[jess1]

Good Morning, All...
Just a quick note... this hacking, coughing, and snorting takes up a lot of time.... it never occurred to me that I have something mundane that's been going around! Gawd, maybe it's going to last a while. I am no longer happy.

Bobbi, headache this morning? I hope your doctor can help you!!

No news... PT/Zoe, you HAVE to send pictures of your Christmas tree creation! It sounds wonderful!!

KarenFLOMO, Freda, Rosey, Lynn, Mary, everyone, everyone... be well! Stay warm and dry and safe.....

[Bobbolink]

Good Morning.....I finally finished decorating the house, gifts wrapped and now I'll start baking. I purchased 3 pretty
Christmas tins at the dollar store which I'll fill up with goodies for the mail man, the paper carrier and the weekly shopper. We usually put money with the goodies since we have such wonderful service from them. I found a chex mix recipe on the back of the box I'm going to make for our Christmas party, it's a sweet version and takes chocolate and cinnamon chex mix. Who knew they made that? I'll post it when I'm done. It's not diet friendly but we have to remember not everyone is watching their waist lines.
Zoe...how exciting, I 2nd Donna's thought on seeing your creation.
One year I hot glued a huge pile of DH's antlers together into the shape of a tree and put electric candles on it, turned out awesome. (We left it glued together for a couple of years)

Oh, yes indeedy, when one is married to an artist who specializes in the abstract and innovative, one most decidedly does NOT have a traditional Christmas tree! And, I have to say that I actually love these wild (and quite magical, really) creations of ours. BUT, tromping about through the woods, dragging these branches home, finding just the right lights and ornaments (different every year) and THEN setting it all up,

I'm knocking on wood......NO headache again today and no weird after affects from the meds.
I finished the book by Jeannette Walls called half broke horses, it's hard to stop thinking about it. True story, I just have to share one story.......they were ranchers and didn't launder their clothes much, she said after wearing the front of her dress, she turned it backwards and wore that side until dirty. Then she turned it inside out and wore it until very dirty, flipped it around and then wore the back side. She said they never, ever washed their levi's, the pants would be so full of grease and dirt that it turned into waterproof material and could stand up by themselves. They then considered them just broke in. Geeeeezzzz, can you imagine what those people smelled like?
Here's the recipe, it's gluten free too:
Snickerdoolle Chex Mix
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups Cinnamon Chex cereal
2 cups Chocolate Chex cereal
4 cups popped popcorn
1/4 cup butter
1. In small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals and popcorn.
2. In 1-cup glass measuring cup, melt butter uncovered on high for 40 seconds or until melted. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated.
3. Microwave uncovered on high 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture evenly over cereal mixture; stir. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture; stir. Microwave 1 minute longer. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in air tight container. 16 servings (1/2 cup each) 100 calories.
I actually found this recipe on allrecipes.com and also found the recipe on the back of the cinnamon chex mix box. The reviewers said it was very important to stir where it states it in the recipe or else it can easily burn.
Have a great start of the week girls.

[the slim me]

Hi Everyone,

Very quite weekend. I did get some more shopping in and got a few things out of the way. It was my weekend to work but the powers that be decided to put me on an extra day throught the week instead. Didn't like that much! too many people in the malls now. It was sooooo crowded. I hate waiting untill the last min. like this, but I just didnt' know what to buy.

Rosie, I'm thinking that by now you're feeling a little better. Hope everything is going well for you. Getting used to eating what you can now have takes some planning.

Z, I have in my mind how your Christmas tree must look. My friend collects bare branches and hangs Easter eggs on them. She collects easter eggs and it's really beautiful. I agree with everyone else. please post pictures.

Bobbi. I'm so glad to hear that you are finally feeling better. Horrible to have a headache for so long.

Donna, Get better quickly. If you come to my house i'll make you an old fashioned hot toddy. You will feel so much better!

Lynn, Busy with the class? Hope you're doing well.

Karens, Hi, where are you?

Mary, if I didn't make lists and plan I would never get anything done. Sounds like your work is almost done.

Make it a good day,

Freda

[jess1]

I know it's early, but this is ADORABLE...... hope it comes through!
http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/pr...66187/graphic1

[ellabella]

Here's our tree.....it's a lot more dramatic in real life, and I need to find a way to get a better shot, but these will give you and idea, at least...
I got a speeding ticket today.
Other than that, all is well.

Z

PS, nice card, PT...thanks for sharing!

[glynne]

Hi my Golden Girl friends,

Chilly here today. Was down in the 30's this morning when I got up.

I've been just kind of puttering today ~ getting miscelaneous stuff done.

I have this little flip calendar with a different little saying to read each day ~ one of the days (I had gotten behind) said ~ Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy. Made me smile and think of those here who talk about different ways to are get more fiber in their diets.

Been sipping on Celestial Seasonings Blueberry herbal tea. Yum. On one of our vacations one time we went to Colorado and actually got to drive by the Celestial Seasonings company ~ located on Sleepy Time Drive

Guess I will get off and try to get some more stuff done.

Hope you all are doing well.

Take care

[Karen31]

Hey There!!! I agree this cold bug, or whatever, is nasty!! I'm on day 4 and I'm ready to have it go away!!! It is really kickin' my butt!! Havent' done much for about 3 days now--laundry today but only because I didn't have any clean clothes to wear!! I hope everyone gets over this quick!!

[Karen3]

Evening all....How come I can downlaod pictures everywhere but here??? I did so want to show you my Moravian Star and our tree.

