Happy Hanukkah, Tuesday! Barook ata adonai (and all that stuff!) Sorry about the phonetic spelling, but I haven't retained the spellings I learned after working at a Jewish summer camp back in 91 and 92.. But I still have my yami and my prayer book! Not bad for a Catholic, eh?

I know what you mean about it being tough this time of year.. Our annual Christmas party is this coming weekend.. We're serving brisket and smoked salmon, chocolate fondue, chips and salsa, mini cheesburger puffs, my low-fat "pate a choux" (ok.. "lower fat")... etc.. We'll of course have veggies and fruit, but still.. Who the **** wants that when you've got chocolate fondue?

That said, we made it through last year without a problem, so I'm hoping we can resist our own good cooking this year too..

Sigh...

We hosted a dinner party last night for our photographers and their spouses. DH had it catered from a local BBQ restaurant and it was SO good. There was sausage, ham, smoked turkey (my saving grace!), green beans, dirty rice, rolls, and peach cobbler. It was the easiest and least expensive way to feed 10 people on a week night. The owner is a good friend of ours and he not only cut us a really good deal, he also made sure that he packed the tray with turkey since he knew that would be great on our diet. There's a ton of it left, too, so we can have it for several days. I had a little of everything, but really didn't overindulge. A year ago, I would have been neck-deep in that dirty rice! (For those not from the South, dirty rice isn't dirty. It's rice with onions, ground meat, and yummy spices. There are more things in it, but I don't want to overwhelm you! It just looks dirty. It's actually delicious.)

The babysitters survived our kids, too, so the night was a success. We asked the teenaged daughters of two of our photographers to keep the kids at their house. They took them to McDonald's first and wore them out and then went to their house where I picked them up after the party. It was a late night for them, but they had fun. Now I have to find a sitter for Friday night when we'll be taking pictures at a local hospital's Christmas ball. This is a very busy season for photographers!!

Good Morning all!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far. I'm in a bit of a slump as far as the POPness goes.

Tell me.. What kind of fruits do you all eat this time of year when there are no fresh strawberries, grapes, etc? What about frozen?

Good Luck Girls on your finals!!! I have my Accounting 2 final tonight and then I'm finished

Hey all! You guys are all working so hard! Keep it up! And to you students, it is soon over, you can make it! My DH is a student and took his last final yesterday. Yeah! I actually get to spend some time with him!

I have not been to the COD for over a week. I am not sure why. I just don't really enjoy going because they can be so critical and I know I haven't been perfect, but I haven't been awful either. They scale seems to be stuck right now. My biggest problem lately is stealing a Christmas cookie and not getting in all of my foods. I need to really focus for the rest of this week and hopefully I can budge that scale. All the talk yesterday about the peppermint mocha made me go to the store and pick some up. I was so excited to try it at work today, but it still sits in my fridge at home. Bummer! Well, I better run. Have a great day!

Good morning!!! Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for my mom yesterday! She had her heart cath yesterday afternoon. They did find a blockage but said it happened so slowly over time that the artery sort of made its own path, it grew some new little veins. They said all they saw was things you typically see in a diabetic patient. So great news all the way around. No medical intervention for now, just medication! AND so far shes stopped smoking!!! Shes going to rehab for 3 weeks and she cant smoke there either so we're hoping by the time she comes home she wont want it anymore! Thats the best Christmas present I can think of!

Foodwise yesterday was MUCH better. I just need to get back to my routine. I feel so much better when I eat right! I know how do to this dangit! I've been at it for over a year! LOL

Good luck to all of you taking finals. My kids are about frazzled and ready for it to be over!!!

Everybody have a great day!!

Kim - Great news about your mom! Hopefully the no-smoking sticks. What a great blessing that would be!

Emily - As far as fruit, I like bananas, raisins, applesauce, and one really yummy treat is to slice up an apple, add a little water, cinnamon, and some splenda, heat it up in the microwave for about a minute. It's warm and yummy!

emily--i love to do what tina suggested but i cut up the apple and put it in a pan with some nonstick spray and add cinnamon and splenda and if i need to get a fat in i add a bit of lite margarine and sometimes to splurge a tsp of brown sugar. and then i add it to oatmeal in the morning for a great homemade apple cinnamon oatmeal.

otherwise i love pineapple, apples and bananas.

Jillian, thats what I do when I get tired of raw apples. Its definitely a nice warm treat! I hadnt thought about adding it to oatmeal though, yum!!!

morning all!

NICOLE-where are you??/

Joni??

Kimberely???

I am in a horrible mood since I found out my COD will be closing as of Friday. I knew it was coming, but thought maybe there was some hope....I am in such a slump, and since I'm off school was planning on getting in there at least twice a week to try to get motivated. Such a dissapointment.

