Maryann..my cousin just lost her husband and she said it is helping to do the same holiday decorating with a new twist or change so that it is the same but different. She has decided to take a trip at Christmas to help her get thru
the holiday. Her mom has needed help more than normal because of a fall and I think that has helped that she is so busy caring for her.
Sloan...I kept looking for your beach picture..I like the new snowman one.
Rhonda I slept from 11 to 11 also and tried to fake it when someone called
at 11. ""NO ..I wasn't asleep ..I always have this much trouble putting complete thoughts together..." My son was sick and sleeping in so that seems like a good reason to sleep late !!
I like your "extended,blended and assorted" phrase.
I'll share a funny story about that soon...
Vickie..that sounds amazing..I may make it at Christmas...
Just called one of my friends and we told me that we are either going to have a snow or rain storm sometime today,now it depends on the temps rising or falling that will be the ??????. Hope they stay up,as i can't deal with the white stuff. We suppose to have a Christmas Parade tomorrow down Main Street,so our brunch place is out of the question so we are going to meet at the church hall instead for coffee.
Well in any case I have a date with my bathroom cabinets.Bought some small storage bins where I can put the small items in the front and then the large packages of toilet tissue in the back.
SLOANE-Thanks for understanding,my friend told me this morning that I will hurt for a year or so as we never forget our loved ones that have passed. It happens to her,and her DH is gone of several years. I'll be looking forward for other little tit bits he'll be sending me. My sister gave me a book called Small Miracles 2 [Heartwarming Gifts of Extraordinary Coincidences]and it really helps me get thought this loneliness.
CONGRATS on your team winning the state football Championship
NANCY-Sorry about your cousin lose,I know the feeling of loneliness and one must keep busy at those holiday times. Thanks that what I going to do getting my table tree and a few other decorations up. I going to be away at my DD from 12/21 to 1/6 so I don't want to be over powered with taking down decorations at that time.Just going to downsize this year.
Mornin' chickies! I'm grading papers this morning and doing laundry .
Sounds like a great Saturday, huh? Oh well, I guess I should be thankful that I have a job and a home where I can wash clothes. I have a quote in my classroom that says something like: if God were to take away all of the things that I have not been thankful for, what would I have left?
Maryann, we have only a small amount of Christmas decorations out, too. I like to look at them, but I really hate to put them away at the end of the season. I'm glad you will be spending time with your daughter. Christmas is always a lot more fun when little ones are involved.
Nancy, it's good to hear from you! How are things going for you and your fam?
Rhonda, you must have really needed that rest! Good for you
Sloan, I wound up being all talk about taking my WW cake. I had the decadent cake and premium vanilla ice cream. And--the WW cake/WW fudge bar would have tasted better. Now is that justice or what!
Paula, congratulations on dropping those 4 pounds. I stayed the same this week. I'm all right with it but would have been more all right if I'd had a loss.
Sloan, I'd take half a pound, too. Congratulations on losing. Now climb that mountain. (or toss it or put check marks or....)
Vickie, thank you for the recipe. It sounds really good--and festive. I hope you get some sleep tonight.
Rhonda, I'm glad you're getting some rest.
Maryann, sounds like you're keeping really busy. Did I read correctly and you've lost 10 pounds? Congratulations, girl!
Sandra, I am almost to the top!!! One thing that is very annoying is that although I announced for two days in a row, some students failed to turn in work. I am one of those people that needs to finish a project all at once. I'm not good at going back and filling in. What I really want to do is give zeros, but if I do, the students' grades will really suffer. With layered curriculum, the only grades that are posted are unit grades. Each little assignment is included in the unit grade, so you end up with only a few grades posted in the grade book. It is really all the same, but if a student does not turn in their unit point sheet with the unit assignments, it really drops the term grade.
One thing I have discovered is that the layered curriculum method is successful. The overall understanding of the material and retention seems to be better than the method I was using, which was the way most people teach. It has been so much work, but I am very glad I have done it and will definitely continue. Sorry if I talked about this way too much, but I knew you'd understand.
Oh yes, sorry about the cake. Why would the ww cake have been better?
Sloan, I am glad the layered curriculum is working. Do the students have grace periods about turning work in after due date? Just wondering.
The ww 1 point chocolate cake/chocolate icing is really pretty good. I like to nuke it a few seconds then put a fudge bar on top and have a bowl of cake/ice cream. I use 3 cakes. They actually compute to 4 points; so with the ice cream, it's a 5 pt snack. That's a lot lower than what we had with the "high point" cake/ice cream today. Plus, the "hp" cake was dry and the frosting had too much shortening or something. Just wasn't good.
Good Morning Chicks! I had no sleep on Thursday night, but got 3 hours on Friday morning. On Friday night I got 12 hours! Last night not good again. I went to bed at midnight and woke back up at 4:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. I'm going to try to keep myself from napping later today so that I can get a full normal night sleep. Good news is that I have time to catch up with all of you!
Mary Ann, it is SO good to see you back here! I don't think it is wacky to talk to Leo. I would do the same thing. I think you should do whatever gives you comfort as long as it isn't self destructive. That's a shame about DD's family being sick. I hope they are ok. I'm sure you would have loved to have been with them. Thank God for Sisters, though. Don't worry about the 10 pound gain. Your body has had a shock. You'll focus on losing it again when you are ready. As far as the shadow box, I know they sell velcro that is sticky on both back sides. You could put it on the box and then it should stay closed. I think you could buy it at Michael's or any craft store. How was the parade and the weather?
