I had a long post and lost it. Ugh.

This week has been a mix of terrible eating days and not so bad days. Today is going better. It was not a good idea to prepare 3 batches of cookie dough and freeze them in logs earlier this week. The remainder of the logs went in the trash, and now I am searching for a last-minute idea for holiday gifts that doesn't involve high binge risk.

The Rotary talent show was a blast. My group was so bad, we were good. The audience appreciated our good-natured attempts at singing, remembering lines, and choreography. There were actual talented members performing, but none of them were in our group. :D . After the show, one woman came up to me with a "compliment" on my courage to get up in front of an audience. :lol:

I had an interesting experience dining with a friend last night that I posted about in the 100 lbs section. Ugh.

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Nancy, you look like a completely different person. You were attractive before, but now you are even prettier, and are glowing. What a difference!

Have a great time with your family.

Catherine: what else is on the menu for Christmas Eve? I'm laughing at the thought of cutting out pictures for your DH to take to the grocery store. How good of you to go through with the dinner, given your injuries.

Valerie: Great news on this being winter solstice. The early darkness is hard to deal with. Have fun shopping. I know you'll manage just fine.

Heather: we're coming out of the cookie fog together. I can't wait for this eating season to be over.

Annie: You're doing so well resisting all the office treats. This new job could have been the beginning of serious challenges to your new eating style, but you are being so resolute it's amazing. Congrats on the loss.

MsCrockett: Good luck on finding the right eating plan for you. It's often trial and error to find the best plan for the long term.

Cyn: You can do it. You can change your habits, beginning now.

Kayley: Welcome back.

Debbie: Yay, I'm glad you're maintaining. You've had a lot going on, and maintaining is a wonderful accomplishment.

Judo: welcome.

Cookie fog. That's exactly the right term for it. :hug:

Hi Everyone,

Things are going pretty well here, with most of the things organised for Christmas. We are heading down to Mum’s tomorrow and will pick up a few last minute things down there. Hopefully later today we will do a gift exchange with close friends, and then we just need to sort out what we will be taking with us.

I had my last day of Roving Carols around the city yesterday. I have had such a wonderful time!!! Neil came in with me every day and took photos, which everyone really appreciated. The ladies have kinda adopted him as our official photographer and they all seemed to love him as well. They are such a fantastic group of people. It felt SO wonderful to sing in front of people and I loved seeing the responses we got from everyone. Of course there were one or two teenagers who called out words to the songs, or tried to conduct us as they attempted to show off to their mates, but they didn’t phase me at all. I was just extremely happy with the positive responses from everyone else. I truly felt as though we made SO many people’s days brighter with a little song and a few smiles. A lot of people seemed to be dashing around the place either getting to/from work or trying to do their Christmas shopping. I think that a little break, to listen to a Carol or two, before heading off again, made a lovely break in the middle of their hectic lives. I may be putting too much importance on what we did, but that was the feeling I got from the responses we received. I can’t wait to do it again next year!

I have been reading a lot about how worried people are about getting through the Holiday season and I couldn’t work out why it would be so difficult for everyone. Well... after I actually thought about it, I realised that it is probably easier for those of us who celebrate Christmas, New Year etc. in the warmer weather. We are actually expecting 38C/100F for Christmas Day. That is going to be quite a stinker and I REALLY hope that Mum’s airconditioning works!!! But at least with the warmer weather it seems easier to stick with a healthier eating regime. I have figured that we will have cold chicken, turkey, ham and lots of salad. I won’t eat the ham (well, maybe a bit, but I actually prefer chicken and turkey) , but there will be plenty of other ‘healthy’ stuff for the main meal and I will have fresh fruit salad and ricotta cream (ricotta cream with Splenda and vanilla essence) for dessert. I have also planned what snacks I want to take down with me to Mum’s, so I am not worried at all about eating off plan. I DO know that I had a hard time at some moments through Winter though, as I wanted warm ‘comfort’ foods and I actually put on a few pounds that I am currently taking off. So I now know why many people may be a little concerned about the holiday eating that they may be tempted with. I hope that you all manage to eat as sensibly as possible and you don’t have a guilt trip afterwards if you do eat a little off plan. Neil and I are planning on walking every morning while we are away (we’ll be away until Friday, as we are helping Mum pack up ready to move back to our home town) and I know that will help a lot. We will have to get out pretty early to avoid the heat though. Luckily we are both morning people, so that won’t be a problem.