I am off to work!
Kim-I'm glad things are ok with your mom!!!

Jillian-hope your days are getting easier!

Felicia-your dinner sounds awesome!! So nice to have things catered!

Dan- I love your family photo-where's Liz these days?

Hi Emily-let's get back POP! I was almost there yesterday....today I'm definitely going to be! Good luck with accting!

Hi Stacy!

Ok- check in later!!

Let's make it a POP tuesday!

kim, sometimes i just add a few tablespoons of the crunchy kashi cereal to the top and it's kinda like apple cobbler.

i guess i should throw in a post about me..
i'm doing ok. dh was able to call on sunday. but when he calls he's only allowed to talk for 5mins. but it was good. he sounded like he was doing well. he'll be home for xmas leave on the 19th. and we have to go pick up the moving truck on the 22nd and then we're leaving NC on the 26th. so much stuff to do in such a short period of time. but the days seem like they are soooo long. and the time is dragging. but that's only because i'm lonely, i'm sure. at any rate, i'm doing fine. just keeping myself busy with packing stuff and getting things in order for the move. i've got all the minor little details done (like turning on the utilities at the new house and scheduled the ones to be turned off here, address changed with the post office, carpet cleaning scheduled, most of the packing done besides clothes and some kitchen stuff)..so needless to say, i'm ready.
i'm so proud of myself for getting everything done and set for our move. i can't believe i've done all of this on my own. i'm quite impressed.

and among all the moving stuff i managed to get all my xmas shopping done online and shipped to former dh's house to be there when we get there so we can have xmas with my family since they're coming to help unpack the truck when we arrive.

so, i've been busy, but i've still had plenty of downtime and that's where being bored comes in to play. but i've been working out, relaxing and just been doing some heavy-duty thinking. which is good for me.

ok, well i'm off to get a workout in and shower. last day off today for a while, so i'm going to enjoy it. it was about 80 degrees here yesterday and suppose to be all week. ick. oh well, better than the snow i'm about to move into in a few weeks.

hope everyone is well, i'm doing much better for those of you keeping tabs on me.
xoxo.

Glad to hear you're feeling better Jillian!

My knee is also feeling better after doing the ice/heat treatments yesterday.. But this brace thing has got to go... It's making me walk really weird and of course everyone who sees it has to ask "what happened?".... I should just print out an explination and hand it out whenever asked..

Amy... Liz has been socked in a work. She's working on a new project that is really eating up all her time and by the time she gets home, she has no desire to play on the computer... I'll give her a call and tell her to drop in and say hi...

Have a great day all...

Hey guys! I guess since I'll be a Virginian soon I should start saying y'all! I went to WI today and was down 4lbs this week without a TO! Yey! I was so happy!

Nothing on the docit for today excpet Christmas prep, wraping, etc. Oh, and engagement ring shopping! I am to start sending pictures and specifics of what I want. AND there's no limit! I know there is though, so I will be kind to him!

I have worked in fine jewelry now for over 5 years, so I know what I want and what is a good deal.

Well, hope everyone is doing well! I am off to eat lunch and do Yoga Booty! I LOVE THAT! THanks Amy-- I think it was your suggestion!

Bye y'all! (Haha, add a stick of butter and I'm Paula Dean!)

Jillian, The 19th is just a week from tomorrow! You'll be hugging your DH before you know it. How long does he have for leave?

Dan, hope the brace is not something you need for long. Knees can be tricky things. Sorry Liz is swamped at work. For once I don't have a major new system going live for the first of January. It has been at least a decade since I've had a year without huge deadlines for the holidays. It is soooo nice, and this is the year my sister volunteered to host the family christmas gathering too. This is the most relaxed holiday in a long time for me. Sorry Liz sounds like she is having my normal holiday.

Amy, congrats on the 4 pounds and the engagement. What type of ring is it that you want? I got a 3 stone anniversary ring not so long ago from my DH and now it is too big. I love it the emerald cut diamonds in platinum, but I think the resizing of platinum is more difficult than gold. Anyway, so I have this ugly ring snuggie (really just a chunk of plastic tubing) to keep it from falling off my hand... Well since all my rings are too big now, I bought a bunch of ring snuggies.

Thanks Barb... I don't think I'll need it for too long.. I'm going to play it safe and keep it until the weekend and then try to play a light game of RB on Sunday if it feels up to it... I just have to stop launching myself toward the wall to get the ball!

Liz's deadline isn't until February, but she's having to learn a new system for this and she's not that familiar with building web pages... She's like an animal who, once it gets the scent of something, won't allow itself to be distracted until it finds it... She puts her mind to something and everybody better just get out of the way ....