Good Morning, Beach Chicks~~

Got a good night's sleep and I'm already showered, dressed and even have my face on!

BIL got back from his two days in Columbus last night. Damn! I was really hoping he'd find some Army chick to hook up with over the weekend, too.

Got my sister's dh's Christmas present made...an "official retirement coffee mug" that I painted myself. An artiste I am NOT...but I think I did a fairly good job...if anyone asks...he can say it was made by one of those "primitive folk artists"

On a bit of a downer...someone got hold of our debit card info and charged almost $300 to our checking account. Luckily, DH caught it before the charge had a chance to even get all the way through and called the bank and cancelled our cards and disputed the transaction. Unfortunately, that means I have to go down to the bank today and get a new card issued for myself and we have to wait to send out our bills til this mess is cleared up. Guess someone thought they could slip something through and we wouldn't notice...but when you count every penny, you keep a real sharp eye on every transaction. It just pissed me off b/c our mortgage payment is due this week. Hope it doesn't cause problems with that.

Well, gotta go feed the bunny and the kitties...I'll pop back in later if I have time...otherwise, you all have a great day on the Beach!

Mamacita

Oh Mama... I am so sorry that happened to you! But you are right thank God you caught it before they went wild. DH always worries about that. Especially usin it on line. I always use our CC for that never our debit card. I hope everything works out ok. They say the new thing is usin a camera phone to take a pic of your dc/cc when you are checking out and then use it like that. It is sad that you have to be on your guard everywhere you go! Maybe BIL knows where your yarn is!!!!!!! teehee

Hello everyone! Nothin happenin here. We were all supposed to be goin to Woodstock, Ga. today for the Christmas Festival at our friends tree/plant nursery but.... DS seems to have an attitude so he and I will be staying home! I hope you all have a great day and a great weekend! I'll check on y'all chicks later! Stay OP! teehee

Morning all

Finally Friday WHoo Hoo!!

The scale this morning said 238lbs, but I will wait until Monday's offical weigh-in to change my ticker - I hope it sticks!

Didn't eat real well last night - DS's daycare Open House - they had finger foods - but I had a parent-teacher interview so got there late and the pickings were very slim - had two meatballs, one chicken finger, a pc of pumpernickle bread with spinach dip & a merange (sp?) cookie. I was still hungry when we got home but hadn't taken any food out - reached for my dark rye bread which had gone completely moldy! I had some two nights ago and it was fine - so I made 2 pcs of ww bread (not the really good for you stuff either) but only ate one because DS said he was still hungry too.

I have kind of slacked off on my being prepared - all my lunches, snacks etc.. I actually forgot to make my lunch last night and had to rush to do it this am.

Have to get organized again this weekend. No other major plans for the weekend, most of my shopping is done and what isn't can wait until payday next week. I guess this weekend is for cleaning and cooking and if I am lucky maybe some reading - I just got a couple books from the library - the Thin for Life book that is mentioned here (3FC) (and the cookbook) and did you know the Jimmy Buffett writes? I have a Jimmy Buffett book too - I think it is his memoires "A pirate looks at fifty".

So have a good Friday and weekend everyone.

Kim

Mamacita, that's horrible! Thank goodness you caught it in time!

Oh, Bamie... I'm sorry you have to stay home! How old is your son?

Kim, looks like your scale is moving in the right direction... good going, girl!!

It's FREEZING in here! I'm sitting in my pantry, and there's a terrible draft coming through the window. Must get out the window plastic...

More snow today. It already looks like January out there. NOT impressed!! Normally (well, lately), the snow doesn't stick until around Christmas.
Speaking of which, I'm getting out there to shop today. I'm not usually this behind. It's making me uneasy.
I've just about cleared out the dining room of renovation stuff. We've got room to put up the tree this weekend.
Next I'll tackle the living room.
DH is going to hook up the dishwasher this weekend, install the counter top and sink, and we'll be able to maybe cook something!

Going to get coffee... love you all...

Good snowy morning! The Girls barked at 2 AM so I knew it had snowed. (Neighbour Ralph works for the township and started his truck. I guess he got called in to plow and sand.) Anyhow, it's a real winter wonderland out there and Lucy is so excited she is nearly wiggling out of her skin. "Everything smells different when covered with snow, Mum!"

