Hey girls,

Actually finding a few quiet moments to check in.

Ruth Hope that you have fun at the party.

Barb Did you and Brian make it to Six Flags? The weather was weird today, wasn't it??

Cottage I am hoping to bake some with the girls during break. My food resolve hasn't been what I need to be the last few days, so having it in the house right now would NOT be good!

Schmoodle Just sounded like you needed that! What do you all windup eating for dinner??

Kim I am so happy to hear that you are feeling better.

Cyndi How was the Sugar Cookie tea? Sounds yummy!

Zeff Sleeping in like that sounds divine! I can't get my kids to sleep much past 8:00 on a good day. I am hoping to get them good and rested over the winter break. They are pretty run down and beat.

Exercise has been great this week, but I had a RIDICULOUS day of eating yesterday. It was horrible..... I have been back on track today, but good golly.

Send up a prayer for Rob (my DH)if you don't mind. He has been crazy busy at work and is absolutely exhausted. He is also missing his dad tremendously. All in all I think he is dealing with all the stress okay, but just love him and worry about him.

Morning Chicks

Schmoodle - I had the same motivation issue yesterday afternoon and evening. Good thing I'd set the crock pot up in the morning I ended up in a nice hot tub with patchouli sweet orange foamy bath salts Hope your evening was as pleasant and relaxing.

Kiko - Thinking of your DH and you. Will things slow down for him soon or is this a no end in sight sort of thing? The Sugar Cookie smells amazing but is a little boring. I'm going to try it with 2 bags and a long steep today. I love the Sugar Plum Fairy and DP love the Nutcracker but so far the others have been a bit disappointing. Gotta love Celestial Seasonings though for trying

Cottage - I used to start baking Thanksgiving weekend with freezables and bake right up until Christmas. There was lots of frosting and decorating at the end too. Then we would go to the families with a huge box of about 25 cookies and a dozen candies and make everyone plates. It was fun when DD was young but eventually I got new hobbies and did less each year. Now, of course, I don't bake at all. We definitely don't want it in the house and most of my friends really don't want anymore either, even if they like them. I've just focused my cooking obsession on other foods

Angel

Since my motivation fizzled yesterday I have the rest of the chore list to work on. It's supposed to go up into the 30s so I'm also hoping for an outside walk! The temperatures are enough to make anyone crazy this year but I love the opportunity for non-freezing walks. What's on your weekend agenda?

Good morning. I up all by myself this morning. Jake is still asleep, which is really unusual for him, he's usually up around 4 every morning. I hope he's not getting sick!
Yesterday was exhausting, I tried to do too much in too little time. But I was on a roll and wanted to get as much baking done as I could. I ended up very tired and very grumpy. I took my tea and my PB Cup Dessert upstairs to the bedroom and laid in bed watching a Christmas movie. It did improve my disposition, though.
Today I plan to finish up baking, I have two more kinds of cookies to bake, plus biscotti and pizzelles to make. Just remind me next year that I said I'm not going to do this anymore. We also want to get the rest of the gifts wrapped and under the tree. Jake is a big help with that, but he's Mr. Perfection, whereas my method is "wrap & slap".

Good Morning!

I would love to join your chats! I posted my bio in the introduction section, but for a short intro, I'm 39, just transitioned to SB, and hoping DH will jump on the wagon with me.

CyndiM- I love the sugar cookie tea, but I figured out that I had to use 2 tea bags and 2 Splenda (which is way more than usual for me). Unfortunately, my Walmart seems to be sold out for the year already.

Cottage- I admire your willpower for being able to bake all those cookies and not eat them. I don't think I'm there yet. I have to take cookies to church tonight, which worried me until I realized that I could take the PB & J cookies from SB Supercharged. I'm scared that if I made regular cookies I would have a bite of the dough and then another...

Have a great day everyone!

Good (early) morning, everyone!!

Cyndi: I must have taken your motivation from you because I got a lot more done than I thought possible! I can't believe the bargains you got on your shopping trip...wish you could pass them down to me! Enjoy your "warm" walk today!

Angel: I'm sorry for your losses this year, but overjoyed at your blessings.

Pearl: Now that's quick shopping! Enjoy your Sunday!

Schmoodle: It sounds to me that you just needed to take a day for yourself. I hope you had a relaxing evening and that you're feeling more motivated today. If not, just find a good movie and a bottle of wine and take it easy!!

Kiko: Thanks. It feels great to be back. and prayers for you and Rob.

