[CyndiM]

Wow, it's really blowing out there today. Good thing there is no snow, though I hear they have some in the mountains. I've got the coffee on and it's cozy in here. Pull up a chair, grab a cup and say hello on your way to whatever weekend plans you have.

Cottage & Ruth - I know you two are enjoying your visit What's on the agenda for today?

We are all about the cleaning and chores this weekend. I'm off to Boston with DD next weekend so we want to get as much done as we can. Now if the power stays on we will be all set

I've been on plan 100% even through the holiday. The scale isn't budging but I know I just need to keep at it. Note to self - it is much harder to re-lose than it is to regain! Must remember that next time.

[tomandkara]

Hello Cyndi! It's windy and rainy here. We were supposed to go away for the weekend but I got knock-down-drag-out sick Thursday night and could barely shuffle to the bathroom on Friday, so we cancelled our trip. I am feeling a ton better today. I've had a cup of applesauce (note: honey crunch apples make lovely applesauce!) and a mug of tea this morning and it's stayed down, so that's better than the last two days. I think this might be the first year in history that I've *lost* weight over Thanksgiving! (I'd have much preferred to gain weight though...)

Has anyone else been having trouble posting? I haven't been able to post the last couple days. (Heidi, I hope I didn't break the rules, but I gave myself a point for posting the last couple days because I came to the board to post but wasn't able to.)

I have butternut squash in the crockpot for soup for tonight. I love squash!

Happy weekend everybody!

Kara

[femmecreole]

Morning all...cold here, in the 30's and there is frost on the ground. brr.

Cyndi, I'm sure that scale will budge soon. Husband and I lost our minds last night and ate egg salad sandwiches on WHITE bread. No idea why, we both just had a craving. I think maybe a phase one for a few days is in order so I don't get carried away.

Nothing much on my to do list today except for some school stuff. Got a new printer yesterday and want to make and print out a few things for school and that's about it!

Kara, it is so good to see you again!

[cottagebythesea]

Good morning, Cyndi and Kara, and those to come.

Ruth and I just got up, and are just now having our first cuppa. It's pretty windy here, too, and colder than it's been so far this season. We're going to take the train into center city later this morning to meet my DD, SIL and DGD for lunch, then catch Eric's matinee. If we have time, I may drag Ruth around the Reading Terminal Market, too.

Cyndi, I hope you get all your chores done so you can play next weekend. I can't say Ruthie and I have been 100% on-plan, but we haven't been too naughty.

Kara, I'm glad you are feeling so much better. That's such a bummer that you had to cancel your travel plans for the weekend.

Well, I'm going to hand my laptop over to Ruth so she can read the threads and do her thing, while I get another cup of coffee. Take care, all, have a happy day.

[Heidi58]

Good morning!

Cyndi, it's really windy here, too. The power has been off several times already and I've got my fingers crossed now! No snow here, either. I enjoy snow but I 'promised' my daughter they'd be no snow while she was here. She's never liked the cold weather, but since she's been living in Houston it's gotten worse! lol

Kara, I'm sorry you've been sick. I'm glad you're on the mend now. The board hasn't been cooperating at all with our challenge I'm glad you knew enough to fix your post now. Intent is what matters. I LOVE butternut squash, too. I had it mashed with a little bit of SF maple syrup on Thanksgiving. Yummy stuff!

Good morning Cat - I knew you were a teacher, but now I know you're REALLY a teacher. lol I've got a couple of new center activities to make up today or tomorrow, too.

I've had such a busy last few days, but great ones. My parents cut their visit short because my dad wasn't feeling well and just wanted his own bed and his own ER if things got worse. (So far they haven't - I assume he was just exhausted from the trip and all the visiting. At home he sleeps so much of the day.) They live about 4 hours away so we had a good visit on the way home. I drove my dad in their car and Beth drove my mom in mine.

Beth and I had grilled fish and veggies at chili's, went to Trader Joe's and then hit several Black Friday sales on our way back to Maine. We had so much fun that it was close to 11 pm by the time we got here. There were crowds - but not like there would have been early in the morning. We mainly checked out the clothing sales. I picked up 4 tops, a sweater and a couple of nice pair of pants for about $50 total. I was so happy to get nice things at rock bottom prices because hopefully I'll be folding them into boxes and wearing smaller ones before too long.