Rhonda, I'm sorry about Doyle's Aunt. You were awesome with the kids. I don't think I could have done it. I'm sorry you have to leave Texas today but how exciting that it is only for 12 days!
Sloan, you sound like an awesome, caring teacher. I wish there were more teachers like you and Sandra and my Sister. It's so obvious how much you care. Is DD home yet? I'm glad she's trusting her instincts. You're right that she shouldn't be the one to have to leave school but she has to do what her gut is telling her. Congratulations on your successes with the buffet table. Calories and points can add up so quickly. I'm so proud of you for having such a nice loss despite all the holiday celebrations you've been faced with at work. I've been walking every day this week too. When is your trip to Disney?
Sandra, I'm happy for you that you are on program. You always sound so much happier when you are following a plan. I'm that way too. I think it's awesome that the cakes from the fabulous bakery don't taste as good to you anymore. It may be a sign that your tastes are changing. Have you ever tried the WW frozen desserts? Some of them are just downright sinful! Jim and I loved the chocolate chip one and the peanut butter cup. They are all about 3 or 4 points and well worth them.
Paula, HUGE congratulations on your four pound loss! That is just outstanding. I hope I can follow in your footsteps this week.
Hey Nancy! Always good to hear from you. Looking forward to hearing your funny story.
I hope you all have a beautiful Sunday. I've been walking every day this week and eating at the 1600 calories level. By all rights I should have a great loss this week. I took a peek at the scale a few minutes ago and it shows that I'm up .2. Double and triple harumph! I just don't get it.
Hey Vickie, you are so sweet! I always love to read your posts, because they are so uplifting!!! DD will be home some time after the fifteenth. We will be so glad to have her safe and sound. As for our trip to Disney, we will leave on Christmas day and drive about half the way (it is a 10 hour trip) then check in on the 26th. We can't wait
Sandra, the unit I'm grading was done one week ago, so yes, there is a grace period. The problem we have right now is that we are at the end of the semester, so we are running out of time. It's too bad about the cake. I guess you can "chalk it up" to a lesson learned, and have something yummy for Christmas!
Oh Vickie, one thing I wanted to ask. What have the docs said about your kidneys? I hope things are going well in that area. Let me know.
I'm on the last stack of papers, so I've got to get to it while I'm in the mood. BBL
The Nephrologist is hopeful that we can stop further damage, except for the inevitable aging process, if I reduce salt, exercise, lose weight and lower/manage my BP. I only have 55% of my kidney function left. It's even upsetting for me to say it out loud but I try not to focus on it because all it does is raise my BP. I'm trying to be a model patient. My BP is pretty good throughout the day but is high in the morning. So I may end up on more medicine at night. I'm taking my BP about four times a day. I just went to see the nurse and turned in my readings and calibrated/tested my monitor. They'd like me to get a cuff one but they are too small. So I use a wrist one made by Oregon Scientific. Mine is measuring systolic higher than theirs and diastolic lower than theirs. They like Omron better so I've ordered a new one for myself with automatic positioning sensor. I hope it's more accurate. I go back to the Nurse practitioner for more BP monitoring, calibrating, and maybe more medicine in two weeks. I feel consumed with it even though I'm trying not to be.
Now for breakfast and the treadmill. Day 6 for me. Quite the record.
Sorry for late posting,after church and brunch I started writing my Christmas cards and than I had to write a little note why I was signing Maryann on the cards.
What a wild morning I had,coming down for breakfast and see ice on the pathway and on my cars window shield,Yikes winter really hit last night and into this morning. I couldn't believe I had to go out in the freezing weather and get the ice off the car windows. That was LEO'S Job and now it mine,but I got to church on time,and told my friends what happened and the laughed and said welcome to the club.We had to do that for years.
SLOANE-Was going to decorate this afternoon but I got involved my my Christmas card writing will bring the decoration up tomorrow or on Tuesday.I'm so looking forward to going down to my DD now that the family is not tackling the swine flu anymore.
SANDRA=I only wish I gained 10lbs and now I have to get the poundage off. Don't think it will be this week weel we will see this Tuesday when I get on the scale.
VICKIE-Thanks I know that I lose the 10 again,I'll just have to say a prayer that the kids don't bring something else home from school that will effect the whole family,I really would like to be there on the Christmas/New Year Holiday. Thanks about the shadow box I never thought of Velcro I tried magnets and they just don't work.
Have to go start supper so have a good evening and I'll see you tomorrow
Vickie, I hope you're heading toward a good night's sleep tonight. Thank you for updating us on your health status. I hope you improve daily.
Sloan, semester down here ends the 18th. The kids I worked with Friday were working on scrapbook projects (world history). Maybe I'll get to see their completed projects when I have the same classes this coming Thurs/Fri.
Maryann, you'll get those pounds off soon. I have a good feeling about that.
Rhonda, I guess you're in the air headed to Toronto. I'm so excited you'll be back down here for good soon. Life is good.
My eating could have been a lot better today. I'm not working tomorrow so will make making healthy choices my main priority.
Don't have the time this morning to post have to get my house insurance updated,and see what the cost of my new insurance is going to be. Than I have to go out and get some milk & other goroceries,as my supermarket was blocked for yesterdays Christmas Parade.
Well to day I going to bring some of my Christmas decorations up from the basement and get a idea of what I should up up and what I should wait for until next year.
Got my the scale this morning and I'm down from 176 to 171 so I lost 5 lbs. Yipee!! Going on low carbing tomorrow and hope to lose some more before Christmas rolls around.
and doing laundry 
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