Morning all and happy Friday to everyone! My eating this week has been bad, I wake up with good intentions but with all of the food in the office I have not been doing what I should be... giving in rather then staying strong... UGH.

Hope all is well with everyone, the holidays are getting close now!

Judy: Great job!

Princess

Hi All,
Yes, the holidays are really close now. Hannukah starts today and Christmas Eve is staring us in the face. After doing really well for many days, I had a slip up that lasted for three days. However, I hopped on the scale this morning, I am up just a little which can be taken care of, and I'm on track again. Not bad!
My aim is to get this off with exercise, be very careful of what I eat, lost .5# this week (high hopes), and go into Christmas with care and 35 points to use to my heart's delight.
Good luck to us all. Remember all the good things we've learned this year and put them into practice. Have a healthy, holy holiday and God bless us all.
Judy
234.6/215/214 and onto onederland

Hi turtles:

Such a busy time for everyone but lots of fun as well.

My dinner & luncheon were really nice. But at my w/i I was up 1.4# & hoping that was just my big lunch. I am off from Tops until Jan 7th, so really have to be careful over the next couple of weeks, but still enjoy myself over the holidays.

We have sooooooooooo much snow, it is crazy & calling for more Tues evening. We have had snow the last 3 days & lots of it each time. Lots of exercise shovelling even with my neighbours help.

I still have a few things to pick up for Christmas but only a couple of stops to finish it all up. I wrapped all afternoon so that really helped.

Only 2 more days of work then I am off until Jan 5th. Nice break & looking forward to it.

Hope you all are coping with the weather & getting all your shopping done.

Take care!

Afternoon all and happy Monday! Busy weekend for me, trying to get things done and unexpected company yesterday. I was trying to get some wrapping done last night when the power went out... ugh! It is sooooo cold here, we are at about 7 degrees today and it was below zero last night when we lost power. No power = no heat for us even with a gas furnace... it has an electric starter on it. So DH and I got some flashlights going and extra blankets out for us and the dogs and headed to bed. It went out at about 5:30 and did not come back on till about midnight... the house was super cold but once we were restored it heated up pretty quickly and all was well. Sure wish we had a fireplace during times like that. No snow really here but painfully cold. I skipped W/I this week, I was too chicken to get on the scale but will attempt it next weekend.

Take care everyone!
Princess

Hi Turtles,
Looks like we're all trying our best. :

Bandit, enjoy your dinners out and activities. Merry Christmas! I bet Canada looks beautiful with all that snow. That slight weight gain was probably from lunch. Hey, use us here as your TOPS group until they meet again after the winter recess. Enjoy your time off. It's great to have a holiday after a holiday so you can recoup and regroup! for trying out new recipes.

Princess, I know what you mean about skipping WW's and that scale. I've done it plenty of times and sometimes it's just what I needed to get my head on straight and get back on track. Maybe after losing your electricity yesterday your body burned a lot of extra calories--it's just a thought.

I'm heading upstairs to check out my scale. I'm hoping it's good news. Today my dd just called and I will be bringing my grandson to school and picking him up afterward. Yesterday was a good food day and I cleaned the house so I'm counting that as activity. You all have a good day. The countdown to Christmas is really here. I'm very excited about Christmas since our grandson who is four will be here and he makes things so much fun.
Take care, be well, have a great holiday. Make the best choices for the moment you can. I'll be drinking lots of water and avoiding those little fat balls--my pet name for cookies--as best I can.
Judy
234.6/214/213 onederland in the spring! cool:
(A weight loss didn't show up yet, so I better be super careful today)

So Judy, how did things go on the scale? It's so hard this time of year.

Slooooow weight loss here, but at least it's still going in the right direction. I've been good, too; my body just wants to hang on to the flab right now for some reason. I'd love to get into the 180s for the New Year.

Boy, has it been cold! But we've turned a corner apparently. It's supposed to get up to the 40s this weekend -- after 0 degrees, that will feel positively tropical.

Lots of family here visiting for the next week or so. We love to have them come.

Have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, etc.!

