Kimberley, those pictures are gorgeous!

Well, we got a few inches of snow (about 2-4), but it took me over an hour to get to work this morning (usually takes about 25-30 minutes). I leave at about 5:30am, so I figured everyone else would still be home. WRONG! It was pouring rain when I left, so I was wiping all the snow off my car and getting drenched, then had to scrape a layer of ice off the windows. I assumed the side roads would be icky, but I figured the highways would be fine. Wrong again! All traffic on the beltway (I-495 going around DC) was doing 15 miles per hour. 15! It was insane!

But, in any case, I made it to work alive and in one piece. Jeff stayed home since there's an accident where a tractor-trailor truck crashed into a utility pole, shutting down an entire parkway right near Jeff's office. He called work, and the guy told him it wasn't even worth it to come in because it would take forever, and he only works till 2:30 on Fridays anyway, so now he is home all day, and I'm stuck here at the office

I also didn't sleep well last night, but for good reason. When I got home from work yesterday, my apartment was cold, so I turned up the heat. I was freezing as I was working on my computer, soI turned it up a bit more and put my hand over the vent to find that it was blowing COLD air! So I put on my shoes and went down to the front desk to report it, but aparently the heat was out in the entire building, not just us. So anyway, Jeff and I curled up with blankets and watched a movie, then went to bed with an extra blanket on top. I woke up at about 1:30am SWEATING! I ripped the extra blanket off the bed and went and got a cold drink of water from the fridge, but I was still hot when I went back to bed. That's when I remembered that I had turned the heat up to about 80 when it wasn't working--well, it was working now! So I turned down the heat, and Jeff had woken up as well, so we watched a little tv to fall back to sleep. So now I am at work, cold, tired, and Jeffless, and I wanna go home, but we have a deliverable due to a client today, so no hope of leaving early for me!

At 9:30am, we heard a terrible racket coming from downstairs. My MIL's dog Hannah was yelping and crying up a storm, obviously in distress beyond the normal "poor abandoned, crated puppy dog" cries she normally does after Nancy leaves in the morning. Howie dashed downstairs and found her with her nose wedged partially under the crate door, her mouth stuck open in the bars. She was stuck tight! She doesn't appear to be injured, but wow what a way to greet the day. I'd not gone to bed until a bit after 6:00am and tossed and turned for a while before settling down, so it was a *very* short night's sleep for me.

:ROTF: This I must remember to tell Howie!

Oh, Jill, poor you...A bad night's sleep, killer commute and Jeffless to top it all off. Glad they got your heat working at least. Our snowstorm wimped out and we only got maybe 2" on the ground. I heard ice was a possibility, but I've not really seen it.

Okay, where IS Aimee??

TOM should arrive today or tomorrow. The sooner the better, before I kill someone! I already told Alan: "I love you, but you are just not going to do anything right in my eyes today." He thanked me for recognizing it and letting him know. It seems like my PMS has been getting worse the older I get. And forget healthy eating--bring on the CHOCOLATE!!!!

I not only have a twin in Canada (Aimee, you know who you are), I have one in Florida too!!

I loved your pics, Kimberley. It's much cuter than my home town of San Leandro, CA. ha. Some people here get into the decorations, there's a three story brownstone on 9th street that has lights plastered all over the building, and a santa claus, I get a kick out of it.

I'm really glad to hear you're going to get PT.

Definitely be careful on the roads, Jill. We're seeing all kinds of news footage with nasty accidents. There was one right here on Sixth Avenue near us, involved about 4 or 5 cars and there's glass all over the sidewalks now. We finally have the heat cranking here, and I've been waking up sweating too, I keep thinking it's colder than it is and using lots of blankets and wearing a sweatshirt on top of my nightgown.

Happy to report a 0.8 lb loss this week. I changed the ticker to read 15 instead of 10, I'll never reach 15 by Christmas, ha. This way I can feel like I got closer to a goal.

Well, I'd better go get some stuff down, have to order bagels to be shipped for my dad's birthday (12/11).

Just thought I'd pop by and let you all know where I am... life is crazy, and I'm having a rough time.. so I'm taking a time out.. Just need some time.

-Aimee

Aimee we miss you and are thinking about you!!

I'm happy to report that so far there are no homicides committed by me today! There' s still time, though...

Potential good news! Alan is getting the opportunity to bid on some contract work. He feels he has a good chance of winning this bid! Fingers crossed!

Okay, so a little informal census of our little group (let me know if I'm wrong on any of this):

--We all have jobs (all outside the home except for Kimberley)
--Kimberley is our only married; Jill, Marge and Jen have live-in Significant Others; Aimee has a boyfriend that doesn't live with her (not sure about that one)
--Jill and Aimee are in their 20's; Kimberley is in her 30's; Marge and Jen are in their 40's
--None of us have children at the moment
--Jen lives the furthest south--Aimee lives the furthest north

Am I very far off base?

Aimee, sorry to hear you're having a rough patch. Take good care, do what you need to do, and come back soon as you can - we miss you.

