Wonderful Weekend Chat on the Beach
 

:dance: The Weekend is Here! :dance:
:tree: I bet most of us will be runnin round like chickens that lost their heads .. heh hee... I'm definitely one of them.
Having my cuppa :coffee: and packing up the truck as we head for NJ today... then tomorrow I will do my Xmas shopping... tawk about last minute this year! We'll be back on the 29th..so all you chicks xxx0000, here's hopin your holiday is all you hope for!

Have a safe trip, Schatzi! And enjoy your holidays with your family, too! :hug:

Happy 1st day of Winter! :snow4: :snowglo: :shocksn:

We have all our gift shopping finished, but I still have to face the hourds of crowds in the grocery store. I don't really mind it all that much, though. It's all part of the excitement of the season. :xcheer: We're planning on going to the mall this afternoon, but just to sit on a bench with a cup of coffee and watch the holiday shoppers. It might sound a little weird, but I really enjoy just sitting there, people-watching. :)

So what is everyone else doing on this last weekend before Christmas?

:candy: :clause: :tree: :wreath: :rudolph:

Cottage
We are house sitting for some people we know this weekend. Going to go to the stores and do the normal shopping. I love shopping this time of year. All the people, Christmas music playing. I am never in a hurry so nothing bothers me except the people that just don't know how to drive and since they are around all year long that is nothing new lol. Sounds lovely to sit on the beach and watch the world go by.

Good morning!

Schatzi Dollink, God-speed on your journey. Follow the map, not the star, OK?

Shy, nice of you to pop in. Remind me to be as organized as you next year!

Cottage, sitting and relaxing with Jake while you watch the crowds sounds just great. Maybe even better with a coffee and Bailey's?

Yesterday was really hectic but I got a lot done. My son, DIL and GD were to come today but they've moved it to tomorrow. Good thing, because I'm not ready. I also want to go to the Mayor's Levee today and to a BD dinner party tonight. I've had some crappy Christmases but this will NOT be one of them. Two out of 68 isn't bad!

Today I will finish my Goodie Baskets for Claire and Doug and Rob and John and get them delivered - aka out of harm's way. I do have a minor grocery shop and a trip for booze planned but that's it, I hope. There is a bit of wrapping and a wall hanging to finish but..... Having company just before Christmas Eve is not a great idea if I am having my post-Church party on the Eve! Remind me about that next year! :lol:

'Tis the season to be as jolly as possible. I hope you find some laughter today!

:DHappy Holiday Weekend!!

:xcheer::tree::ginger::rudolph::dreidel::shocksn:

Schatzi: We sure will miss you around here! Be careful and good luck getting all your shopping done! Mewwy Chwistmas! :hug:

Cottage: People-watching at the mall sounds like fun! :D Once we arrive in Austin, Mom and I are supposed to head out to the mall for some last-minute gifts for her to give. Should be interesting. I'm definitely not used to the Christmas crowds anymore! Congrats on getting your shopping done!

Shy: Hope you find everything you need while shopping! Have a great weekend of housesitting! :wave:

Me: Well, I was able to get all of my work done yesterday and close down the office early. It was nice to come home and get an hour's head start on everything that needed to get done. The laundry's done, the house is straightened, the presents are wrapped and our bags are packed. We're scheduled to leave in an hour, but we'll see because DH is still in bed! I don't blame him, though. We were both up and moving about before we went to bed and didn't feel the need to turn on the heaters - it's freezing in there!! :brrr: I'm sure it's nice and toasty under the covers for him! Plus, he's never in as much of a hurry as I am to leave, so I'm sure I'll have to exercise some patience this morning. :tantrum:

Other than that, I'm just looking forward to the break and a nice visit with the family, some of which I haven't seen in two years! :yikes:

Well, enough blabbering, Kim! :blah: I've got to start getting ready so I look presentable when we see my parents -- I'm so excited!

Have a great day and I'm sure I'll check back in tonight!

~Kim

Ruth: We were simul-posting, and it's no wonder, since it takes me forever to find the smilies I want! :lol: I'm glad your company is giving you an extra day to prepare and have some fun! What's a BD dinner party? Anywho...I hope you have a lot of fun today and that you have plenty of time to finalize your preparations! :hug:

I think BD is birthday Kim. But I may be wrong as I have birthday on the brain (mine is tomorrow).
Cottage Have a great time people watching.
Schatzi Have a wonderful trip an be safe.
Ruth Good luck with the preps for the company.
:wave: Shy

Well the scale finally budged and dropped 2 pounds and after the last couple days I'll take any victory/good news I can get. So I changed my weigh in day and my ticker. Have a great day everyone I'm off to play in the snow in the mountains and birhday dinner with DF.

Thinby
Nice going on the weight loss.

Thank you Shy. The last 2 days have been a bit challenging so I don't know if it will stick but I changed my ticker in hopes of keeping my motivation high for the upcoming festivities. I just saw your ticker. You're only 1 pound away from the half way mark. Congratulations.

