agree. Sounds as if you and Joey sure make a nice pair. It certainly makes everything just a little bit better - don't you think?

Laura - stay healthy - please. I am also sending out positive wishes that you stay healthy. How else will I hear about your workout experiences with these new tapes??? Well - sounds like you put in a great workout nonetheless.

Shadowpup: Have a great trip. We'll be waiting for you here to return.

Have a nice day ladies.:D
 
Ironlady, What involves conservative treatment for spurs? Hope you don't need surgery too. Will say prayers for you and your family. How do you do it, it's a lot of stuff going on? Continue to be strong.

Laura, For being so tired, you did a great job on your workouts! I'm impressed. Enjoy dinner with your family tonight.

Shadowpup, So glad you had a good time home over the weekend. Isn't it great to do yoga, love it. See you this weekend.

Shoegal, Spring cleaning I see? I need to do that as well. But for now, my garden is keeping me very busy. Be patient with the push ups, it's not easy. Just do one more from the last time you did it, but make sure it isn't everyday. Only every other day, then do yet another one. Soon you'll be up there where you want to be and showing off. Yes!lo:Dl I meant to say ebb and flow.LOL:D These are called Janieizims. :rolleyes:

Take care, see yas,

Janie
 
Hi ladies. Posting late because I had a conference at Quantico today and tomorrow which means early work days and exercise later. Just got done doing Body Fusion. It felt good, but I still don't feel like I'm in the cardio groove. Could also be that I'm exercising at a different time of day.

So, good news. At the urging of my dear mother, I dutifully got my cholesterol levels checked. Haven't done this in about 15 years or so. Here are the results:
Total: 156
Trigylcerides: 86
HDL: 68
LDL: 71
Cholesterol ratio is 2.3

Every measure is in the excellent range. The nurse asked me what I was doing and I said: "exercising like crazy, eating pretty much what I want, but don't go nuts with eating bad stuff." I have to say: thank-you, thank-you Cathe!

Ironlady: glad to hear that you are getting a little ray of sunshine for mother's day. Let us know how your DD is doing. I'm also curious as to what conservative treatment is for heel spurs. I hope it works for you whatever it is. Sounds like even though things are not the best for your dad and uncle at least you have some resolution on a treatment facility for your dad. Your uncle sounds great--people who approach life from the sunny side are a blessing at times like these.

Laura: I started my cold with a sore throat and a little achiness--hope you are not getting the same thing. Good for you that you are keeping up with some exercise.

Shadowpup: we'll miss you while you are away. Another road trip will help keep you from buying anything--right?

Janie: I haven't gone downstairs yet, but I think the UPS man paid me a visit about an hour ago. DH is yelling "what have you bought now!" so maybe it wasn't my slanted risers, but my email from Step n Motion indicated the package should be here today. You should get yours soon.

~michelle
 
Well Good Evening!

So I am actually wondering if I have a mild allergy to my cats. It seems like I feel like I am constantly 'getting' sick, mild sore throat, tired and achey, itchy eyes but that I don't actually get sick. The cats are shedding something fierce right now and the other day I lay down on my bed, where they like to sleep, and my eyes went nuts! Watering and itchy. What do you guys think?
When I was in Atlanta and in Washington I was fine.


Anyway today I taught my two classes kind of at a lower intensity. Then I did about 20 minutes on the treadmill, but my knee really hurt so I stopped. I love the step but it is very high impact on the knees and there is a lot of tork on the knees in particular with Cathe's step routines because she does so many quick changes of direction. Does anyone else find that irritates their knees?

Shadow Pup: You are a girl on the go! Kuddos to you for making fitness work in your life, I think your travel circumstances make that commitment extra challenging. I am so glad you are enjoying that DVD would have felt bad if you didn't like it. I also have Giams Am/Pm yoga, which have 3 short yoga sessions on it. I really like the pm yoga on it and I did it last night. I have had that DVD for years now, it may in fact be the very first DVD I bought and I still love it. I go through periods where I do it every morning and evening. They don't really count as workouts but they stretch and align the body nicely.

