Meg, happy belated birthday! Sounds like you had a great time, and I'm sure the water weight will disappear. So glad your kitty is doing well! Is it Science Diet A/D? That's the kitty junk food that made my cat want to eat when she was ill a while ago.

Dagmar, recognition of the pattern is the first step. Hope your week isn't too crazy.

Wardhog, will all 50-60 gather at one place for Thanksgiving? Should be fun (I think) seeing people you haven't seen for a while. Since watching that Holly Hunter/Robert Downey Jr. movie about Thanksgiving, I'm never sure if family gatherings are fun or not. Guess it depends on the family. Just kicking your legs in the water while holding onto the side of the pool is great cardio, BTW.

Shannon, oh my, your DSS punched a teacher? That's rough for all of you. It's tough teaching kids boundaries, and tougher still when you're the step-parent.

ICU, just hanging out with family and friends is going to be my focus this year, too. Not making the stuff I used to make and not eating dessert because it's a big trigger. Wish I didn't like pie. . .

Jessica, bummer about the ankles. I love the names of those fitness classes.

Michele, sounds like you've got a busy but fun day ahead. Hope you're enjoying it! Cleaning the house burns calories.

Allison, three fridges and no room. That's a lot of food. A turkey really does take up a lot of space plus you can't put it on top of anything or put anything on top of it. Kudos to you for eating on plan. I'm right there with you on the wine, especially since we're doing the wine tour the day after Thanksgiving.

Windchime, it really helps to have a plan, IMHO. And, of course, the exercise is important, too.

Mandalinn, you can your own cranberry sauce?

I'm waiting for the guy to come and clean out my dryer vent. It took over two hours to dry a normal load of towels. We disconnected the vent and it only took less than an hour to dry a normal load of jeans, etc. Of course, the lint went everywhere, but it was a good test of what was wrong with the dryer.

So I have an issue with the person who cuts my hair and waxes my eyebrows. She does a good haircut, but she did a really bad job on my eyebrows. The last person I went to did a bad haircut, but a great job on my eyebrows. Why can't I find one person who does both well? Anyway, how do I fire her from doing my eyebrows, but keep her as my stylist?

all round.

A plan sounds good to me. To include some strategies on how to neutralise the opposition.

Good luck, everyone!

(Remember I'm posting from another planet.)

Silverbirch Aside from the Christmas season is there an equivalent to the North American Thanksgiving in Wales?

Meg Maybe feed the senior kitty in a separate room and take the food up when you're not there to supervise. My male cat has been on special food (irritable bowel) for several years. The female constantly tries to get at it just to dominate him. I wound up feeding them in separate rooms. She pounds on the door with her paws while the poor guy just hoovers his dish of food. But he gets to eat it.

Have a great evening everyone else!

Dagmar

Sheila-- I would just tell your stylist you're going to do your own brows from now on. She'll never know the difference and you won't hurt her feelings.

I heard back from the dermatologist regarding a biopsy he recently did. Apparently I have squamous cell carcinoma on my leg and will have to go back to have it excised further. I'm trying not to worry but I'm a born worrier. Has anyone had this before? Would love to hear some good stories so I don't worry. I'm not having the surgery until December 21.

Michele - I know two people with positive stories about squamous cell carcinoma. My HR assistant had one removed from the side of her nose about ten years ago. She had a little scarring right after but it isn't noticeable at all now, no recurrence. My grandmother has had several removed - arms, legs, one on her face. She had a couple of basal cell removed as well - she worked out in the sun a long time so had a 'spray effect' of impacted areas. None of the individual ones removed recurred in their areas, and she has had no new diagnosed areas in a number of years. Only one scarred noticeably, and it was just because it was in a hard location to get to and it didn't heal as smoothly as it could have. None of hers looked like the Wikipedia pictures.

Thanks Shannon! That is what I wanted to hear. I tried to downplay it to my dh because he gets real freaked out about medical stuff. When I googled it I got a little worried though. My dad had many basal cell carcinomas but no squamous. I definitely have the light skin and burned many, many times so I realize I have to be careful. I am glad I found a dermatologist that did a biopsy. I had seen several other dermatologists and they took off nothing (over the last few years). This was the first time I saw this doctor and he immediately froze off multiple pre-cancerous things and biopsied this one.

Hi all,


it sounds like you all have a big holiday ahead! Plan & enjoy!
And I too love the name of those "after" classes...

Re: european equivalent: I do not think we have an equivalent. We have 2 days of christmas & 2 days of easter that are both typically "eating" kind of celebrations, but to my knowledge that is it. OTOH continental europe has a lot more days of vacation, so maybe the urge of celebrating a 4 day weekend is less.