Mama, that's just terrible about your card! Is there any way you can blame it on BIL? Good thing your DH was on the ball.

Bamie, so sorry you are going to miss the Christmas Festival. It sounded like you were looking forward to it. DS needs an attitude adjustment, maybe? Kids! I remember it well.

Kim, blue dark rye bread is too dark! I am dying for some really good dark rye but will have to wait until I get to a big city - like Kingston. I need to do an SBD friendly shop too and get organized or I'll go under.

I had a wonderful shop yesterday and Jane even helped me carry in the groceries. A miracle as she is a very lazy homemaker! Later today I must take the food I bought to the Food Bank for storage until we make up the Christmas baskets. (I really don't want 24 cans of cranberry sauce to freeze and split in my trunk!) Harry is determined to ditch his King Herod Beard today and we'll work in a Library trip at the same time.
A few parcels will get wrapped today and I have a roast planned for dinner so I am feeling fairly organized.

And it's Friday! Have a great weekend, Chickies!

Mamacita--Geez how terrible. I think the bank puts the money back in pretty quickly. Any idea how it happened?

Ellis, we posted together. Have a good shop today. Are you getting into the Christmas spirit? Maybe putting up the tree will help. Since it's snowing, it may be time to ditch the Birkies, right? (((Ellis)))

No no, darling. You just wear socks with them!

Good morning ladies...just stepped on the scale for the first time since I began this (5 days ago), and i am down 3.5 lbs! I feel like all i have been doing is eating (not used to the snack deal yet) and i LOST? I already told my mom and best friend to start this program, its super simple! MY roommate lost 3 lbs so far, and tonight is our "celebration" night, so i am making the taco soup and the brownies to celebrate getting through finals week without cheating.
Have a good day!

Yeah! Friday!

I'm goin to Chicago I'm goin to Chicago! I leave early tomorrow am and won't be able to visit with you guys until Monday. Hope everyone stays OP! I should be fine. My only cheat will be with wine and that is OP for me at this point. Ok - maybe not a whole bottle is OP but that is where the cheat comes in. We have the "largest" craft show in the midwest on Saturday then Gurnee Mills mall on Sunday.

I can't believe that I weighed in on Wednesday with weight loss and TOM started on Thursday. How does that happen? I was a little snacky this morning. I've already had 2 mini quiches, a big bowl of overnight slaw and that just didn't touch the chocolate spot - so I had a bowl of ricotta with splenda, coco powder and peanuts - that wasn't enough so now I have a sf/ff/lc decaf carmel latte. I've only been up for 3 hours. I'm going to end up having broth this evening.

Mama - how terrible. Glad you guys caught it! That is a crime that is seriously on the rise. Good for your DH for being so vigilant.

Bami - Should I send my sister from Lousiana to "yes ma'am" that boy to death. How old is he? I just want to prepare for when my DS gets to that age! Sorry you had to miss the party!

Ellis - wow you guys are moving along - you actually might get to cook in your new kitchen! Yeah!

Ruth - dogs do love snow! I remember that my rottie would get all frisky from his first play in the snow every year.

Stardust - Way to go - even through finals - you are a stronger woman than I am. Keep up the good work!

I'll try to check in later. Have a great day!

Morning, all!

Mamacita, it's great to hear you so upbeat, especially after what happened with your card! I hope that it can be resolved very quickly! Your mug sounds great! Isn't it nice to be creative?

Bamie, it does sound like you were looking forward to that trip! So sorry your son is being a goofball, but glad you are being firm and consistent with him. It will pay off in the long run!

Bups, congrats on the loss! I find that at events like the open house, I do better to either eat before, or take my own snacks and plan to eat after. When I take a chance that there will be something I can eat, I end up eating things I know aren't OP. I hope you can get a shopping trip in soon...it's so nice to have the house full of OP stuff!

