Hey!! I have most of the day off today, so I was able to sleep in... I'm not too sure what I want to do today, I have some paperwork for this meeting tonight, and should do a little cleaning. But otherwise the day is MINE!! It's going to go FAR too fast.

Marge - I really love Logan and Rory, so I hope not. But I guess we need SOME kinda drama in this show. Personally I'd be happy just to have them all happy all the time, with some funny remarks here and there... but TV just doesn't work like that. I can't find a listing for next weeks episode, so it's possible we are looking at a repeat... fingers crossed we aren't! Shopping sounds like fun! What are you shopping for? Or who? I still have to shop a little more for my mom, brother, aunt, and we have to puchase Josh's dad smoker. It's going to cost us 450 bucks total, uh huh, pretty painful huh? It kinda peeves me, because I bought my mom a straightener and some product, costing 30 bucks, and Josh actually said to me, well your mom is more than half done. His dad gets 450, and my mom gets 60? Yah, not happening! I am at a loss of what to get her though, maybe some clothes.

Kimberley - thats very cute about your barista! I tell yah, when I leave this store I'm going to really miss the customers... a few want to keep in contact with me, very sweet. I can't stand feeling too cold! So I always have warm socks, fuzzy sweat pants, lots of warm sweaters and blankets, lots and lots of blankets. Unfortunately I don't control the heat, so the landlords like it hot, and since we are close to the furnace... it's ALWAYS roasting in here, we are talking tank top and shorts hot. Your roast doesn't sound low fat, low cal, limit that intake girl! You've still got 11 pounds to go. I've got 13, phew, 13 pounds.. Anything is possible, right?? RIGHT!

Alrighty, I am off to make some breakfast and get on my scale, it's an addiction... bad addiction!

-Aimee

Dinner's over and our friends have headed home. We're heading over there after a bit to watch some Christmas movies and visit. I didn't limit myself quite as much as I should have -- at least I was pretty full on raw veggies first, so I was stuffed with the right stuff. We still have the pie course to eat over at their house with coffee.

Tomorrow...Tomorrow, I don't want to do a darned thing other than play on the computer and get a card made for our barista friend. I thought I'd make a card featuring the "Caribouronaisaurus" joke (the Caribou antler flipped upside-down looks like a brontosaurus, a running joke with us) and the word Caribou-Hoo-Hoo under it. The Caribourontasaurus will have a tear falling from its eye. REALLY cornball, but I know Susan will like it.

Ohhhh, I hate to be a party pooper, but I wish we didn't have to go anywhere tonight. I'm beat! It's mayhem with three kids - I love 'em all, but it's just craziness we're not accustomed to, childless that we are. They're good kids, though, and we always have a good time with our friends.

Christmas movies? Awww, sounds like fun Do you find kids draining? I just can't always handle it myself.. a full day is just SO consuming!

Tonight I went to that staff meeting, it went fine.. nothing exciting. Definitely a little waste of time. But we bonded a little bit... so thats good. My friend came over, and we are hanging out, watching some tv, babbling.. the usual stuff.

Anyways, I better get back to her. Have a good night

-Aimee

Well, temp went up to 50 today, which is very tolerable, even downright comfortable inside, yahoo. Hope you all are getting the better end of the thermometer as well.

Aimee, Rob and I always have to negotiate the his family/my family gifts too. And my dad's birthday is Dec 11. Then there are several birthdays on his side in Jan.

I wanted to get a couple of friend's of mine small craftsy types of gifts, something kinda of unique to NY (one of those things I end up buying then seeing 5,000 of them at a Pier 1 or something). Once I decided I'd get a Peruvian sweater off a vendor selling on the sidewalk near Radio City. I forget how much it was, but the guy didn't have change. I had already given him some of the cash. I said, hold on a sec, I'll go to the vendor half way down the block and break my $20. By the time I got back he'd managed to pack up and run away, with the sweater and with my cash. That kind of behavior won't get him a dinosaur going away card from me, let me tell you (which is a ery cute card idea).

Kimberley, I know that feeling of wanting to veg out, today I just couldn't drag myself out to do shopping. I knew there'd be crowds out today and I felt more like lying in bed and watching movies. I did go to the gym. Big Fish was playing on HBO2, a very cute movie.

My confession for today is that to avoid an entire day of leftovers we ordered pizza and salad. Spinach pizza, but not particularly a diet item. I'm being a diet numskull lately. Amiee, come kick my rear into shape here.

Well, time to go lounge and do a crossword puzzle.

Marge, I've been a diet numbskull, too! All told, I had three and a half piece of pie yesterday. Today I'm going to freeze the uneaten leftover turkey and the leftover stuffing and other non-nutritional stuff is going in the trash. I hate to waste food, but I don't want to eat it just because it's there.