I think you're right on, except I think Josh does live with Aimee. Hope I'm not getting SO's mixed up! I can't keep spouses/SO's straight sometimes. Mine's pretty easy for everyone since he's active here.

I think I got the SO's down:

Jen and Alan (duh!)
Kimberley and Howie (duh again!)
Aimee and Josh
Marge and Rob
Jill and Jeff

Speaking of yours Kimberley, I was excited to see he made it to the 240's!! Nearly half the man he was!

Good luck to Allen, Jen. That's good news. I'm happy to hear you avoiding hurting your loved ones too, heh heh. I have one correction to your survey. I work out of my home.

Aimee, Looking forward to reading your posts here again. I know sometimes a break is the best medicine.

I've been baking up a storm: biscotti and cranberry bread. Tomorrow it will be chocolate chips, maybe oatmeal if I have enough energy. Then I have to pack them up to give most of them away, heh heh.

Howie's Uncle Bobby and Aunt Bea came out to take my MIL Nancy to lunch, but invited us to come along, too. They're great people, quick to laugh and kid.

This evening, we went with our coffee shop friends to a Victorian Christmas event at a local historic home, Davis-Shai House. They had a Santa Claus display with all kinds of figures from different eras, plus dozens of trees throughout the house. Live music from various local groups were nice, too. They have a big, heated events tent set up outside where they serve free doughnuts and hot cider. After that, we headed over to...You guessed it...Caribou. Tonight we mixed things up a little and played double 15 dominoes, what a fun time.

Tomorrow we're having Howie's nephew and his family over for dinner. I'm so pooped right now, that makes me downright tired to think about. But it'll be fun.

Too bad the Davis house site didn't have Christmas pics. Sounds like a lot of fun.

I was making more cookies yesterday. One more batch to go. I have to mail my dad's Christmas package this week with all the baked goods. And I'll send Larry (my boss) his cookies too. It's work but I enjoy it.

Rob has developed an earache and is in a bear of a mood. His sister is causing a lot of problems, I think she's having a mini-melt down.

The thread's quiet. How's everybody doing? I'd better start working on my Monday list. Have a good one, gals.

Good morning ladies!

It is COLD here in Florida today....45 degrees, to warm up to 65....I know, I shouldn't b*tch, but I don't have a warm coat like Kimberley does!!

Our company barbeque went well! Everyone went away with at least two gifts and a belly full of ribs and chicken! We also had the bouncy castle for the kids as well as ice cream and snow cone machines. Everyone went home happy (I think!)

WARNING: The next paragraph may be TMI for some!

Okay, so my TOM is freaking me out. I had all the symptoms, but only half a day of any bleeding (and not much at that). Very odd! I have the sore breasts and general b*tchiness, but no other evidence. Makes you wonder......


Sounds like Kimberley and Marge are really getting into the Christmas spirit!! Baking cookies and going on house tours--what fun!

ON the news last night here in the Orlando area, there is a church heading up a "To **** with Happy Holidays" campaign. It is protesting the retailers that have removed Merry Christmas and replaced with happy Holidays. You can read about it here http://www.withoutwalls.org/ Looks like the petition is led by the American Family Association, an organization that has some controversial viewpoints. No matter what side of the debate you stand on, it is definitely fuel for passionate debates for a long long time.

Oh, Jen, don't you worry bout TMI around here!

I did a bit of holiday baking myself this weekend. I made white chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, and 2 loaves of that ice cream bread (one strawberry and one a Friendly's ice cream flavor called Strut your Streusel--both VERY good!). Needless to say, I have gone crazy on calories with that all in the house, but it'll be gone when I bring it to the party at work tomorrow.

As for my TOM, I'm not supposed to have it since I'm in the middle of a pill pack, but like last month, I have been spotting a bit and extremely hungry and emotional. Perhaps these pills are no longer strong enough for me? I'll have to ask my doctor when I go in for my yearly in January.

Jill: That would be my guess regarding your pills. Your doc would know for sure.

What was that recipe for the ice cream cake/bread? I might give that a try....

Hiya, hiya. Jill, it could be your pills need to be readjusted because of your weight loss. My doctor told me the spotting et. al. was likely due to that. Then they started getting wonky after I got off the pill -- really heavy with painful cramps, and my cycle between them got shorter than it's been. Then she told me I was in perimenopause, the precursor to menopause. Jen, how old are you? Could that be the issue with you? I just know I'm all over the calendar now and don't know exactly when to expect TOM...I miss those regulated pill months sometimes!

Dinner with Howie's nephew and family was great! His kids are well-behaved, and watched some cartoons while we played a few games of dominoes after dinner. I found a couple of club chairs at curbside a week or so ago, and it turns out they match our living room/dining room AND they are so comfortable , Howie can sit at the table without discomfort. It's so fun getting to know Thomas and his wife - this is the first time we've had them "all to ourselves" instead of smalltalking with them at a family gathering. Love it!