Have a great time all,
rabbit

PS: meg-glad to hear kitty was OK. I have the same issues with young punk getting the food of old cat, I might have to feed the old one separately

Sad evening around here. Sarah's dad had to put down their cocker spaniel, who was quite possibly the sweetest dog ever (he knew the command "give me a hug" and put one paw on each of your shoulders, then put his head down against your shoulder). He had a tumor on his heart and went into heart failure - surgical options would have given him a month, at best. So, so sad.

mandalinn Sounds like you were very fond of the sweet spaniel too.

In my household it's the old "punk" (13 years) taking the food away from the younger (11 years) cat. They're both getting into fogeyhood but Mudpie prevails over the entire house.

Her attitude is why I have her as my avatar. Our household all needs to be more like her - adventurous, excited about life, and active. We three others are potatoes compared to her.

Have a great day all! I'm off to work in the dark and the rain in just over an hour - BLEAGH!!!

Dagmar

Dagmar - like rabbit said, there isn't anything really. But what we, in Britain, have been developing over the last 20-30 years is a truly terrible period lasting from Christmas Eve (or even earlier) to the day after New Year's Day or later in Scotland. It's sometimes referred to as 'the whole country shutting down'. I think it's come about as more people now work in offices. They frequently close for this whole period. Often leisure facilities (like swimming pools) do. Of course, transport and hospitals and shops carry on. And there are the sales, of course! But the overwhelming feeling is one of inertia and there's a lot of over-eating. People hate it but don't seem able to get out of it. Cabin fever sets in. Being banged up with your nearest and dearest can be challenging! You have to be pretty organised to get out and about. Or able to leave the country on holiday. Maybe someone else will comment on this as I am running into the sand at the awfulness of it.

The other thing which is sometimes said (but perhaps not so much now) is 'we are getting more and more like America'. The speaker is never happy about this and is generally referring to fast food, over-processed food, bowls of sweeties in public places and offices and the like. I suppose it's a travel and globalisation thing, facilitated by our sharing (kind-of-thing) the same language.

Once again, good luck, dear US friends. Have a good Thanksgiving and enjoy the time with your friends and relations.

Amanda, sorry about the dog. With all these stories about aging pets I need to go home and give my dog a big hug.

Michele, I don't know of anyone who had squamous cell carcinoma, but my dad had a basal cell carcinoma removed a few years ago. He hasn't had any problems since then. I had one mole that had an abnormal shave biopsy that I had to have excised, but when they removed it it turned out to not be cancerous after all. Mole excision surgery isn't a very difficult operation -- like most surgeries with local anesthetic, the worst part is getting the anesthetic injected!

Sheila, I would just tell the hairstylist you're going to do your own eyebrows, then go somewhere else to have the eyebrows done.

Morning all,

Today is the first of my two Thanksgivings, my office lunch. Turkey and veggie dishes for me, unless I see something that just looks divine. I'm always disappointed when stuffing doesn't taste like Mom & Dad's, and if I want to I'll eat it Thursday. I'm bringing a big tray of my sweet potato and apple bake I posted last week. If there are leftovers I'm happy to take them home and enjoy them, as it is a pretty guilt-free dish. Thursday BF and I are having dinner with some very close friends of his, their kids, I think one of the friends parents. Not sure what to expect but they are pretty low-key people. I have pumpkin pie duty, which I can handle. I am going to get some cranberries and make my own batch of cranberry-orange relish (with Splenda), green beans with some yummy sauce, more sweet potatoes if necessary, and probably dig out some recipe I got from Meg years ago for pumpkin "cheescake", so I can have my own guilt-free "leftovers" of the healthy things I enjoy the most. I get Thursday & Friday off so I'm planning on relaxing, putting up Christmas decorations, cleaning, and doing some healthy cooking.

Yesterday I had to do some scientific diving for work, and boy, it was hard work. I forgot how buoyant a thick wetsuit makes you and had to dump lots of extra weight in my weight belt so I could sink. Then we were hauling some heavy things, and that was dragging us down further, but when we put them down the current was trying to whisk us away. The water was murky and visibility was a foot to start with and when the mud got stirred up by us picking up our samples, forget seeing anything, it was by touch, extremely disorienting. I got two leg cramps at one point and my co-worker and I were both breathing really heavily. Thankfully we were in less than 10 feet of water (but we had to do work on the bottom, so it did require scuba gear). I'm glad it was a one-time sampling. It was definitely my workout for the day!

Amanda, sorry to hear about your in-laws spaniel. He sounds like a very sweet dog.