Hi Turtles,
I went to my WW WI this morning. I was up .6# and my home scale showed that I had lost a tiny bit. I was disappointed, but not devastated since I know salty foods play havoc with me. Honestly, considering earlier eating in the week and the cookie nibbling (not much--but I've been having some) I think .6# is fine. Now my goal is to keep this in check with my 35 points. I intend to use them for the super special foods. Sounds like a plan.

Lauren, yeah, this time of year is really tough. I'm so glad that the scale is moving in the right direction. Weigh to go!

Good luck to us all---have a great holiday and a Merry Christmas. It'll be the New Year before we turn around!
Judy
234.6/215.6/214 into onederland

Morning all and happy Monday to everyone. We had a nice holiday but I seriously over ate! UGH! Not much else is new, just job hunting and preparing for my last day.

Hope all is well with everyone!
Princess

Hi Turtles,
Okay, I'm back and like Princess I overate. Actually saying "overate" for me is very kind. I had good intentions, but I made many too many goodies and they hung around calling my name. I think I can do the right thing today and get back on track.

Princess, good luck with your job search. : You can do it!

It's almost 2009. My resolutions for this year are to:
1. attend a "ticketed event" monthly
2. get together with friends monthly
3. sign up for water exercise at local community college
4. stay on track better than before.

Anybody have resolutions for this upcoming year?

I feel 2009 will be the one!
Judy

Hi, Princess and Judy -- hey, at least you're back here posting, right? Today is a new day, this hour is a new hour. We can do this.

My house guests finally left today. I love to see them come, and I'm glad to see them go. I miss them, though, and wish they lived closer. But I'm looking forward to a quiet house again!

We had quite the little drama a couple of days ago. DH was fixing something in the bathroom upstairs when a PIPE BURST and gushed water all down the inside of the wall! Water poured out through the light fixture in the kitchen and then down into the basement until we were able to shut it off. The guest bed in the basement got soaked, and one of the phone lines shorted out! DH had to pull out the entire bathroom counter, vanity, and sink in order to fix the pipe, and we didn't have water for most of the day. House guests and I went to Caribou Cafe to use their bathrooms. It was certainly a day we won't forget soon.

So while we had planned to do some bathroom renovations, we certainly hadn't planned on doing them quite so soon. Especially since DH JUST finished putting the bathroom back together from its earlier renovations, which he started last summer! That bathroom is cursed, I tell you! Well, maybe it'll be functional again by NEXT summer.

Ah, the joys of home ownership.

But on the bright side, I actually lost weight over Christmas and am finally into the 180s in time for New Year! I am so happy about that, I can't tell you.

Have a lovely day, turtle ones.

Lauren, weigh to go!!!!!
You lost weight over Christmas with guests in the house and no running water for the day???? You are Mighty Woman! Weigh to go. Hooray! I am so happy for you. Hey, it's looking like virgin fat territory is getting mighty close. Lauren, your achievement is remarkable and I'm really thrilled for you.
Would you stretch out your hand so I can touch it and your magic can rub off on me? All the best to you!
Judy

Hi TUrtles,
Here's a call to everyone: Happy New Year! 2009 is our year!!

Unfortunately I caught a dopey bug that's been flying around the NY area. This is the third day I've been sick. Okay, yes I have lost weight, but trust me, this is not the way to do it. It's an interesting thing though. I am so grateful that we were all well for Christmas that I don't resent this too much.
I'm counting on the that I'll be feeling close to normal by tonight. With that in mind, Happy New Year all you faithful Turtles. Let's do the best we can with what we've got and move onward and downward in 2009!
Fondly, Judy

Oh dear! Feel better, Judy. Being sick is no fun.

DH is home today and taking down all the Christmas decorations. I'm so glad; I hate doing that. So much more fun to put them up.

This weekend we'll be looking at bathroom fixtures, flooring, etc. to replace what got damaged over the holidays. Oh well, it's only money, right? But we did plan to do it sooner or later, this just moved it up a bit. It'll be nice to have an attractive bathroom.

Eating is still going well. I had a few more bites of DH's food yesterday than normal (he never gets to eat anything entirely by himself, poor guy), but other than that I'm holding the line. I really want to be in virgin fat territory by mid-April!

Have a great weekend, Turtles.

Hi Guys,
We've gotten long, so I'm starting a new link> #209 Bale of Turtles doing fine in 2009!
Judy