She looks really bad, IMO. She looked good about 50 pounds ago

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Sounds like a 27 pound cat might be too big for the litter boxes with the covered housing/top.  My cat just fits into this regular sized one.  Suggest you either get a bigger litter box system or have one built.  A 27 pound cat is a HUGE (loveable) cat who needs above-normal sized cat box.

Just my 3 cents  as a CAT LOVER!!!  *S*

The tapes are really easy, just walking in place, kicks, knee lifts, and jogging moves.  A 15-minute "walk" equals 1 mile.  So I type for an hour or so, then do a mile, type for another hour or so, then do a mile.  It actually makes me type faster.

What worked for me is the CORE weight watchers plan (no counting of points).  It is amazing how much you can eat and feel satisfied.  It is really not a diet but more a way of eating healthy.  It isn't Atkins or South Beach, as you get to eat carbs such as ww pasta, potato, brown rice etc.  It is very healthy and satisfying.  The weight just fell off of me 2 to 3 pounds per week.  I decided I couldn't see my self 'dieting' or counting points for the rest of my life, but I could live with eating healthy.  This plan is the BEST I ever tried, and believe me, I tried them all.  Good luck with losing the weight.  It is great that you are smoke-free now.

I was on the program for approximately four months and lost 40 pounds.  The weight did come off really fast.  At the time I was a member, there was a rebate if you kept the weight off for one year.  It sounded good, but you had to buy the supplements for the entire year, which by the end of the year added up to a few thousand dollars. 

In any case, after I finally lost the weight, I got pregnant with my fourth child.  I am now trying to lose the 50 pounds that I gained while pregnant, but my metabolism seems so much slower now.  The weight isn't coming off nearly as fast as before. :(

In my part of the country: 

The training is 2 years.  You must pass with 95% accuracy these tests:   225 wpm 2-voice testimony, 200 wpm jury charge and 180 wpm literary.  Must do 40 hours of actual writing time during internship and submit 40 pages of transcript and a written narrative to get your degree. 

Also, you must invest in your own stenography equipment, $2,000+ (could go quite a bit higher depending on equipment).

Then you must do 2 years with a legal group. 

Then you can apply for a courthouse job after that (that's how my courthouse in a decently large city does it).

Then after you do 2 years of courthouse experience, the closed captioning company will take your application for consideration of hiring and "transitioning."  

Closed capitioning for live capitioning (news, sports, etc.) I am pretty sure those people can work at home. 

But if you want to do movies, etc., that is done in house.  At least in my neck of the woods this is how they do it and what I was told by someone at the company over the phone. 

I doubt that you can go straight into closed captioning from school--I am pretty sure that they want you to have pretty much courtroom experience and be pretty well versed with the steno machine. 

If you can make it, it seems like a pretty lucrative career.  I looked into it many years ago and went into med transcription instead.  Could kick myself now. 

Have had a couple friends who were court reporters, the machine seems it would take quite a while to master with any efficiency.  You know, it reminds me of the alpha-hand I took many many years ago.  But again, you would have to practice, practice, practice, and really enjoy what you are working towards. 

I just interviewed last week with a court reporting school and then with the local college to check out their court reporting course.  The court reporting school said as long as you get up to the 225 per minute speed, you can finish a little early, about 18 months. But not so with my local college, you must do the entire 2 years and classes only start once a year. 

Interestingly, I was told there is an 80% drop-out rate.  It is pretty tough going. 

I changed my mind about going this route, wasn't interested in the courthouse work, wanted to go straight to closed capitioning, but it sounds as though that is not possible.  I don't have 6 years to spend for school and experience.  

Then I have been reading on the internet that they are starting to get rid of the court reporters in a couple states and replacement them with the audio/video recorders that the courthouses already have in place.  So that doesn't sound to good to me.  Not sure how accurate that method would be for record keeping, but we all know with offshoring has done to the quality/accuracy of medical reports. 

Still thinking of what I should do instead now.   

Good luck to you.  Again, this is in my neck of the woods, could be different where you are.   

a "return to work" site to get people off disability and working.

They want you to sign up with a state worker to help you with vocational rehabilitation and get you back to work?  That's what I read.  And also they want you to work 30 hours a week with the telephone jobs.  That would be almost full-time, persons on permanent disability are not allowed to work that much.

This is fascinating.  I have never seen or heard of this.  See a pic...

http://www.vrbo.com/29508