Catherine – You must have many grateful people visiting your place over Christmas. It must be SO reassuring to them to know that they have the ‘safety’ of your home to share in the festivities. I truly hope that you are moving more comfortably soon and can enjoy the holiday season a little more. Mind you, it sounds as though Himself is doing a great job getting things ready for you.

Crock – It is GREAT to see you back. It sounds as though you are determined about starting up again and you have a few things planned to keep you on track in the new year. Good luck with everything! Sorry to hear that your leg is still causing you pain. I wouldn’t imagine that that would encourage you to plan some exercise into your day. I hope you can find some kind of solution soon.

Kayley – Of COURSE we remember you! Are you still doing those beautiful walks with that lovely man of yours? I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and you are able to get ‘back on track’ soon.

Val – I am SO glad that you are able to get the horses boarded at a place you know and trust and that will free up your time for other things, particularly RIDING, which I know is something you absolutely love. It sounds as though you and Gabe have a good relationship now and he is obviously becoming very comfortable with you on his back.

Sharon – I am sorry to hear about the confidence issues you have been having recently. I know when I was at my biggest I didn’t want to go out in public except to go to work. I would have stayed at home totally if I could have, but I couldn’t avoid work. I only started going out again when Neil came over here and I wanted to show him around. It was great having him with me, as he helped my confidence a little. I know that you issues probably aren’t to do with the way you look, but I just wanted to let you know that I understand a little about how you feel and I wish I could help in some way.
It seems funny that Aiden is changing grades in the middle of your school year. How does that work? Over here, the kids can enrol in Kindergarten (our first year of schooling) at the beginning of the school year if they turn 4 before June of that year. If they turn 4 after June then they have to wait until the following school year. We go from Kindergarten to Pre-Primary, to Year 1, 2 etc, to Year 7 in Primary School, then they have 5 years of High School. It is compulsory to stay in some kind of schooling until they are 17, but this could be either High School or some other type of traineeship. I am always interested in how other education systems work.

Donna – I’m glad your John Edward experience was pretty good, even though he didn’t read any of you. At least now you know what it is all like first-hand and you can always decide at a later date if you want to try again for a reading.
Congratulations on your lower cholesterol count!! It is that sort of thing that makes me SO proud about losing weight. I am just thrilled that I am healthier and I love seeing numbers that prove that.
It didn’t sound as though you or Sammi hurt yourselves when you fell, so I hope you are OK. I can imagine it would have made quite a sight when you BOTH fell over one after the other. It would have been one of those moments where you couldn’t repeat it if you tried!
Sorry to hear about Scott’s (latest) accident. It does sound as though he may need to have a little more training... or something. Oh... and I am sorry, but you won’t be getting any bids from me! I certainly don’t have the patience to be a parent of a teenager. I think I would send HIM in to be rebuilt with the car... just to see what improvements could be made. LOL Just out of curiosity, when they do Driver’s Ed over there, do they teach them to reverse into parking bays? We have a Licensing station nearby and we see SO many people teaching others to drive and ALL of them seem to be teaching them to reverse into parking bays. I find this interesting because I never got taught to do this and I find it MUCH quicker to drive forward into a parking bay and then to reverse out than the other way around. I get so frustrated when I sit and wait for someone to take 4 or 5 tries to reverse into a parking bay. I always feel that it would not take anywhere that many tries to reverse OUT of the bay. I never understand why people do that.

BattleAx – I am sorry you have had a cold. I hope it is getting better and you are back you 100% for Christmas. I spent the last week of school with a cold, but I am fine now. Only problem was that I gave it to poor hubby and he isn’t feeling too great now. Hopefully he will be feeling better for Christmas too.
Sorry to hear about your friends moving away. I have always been a pretty solitary person. Not ‘unsociable’, but I enjoy my own company and I like being with just hubby most of the time. I can understand how important company is to some people though, so I hope you don’t have TOO many people move away from you. At least you will have LOTS of new places to visit!
I was also sorry to hear about the incident you had with your friend when you went out to dinner. I was wondering whether she is truly worried about you becoming smaller than she is and in some way this is making her feel guilty about what she is eating so she is telling herself that YOU are doing something to cause this guilt when you go out to eat. I hope that you can sit and have a heart-to-heart talk with her and settle this before it causes a huge rift between you.