Shoegal; Will you please come over and clean my house? It is that terrible time of year here where you clean and clean and clean and by the next day you can't even tell. The bane of animals! Love them to death but the shedding hair here is driving me insane. My Pyrenees is leaving cat size clumps of white hair everywhere! And muddy foot prints too!! Keep it up on those pushups it is going to have to pay off eventually.

JaneyJoey: so are you enjoying the rest or are you itching to get going again? Are you still working in your garden? Things must be lovely up there now.

Michelle: great news on the blood work! That is fantastic. So curious what you think of Body Fusion. I have yet to try it but it is on my calander for latter this month! It must be pretty intense, huh? I am a little scared, judging by Step Blast!
 
Check in 5th of May

Happy Cinco De Mayo - Happy 5th of May - Happy Any Day

I posted before lunch here and it booted me out and all of it was lost. Here I go again. At any rate - I'll try not to sound redundant to myself. I have to report that an unfortunate random fitness workout purchase happened last week. Somebody had the nerve to post that fitness fly was having this 20% off sale - and well, since I was alerted to the fact that I could potentially save money on these dvds that I had no business buying I had to go check it out. Alas, yes - it was a savings and I really had no choice but to buy. Goodness - what would you do?? :eek: I purchased Amy Bento's ASC III and Christi Taylor's Solid Gold Step. So - yesterday - they came. Last night I did Christi Taylor and my God - I just LOVED IT and I loved her. It was this incredibly dancey, complicated step that I adore and I was in heaven. The hour flew by - it was so well cued that I was able to catch 98% of it right away. She went quickly but that was only because she jam packed this thing with 8 combinations!!! The dvd itself had a ton of features on it too - including a bunch of little mini workouts done by other instructors - so afterwards I did the ab portion. The only negative - the cool down. She gathers up all these people to stand in this tight little crowd and we swayed our hips for an awfully long time. I got bored and I also felt like an ass - I was glad no one could see me do this. :rolleyes: I was on such a high I forgot all about doing 1 Rep Max testing and had some toffee covered popcorn and before that some Cheez Its - so I was quite disgusted with myself and put myself to bed.

Laura - sure - you could be allergic to the cats - I don't see why not. It would explain a lot - I think it is a good theory but I don't know what you do about it unless you are considering getting rid of them. I know what you mean about the hair - for being short haired pups they still really shed. I find Dot's little white hairs every where. On Saturday I took off the duvet to wash and laid out the comforter on the floor so I could slip it back on afterwards. Dot came by and stepped on it - leaving a dirty little paw prints all over it. Aren't they a joy?

Janie - wanted to let you know that my hydrangea looks to be on the mend. :eek:I noticed that there were new little leaves growing on the stems that previously were bare. So that is good news. I have also been out in the garden weeding. I noticed that this section with ivy was overtaken so completely by weeds that I could no longer see the ivy. I was flabbergasted - when did that happen? It was if it happened overnight. :mad:

Ironlady - I am going away Mother's Day weekend and I will miss seeing my Mom - but it is my anniversary and my DH and I planned a trip to celebrate. But let us know how yours goes. It should be so nice. :)

Hope everyone has a great day!!!
 
Cinco De Mayo!! I forgot about that!~;)

I was tired this morning so I did a really gentle pilates class really focusing on form and pre-pilates moves. It felt really good and was what my body needed. Than I came home and gathered up my energy because I was scheduled to start the Intensity Series today. I did IMAX2 which I really liked. I found the step easier to pick up and the blast were very intense. I was dripping in sweat! Love it. I hope picking up the intensity is going to melt this fat right off of me...

Shoegal: Your new workout sounded like fun! I am sooo tempted to look it up on line but I am not even going to peak! I need to focus on what I got and save up for STS!
 