Ellis, you wear those Birks, girlie! I love Birks with socks! They look so comfy. Sorry about the snow...we got some too, but just a dusting. So glad the kitchen is coming together and you'll be able to decorate. It must be so nice to start organizing the house. We're not doing a reno and we are having a party in two weeks, but we still have a huge mess in the house!

Ruth, you are so organized, you kill me! I'm so glad that you are able to do a bit of fun running around today. I bet DH will be gorgeous with that beard gone, and the library...oh what fun! I love your description of Lucy! Lady (our pup) loves smells in the snow. There was a huge boulder of snow on the corner last year that had great smells buried inside it. She kept trying to push her nose through to the middle!

Stardust, on the loss and most of all, on your great attitude! I bet you'll have a wonderful celebration dinner!!!

Anchor, have a great time in Chicago...sounds fantastic!!!

Me:
I'm a bit down today for no real reason. I weighed in for the second day at 222.5, and figured out this morning (math was never my strong suit) that if that weigh in is true, I've lost 103.5 lbs!!! That ought to be enough to make me feel good! We have this holiday banquet tonight at work...it involves a lot of food and sitting with students I don't know. I'm just cranky about having to go to it instead of going out to dinner and relaxing with my wonderful DH. Oy!

So this morning, something really weird happened. We have a four poster bed, and wanted a canopy for it. For Christmas two years ago, DH had a local craftsman make one. The finials for the posts unscrew and so we put them through the holes in the canopy ends to fix it on. Unfortunately, the screws weren't long enough to make it through the canopy and into the posts. We've always meant to do something about it, but the canopy has been up there like that for two years (in spite of some shaking from time to time ). This morning, I got up, thinking the alarm was going off. When I got out of bed, I thought that I heard a noise from the canopy, so I touched the part near me and found it was fine. I turned to go to the alarm and suddenly tripped with great force and landed face first on the floor. While lying there, I heard a big noise. I turned around and found that the canopy had fallen off the posts all over! Nothing had landed on me at all. Did my Guardian Angel push me out of the way? It was way weird! I collected up the pieces and found that the only damage was a lamp whose socket seems to have broken in half. Neither the ceramic lamp base nor the bulb was broken. Amazing! Need to get some longer screws...maybe this weekend? Certainly before we put it back up.

Plan to spend the weekend working on shopping for gifts, wrapping gifts, planning our Christmas party, getting gifts ready for shipping, and working on homework.

Hope everyone has a great Friday and lots of fun over the weekend! Stay warm!

Good mornining everyone. I am so glad that it is Friday today. This has been one huge long week. It seems so long that DH and I had a dispute about what happened in church last Sunday...he is convinced that it happened about 3 weeks ago.

Mama - So sorry to hear about the debit card. Identity theft and theft of information from debit cards is a growing problem. Theft of debit information can happen whether you are using your card online, or not. As someone mentioned, some retail employees are using their employer's surveillance cameras to pick up pin numbers at point of sale. Soooo, when using your debit card make sure that you keep the card in your sights at all times. Some employees use a hidden machine to scan the info from the card when you are preoccupied. Also, cover your hand when you are entering your pin number. That way, even if they have the info from the debit card, they cannot get the pin number from surveillance cameras. The debit machines have the flaps that prevent the person next to you from seeing your pin number, but do not prevent anything overhead. I personally don't use my debit card online...risk is too high. At least with a credit card, the fee can be disputed.

Bamiegurl - Oh no! Not going to the festival. What a shame. Hopefully things will work out. Have a good weekend, anyway.

Kim - Congrats on the weight loss. Keeping the fingers crossed that it sticks till weigh in on Monday. I have fallen behind on planning meals, etc. so want to regroup again this weekend - especially before Christmas hits too hard.

ellis - Snow...we haven't got any snow right now. We keep waiting, but the grass is brown and waiting to be coated. Glad that the renovation is in the final stages. DH and I are installing hardwood flooring in our bedroom this weekend. It would be nice to have it finished by Sunday, but realistically, we will be lucky to have it done by the end of next weekend. We can always dream, though.

