Good morning and welcome to the last week of December, which means it's the last week of 2007. I think a lot of us are going to want/need a fresh start in 2008!

And it's Christmas Week for those who celebrate ... I have to dash out for a turkey and roast beef at 7 am and then will stay put today. Not last minute mall adventures for me! Today will be a major cooking day while I listen to Christmas carols and get into the Christmas spirit.

It's going to be a quiet Christmas here with just the three of us. DD has to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day (she's a paramedic without much seniority) so we won't be together for the first time ever. I know she has her own new family in New Mexico now, but there's still something missing in my heart. But I promise not to eat cookies to console myself!

I know that it's hard to find the time to post at this time of year, so if you take a break, my very best wishes to all of you for a happy holiday season and I'll meet everyone back here in 2008. But if you have a minute, tell us what's going on and about your plans for the week.

Good morning!

Let me see ... I worked last evening and am up and at'em for this morning again. I have lots of seniority but we don't have much staff.
Dh is working too so he's up shovelling and will drive me to work (bless him). I've left a note for the boys to grab a few groceries.
There's Christmas Eve service tonight at 7. We eat supper at my Mom's tomorrow and an afternoon meal at Dh's sister's on Boxing Day. Then it's back to work for me on the 27th.
I'd like Santa to bring me laundry fairies or else I'll be stealing scrubs from the OR on Thursday.

I want to wish you all tremendous love and warmth this season. Hug everyone you love and keep that feeling in your heart all year long.

Not much going on here! I have to go to the store this morning to try to find some nice steaks for tomorrow, but that's it.

Enjoy this season!

Jay

Good morning fine maintainers.

Meg, I'm so sorry your DD won't be with you for the holidays.

Susan, I'm liking the idea of laundry fairies. What a great premise! Good luck on that front.

Hi Jay.

I'd like to wish all of you who celebrate Christmas a wonderful and joyous holiday.

I have to work today, but thankfully not tomorrow! Planning on having hubby cook a somewhat healthy dinner tonight and tomorrow, sorry, it's a free day :P. I've been good all holiday season, but I refuse to 'diet' on Christmas as a maintainer !

Heck, I went to disneyland yesterday with friends and sat there with a bowl of plain oatmeal while they were chowing down on french toast. While congratulating myself on my willpower (silently) I was thinking "christmas! Candy!". LOL.

Hi everyone!

I spent all day yesterday cleaning out my room and attempting to move the last 5 years of my life back in to it....argh! Talk about frustrating. But it was actually a good thing to clean out all that stuff. I swear, I got my pack rat/sentimental gene from my Grandmother. I save everything and so did she! Something cool though--she saved the AJC newspaper from the day UGA won the national championship back in 1980 and I now have it. I plan on framing them.

Didn't run yesterday like I had planned. Had a bit too much to drink Saturday night with my roommate from freshman year who'd just flown in from CO. We'd talked about running the loop in town- around 3 miles or so. DAmn! I can barely run one! We're supposed to go today, but I haven't heard from her.

Have a great Holida every one!

Good Morning! I have tons to do but wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas full of your deepest wishes. Now to find not only laundry fairies, but cooking fairies, wrapping fairies, ironing fairies, cleaning fairies....you get the idea.

How 'bout a potty-training fairy? LOL. We seem to be making progress! Merry Christmas indeed!

Feeling well, eating OK. Wishing you all Happy Holidays, whichever ones you celebrate (or celebrated) this season.

Anne

Just stopping by to say -- Merry Christmas Eve!

We're going to DH's sister's house for Christmas Eve and then to Church for the candle light service at midnight.

I'm about to brave the supermarket and get the fixings for tonight's Cobb salad and tomorrow night's dinner for our 'orphan' friends. We're having over 4-5 people, 2 of which have any family anymore and the rest that are estranged from the ones they have left.

We'll be serving all my favorites - Ahi tuna, asparagus, roasted yam/beet/shallow/garlic clove, salad. I'll be making DH's favorite spice cake.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Hello everyone!

I got through my flights just fine on Friday and arrived at my parent's house to help my mom decorate the tree and unload 6 storage boxes of Christmas decorations, lol. My sister & BIL came a day late so she didn't get to help decorate the tree. I've been having good quality time w/ the family and also reconnecting with a lot of friends from high school. We are all scattered across the world now and rarely visit our families at the same time, or each other. Tonight we're going to a Christmas party at a family friend's, where we'll see a lot of family acquaintances, and we're having Christmas dessert with some other friends tomorrow.

I went to my parent's gym today and swam with my sister. It was my first workout of my vacation... hopefully not my last! I am eating some healthy things, some not, but way too much. I managed to convince my mom & sis that we only need 1 batch of each kind of our "traditional" cookies. I will definitely be with you all in January and get myself back to where I want to be.