Annie – It is great to see that the scales are continuing to reflect what a fantastic job you are doing with your new lifestyle. I truly wish that a colleague of mine could meet you and see how you can make WLS work. She had a lapband put in at the beginning of 2005 and have a feeling that she thought it would be a ‘magical cure’, so she perhaps didn’t put in the effort to change her lifestyle that she needed to. She lost a bit of weight at the beginning, but she hasn’t lost anything since then. She told me that she HATES vegetables, so she doesn’t eat them. She also said that she could eat anything she wanted at the beginning, as long as it could be pureed (sp?)... and she did. She now only eats fairly small portions (when I see her eating), but they are usually not very healthy and mostly carbs. I just see how much success you are having and I wish I could help her in some way, but I understand how ‘personal’ the process is for each and every one of us and I can only hope that she will have her ‘click’ moment some time, as many of us have had.
It is great that you have a new office now that you can personalise and feel a true ownership about. I love adding lots of personal touches to my desk area at school. It makes it feel more ‘homely’. I have photos and teddies and all sorts of bits and pieces.

Debbie – I am sorry to hear about your FIL. It is lovely that everyone managed to get together and see each other before he went though. That is one of the things that consoled me when Dad passed away earlier this year. I loved the fact that we got to spend some time with him while he was still able to communicate with us.
I hope Sadie is fine now. That would have been quite a scary thing to have happen. She is a clever dog, but perhaps you could do with her NOT being so clever huh?
Don’t you just HATE airplane seats!? When Neil and I went to the US a couple of years back we flew Business Class because I had so much trouble fitting into the seats before and the flights are SO long. I was actually smaller and would have been able to fit in the seats, but the Business seats were SOOOO much more comfortable and we could lay them right back to sleep. It was wonderful. We won’t be able to afford to do that when we go to Hawaii in November 08, but I don’t think the flights are as long, so hopefully we will be OK.

Heather – I was SO embarrassed when I flew at my largest weight and couldn’t get the tray table down. I ended up putting a cushion on my lap/belly and placing the tray on that. I was the same as you when I flew at a smaller size and the tray table could go down. I think I put it up and down just for the fun of it, to prove it could be done, not because I needed it down. People must have thought I was a little weird playing Yo-Yo with the tray table! And we won’t even MENTION the rest rooms on planes!!! They are ridiculously small!!!!!!

Story – Did you survive all of the Holiday baking? Or are you buried under it all somewhere? I just realised another benefit to not liking to bake. In 100F weather you really do NOT want the oven on for any longer than it has to be! I am sorry, but if my mother and boyfriend gave me requests for baking, when I was trying to avoid things like that, I would give them the address of the closes bakery/cookie shop/supermarket etc... They are lucky that you didn’t throw the recipes at them and tell them they could do them themselves. You are obviously a MUCH nicer person than I am.

Sandy – Sorry to hear that you have a cold. Fingers crossed that it is all better by Christmas Day. Well, perhaps a little earlier than that so you can get some organising done in comfort. I am glad that Abby is over her cold. It was a pity that she still wasn’t well enough to appreciate the snow day off from school. I know that this sounds ‘cold’, but is there any chance that your SD could be going to her mother’s for Christmas? I know that her dad may miss her, but I don’t think anyone else would. She sounds like her main aim in life is to make other people miserable. Is she OK to Abby, or does she hassle her as well? That would REALLY aggravate me, if she picked on younger kids.

Nancy –
I laughed at your NSV about running after the delivery man. I have noticed many times that I have actually done something and only thought about it afterwards and surprised myself that I actually DID it. I am pretty sure that if I actually gave myself time to think about it I would doubt myself and maybe wouldn’t do it. For example I was wondering for a while why I was so shaky putting my socks on and then I worked out that I was putting them on while I was standing up. I had spent SO many years sitting down to put on my clothes that I didn’t even realise that I had started doing it while I was standing up. If I had thought about it I would have worried about falling down and would probably just have kept sitting down to do it. There have been many such examples, but that is just one that I can think of. I hope you have MANY more moments like this in your life.
Congratulations on the scales reflecting the hard work you are putting in. You really are our resident “Dancing Queen” and I love hearing about your latest endeavours.
Your new pic is GORGEOUS! It is great that you had the photo taken in the same top, but it is good that it doesn’t show too much of the top, as I would imagine it is VERY floppy. You will have to look for a new “Christmas Photo” top.

Well... I have just realised that I have written another novel, but this could be my last chance to write before we head to Mum’s for Christmas and she doesn’t have an Internet connection (or a computer for that matter) so I won’t be back into the ‘civilised’ world until later Friday.