Ruth - I can only wish that I was organized. I always plan to be organized for Christmas by the beginning of December, but life always seems to get in the way. I have to wait until we finish flooring before I can even clean for Christmas. I really am hoping that we get it done by next weekend, though. That's cutting the cleaning/decorating pretty tight. Ellis is right - just put on socks with the Birkies, unless you are like me and dislike putting socks on, too. I just wear mine barefooted through the snow...

Stardust - Congrats on the weight loss. WTG!!! I find the same...so simple. Once you learn what to eat and what not to eat, check labels, etc., it really is an easy way to keep OP. Good to hear that you are also celebrating. Have a great time.

anchor - Have a great time in Chicago. Talk to you on Monday.

Me - No much happening here, other than I am still working on losing 2 pounds from my overeating episode Wed. night. It should be gone by the end of the weekend, especially with the work that we have planned to do this weekend.

We went to the light up the city celebration in our community last night. Zoe (our puppy) had a great time. She was awestruck by the horses, met all kinds of other dogs there and played with the kids that went. She was in her glory and behaved very well considering she doesn't get around strangers very much. We met our new ministers there last night, as well and ended up at their house for coffee afterwards. As we got to talking, we found out that she is really good friends with DH's sister in Ontario, that a really old friend of ours from when we lived in Calgary is her step-father, etc. She was stunned that we new him....so, it will be good to get into contact again.

I plan to get to the track again today...I'm sorry to say that I have missed 2 days this week because of work committments and did not get to the track after work, ether. However, I will get back at it this week and try to get these extra pounds off once again.

Have a lot of running around to do after work so that we will be able to get started on the floor early tomorrow morning and not worry about taking time to get other stuff done.

Hope everyone has a great weekend...our computer has been disconnected so we can install the flooring, so I won't be back til Monday. Take care.

Well DS will be 15 Monday! It's really not that bad cause I have a lot to do around here and he does not know it yet but he gets to help!!!!!!!!haha Besides the fact that it is outside and kind of on a hill side and i was a lil worried about how my knee would handle it especially since it has really been hurting this week due to the major drop in temps down here. I'll just live through y'alls adventures! Can't wait to get to the craft show with Anchor! Or cook with Eliss in the new kitchen. Shovel snow with Ruth... and the list goes on! teehee Sorry Stardust I have no intrest in finals! haha See y'all chickies later I'm goin to set up DS tv and surround sound in my guest room becasue I took it away from him after last weeks episode! I'm sure that will get him when he gets home to find it set up now! Mean Mommie! teehee

Mamacita: I'm so sorry about your debit card DH has had Identity theft 3 times mostly from restaurants I love your cup idea last year when my gf was pregnant on her 30th bday I did a tshirt for her and wrote hot momma in glitter tacky but she loved it
Bamie I'm sorry about your day
Bups i think you did well at your open house better than I.. . i can't believe your shopping is done want to do mine
Ellis we don't have snow but i feel your pain we need to cover our windows (AC) too I'm freeeeeeeeeezing
Ruth our dog (at my moms) almost never barks till a big scary truck comes by then Moo runs to me for protection he does it during t-storms too
Anchor I'm drooling over your craft show! have a great time
Laurie! OMG congrats on the 103 did you lose it all on sbd? thats freaky about your canopy but i totally believe in angels! so i bet that was yours
me I finished a project today and am starting another in about an hour we are putting our tree up tonight and decorating tommorrow! DH works his firehouse treesale so we get our tree for $25 and we like big trees.
I have a SBD question were you all grumpy during phase 1? Dh has said I have been a bit grumpy this week also My Mom and sister made me stop atkins b/c I became the B1tchmaster general so I just wanted to see if this was normal and it will pass
Thanks!
Kierie

OMG Laurie! I totally missed your post somehow... maybe casue I was on the phone! haha I am sooo glad you are OK! I hope you thanked your Angels! teehee! Get those screws and be careful! Glad you and DH wasn't shakin the bed as you put it! hahahahaha I can resist anything except temptation! haha Glad everything is ok!

KO... Well I have not noticed being anymore witchy than usual myself! haha But you probably can't get much worse than I was to start with!!!!!!! I think I will go to my doc and beg for a chill pill! hahahaahaha! I'm sure this was of no help whatsoever but.... I am postin it anyway. teehee