Brrr! The wind is howling at 50 mph and we've lost our power once, so I seem to be awake for the day. I just made our IRA contributions for 2007 and will finish my Christmas shopping, so hurray for the 24-hour Internet!

DS has had some kind of crud and I'm afraid that I'm coming down with it too. Ugh - this is no time to be sick! He used to bring home all the kindergarten viruses, but he's 21 now and I think it's time that he stop giving me every virus that's floating around.

This past week was a tough week for me, food-wise, perhaps because of the let-down after the wedding and Christmas looming over me. Today will be a Back to Basics day, hopefully with some exercise. I have Christmas cookies to bake but will not taste them. That's my promise to all of you!

How's everyone this morning? Warm and dry, I hope!

Morning, morning!

Holy Meg, you were up early.

I've got my fingers crossed that they close our road soon (like in the 25 minutes before I need to use it) It has snowed, rained, blown and repeated over the weekend and it's not suppose to get any better ... just colder.
If I'm going to be storm stayed anywhere ... I'd rather it was at home! And I hate driving when I can't see!

On a more happy note ... DD and SIL have given me the go ahead to say ... I'm going to be a Grandma! Hehe, what fun! I've already knit a little hat.

Morning, chickies!

Congratulations, Susan! Can we call you "Grandmistress S" now?

I'm just a bit east and south of Susan, so we get the lite (fat-free?) version of the same storms. Still, even storm "lite" was enough to dump 5" of wet snow on Saturday night. We had a great time shoveling it, and throwing more than a little bit of it at each other, on Sunday. If I had one piece of advice to home buyers in the Northeast, though, it would be this: corner lots = twice the shoveling!

Not much to report about the day. Gym, then more meetings. After that, more meetings. After that, dinner meeting. Somewhere in there I'll try to squeeze in a bit of real work.

Kim

Meg, good luck fighting off the virus. SusanB, CONGRATS on the grandbaby! Kim, stay warm.

Tantrum from H-E-double hockey sticks this morning. Took DH and I both to wrestle DD into her clothes for her trip to daycare, and then he gets her to the car and she makes an enormous pee, and everything is soaked and we have to start all over again. Sigh. And I wonder why I'm tired.

Got the house decorated this weekend, and DD is enjoying it, but wants to open "my birthday present" under the tree--actually a gift for DH. So far there has been no touching, so that is good.

Work should be interesting (i.e. painful) this week, and we have another major vet visit tomorrow to see if we can find out why the dog has a nose bleed (never good according to vet #1). Sigh.

I'm definitely feeling better now, with occasional bad patches. My eating has been mostly good, but still haven't gotten much exercise in. I need to get my butt out the door, now that the fatigue and nausea are getting to be manageable. Next week is the official end of the first trimester, and yep, I'm starting to show.

Have a good day everyone.

Anne

Hello Maintainers!

Wow, have I been MIA for a while now! So many new names here, it's great to see all the activity. Meg, congratulations on the wedding - so exciting!! Anne, I hope you are feeling better. I'm glad to hear your pregnancy is going well. Susan - Congratulations!!! My Mom always says being a grandmother is the best.

As for me, I've been BUSY - but that is NO EXCUSE for being LAZY, which is where I'm at with my food/exercise plan. I had a baby over a year ago (unbelievable, but true) and I'm still struggling with the dreaded last. 10. pounds. I have an inner voice whispering that I'll "start fresh in January," but a louder voice that berates myself every day for not doing something about the situation. I'm happy that I've lost most of the weight, but I am definitely not one of those women who watches the weight melt off after pregnancy. None of my clothes fit and I'm in a very, very frustrating cycle of eating well and falling off the wagon, only to stuff my face for several days and then start over.

Enough complaining, I'm here because I'm ready to do something about my weight. I'm committed to healthy eating and exercise and "getting back to basics" as Meg likes to say. I've had my breakfast & plan to exercise this a.m. I think a lot of my problem is I'm very stressed, I'm working again and trying to juggle everything, like all of you, and it's not easy to plan for healthy living. But it is certainly possible.