Sorry for those people I missed, but I will try to catch up on everyone else next post.

I want to wish you all a truly wonderful Christmas, surrounded by love and laughter. I look forward to getting on later in the week and reading about how you all spent the day.

Take care,

Zelma

Hello Everyone..

Annie,~~ Yes I did some hunting this year, My leg hurts when I am on it for a while, and I use a treestand.. but my lower back goes out every so often, which stops me for about 4 days then I am good to go for a while ,then it happens again, viscious cycle!(lol) I have some pics, let me know and I will see that you get them...I changed my pic,, The one you see now is at my Camp.

BattleAx~~Thanks, I do agree with trial and error.. when I am not thinking or planning is when I am at my best.. ha ha..

Zelma~~ I can excercise, just no sit ups and things that will stress the back, I have some excercises from therapy and I do them all the time, plus I am busy,,, as in walking,tinkerring out side, keeping wood stacked , and split on the good days,, It really isnt a matter of if I can, it is I have to.. ya know>?

Kayley~~Whats Up? How are things with you , and are you married yet?

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope all is a happy time.

The menu for the dinner is very simple. Turkey, Oklahoma chilli, hominy rice and some cranberry sauce. I'm not making a bunch of vegetables because the last two times, no one has touched them. They put chili on their turkey or on the rice. Some will come and not eat anything because they are afraid of being poisoned. I don't put out anything with sugar in it because the meds these guys are on cause diabetes, so half are already diabetic, or they are afraid of becoming so. Naturally everyone also shows up with desserts, but I can't be blamed for that. Some will just make a turkey sandwich and leave. We also get some single/widower types from church. We try to keep it as informal and relaxed as possible. We do paper plates and just watch movies. The amount of chili they go through is staggering. I buy crushed tomatoes in those big number 10 cans they use in restaurants. I have had to adjust my recipe a bit because I can't get regular chili powder here. What I can get is from Somalia, and it is 10 times hotter, so I have to remind myself to use less.

Hi Kayley, I remember you!! Glad to see you back.

Cyn, I know what you mean about not being in the mood. I've done all the things I normally do, baking, decorating and stuff like that, but it just wasn't the same after all thats happened. Hopefully you and I will both get our selves together after the holidays and we will begin to lose the weight again. I'm here for ya!! Remember how we started? It was all baby steps, so I guess that is where we have to start again.

MsCrockett, those are my furbabies. James is the gray striped and Matilday is the black. Both from the same mom but you would never know it.

Heather, you'll have those off in no time!!! This is just a crummy time of year to try and be good.

Val, ok...spring already??? I'm just getting into the winter mood and here you are wanting spring already. :rofl: Although I've got to say, I've been thinking of my gardens too. :lol:

Catherine, that is so neat the way you do Christmas. It almost sounds like a scavenger hunt to go on to find the right house even though it is representing Joseph and Mary....and so much more meaningful. Sounds like you are going to have quite a spread too to offer people. I think it's wonderful what you're doing. Just take care of the leg though.

Thanks Battle. Good for you on throwing the dough away when it is so tempting. Hope you find just the right gifts to give.

Zelma, its so hard to think of you in that kind of heat during the Christmas season. I just never pictured it that way. Sorta weird. :rofl: I think I like your Christmas fare better than what we're having. Ham, roasted veggies and yams with pie being our dessert. It's not too bad, but I would rather have the summery foods more than the winter ones.
You singing those Christmas carols helps people more than you will ever know. When we were sitting at the hospital with my Fil, carolers came thru, and it was so heartfelt, it was wonderful. It was very much appreciated.


Today was the day we went to the Eagles to make up boxes for those who needed food, paper goods, and toiletries. The Eagles spent over $3200 on 35 families. They made out like queens and kings. They all got turkey, ham, shampoo, creme rinse, soap, laundry soap, pie crust, toothpaste, bread, eggs, mac and cheese, and the list goes on and on. It was just great to be able to go and volunteer to help others. I'm hoping next year we will be able to be one's that get to go and deliver them to people. It's a nice bunch of people and we hope to go more often since they have karaoke on Fridays and maybe get to know more people.
Well, back to the baking. Gotta make some goodies for Jim's work.
Hope all are surviving the Christmas rush on last minute shopping. We finally got ours done today.
Debbie

This is just a little something to celebrate the holiday season.
I hope it's ok, Heather.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1624118467

Hope you all have a great Christmas!!
Debbie

Debbie -- I've seen that site, it's hilarious! I've been elfed this year!