Well, I guess I should hit the treadmill.
Ruth, Cottage, Debbie and the rest of you - have a great Saturday!

[TwynnB]

Good morning chicks!

Cyndi - wow, great job OP during the holiday! I can't say the same myself .

Kara - ewww. So sorry you were so sick! Glad to hear you're feeling better.

Cat - I admit.....some things just aren't as good on WW bread. Egg salad, chicken salad, and a few others!! Gotta spoil yourself once in a while . Wouldn't people laugh at us...."wwoooo-weeee, I ate WHITE bread today!!!".

Cottage and Ruth - enjoy your time together. How much longer are you staying Ruth?

Heidi - sounds like a great time! Hopefully, you're dad's feeling better.

Me - off to work, again. My family enjoyed their trip on the train yesterday, but my husband was WIPED OUT last night...so maybe they were more of a handful then he'll admit . Yesterday was a great day until my mom started wiggin' out on Skype again. She is such a ... resentful person, and I let it get to me last night. Whatever happened to the Normal Rockwell lifestyle we all dreamed about when we were little? The only good thing I can say about it is....I almost ate just for 'comfort', but actually listened to my gut that I wasn't hungry.

Hope everyone has a beautiful day and weekend...I might start decorating!! Can't wait to see my new house decorated!!

[femmecreole]

Heidi, oh, yeah, I'm a teacher all right. I've had a year long project putting all of my reading/grammar/writing lessons on powerpoints...an average of about 30 slides a day. I'm on lesson 14 now and started at 21 last year, so getting close. I have a smartboard and it makes it a lot easier to teach when everything is "there" already. This year I just teach language arts to 2 sections of kids. Love it, but it takes me forever to grade tests on the weekends. Each reading test is about 10 pages long..43 students, so that's 430 pages..then add 43 spelling tests and 22 grammar tests...then the grades have to be posted online. Takes me about 3 hours a week to do that. I DO miss kindergarten for that little chore! I also have a website with all of my technology stuff on there that I need to add to. A lot of work, but worth it.
Speaking of centers, have you ever used "centers in a bag" to get centers?
I love that site.

[Ruthxxx]

Good morning! I have been having a great time enjoying USA Thanksgiving Day. I sure have not been on plan - but it could be worse. Cottage offered me apple pie this morning and I turned it down. Her mother makes the best applepie I've ever tasted - and I come from along line of pie judges.

Because it's so quiet and cozy here, I've been sleeping until just after seven these mornings. It'll be a shock to get back to reality Monday morning. I take off tomorrow afternoon and will get home around 7 - 7:30, God willin' and the crick don't rise.

Right now I'm going to slosh trhough the shower and get dressed for our trip to Philly. We are meeting Cottage's SIL, DD (who really is!) and cute little Carley for lunch and then going to see SIL Eric's show "Light in the Piazza", a musical which won Tony awards. Should be fun! We are "training" it into the city to save the drive stress. I'm as amazed at the traffic here as I was in Asheville; of course this is Gray Saturday. And tomorrow will be pale gray Sunday when I head for home.

See y'all then.

[sophie]

hey you teachers I just have to tell you this story. A friend of my son's has the most beautiful smart little boy, who is 4. He has black curly hair with lovely brown eyes and eyelashes to die for.
He came to visit and he started telling me how he was going to go to school and then there is high school. I said to him that's right your mom is a high school teacher and he looked at me and rolled his eyes seductively and said "That's right my mom is a teacher and then there was a pause and he said and my dad - he's just a human. (dad as a masters in engineering and an MBA).

I'm having a dinner party tonight and won't tell you what's on the menu. Shrimp cocktails are about the only OP thing here but I will really watch it during the day and just have a taste of everything else.
take care
Sophie

[Pearlrose]

Good morning,

Sounds like everyone except for Kara had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Glad to hear that you are better Kara.

I had to go to work yesterday and also hit the stores early before going into work. Got off early so I put up all of our decorations yesterday since the weather was mild enough.