MDolfiniReed said:
Total: 156
Trigylcerides: 86
HDL: 68
LDL: 71
Cholesterol ratio is 2.3
Janie: I haven't gone downstairs yet, but I think the UPS man paid me a visit about an hour ago. DH is yelling "what have you bought now!" so maybe it wasn't my slanted risers, but my email from Step n Motion indicated the package should be here today. You should get yours soon.
~michelle
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Michelle, Good job on your workout. Shaking it up a bit does confuse the body. Congratulations on your cholesterol results. I'm watching mine very closely too. Can't wait for my slanters. Yeah.

Laura, See if you are allergic to your cats by seeing a doctor. That way you will know for sure. It is Spring now too, it could be pollen...I'm itching to do heavy weight lifting. Can't wait!;) There is low Impact Step. Try that and see if it's any better for your knees. I do that one a lot and my knees never hurt. As your body gets use to it, you may be able to do her other steps. Also try using the bosu on Basic Step and the more Intermediate Step Routines. It will make the workout harder and easier on your knees, the bosu has a lot of give. The Intensity Series will melt away your fat, with clean eating. I love it when we can take time to do slow focusing exercises for our bodies. It feels so good, like you say. Great workout by the way. Imax2 is hard, great job.

Shoegal, I have all of Christy Taylor and yes, she is one of my favorite instructors. Her cuing is impeccable. You are not alone when it comes to food. I'm ashamed to admit that I've haven't been very good at it lately either. So Glad To Hear Your Hydrangea is looking better. They usually are strong plants and can take a lot. Plant somewhere when you can, away from deer. Deer love to eat them. Weeding, not my favorite thing to do, but necessary. They can get away from you if your not on top of it all the time. They grow so freaken fast.:(

Picture of Adrian, what a doll baby.

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See yas,

Janie
 
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Check in Wednesday 5/6/09

Janie - What you have there is an angel!! Adrian is truly beautiful - how lucky are you to have him around!! That really did just brighten my day.

Last night I decided to do the Amy Bento premix - on ASC II that I had threatened to do earlier in the week or maybe it was last week. I finally got to it. It has a mix of her step and the weight work from Slo Mo Strength Challenge. I almost changed my mind when I saw that it was 87 minutes - but I thought - oh ok - why not. I have to tell you that I was all fresh and ready to do the step the 1st cardio portion - but right after doing some really heavy weight work I was sweating buckets and the last thing I wanted to do was more cardio. But did it - I did!! I was a wet noodle when I completed it and just sat among the plate weights, dumbells and barbell. step and stability ball hoping somebody would come along and clean it all up.

Laura - yep - IMAX 2 is a winner. I love it too. Do you have Imax 3? That is my absolute favorite Imax workout - moves fast and the blasts are something special too. I actually got IMAX 3 first - it was after that workout that I had decided that Cathe was what I was looking for.

Janie - I was seeking out Christi Taylor because you had told me that she was good - I wasn't disappointed.

Hope everybody else is well. Have a great day.:D
 
Yesterday I took a break and got back to my regular morning workout schedule today; did Pure Strength chest, shoulders, and triceps plus routines 5 and 11 from Ab hits. I'm finding that it is easier to get back into the swing of things on the weight routines vice the cardio. Tomorrow I'm thinking rhythmic step, so we'll see how that goes.

Laura: I think you are confusing Body Fusion with Cardio Fusion. Body Fusion is on the Basic Step dvd. A nice 50 minute step-circuit workout; good for getting back into doing cardio. Cardio Fusion on the other hand looks like the workout from hell. I have it and I'm also intimidated by it and have not given it a try yet. I hope you are not allergic to your cats. I love my golden retriever so much, it would just kill me if I suddenly developed an allergy to my pooch. Maybe it's the kitty litter and not the cats?

Janie: used my slanted risers today when I did Pure Strength. Have you gotten yours yet? And for some reason I'm not seeing Adrian's picture.:(

Shoegal: I think you have gotten caught Shadowpup's web of addiction to purchasing new dvds. Can't blame you--I have to exercise great restraint on a regular basis to keep from going bananas buying new stuff.

~michelle
 
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