I look forward to getting back on track with all of you! Enjoy the snow if you're getting it - here in NH, it's coming down pretty steadily. Looks beautiful.

Good Morning Ladies:

Meg, you poor thing, get plenty of vitamin c and zinc!

Susan, congrats, what a blessing!

Anne, I loved my preggers tummy. I miss that! How cool.

Kim, best of luck with that busy schedule. Just do those small bursts if nothing else!

Lessismore, welcome back. You'll be fine!!!

Ok, I had a great weekend and on Friday I discovered that I lost another pound and have officially lost 100 lbs! I don't really want to lose anymore, but definitely don't want to get below 115 lbs. Anyway, just thought I would share. I have had a lot of yo-yos over the last couple of weeks. But I guess I figured it out. For now! Christmas cookies are calling to me!!! I'm starting my baking this weekend.

Have the best week ever ladies!

LessIsMore Anne! It's so good to see you again! I was reading over our 2007 resolutions thread yesterday and saw your pretty avatar and thought -- where's Anne? I hope she's OK. And now here you are (don't you dare leave!)

There's no time like TODAY to get back on track.

Libby!


100 pounds!!!

Oh my, what an amazing accomplishment! And you're such a tiny person now -- I'm sure no one can believe that you ever weighed 100 pounds more!

Good morning everyone.

Susan, what wonderful news! You are just going to be the best Grandma, I know it!

Meg, I hope David is feeling better and whatever he's got, stays far away from you.

Libby, WOW!!!! NICE milestone. 100 lbs gone. You're AMAZING!!

Ooish, Anne. Sorry you DD gave you such a hard time. I remember those days oh - so - well. NOT fun. Glad you're feeling better.

Lessismore Anne, welcome back and good luck "getting back to basics". It's something we all need to do from time to time. It IS hard to keep up this lifestyle, but as we all know, incredibly worth it.

Kim, glad you at least had some fun while shoveling twice of the wet stuff.

I've been busy, busy, busy. I having a big party in my house this Saturday night. Almost 50 people. I've been shopping, cleaning and cooking and baking like a mad woman. I've been nibbling a bit too much as well and the clothes are feeling it. Today I must reign it in. Other then that, the same old stuff doing here. It'll be more party planning this week and work and all that other fun stuff.

Have a great week everyone.

Morning everyone!

Congrats, Susan!! Feel better, Meg. Hope you're recovering well, Megan. Congrats on 100, Libby! Like you, I have a weight I don't want to drop below. I did last year and hit 107. I was aiming for 110 by Christmas...but I think with the muscle tone and all that I've added, somewhere between 115-120 is ideal for me. I'm aiming for 115 to give me a little "Christmas Cushion".

On that note, I hit 118 today on the scale! I guess my hard work last week paid off. Planning on doing the same this week.

I hope everyone's week gets off to a better start than mine. I.am.EXHAUSTED. Do you ever have one of those nights that you just CAN'T get into a deep sleep? That was me last night. I got off the phone with J a little before 12. I "dozed"...looked at the clock, 2:15...dozed, tossed and turned, looked again...4:15...Tossed and turned some more. Seriously contemplated just gettting up and getting ready for work and maybe getting there at 7:30-8 and leaving early. I finally fell asleep at 5:30 or so...just to wake up at 7. So tired. I don't know why I had problems getting to sleep. I'm usually like clockwork on work nights...11:30 PM to 7-ish AM. I thinks its because I had such a relaxing weekend, I wasn't tired from it. I'm going to try and make it to the gym this afternoon, but I seriously don't know that I'll have the energy.

Have a great day everyone!! I'll check in at work!

Edit: PS, Hi, Robin! We were posting at the same time.

Morning Chicks! My silly goal for the week is to keep up with this thread!

Meg you are getting the winds we had yesterday, our poor inflatable frosty darn near blew back to the north pole.

Susan congrats grandma! Libby way to go on the 100 pounds!

I had a very calm weekend for once. Caught up on some reading, worked on an blanket I am knitting, did a little baking which resulted in only eating a half of a cookie just to make sure they were good, and the usual cleaning.