Cottage: "Wrap and slap"! That describes my DH perfectly! I'm the perfectionist. Hope you get the rest of the baking out of the way quickly so that you have the rest of the day to relax.

murphydoodle: Nice to "meet" you and welcome to the chat! I don't have near the willpower of these ladies when it comes to cookies, but I am getting better. It does take time, discipline and commitment to be able to pull it off! Enjoy your Sunday!

Me: Not much going on here. I crashed out early last night so I was up at 5:00 this morning. Even for a day when I'm going out of town, that's early! It's nice to have time to gather my thoughts before taking off, though! I was able to get an extra load of laundry folded and put away; I assumed they would be waiting for me when I get back on Thursday. DH is taken care of food-wise. We had taco bake for dinner last night, so there's those leftovers, and I'm going to throw Tortilla Soup into the crockpot as soon as I'm done posting.

Well, I'd best be off...

Hope everyone to come has a great Sunday and I might "see" all of you again tonight!

~Kim

Good Morning everyone.

Kim, I hope you have a safe and fun trip!

Murphy! how's the SB going for you?

Cottage, wrap and slap? When you wrap a gift how its wrapped says as much as the gift! We are going to hold you to the no baking next year!

Cyndi, a walk is also on my agenda! These dogs are going to disown me if i keep it up, no walk this week which is unlike me!

(Kiko) Sorry dh is having a hard time!

Schmoodle, here's motivation dust!

Hi Angel and Welcome back. Sorry to hear of your father and brother, difficult times that time and a new baby help with! Congratulations with the baby. We have a few expecting here!

Me. Well I went to the party and had a blast! But then I woke up with a TERRIBLE headache! I only had three white russians last night! I know, I know, not sb approved. But I was also having my yearly birthday drink. OK, so it's a week early, but hey! Anyway, the people were super nice as always. The DJ made a speech at the beginning of the meal saying he's been all over the country and his home base is rochester, he's been djing the Xmas party for the company for over thirty years and said of all the people he's met this group are the nicest, tried and true! That I would have to agree with, so far. Then the owners asked him to bless the food. What was nice is that they told drivers not to drink, but if they did the company would pay for taxi.

Fly-by post! The morning is getting away from me.

Church was great this morning. Karen our super minister is finally feeling better although tired. She had stomach problems followed by the flu and has been off on sick leave for six weeks!

I'm off to a Christmas luncheon today and am all tiddled up in another Christmas sweater. I try to wear one of my collection every day. even if it's an "at home" day. I gave up on the tree yesterday and put it away - maybe I'll find the missing leg for the stand after New Years. Still no luck on a ploughing guy. I've left three messages at one place with no response and just found out that the guy's FIL died so it's time to move on. I'm sure he won't want to discuss it at the visitation tomorrow!

Have a super Sunday and save some positive energy for yourself.

Thank you all so much for the warm welcome back I am off to work I will catch up with people later. Hope everyone has a fabulous rest of their weekend!

Hi chicks, I am having another drag-butt morning, but feeling better. Thanks for the warm thoughts and hugs. You were right, I needed that! So nice that we are all here to pull each other up when we take our turns being down in the dumps. I think I was just feeling overwhelmed with the week ahead and all that I need to get done. I've got meetings in DC and Quantico three days next week,so I'll be on the road a lot. Anyway, I had some wine, and we foraged for dinner. The kids ended up with hot dogs and I had some leftover spaghetti squash. DH made a cheese and saucisson plate with some stuff I picked up for him at Trader Joe's and he was happy as a clam. It is so gross, he leaves the Camembert out for a couple of days until it gets really smelly and starts looking funny. Then he eats a raw onion with it, like it was an apple. Whenever he does that (not too often, thank goodness), he turns into a smelly Frenchman and I have to tell him there will be no affection from me for a couple of days until it wears off.
Anyway, we watched The Christmas Story and I drank some wine and went to bed and I am feeling more festive today. We are going to get the tree in a bit, which should also help.
Of course, if I'm going to be totally honest, my malaise could have something to do with the crappy way I've been eating lately. I have gained 4 lbs in the last 2 months, ugh! Which is why I'm going to put off the baking until the last minute. I am just not in the right frame of mind to be around all that stuff now. I used to make tons of different cookies too, something my mom always did, and still does. And my SIL. So on Christmas Day we end up with a ridiculous selection of baked goods. We've gotten better about coordinating who bakes what so we are not repeating each other. I've pared back a lot. Now I let everyone in the family pick their one favorite, and that's what I make. With five people, we still end up with a lot of cookies. I don't give any as gifts because everyone I know bakes their own anyway.
I got a nice surprise yesterday, as I was pulling Christmas stuff out of the attic. I'd forgotten that after Christmas last year, I went crazy buying tons of those sturdy re-usable decorated Christmas gift boxes on clearance. That will make wrapping a lot faster this year!.