Michelle, I know several people who had pre-cancerous moles and patches removed from their skin, though I can't say what the exact diagnosis was for them. But they all had them removed, without noticeable scars after healing, and are now just fine. I'm sure you will be just fine too. Sounds like a good thing you went to this new dermatologist, though.

Sheila, it's inconvenient to visit two different places but if having your hair and brows done, but if you find a hair stylist you like and brow stylist you like, OTOH, you don't want to give that up! Like Michele says, just tell her you're doing your own brows if it comes up. I doubt she would push for more of an explanation, but if she does, say something complimentary like "We're trying to cut back on expenses but I just couldn't give up my haircuts with you!"

Allison, I'm laughing at how full your fridge is! Make your guests start eating some of that food! That sounds like my family's fridge growing up during the holidays. If we had Thanksgiving or Christmas leftovers for lunch, we would all eat at the same time, b/c all that food was only coming out and going back in once.

Hi to everyone else! Have a wonderful day!

Good morning -

Amanda - sorry about Sarah's puppy. to all of you.

Megan - Two recipe questions for you... What were the ingredients for your cranberry orange relish? Cranberries, orange slices, walnuts, sugar? And, can your sweet potato apple bake be done without butter?

Birch - I don't know that I would survive shut up with my nearest and dearest for the entire week from Christmas to New Years! I have heard the phrase 'more and more like America' used before by my European friends... It doesn't typically make me proud to hear it - it is usually when they are referring to fast food on every corner and limiting vacation or holiday time at work....

Dagmar - I could use a more adventurous, excited about life outlook myself. I was thinking about that yesterday as I sat with my stepson before a new episode of "Little Einsteins" came on - he was so excited his whole body was quivering in anticipation. We could all learn from him and Mudpie!

Sheila - I have one person for hair, one for nails & eyebrows, one for brazilian waxing, I wish I could find a one stop shop! Are you looking to use someone else in the same salon as your hair dresser for your eyebrows? That could be awkward. Otherwise, I agree that you should tell her you are doing them yourself now and just go somewhere else.

Allison - funny about your overcrowded fridge! Annoying that you have no room to chill your salad, though.

I went and ran at the park last night, stayed a little later than normal and then the park emptied out pretty quickly when I went to the bathroom before I left. By the time I got out it was more deserted than I like, and of course this was the day that DH drove by on the way home and saw it more empty than normal so was somewhat freaked out. I have to figure out another way to run during the winter months. I just don't feel safe running on the roads, and it seems that the park is going to be more and more sparsely used as the temp gets colder. Hm. Might be treadmill during the week and park runs on the weekends...

Good day everyone!

Oh, and to answer an earlier question, yes, I do can my own cranberry sauce...both whole berry and jellied (and it slurps out of the jar just like it would out of a can). I didn't get to it yesterday because I realized that I was short on lids, so will have to do it today.

Still sad this morning about the dog. Seriously, that dog was so sweet, and my heart is just breaking for my in-laws. It wasn't so long ago that we went through this with my childhood dog, so I remember how terrible it was. You can bet that all three of my animals got extra-big hugs and cuddles last night.

Otherwise, work is a little calmer this week and we're just trucking through.

to everyone.

Morning. I've been up to my eyballs in work lately for some reason. Not something I like at holiday season. I'm really looking forward to 4 days off (and I need to check with the gym about when they're open.... )

Amanada - so sorry about your in-law's dog.

Michele - my mother had several squamous cell growths removed, and nothing further ever occurred. I had a suspicious mole removed from my left breast last month, and while it had "a strange mix of cells" none of them were cancerous. And I agree with - who, Jessica? - have the anesthesia injected is the worst part. Though I still have absorable stitches coming to the surface. Weird.

Shannon - I agree, either earlier in the park, or a different place to run. I get creeped out at places like that when there is no one around. One thing we have is excellent bike trails which also work well for walking/running, and are in view of the road.

We still don't know what we're doing on Thursday. Our neighbors haven't called about what time dinner is - and we hate to assume we invited. We can go to the dinner at the church, or actually we could stay home.

Oh, and the two cats I have now eat peacably from the same dish - they're both "grazers" but when the older of the two was a kitten our then older cat would steal her food all the time (the older one was on a special diet) and we ended up feeding the then younger cat up on a shelf that the older cat couldn't jump up to. It's much easier having them both on the same food and with the same eating styles.

We currently have our bed in the middle of the newly carpeted section of the bedroom while half where it usually is gets carpeted. The cats think it's great and running under the bed unobstructed is part of their new route on the chase game.