Had a small run in with some baked mac and cheese, but it sure was good!

The real challenge starts next weekend with the holiday baking, but I think I will be ok, I like making more than I do eating! I just have to keep telling myself that!

Morning all.
Meg-We had those winds too. I hope you stay virus-free
Libby-Awesome milestone, congrats!
Anne- Glad you're feeling better. Gotta love two year old 'determination'
Susan-Huge grand-congrats!
Lessismore Anne-I don't find the pounds falling off either. Good to 'see' you.

I'm still feeling under the weather so did very little this weekend. The mother of the child I babysit brought me a pecan pie this morning. Luckily I don't even feel like having a piece. Now I need to pawn it off on someone before I feel better. Have a good day all.

Good morning!

I've been a total lazybutt this weekend and have not worked out very much, so I'm going to the gym today. I know a lot of people say maintaining is harder than losing, but for some reason, I'm finding it a lot easier... mostly because I can eat more and don't have to be super restrictive. Obviously, I still practice portion control, since I don't want to gain the weight back but it is a lot easier for me.

The problem is, I'm still not satisfied with my body and I know that in order to look the way I want to, I need to get motivated and stop "rewarding" myself with crap foods. Okay, it's fine to eat crap sometimes, but I'll find a reason to "reward" myself with a little bite of something unhealthy nearly every day.

Meg - I hope you're not coming down with anything, though this is the ttime of year that everyone seems to get sick. Do you take a multivitamin every day? They boost immunity, or so I've heard... and I believe it, because there was this time a couple years ago that I kept catching things, then I started taking vitamins and now I pretty much never get sick. Good luck on not tasting your Christmas cookies!
PS: I knew about your power outage in advance. Your DS told me

Susan, Congrats on the grandchild! That is so cute that you already knitted a little hat. Will this be your first grandkid?

lessismore - hi! I don't remember you, but welcome back. I'm Aidyn, by the way *internet handshake*

Libby!! A WHOLE HUNDRED POUNDS!! YEAH that is so cool, huh? Congrats!

Megan - that is SO strange that a NEEDLE was in your foot. Count me in as another who wondered how you didn't notice! Hey, at least it's out and you know it will never grow back, right?

Morning all!

We're having the winds here, too--yesterday the power was out for about an hour. But it's currently 55 degrees, despite the wind, so that's cool. It looks all nice and stormy out there. I think I'll enjoy this morning's run.

Meg, I agree that by 21 your son should have outgrown the habit of bringing you every virus in town. You were up awfully early though.

Congrats Susan! Susan, I'm the oldest child and my mom has been on me to provide her with a grandchild for the longest time. Fortunately my step-sister has become pregnant and so now I'm off the hook.

Congrats Libby! 100lb is amazing!

Had a quiet day in yesterday, reading and working by the fire (the power went out = no heat, no light. I felt like a pioneer of yore), and then we went wine tasting for a couple of hours and then had some friends over for a bottle of wine in the evening. A pleasant day. AND, this is the last week of classes! Hooray! There will be grading an whatnot all next week, but only a few more days of actual teaching. Yay.

Hi Aidyn, Nice to "meet" you and everyone else welcoming me to the thread!

I'm enjoying my gingerbread coffee. Boy do I love coffee

I've decided, I'm going to stuff my large behind into my small bathing suit and take the "before" picture tonight; oh, is my hubby in for a treat!!! So, I won't wash my hair today and will be sure to frown and look particularly disgruntled, like so many before pics I see in the weight loss ads

I'm very excited, I'm going to Chicago this weekend & have tickets to see Wicked, this is my x-mas present for my Mom, she's so excited too. Can't wait to shop on Michigan Ave., want to hit the American Girl store. I love Chicago, it's a hidden treasure. I wish we were staying longer. Can't wait to sleep all night - no kids!!!!! (I love them, but still...a weekend away is heavenly).

BTW - My signature/ticker is NOT accurate (unfortunately). It WILL be soon.

Libby, 100 pounds!?! Just fantastic.