Today is another beautiful day, we are going to go to St. Charles for their old time christmas. I am trying to get back on track eating wise- I wasn't too bad on Thanksgiving but yesterday let's not talk about. I may have to hop on Phase 1 for couple of days.

Have a wonderful day everyone

[Lexxiss]

Hi Everyone

I slept in, and am headed out for a bike ride with my Sis. I got a new bike yesterday Details later....

Have a great day everyone!

[tomandkara]

Linda, I'm so jealous you're taking Ruth to Reading Terminal. I love that market!

Heidi, glad to hear you found some deals. I hope your dad feels rested soon and I'm super happy to hear they had a good visit!

Ruth, sounds like you're having such a nice visit!

Twynn, I think next time your mom pulls that stunt, it's time your computer burped a little and lost the connection. Good job not turning to comfort eating!

Sophie, that's a funny story!

Rose, have a nice time at the Christmas program! You can get back on track. Buckle down and do it, girl!

Debbie, I hope you enjoy your bike ride! Yay for new wheels!!!

I'm still feeling good. Definitely don't have all the energy yet and all I've been hungry for is about a half cup of applesauce and a few Triscuits. I'm going to have some soup for dinner here in a bit but I don't expect to eat that much. I don't think I will have had four and a half cups of *food* today, let alone vegetables!

Kara

[Lexxiss]

Between TG and server meltdowns, it seems we're all finally getting back into the groove.

Cyndi, I hope it's warmed up a bit. Good job staying OP and I hope you're enjoying your time at home. I'm looking forward to that-it seems I've been away more than usual lately.

Kara, glad to hear you're better. Squash sounds wonderful!

Cat, my Sis wanted egg salad today-we didn't have any white bread. New printer sounds nice.

Cottage, the market sounds great! Is it related to the Reading RR in Monopoly? Have fun!

Heidi, sounds like quite the drive yesterday. Nice to have a little trip with your DD. I don't want to buy clothes either. I did find something I had saved from the old days for bike riding. Wow-your scale really did Blip! Congrats!

Twynn, how exciting to decorate your house this year!

Ruth,

Sophie, thanks for the cute story. Dinner sounds fun!

Pearlrose, great on getting your decorations up-just in time to go to old time Christmas.

I had a super time on the new although we only rode 4-5 miles. At my HW I couldn't ride around the block so it's very exciting. We had to figure out the trails, and our bikes.....now I just have to figure out $$$. When I told DH he smiled and said "Merry Christmas". He's happy for me to be losing wt and being able to do things again. I had some soup when I got home and want to "puzzle" but have to do my HC workout first. Chilly here today-45 degrees-but not much wind.

[Heidi58]

Good morning ladies! *hug*
I had fun reading through the rest of yesterdays posts. It sounds like everyone had big plans for the day.

I wonder if all the decorations got put up?

Ruth and Cottage - how was your trip to the city?

Debbie, congrats on the new bike and I'm so glad you enjoyed your bike ride! Were you cold? I never think of bike rides in November.

Kara, I hope you've got your appetite back today.

I can't believe it's Sunday morning already.... I had to wait so long for my daughter's visit and now it's just speeding by! We're having a great time though, and she'll be back at Christmas. We're heading to the outlets in North Conway after church today. We'll have to shut the 'grandcats' upstairs while we're gone, the dog does great while we're around, but we've never left her alone with them.

Well, I'm off to have my oatmeal - have a great Sunday friends!

[Ruthxxx]

Good Sunday morning!

Somewhat sad this morning because it's going home day but have had a wonderful time here. Cottage has looked after me as if I were one of her kids and I feel very cherished.

The train trip into Philly was great. That sure is the way to go. SIL Eric's show was absolutely fantastic. Do go to see it if it comes your way - laughter, tears and great music. You can't beat that.

After showering and throwing a "few" things into the suitcase, we will probably go to the infamous Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I'll be on the plane by 3:30 and back in Ottawa by 5. Then the 90 minute drive home after a super holiday.

Tomorrow I'll try to catch up but it sounds like almost everyone had as much fun as I did.