This Day of Sloth feels wonderful. I am still in my jammies and robe, and Howie's watching the Redskins game.

I wish I stayed in my pj's all day. Instead I went to work, and it was returns day, we had SO many returns that it basically looked like we did no sales all day. It was pretty sad. To top that, I had tasks to try and get done.. it was all around a crappy day. To top THAT off? I decided to get on my scale, a bad decision on my part. Granted I wasn't 100% on plan yesterday, I have high expectations here! Lordy!

Marge - people are crappy sometimes, eh? Josh decided that he doesn't want to get his dad a smoker, partly it's because of that whole wage thing... Josh got to the point this year where he makes more than his dad. So he doesn't want to throw it in his face.. but wants to get him something nice.. because he can. It's just a sticky situation. I was talking to my brother and he thinks we should save our money, get all skinny and then go to New York shopping! That would be fun eh? I'll let yah know if something becomes of it..

Alright ladies, this is it! NO more eating bad, we have 4 weeks to christmas, so put those pies, chocolate, all bad foods away!! Take a day, eats tons of fresh fruits and veggies and get that triptofan (I dunno how to spell that word), either way, get it out of your system! This is NOT worth it, drink your water, drink your peppermint tea. We have 4 days until weigh in, and if you have gained, you will not be happy. I will not be happy, those 15 pounds are GOING to come off, we ARE going to do this! Now read this, eat a huge salad and do 50 crunchs and 50 squats!!!!

I am off to make some spaghetti squash and low fat homemade sauce and drink some water. Talk to you all later

-Aimee

I third the "diet numbskull" title for the past few days. It's not that I don't know what I should and should not be eating (or how much I should or should not be eating), but it's just so much EASIER to be lazy about it Also, after of course having too much on Thanksgiving Day, Jeff and I did a secret shopper evaluation of a REALLY good restaurant for dinner on Friday night and another evaluation at a diner for lunch on Sunday, so 2 free meals out for us, and both required that you order an appetizer, 2 entrees, and a dessert to share At least our dessert at the diner yesterday was called "The World's Smallest Sundae"--only 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream with caramel, whipped cream, and a few walnuts, and we split it. Could have been worse

Alas, my scale was quite unhappy with me this morning, as I'm sure most of American's scales are this Monday morning after the 4-day holiday weekend But, back to pumping in the water and getting right back on board! Gotts get rid of these other 11 pounds by Christmas!!

I'm back--the QUEEN of the Diet Numbskulls!! The scale was more than unkind--it was P*ssed OFF!! I became way too relaxed and did exactly what I didn't want to do, causing a HUGE gain! Alan (my BF) has gained quite a bit too. We are both pretty disgusted with ourselves. HOWEVER--I refuse to wallow in self-pity and self-hatred. (As our 3FC friend Goddess Jessica says: "Hating yourself does nothing to speed up your weight loss.")

It was good to read all your posts the last few days. So sorry all of you have to bundle up so much to stay warm! My friends from Indiana enjoyed playing in the ocean on Thanksgiving day! It was a good day, with a good meal and good conversation as well as some sunshine.

The whole week's visit with our friends was great. My best friend and I pick up where we left off--almost like I never left! We did lots of girly things, like the salon and the nail shop for pedicures and clothes shopping. I really miss her not being around all the time. At least she has a warm vacation destination! I can't remember who asked me this (Marge, I think!), but I have been in Florida for over a year now. Still feels strange listening to Christmas music while driving down the road with your sunroof open!

As far as Black Friday, I did venture out to Wal-Mart about 8:30 am, after the majority of the crowds were gone. I still got what I went after--THE MAGIC BULLET!! I have always wanted one, but was NOT going to pay 100+$$$ for it! Wal-Mart had them for $44!! I've made some iced mochas with it, and plan to use it for protein shakes, smoothies, chicken and egg salads, etc. There's a web site for it (buythebullet.com), but I haven't made it over there yet.

Man, I have been such a chatty girl this morning!! Will catch you all in a bit!

Haha, that sounds about right for my scale, too! I didn't think it was possible to gain so much in such a short amount of time (I know, I know, water retention and blah blah blah, but still ).
I have one!! I had asked for a food processor for my birthday, and my mother got me the Magic Bullet. Really more of a blender, but still, it works great. The only problem is that now I make smoothies ALL the time! It's so easy to just put the ingredients in the cup, blend it, take off the lid, and have it already in a cup and ready to go. All I've used it for so far is smoothies and ham salad, but it seems to work really well. Glad you got a bargain on it!

I guess you all are right, most of America had a free for all eating weekend. Not too worth getting our underwear in a bundle. Kimberley, we finished our pie last night, it's so good and hard to resist. Rob and I and the cat took a nap in the middle of the day Sunday and it felt GREAT.

