[Lydia227]

Shannon: Oh my goodness. You really need a break from all of this. Seriously things need to calm down a bit for you. I can imagine the amount of nervous energy you might have from the caffeine, the run, and the waiting in hospitals. I'm still eyeballing the progressive clock you forwarded. I'm wondering if my mother could use a new clock.

Pat: Enjoy your tree! DH and I had a fresh cut tree about fifteen years ago. It was beautiful...and free. One of my friends had an uncle in Michigan who owned a tree farm. I have a prelit tree now. It takes about three minutes to put it together and plug it in. There's no going back for me now. By the way, your dinner last night sounds fantastic. As Mr. Lydia would say, "Nom, Nom, Nom."

Mel: OUCH! Be careful out there. Nice job with dinner too. I'm hanging in there as each "holiday opportunity" arrives. There is something kind of calming at the end of the day when I've been able to honestly keep my self under control.

Silverbirch: Sounds like you are in much need of rest too. Love your description of carrying in the tree. I kind of that moment dragging around tarps full of leaves from the back of my yard to the curb this fall. (hand raked a 3/4 acre yard of wet leaves three weeks in a row) They were the only workouts I got while I was studying last month. so don't feel too bad for me. I did wear my lifting gloves once the blisters from the rake welled up.

Cheryl: It makes total sense that you should be able to continue to warm up in your way. I second what Mel said about it being unfortunate that you are no longer able to satisfy and explore your lifting interests in the way that serves you best right now. I really hope they don't take that away from you. I think we are similar in that we are interested and driven enough on our own that it's frustrating to be led or "guided" by someone else. Geesh. I hope this works out for you. It needs to be your "happy place" KWIM?

[4rabbit]

Hi all,

Shannon- how awfulll about your DH and MIL. I hope things are working out better now. Did you scedule an appointment with another doctor for DH yet ? Sounds like he is in pretty much pain, Stay strong..

Birch - ouch! Migraine is no fun. Definitely time for some R&R, yoga or meditation. Do you know the meditation CDs from Kabat-Zinn? The first one is a body scan, highly recommended. Good job on the tree too!

Pat - likewise on getting the tree1 Tiday is the 13th - only 8 more days to go to the solistice!

Mel - great work on the hanukkah party!

Cheryl - I hope stuff works out on the CF side. i second the thought that you should discuss with the trainer that the new warmup is taking away from your motivation.

Lydia, Interesting thought of the wo being your "happy place". I like the idea of having a "happy place"

I never realised how much food is involved in the december holidays. Overhere we are of inundated with commercials about all kinds of festive foods but coming from a mother that happily would eat sauerkraut & potatoes (or rice with hot stuff) at any occasion, including christmas, I have so far refrained from buying anything special apart from the food & chocolate for last weekend sinterklaas (whose servants btw throw around pepernoten, so like pats pfeffernusse) The real test will be in the next 2 weeks when the kids and myself have holidays. We are going to my sister at christmas itself so I do not need to shop for that, and otherwise there is also not much cause for splurges.

We'll see how it all works out. I have a hard time enjoying the holiday season because XH keeps coming up. First with the sinterklaas celebration which is a tradiational family occcassion; The large celebration at XHs side pretty much eclipsed my celebration at home and yesterday my son told me that he is going to spend a couple of days at XH next christmas holiday, and I get the same feeling. Time for some meditation on my side.

have a great weekend all,
Rabbit

[silverbirch]

Shannon - how are DH and MIL today? How are you bearing up?

I had a lovely day alone today. At work, no-one else in the building, food POP, beginning a research project. Wonderful. But no exercise. You win some, you lose some.

[Shannon in ATL]

We ended up admittig my MIL to the hospital last night, borderline pneumonia. Hopefully she will get to go home tomorrow. DH still in pain, going to try to get an appointment for him tomorrow.

I definitely need a break. And here I was planning on a slow weekend to get some laundry done and get prepared for the next two weeks of holiday buzz.

DH's ex is getting a little stir crazy I think - we were supposed to have DSS on Wensday night but missed it at the ER and momy gets a little crazy when she goes too long without a break where we keep him for at least a night. DSS is also a little wild and rambunctious today, lonely for daddy I think.

Rabbit - to you about the whole situation with your ex.

Lydia - I may hav to be buying myself another one of those clocks, too.

Glad you guys got your trees in!

Good day everyone.

[4rabbit]

hi all,

birch - glad you are feeling better
shannon- hoping things will slow down for you

I decorated my tree today and did my final hour of exercise for this week. Yay for another week OP, even if it is with a miss marple cum rowing machine combo. Afterwards treated myself to a nice hot bath with lavender. Tomorrow is off again to compensate my overtime on the Bruges trip.

Rabbit

[Lydia227]

Candlelight Yoga before bed. I forgot how great this feels. Time to make that a priority again.

[Mel]

Had a great weekend, despite torrential rains. Went to 2 parties and kept everything under control, got a lot of shopping and chores done, bulk cooking, and 2 workouts. Of course, now that it is Monday, the rain has FINALLY ended. oh well, I won't get wet in the parking lot

Mel

[Shannon in ATL]

Lydia - I did some yoga last night before bed, too. No candlelight, but I did turn off all the lights and have only the Christmas tree in my sitting room on. That was pretty peaceful, too.

Mel - good job on your parties this weekend!

Rabbit - a hot bath with lavender sounds fantastic right now...

MIL is still in the hospital, no release information on her file yet. Did a CT scan yesterday and are waiting for the results from that.
DH has an appointment with our doctor this afternoon at 3 as he is still having noticeable pain all concentrated in one place now.
DSS's mom is likely getting a sinus infection and is sounding that much more frazzled.
I slept right through my alarm this morning so again didn't exercise, and have a serious headache.
Grey day in Atlanta...