Good morning my dears! I had an early Christmas present this morning of a 2 lb. loss. At least it puts a little distance between me and the big 200, so if I gain a little over the next week, I can stay in onederland.
You're right, Schatz, today will be a long one. It's cleaning and baking day at our house. Hope you have a wonderful visit with your family!
cottage, Happy winter to you too! In our town the girl scouts handed out luminaria kits and asked everyone to set them out last night for the solstice. It was so pretty in town! I did my groceries last night and set a new record for the amount spend on groceries in one trip. The $45 bag of shrimp put me over the top. Anyway, I was there at 10:30 last night, and very tired, but the store was not busy, and I didn't want to have to do it today.
Kim, I'm glad you were able to get through all 98 - sounded like a lot of work! Have a great visit with your parents!
Ruth, busy as usual, sounds wonderful. Makes me wish I was close enough to get invited to your party!
Dawn, 2 must be the magic number this week! Hooray! See, even if you lost a battle yesterday, you are still winning the war!:hug:

So today we are making: **Food Porn**
Chocolate Chip
Oatmeal Raisin with Chocolate Chip
Decorated Sugar
Sugarplums
Swedish Strawberry
Chocolate Cherry Truffles

The last three are almost SB compliant. We are supposed to have 10 dozen just for the cookie exchange party tomorrow, but I think I may call the hostess and ask if we can only do 5 dozen. Of course, we would only bring home 5 dozen. As far as I'm concerned, that's more than we need. I was a nervous wreck this week when there were cookies in the house. I expect the next week to be very challenging. I mean really, the cookies terrify me. I am so afraid to end up back where I started. But, once a year, I don't want to disappoint the family.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...xmassnoopy.gif

I LOVE SNOOPY AND WOODSTOCK!!!!!!! (When I was little, I called them Boopy and Doodock.)

Well, I have a few days off before Christmas, but I work Christmas Day through the rest of next week. Need to get all my stuff wrapped up nice as I'm doing Christmas with friends tomorrow and with my family on Christmas Eve. Oy.

Abdul's in town this weekend so I'm sure I'll go shopping and hit the Barrelhead sometime today, as that's our place. Grilled Cheese sounds pretty good to me right about now!

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas weekend, in case I can't make it on here again! Love you girls! May you be blessed!

Lisa

Hi everyone. I've been away from the board for a long while. Glad to be back.

Great afternoon to my beach babe friends.

Busy busy busy is all I can say for me. I wanted to make a point to check in and see if all was well with everyone - not alot of people checkin n today.

Heard back from my doc & I don't have namonia just swellng on the lungs so I am taking 3 meds to get it under control.

Have a great day and I'll try & checkin on yall tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!!!!! :tree:

I just got back from getting my shopping done for Brian. I hate that I feel I can't do more for him but money is tight right now. I got him a book on gerbils and a $50 gift card from the pet store so he can get two gerbils and a cage. I also got him a gerbil toy for a stocking stuffer. From the craft store I got him some wallpaper horses that he can use to decorate his room once we paint it this coming week. And I got him some candy canes and bubble gum for a stocking stuffer.

He's got over $350 in WalMart gift cards from selling popcorn so he will be buying all the paint and stuff that he needs to use to redo his room. We'll still need to get a table or cabinet to put the gerbil cage on but he can find it and I can pay for it and he'll let me use the same value to buy groceries at WalMart. We looked to see if WalMart had a nice table but we didn't like the ones they had. I'm going to suggest we check out some unfinished furniture places and find something with storage to put all the food, bedding, etc inside.

We've been busy with pool stuff too. This morning it was 58 and nice but it will be in the 20's tonight with gusting winds of 30mph so winter is here.

Merry almost Christmas everyone!

We had Tom's squadron party last night and it was pretty fun. I got to meet some of the folks he works with who I've heard about over the past year and haven't been able to put faces to. That's always interesting! (You know, one of those times where you have to smile and stop yourself from saying, "Oh, *you're* Sgt. Suchandsuch!!!" :lol:) One funny thing is that the commander's wife gave me a big hug and we had a little conversation. I've never met her before, but I've e-mailed back and forth with her, as she started a spouses' group for the squadron. Tom was all excited that I gave him "an in". He's so funny! The kids survived with the babysitter, although she didn't do a LICK of cleaning up after dinner (which I had made for them) so I had to do dishes and sweep the floor after getting home from the party. Not that I ever expect the babysitter to scrub my house, but at least rinsing off the dishes would have been nice so I didn't have to spend a half hour scraping dried-on lasagna from our plates. What are you going to do???

Barbara, you should try some garage sales for that hamster stand. I bet once spring rolls around there are going to be plenty of people redecorating and you'll be able to get a steal! We've also found pretty decent kid-friendly furniture at IKEA. You have to assemble it yourself, but the price is right.

Gonnabe, hope the meds clear up your lungs for you so you feel better by Tuesday!

FoodObsessed, it's nice to "meet" you! :wave: Keep checking in!

Lisa, have a lovely time with Abdul. You always speak of him so fondly. I forget...is he your brother?

Schmoo, 197?! You're on fire, woman!

Dawn, motivation indeed! Keep up the good work!

Kim, have a good trip! I've just recently discovered the wonderful World of Smileys myself and they're awful fun! :D

Ruth, have a great visit with the family. I'm jealous as we won't be able to see ours this year...

Rennie, have fun shopping!

Linda, have fun people watching! My in-laws love to people watch!!!

Schatzi, drive safely!!!

Time to get a good breakfast in my belly and then get all gussied up for church. I was chatting with a friend at the homeschool group on Friday and mentioned we couldn't find any molasses for making our gingerbread houses and she offered hers since she's done with it for the year, so we get to make gingerbread after all! That will be our project for tomorrow. Today we're making crafty stockings so the kids can have something for this year (our regular ones are in California in the storage locker, like everything else...).

Have a great weekend!!!

Kara