Meg, sorry your DD isn't with you this year.

I hope everyone has a happy holidays and happy new year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Well I weighed in at 169.6 this morning That gives me a little enchilada cushion for tomorrow! I made them yesterday and really packed the in! OH YEAH!! Angie is making some ones today for tomorrow.

We will have around 25 family and friends over tonight for the extended family gift exchange and get together. We are having carnitas...looks like a mexican food Christmas here! Love it!! Tonight my eating won't be too bad...there will be cookies and pies and such, not a problem for me...I may have a few too many beer calories though...dang!

Our son and daughter in law ~ daughter and kidnapper son in law ~ step-daughter ~ nephew will all be here late this afternoon to celebrate our personal family Christmas before the extended family. Usually we do our Chritmas on Christmas morning but this year with the new daughter in law and son in law, we have to share a little more...dang! It could be quiet around here most of the day tomorrow, Angie and I may take in a movie after we walk the dogs for a long one.

We will go to church tonight for Candle light service...this year it is moved up an hour from our usual 11:00

CAROLYN can I be an "orphan"? Your dinner sounds....yummmy

Well I am outta here....getting a window put in my truck...the guy just called...

ENJOY YOUR CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Merry Christmas all! I'm working half a day today, and then no plans except for church at 7 pm. Tomorrow we'll open presents (there's just the 2 of us, plus the cat who loves the wrappings ) and we'll have dinner with our next door neighbors and their families - 1 son, 4 daughters, all with spouses and kids, and some with grandkids. It's always a fun family zoo there. I'm off on Wed too, so I intend to get some good quality goofing off time in.

My gym is closed Mon, Tues and Wed, and since they're always closed on Sun, they are getting good long break. Me, however, I need to be more creative to get some exercise in. It snowed about 4" overnight, and the temps are in the low teens, plus of course we're still only at about 5.5 hours of daylight - makes doing anything outdoors challenging. DH has taken to going to the hospital (one of the few buildings over 2 stories) and running and up and down their internal stairs. Amazingly, he hardly ever sees anyone else - everyone uses the elevators!

Anyway, have a great holiday!

We're all heading to the movies this afternoon to see I Am Legend. I hear it's good.

The evening we're all going to my old neighbor's house for Christmas eve. She always does a honey-baked ham, au gratin potatoes and a huge salad. Oh, and lots of drinks. Tomorrow I have a breakfast casserole all ready for the oven plus fresh fruit for our breakfast (after my morning run). Then we'll exchange presents. I'm brining a turkey for our Christmas dinner. I'll do the usual fixin's to go with it.

Wednesday it is back to work and back to diet-ville. I would really like to see goal in 2008 rather than a year of maintaining which I did in 2007.

Good afternoon!

I haven't posted much last week because work has gotten significantly busier (I guess that happens once you get put into the same office that your boss works in!) I miss having my own office where I'd just do the assignments given to me and surf 3FC the rest of the time. Oh well - the upside is that I get to socialize with all the foremen. They're a bunch of very funny guys.

I went to that interview for the job I didn't care about and they absolutely loved me. The problem is that the starting salary was way too low for me to consider, as it is close to what I'm getting now. Still, I now know what kind of questions the more important jobs will ask me... so I'm glad I did it!

I've been doing a lot of off plan holiday eating, but the scale hasn't gone up, thankfully. I KNOW everyone else finds it hard to stay on plan during the holiday season, too, with all the holiday parties and copious amounts of junk food being thrown at you! I say no sometimes, but others...

The GF and I are spending Christmas together tomorrow. We're going out to eat neither of us feels like preparing a Christmas dinner. I'm REALLY excited about New Year's though - we're going to go to a huge party in Cocoa Beach with three houses combined, a keg, champagne, and sangria. I can't WAIT to get wasted... AND conceited as it may sound, I can't WAIT to show everyone my new bod! Most of the people who will be there have not seen me since my HW.

Meg, that sucks that your daughter can't spend Christmas with you! I'd say, "hey, at least you have your son there" but I reckon he's there all the time, no? Keep your hand away from the cookie jar... or better yet, feed those cookies to me! (Just kidding)

Hey Jay! Haven't seen you in the maintainers forum in a good bit. Merry Christmas!

Gary, that Mexican food Christmas sounds really GOOD. I LOVE Mexican food... that's why I usually stay away from it though And beer calories are easy to pack on, considering beers are like Ruffles... bet you can't have just one.

Allison, I want to see I Am Legend, too... you'll have to let us know how awesome it is (or if it's a disappointment).