Aimee, yeah, it's hard not to feel like getting our parents special gifts, you know, because we love them and because we want to show them we're doing well. I know for my dad at least, the older he gets the less he wants to have things. In fact, he gives away all his stuff! That's why now I send him bagels and bake him stuff.

I think I could give you some good tips about NY shopping, and I'd love to meet you irl. It seems like out of towners get weird lists of places to shop from guide books, like Century 21. I wouldn't really even think of going there to shop, but it's full of tourists.

Jill, good to see you back. Restaurants are my downfall usually, hands down. Two free meals, with all the courses, that's pretty cool.

Jen, I miss having that kind of girlfriend around. You're a brave woman venturing out on Black Friday, heh heh. We have limited storage space here, so I have to make sure I really, really, really want a kitchen gadget before I get one.

Monday is the bear it usually is, heh heh. All those pent up frustrations clients have after a long holiday weekend.... I need a can of problems repellant.

Great to login and see all my favorite ladies posting! It's a new day, the carnage is in the past, and we're going to survive!

We're waiting for the cable guy to show up...Supposed to be here between Noon-2pm, and to call first, but no call so far. The cable internet's working as long as we have the coax plugged directly into the modem from the wall, but if we use the splitter they gave us, it must not be getting a strong enough signal for the internet to work consistently. So, it's best they still come in and check the lines.

Our friend's last night at the coffee shop was bittersweet. Oodles of customers came in to say goodbye and get hugs, give cards. It was a good time. Does Susie realize what a difference she makes in peoples lives? I get so mad when I hear anyone malign service workers, because I think of people like Susie and so many others who can literally make my day when I'm having a rough patch. Just the hospitality and smile, the friendliness, can lift me out of the pit.

I'm sure Aimee will agre with me here--I agree, Kimberley, that I hate it when people say bad things about service workers. Store clerks, restaurant staff, movie theater employees, anyone who has to deal with people on a regular basis deserves respect. Nothing irks me more than hearing someone who has never had to work such a job complain about poor service. I think anyone who feels they are not getting proper service should have to work a service job themselves so they can see what it's like! I'm not saying all service workers are perfect--there are certainly those who slack or are rude and whatnot, but for the most part, I think people do their jobs, and being rude to them is not making their job any easier.

I actually watched a talk show once (Oprah, I think, a couple of years ago) where some snooty ladies were complaining about service in restaurants. They made the ladies work as waitresses for one night, and they couldn't handle it! They couldn't keep the orders straight, couldn't keep up with the kitchen, couldn't remember drinks, couldn't handle impatient customers...they sure had a newfound respect for servers after that experience!

Goodmorning! We had SNOW yesterday! But only for a couple hours, it's too warm here for it to stay. However, we are supposed to get snow that STAYS tonight... it feels too soon for that. I'm in denial about winter.

It's going to be a scary weigh in yah'll this week, eh? Right now I'm thankful (no pun intended) that I missed thanksgiving. However, pumpkin pie grosses me out so I don't touch it. I remember one year I went home to my grandma for christmas, I was there for 16 days, and I gained 10 pounds! My grandma loves to bake, and she makes the BEST homemade perogies. So it came on pretty easily.. heh. But tell me one thing, thanksgiving here is a one day event, so how come its been a 4 days thing in the USA? I'm not sure if it's as simple as a USA/Canada thing.. I know in my family and Josh's family, in the recent years our big dinners are having hints of WW recipes in the place of normally high fat foods, and include more and more veggies.

As for the whole service workers thing, I know a LOT of people get treated like crap, but no one (with the exception of literally one person) has been like that to me. I think people can read if you are going to take it to some extent. Like, I work with this girl Lindsay, and she constantly gets rude customers... and I've never had one, yet we both work in the same store. It's just interesting to watch.

K, this is all i've got this minute... I gotta make me some breakfast! I'll be back later!

-Aimee

Haha, it really is just one day, but it's on a Thursday, so a lot of people get both Thursday and Friday off from work, making it a 4-day weekend. With Black Friday being the busiest shopping day of the year, people are usually pretty tired and basically lazy all weekend long, so it becomes another 3 days of eating (out or leftovers) in addition to just the actual T-day.

It snowed here the night before Thanksgiving, but then it warmed up and rained, so it was all gone by Thanksgiving morning I want some snow, darnit!

We Americans have a knack for making a holiDAY a holiWEEK or holiMONTH! LOL

Hey girls, I need some advice! I can't seem to figure out how many calories I should be consuming! Here are the facts:

40 year old woman, 5 ft 6 in tall, 320 lbs, with sedentary lifestyle. My BMR is 2170. If I subtract 500 cals from that it is 1670 cals. My question is--if I do 30 min of cardio 3-5 days a week, do I increase my daily calories to compensate? If so, how much?

This is so confusing!! Any help is appreciated. I'm gonna post this to a couple of other boards to see what they say.