[silverbirch]

Shannon

[jamsk8r]

Morning, all. We got a little snow yesterday afternoon, just enough that the last 2 miles coming home from the gym had the truck spinning out after every stop sign. The tires my sister put on it are used light truck tires, and this is a full-sized pickup, so it's going to need something better to get through the winter. My van is a chevy also, from the same era, and probably parked for winter, so I may be able to put the van's tires, wheel and all, on the pickup. The van tires are new, 1 year and 2 years old, and actual big truck tires, so that would be a definite improvement. My road is iced over this morning, but it's melting, so I will have to hit the afternoon class today, and may try to get the tires changed out before then, if the wheels look like they'll make the switch.

I'm trying to have a new attitude about the new warm-up at my CF gym. I really do want to stay on, so I think I will talk to my trainer, see if I can do my own warm-up, or if not, maybe there's a compromise to be had. Maybe I can just include some of the movements from their warm-up, but scale the reps/rounds, so I have energy and time for some goal oriented practice as well.

Rabbit, I understand about the holidays being overshadowed by the xh. When my son's dad is in town, that always hangs over our heads, because he likes to take ds to his brother's house for Christmas day. We've been lucky last year and this year, as his dad is off sailing (for his job), so we'll be able to spend the day at home, relaxing and enjoying the holiday together.

(oops, hit send accidentally)

Pat, I think it's definitely the fat content..too high lately, plus I was having carbs during my holiday food fest, so I'm probably bloated from that, as well. I am back to measuring the fats...I don't need much...just enough to keep me from crashing in the workouts.

I've got to get the critter chores done, then I'll check back later.

[Shannon in ATL]

Cheryl - I've always thought of myself as pretty handy, but reading your post about changing over your own truck and van wheels made me see how little I actually do. Be careful!

[4rabbit]

Hi all,

It's COLD and DARK, Ugh! I hate winter. tonight we will have ouer first temperatures below freezing of the winter, and they are expecting snow. I hope they are mistaken ...I hate snow. Re tires: we actually have an average temperature of 7C in winter, so too warm for real winter tires. Everyone, myself included, keeps the summer tires and the one or two days that we have frost & snow on the roads are usually a nightmare.

OK, whined enough. 7 more days to go to the solistice. And I did go to power class today.<Patting myself on the back here>

Cheryl - sounds like you are chugging along on track.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

[jamsk8r]

Shannon, if I could get anybody else to do them, I would, but no money for that, so I'll have to do it if I want the job done before the next bout of snow/ice hits the roads. Did not have time today, and working tomorrow, but maybe Wednesday.

Rabbit, it's cold and dark here, as well. I try to see the long dark of winter as an opportunity to catch up on my reading and movie watching.

I made it to the gym this afternoon. (did not talk to my trainer yet, since the gym was too busy tonight) It was a kettlebell and double-unders workout. I did the (5x) single jumpropes this time, since I could not seem to coordinate even one double under at a time reliably. I got a pretty good time, too, which surprised me...usually I'm near the bottom of the barrel for metcon times. I'm getting better at keeping myself going even when I really, really want to stop during the metcons..the KBs were sets of 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10, and I only had to set the KB down twice, once each during the 40 and 30 rep sets.

I almost clobbered a kid with the KB, which really scared everybody. I was on the downswing from overhead, during my last set of KB swings, and one of the little kids walked right under my arms to go to the chalk bucket. Luckily I saw her and was able to avoid konking her in the head, but she got a good scare when some of the adults saw it and yelled a warning, so she was crying...she's maybe 4 or 5, and she and another little boy were doing their own workout in the corner, doing KB swings and squats, so she was coming to chalk up...how cute is that?! Anyway, I'm so glad I saw her in time...is my hair all gray now?

I'd better get some sleep tonight, so I can get up and to the gym in the morning. It's been a little warmer today, so I'm not expecting any trouble driving tomorrow. All I have to do is get up on time and kick my lazy butt out the door. I had fun tonight, so that helps with the motivation problem!

[Lydia227]

Cheryl: Thanks goodness you saw the little girl in time. Poor thing. Both of you. There just so small at that age too, they fly under your radar. Great job with the metcon. I have a hard time pushing myself sometimes too. Sometimes I do and sometimes, I'm just not feeling it. (Usually after a bad night of sleep)

Looks like winter is in full swing for a lot of us. (Fortunately we don't really get hit until February or March) I can handle just about two weeks of winter like weather and it's inconveniences and then I want it gone. Not a big fan of snow, ice, and school closings.

Shannon: How cool we were both doing yoga the same evening beside our trees. I had mine lit too. : Hope your family is doing better today or at least you have some news about what's happening so the healing can begin.

Mel: Nice Job with the parties. What's your secret? Actually, for me, I'm kind of in a place where the food isn't a big deal. 'Course that could change. I have to be careful. I'm trying to lean out which means that my carb ratio goes a little lower so I can still meet my protein requirements. That could be enough to plant me face first into the cookie plate by the end of the month. But right now...it's just not a big deal. So, I'll take that.

Off to put together a workout for myself this morning. Need a few new things to keep myself happy. Enjoy

[WaterRat]

Busy week here - I was supposed to be off for most of it, but I don't see that happening unless something changes.

Tonight is the beginning of my "8 nights of swimming." It's Tues-Fri this week and Tues-Wed each of the next two weeks. 5:15 - 6:30 each night. I think this will be better at helping me improve than last years 1x/week, though that helped some as well.

Sacha: I hope the puppy is okay.

at the rest of you before I plunge back into work.