Boy that cold spell has arrived and it will be in the 20's for a couple of hours and the strawberry blossums will freeze. Guess they can't spray water on the flowers like they do the berries. Lite the fireplace, but absolutely refuse to start the heat pump. Gesh been what 2 weeks since a/c was on. Ain't right!!

I have been bidding and getting books for Dh as Christmas presents. He can't handle a hardcover book very well. So spend hours drifting thru Ebay and Amazon. Now they are arriving one by one...will stash them in an ammo can. Then he won't have to struggle to unwrap. Bought all of Dash's girlfriends squeaky toys. The 3 little dogs who scare him to death. Mailed the fruit and just have the checks to get in the mail. Even got the gift cards. Have to pick up 2 cards from Olive Garden and Applebee's and then done.

Stay warm...hugs karen3

[maryea]

We were shopping all day. Wore my poor dh out I think. I don't like to drive the p/u plus he needed to pick up some jewelry he was getting fixed, and we did that on the way home; so mostly I shopped and he waited, poor guy. First we went to the mall as I had a pan I got for our new dil but had no box big enough to wrap it in, so was thinking to exchange it for something else. But I thought of asking at the CS where they give out boxes and they did have one big enough so glad I asked! Then we went to Costco, plus two grocery stores and one drug store for both bargain shopping and needs shopping. I wanted to stock up on some items for the trip as sometimes I can't find the exact things I want down there.

In the mail, I got one present I had ordered...it is 12 books from Weekly Reader plus CDs for each of them. I'm going to divide them between two gc. So still need to wrap them too. Haven't gotten another order but hopefully it will come tomorrow. I had hoped to get that package sent by now but guess a couple more days won't matter. I just hate the lines at the PO though.

Z - your tree looks beautiful!

Bobbi -loved the story about not washing the levi's! Our lives have changed so much...in some ways easier and in other ways much more complex.
We expect so much these days both of ourselves and our possessions. Like cell phones at first were an extravagance, and now most consider them a need myself included.

Bobbi - your chex snickerdoodle mix sounds good. Snickerdoodles are my younest sons favorite cookie so I thought of him right away, but he is very picky and will only eat Kelloggs (yes even the brand!) Raisin Bran, so not sure he'd eat the Chex even that way. When he was home I used to buy generic Raisin Bran and put it in plastic cereal containers...told him I did it to keep it fresher. Never actually lied about the brand and he accepted it.

Sounds like you all are thinking Christmas...hope Rosey is doing well..she really has had a Christmas present but I know it can't be all that easy either. Rosey you are in my thoughts and prayers.

[akrosey49]

Hi everyone surprizelm doing marvalous thankyou for all the prayers. i still have some pain but have good liquid drugs im surprized at how well i feel..im eating baby food,about 1/4 of a jar at a time and use a baby spoon they gave me,and small sips of water,cant eat and drink at the same time,no straw,no dairy,or sugar..the neat thing is im not hungry..i can start exercising in 6 weeks,i tke lots of chewable vitamins,omega fish oil,potaasium etc and only half of my reg perscriptions,ill know wed how much ive lost but on my pre surg weigh in i had lost 8 lbs over thanksgiving and i even had pie..thats a total of 41 lbs pre surg,,Dr todd was impressed,,he said i might be his starr patient,,wow words of praise surprized me..i should be home wed,,can hardly wait to get back to my own little world,,ill do personals and explain more then,until then know i missed each of you rosey

[Karen31]

Glad to hear from you Rosey!! It sounds like you are doing great and have a wonderful attitude to go with it!! Can't wait to see some pictures. Lots of good thoughts and prayers coming your way.

[glynne]

Awesome Rosey ~ glad things are going well

[Karen31]

Hello again! I have been meaning to post this recipe from the Splenda Cookbook that I got from Lynn a couple years ago. It is for hot chocolate and it is really good. I'll post it the way it is in the book but I doubled the recipe since I have a container that I can keep it in. I did find that is tasted watery to me so I added a large box of sugar free instant chocolate pudding powder and sugar free instant vanilla pudding powder. That made it really creamy tasting to me.

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1/2 cup nondairy dry creamer
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup Splenda Granular

1. Thoroughly mix all ingredients together. Place in an airtight container
2. To serve, stir 3 TBS of the dry mix into 6 ounces very hot water.

Per Serving(3 TBS)
Calories: 50 Fat: 1.5 grams (1 saturated)
Carbohydrates: 8 Grams Fiber: 1 gram
Protein: 3 grams Sodium: 30 milligrams

[maryea]

Rosey, just popped in for a minutes and saw your message...so glad to hear from you and to hear you are doing so well!

[Bobbolink]

Good Morning!
I wasn't going to take the time to post this morning but just had to say HI TO ROSEY! We're all sooooo happy to hear from you and we really appreciated your daughter keeping us posted.
I have to run into town, I make my dad's Christmas cards out with the envelopes on my computer.......all he has to do is sign them. But he said he was too weak to sign them and I have to go help him out. I'm thinking he should stop with them, he's 96.
P.S. Karen Fla...for a long time I could post pictures on this site, then after getting my new Vista computer I couldn't. After many notes to the 3 fat chicks site and their help, I still couldn't post pictures. Then our sweet moderator said she'd post them for me but I tried posting again by myself and all of a sudden I now can post? Go figure! Don't try to figure it out, it'll just make you nuts.