Kiko, I hope things settle down for Rob. As a chef, this must be a busy and stressful time of year for him. Thanks for the hug!
Welcome back angelshine!
Ruth, my DD1 is attending an ugly Christmas sweater party this year. Apparently this is a popular thing with her age group. They have to find the ugliest holiday sweater they can, and wear it to the party. She asked if she could check my closet! Should I be offended? I love holiday wear, although I've always thought I stayed away from the tackier stuff. Apparently not. She did find something she is considering to wear.
Kim, is it another work trip? You sure have had a lot of those lately!
How was Santa zeff? This is the first year none of mine have cared to see him. What a relief!
Hi pearlrose, murphiedoodle, and sophie! Hope your weekend is going well.
Cyndi, I'll have to look for that tea. Last year I tried the Egg Noggin and I didn't like it much. I like the gingerbread though and the sugar cookie sounds yummy. A hot soak is a good idea. Maybe tonight I'll do the same.

Okay, everyone is waiting for me to get ready to go get the tree, so I'd better get moving. After that I need to do some cleaning, and DS has tons of makeup work left from when he was absent last week. I've got to get my food plan together for the week and make sure I've got grab and go stuff for my running days.

Schmoodles, you made me laugh about your husband and the cheese he likes. Mine is the same the smellier the better and help me if he finds unpasturised cheese. I won't tell him about leaving out the camembert for a couple of days. He isn't french but came to Canada at the age of 10 from France. Lived a stones throw from Fontaine Bleu. And yes wine is always here on the weekend except with his surgery, doc told him not this weekend.
I bake and freeze my cookies but when my kids were teenagers once Chris. I discovered that only 1/4 of the cookies where left in the freezer. They were all sneeking down and eating them but of course I got the standard answer, it wasn't me.

Cottage - I too made pizzells and it takes much longer than ordinary cookies because you stand there and make only two at a time.

Everyone else have a good day, follows Ruth suggestion and sit down for 20 minutes and rest.
Sophie

Schmoo - Santa was fine. DS was actually scared of him at first which is not in character for him at all. He eventually warmed up and sat on his lap. The pics were great and the line wasn't really that long.

-
Baking and cleaning on the roster for today. I have at least three kinds to bake plus another to make and chill the dough for baking tomorrow. I'm thinking of making caramel corn as well.

Already I've put in two loads of laundry and folded/put away two loads of baby clothes (I hate having to wash everything in special detergent again!) The baby room is finally coming together now that it isn't being used as a storage room. It's crazy to see the crib and everything set up again!

Six Flags was a lot of fun yesterday. The lines were a LOT longer than I expected (about an hour) but we rode on 4 roller coaster and went to a really good short musical show. We even got some shopping in. They had a hill of snow (manmade since it was 64 degrees) that you could sled down but the line was an hour for it so Brian wasn't interested. It was well worth it since we had season passes but not if we had to pay. Too many rides were closed for yearly maintenance.

Eating at the park was horrible. They really don't have much of anything healthy although I found out later there is a place with soup that would have been better than what I got for dinner. Today has to be better. I'm up two pounds from yesterday but I'm hoping some of it is water. At least we did a LOT of walking.

I'm taking Brian to visit Robert in a half hour. I'll go grocery shop while he's there. I still need to do some garage cleanup and I want to do that today before we get cold again.

Kiko - This weather is far stranger than usual. I don't know whether to put on a tshirt or a coat! I can't believe it is in the 70's today and then will be so cold tomorrow. I hope things ease up for Rob soon. This is a busy time of year for many people. PM me when you get some time and we can try to get together again. Maybe when the kids are out of school. I've got lots of vacation days I'm taking (although I really need to get some stuff done around the house like brick repair and maybe moving Robert's stuff to a warehouse).

Hi all.

I did a-ok today -- not as much water as I should have but working on that now. I also skipped a snack and dessert. Not on purpose but it's late already!

went food shopping too. I am sooo excited!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!