For clarification, links aren't usually a problem, unless you link to 3fc competitors, if you're trying to sell things and/or ask for donations, or if there's pornography or things like that in the link. Even then, sometimes there are exceptions...

Hi Peeps

We're back - had a great time - we had a tough travel day yesterday - 20 hours in the San Diego airport arriving home at 3 a.m.

More later - including weigh in update.

Feels good to be home.

Hugs to you all,
Carol

Catherine: I am so thankful To God for you. You are amazing and the way you put your heart out there to other people really makes me thankful and want to do more myself. Thank you much for all you do for others all the time!

Battle: I'm so glad that your talent show went well. I bet you had so much fun.

Zelma: I know that if I was out shopping and someone was caroling I would stop and listen and be thankful for it. Hugs. Sorry about your friend. I think being on a liquid diet for so many months before my surgery with couseling every Monday the whole time really helped me to change my life forever. I wish you friend could have the same experience. I do notice though that in my support group for WLS on Tuesdays a lot of the Lap Banders are having food issues more than RNY patients. Maybe because they can eat more things and we will get physically ill if we eat too much sugar. I don't know. Hugs to you and your friend.

Crock. I would love to see the pics. Let me know if you don't have my email address anymore. Have you ever been to a Cabellas? One just opened up here in November. I loved that catalog and now I really like the store too. It is like Disneyland for Outdoors men/women. lol.

Debbie: How nice to volunteer to help others. I need to do something along those lines next year for sure. Hugs.

Carol: I can't wait to hear about your trip. I'm sorry you had such a bad time getting home. Details when you get settled.

Well all, I am going to clean my house today. It is badly in need of it. I have Christmas Day off and maybe part of tomorrow if no participants come in needing anything. I would love to be able to relax at home and not think about a dirty house. We are going to have a white Christmas and I am thrilled about that. I hope everyone has a very blessed and wonderful Christmas.
Blessings all,
Annie

Four weeks left until the horses are moved to a full-board facility & I can reclaim much of my time. I'm lurking madly to try to keep up at least somewhat in the meantime. I'd love to thank all of you who take the time to 'talk' to me, and I'd love to tell so many of you things like how cool and eclectic their tastes are and how much fun it would be to meet - or how their efforts have effected me. I'd love to tell each one of you when you move me to tears or laughter, and hopefully I'll soon have my evenings back and can do that. I also wanted to start going to TOPPS meetings or something, and that's been out of the question with the barn chores I've been doing. Twenty-seven days, and counting.

The last 24 hours have been a horrible binge - cookies, cake, stuff that makes me feel ill, and still I've eaten it. Two days alone does not a disaster make, but I had been doing so well. There's been so much stress lately, but I'm making it thru, and learning to say 'whoa - I just can't do it all. Some things will just have to go without being done.' I made it thru yesterday with my evil step-daughter. The rest should be downhill from here, just enjoying the holiday.

...and of course, there's still that solstice thing - I LOVE that. Almost makes me wanna run outside & lay in the snow to soak up some rays and get a tan started. Almost - because it's dark, dreary & pooring rain out. Oh well. At least it's only 27 days until the horses move. :) They've all lived where they're going before, so it will be like coming home to them.

I hope the sun is shining on you. Don't hurt yourself today. And if, like me, you already have, then please don't hurt yourself anymore today. I'll try not to too.

Did I mention it was only 27 more days until I get my life and sanity back?

:wreath: HELLO ALL :wreath:

Just thought I'd write a quick post to let you know I am alive and well :D I've not really been dieting, which is one of the reasons I haven't been posting. I am going to make a pig of myself over Christmas then step on those scales in January ready to take my punishment for not really dieting since around October, and then I will jump straight back on the diet and exercise wagon. I'm actually looking forward to it because I know without weighing that I have gained weight and I really don't like it :no:

My skin problem is still active but isn't as bad as it was thanks to the meds I am on, so I am happy about that :yes:

I just wanted to come and wish everybody a wonderful Christmas :xcheer: and a healthy and happy :newyear:

See you all in January, until then take care and bye for now,

Hugs,

Ammi :ginger: :tree: :clause:

Ammi -- So great to hear from you! We miss you! I wish you and your family the best holidays!!!! :hug: