Well girls all gifts del. and everyone is happy now its time to relax a bit. I took the turkey out for mondays dinner. I am making a turkey, ham and some pasta a nice relaxed day with just my kids and grandkids. Looking forward to that. I think I am going to bake a christmas cake of some sort. Any ideas? My supervisor gave me a nice compliment today and boy did it feel good. Its nice to work for someone whom recognizes what you do once in awhile. I do things because I think its right or it feels good etc. Not to impress people and she notices that. She said we all all different and thats what makes us so unique. So I am starting my vacation feeling good about the holidays and my job so much less stress than earlier this year. It feels great. Marie I would like a little snow. I hear Denver is getting it bad! Well take care girls and maybe tommorow I will even use my treadmill at home.

Carol, I'm making a Red Velvet cake for Christmas. My sister started the tradition with my birthday cake. She and her kids would make it on Christmas Eve for the birth of why we celebrate Christmas (don't want to write the name for fear of it being removed). Since it's this beautiful red cake with white frosting, it's perfect. I'd be glad to post the recipe. It's on my dinner plans. We're having Omaha steaks courtesy of my parents who sent it overnight last week. Also DH makes kitter (literally) au gratin potatoes so that's the start. I'm going to make a strawberry jello salad (its actually a Thanksgiving tradition but we made it from my home grown strawberries this year and it was to die for (not literally as I use sugar-free).

So Carol, both you and I are repeat visitors today. I'm sort of munchy, but more just wanting to zone out.

Talk to you later.
Marie

Ohhhh, red velvet cake...oh, those are wonderful! I am compensating for avoiding baked goods by eating high-end dark chocolate, which isn't on my program, but I will overdose on it soon (I hope). I nearly passed out from desire at the grocery store today. I think the worst of the craving is over. I'm not hungry, it's all mental.

Marie, I'm at my mom's in Cleveland until next Wednesday. It is very peculiar to have it be so warm, but it was nice not to have to pack boots, etc. I enjoy being with my mom and sibs, but I usually don't stay for a visit for more than five days. My mom has a small 1-bedroom apt and no cable TV, so I am already sick of the local "news" and daytime TV. But we have a great relationship, and I like being with my sister and brothers.

Penny, your dad's sore throat remedy isn't too appealing! I wonder about the origin of that one. I'd rather have the honey and lemon--ideally in a mug of hot whiskey or rum...

Carol, I hope you will get a little down time on your vacation. I'm beginning to really like your boss.

Tomorrow AM I will WATP, run errands with one of my brothers and stop by my nieces' elementary school for their Xmas program. They are excited that I'll be there with my sister (their mom) and maybe my other brother. And I'll check in again, too--that should remind me that this chocolate thing is just a phase, like using methadone to fight the heroin jones.

Have a great Friday!

Judy

Carol - I hope you had fun playing Santa. It sounds like you did well food-wise at the Christmas party. It's nice that you were there for your client who had no family. It's sad when people don't have anyone to share the holidays.

Marie - I'm glad you're feeling a little better. Your Christmas dinner plans sound yummy. We're having red meat too - prime rib. We only eat beef a few times a year, so it will be a treat.

Judy - I know what you mean about cravings this time of the year. Tempting food seems to be everywhere! It's nice you can spend the holidays with your mom and family members. My extended family are all in the UK, but since I don't have a wonderful relationship with my mom I enjoy having a 'peaceful' Christmas here with just my DH & DS.

I really overdid it with the cookies and these chocolate/coconut/cherry thingies I made to give as gifts but sampled waayyy too many of! These kinds of foods do a number on my insides (I have IBS) but I eat them anyway, knowing that I'll pay for it . Sometimes I think I'm like a sugar junkie. Judy, I like your heroin/methadone analogy. I'm pretty much within my calorie allowance, but I'm afraid most of my calories have been from junk lately. Maybe I need to do some self-hypnosis or something to convince myself that these foods are not worth eating, especially as they give me a stomach ache! I guess I should have known better than to do so much baking. I have the willpower of a flea! On the bright side, UPS delivered a 2 lb. box of chocolates yesterday from one of our suppliers so it went straight in the food drive bin at Curves.

Good morning everyone well the count down is near. Still a few things to get. The hubby wants rotars for his truck. Crazy thing but he asked for them. I need to get groceries and run the wafer into my polish aunt. After all my running I really might go ck out a puppy. My SIL and hubby are buying it for me for christmas. I am a bit worried about buying one this time of year.But as Judy just said our weather is unusual and its not so bad. As soon as I DO this we will get dumped on. Marie I will need your doggie advise on training. Its been a long time since I have done it. I am looking at a red and white cocker spaniel 8 weeks old with papers and all. Its the first batch sounds like cookies huh???Hah hah! Vet ck'd personal owner the Dad is her friends dog down the road. I am a bit nervous to take on this but miss my old dog alot and its been well over a year. Cockers are quite smart and I will raise it with kids around so it will be friendly and not timid. Well guess we'll find out soon. Does this mean I am going to be a mom again??? I agree with you on the rum or whiskey when sick it knocks it out of you. Oh so strong and good. Judy hope your enjoying the family. It will seem different when you arrive back home with all those channels. I of course don't watch much tv but do like my cooking channels and news once in awhile a movie. Used to watch soap operas before all my work life started. And yes I agree working for my new boss is nice. Not everyone feels the same way but she is fair and treats everyone the same across the board. I would never share with others what she compliments me on. But as far as I am concerned we are all different and good at our jobs expressing ourselves in different ways. I have to say its nice to be respected and I give it back thats all. As we age growth comes in all areas of our lifes what we accomplish from that is so individualized. I am glad to be off from work til next thurs. If I get a puppy we will have some bonding time. I guess I should ck into more than one place? Well we will see. At any rate I haven't been eating so good this week. Biscotti oh so good and not all that bad for us compared to other things. Marie that cake sounds great and I do have a recipe and will pick up the stuff to make it today. I have had it but never made it. I am looking forward to my SonIL's wonderful breakfast as he is making it at my home this year due to remodeling his kitchen. Penny I am with you on family out of town with my son and his wife in HI. But at least they have a bit from home there with my homemade cookies and gifts to open. I hope they have a lovely day. My DIL's mom is there and her sister too. So family will be near. They are all orginally from Col. Denver bet their glad to be on the beach in HI instead of with all that snow. Well girls I am off and hope to have a wonderful day and thank God its pay day thought it would never come. Its crazy how quickly cash goes at this time of year. I am opening up a Christmas club for next year. It will be great and then if I get a bonus even better. Take care and have a nice day and hope everyone feels better for the holidays.

Morning everyone, here I am listening to my ipod with the Christmas music I downloaded/bought yesterday. It's so cool to create your own playlist of your favorites. Right now is Bruce Springsteen's Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It's quite funny and cherry.

And today I get dressed. On Wednesday I wore sweatpants and yesterday I just stayed in my PJs. But this morning, I'm wearing jeans and dressed like a normal person. I must be feeling a bit better. I also jogged 2 miles and walked 1 so that's a step in the right direction.

Okay, I lost again. .4 pound went away. So what's with that??? I cut my exercise from 5 to 3 miles and the calories are the same. And I lose weight??? Now, I'm not complaining - I like the idea. It just doesn't make sense unless the obnoxious plateau is really over. So Santa gave me a nice present this week. Now the next weigh in is on Tuesday - the day after Christmas. Eeks that could be depressing...

Judy, enjoy the time with the family. My family and in laws all watch loads of TV. I don't like it when I visit. I always think that I spent loads of $$$ to watch TV at someone else's house. Most of the time I rarely watch. Yesterday was not the case. I zoned out watching loads of DVR shows from November. But since I feel better, I guess it was good. BTW, enjoy the Christmas program. It brought back memories of my kid's programs. One was so painfully out of tune my eyes were watering. Since it's the one I remember, I guess it was memorable.

Carol, rotors??? Oh so romantic and fun. DHs are so fun to shop for. Mine is getting a big jack for my Jeep (seems more like a present for me but since I would never change the tire, I guess it really is for him) and an 8000 pound winch. Oooo, I'd so love his presents...

Penny, I think us food addicts will always make mistakes that make us feel miserable. That's just our way. We didn't get to be overweight by being good. But look at how far you've come - so the will power of a flea has to be somewhat wrong. Perhaps of a butterfly???

Marie

Marie I know glad I choose my own presents sort to say. When I see something I like and get it he saves it for Christmas. I did have him go with me yesterday and the SIL to look for a puppy. The first place was awful a puppy mill for sure. I am going to do something about it. I just haven't decided what. Oh it smelled so bad and the conditions uh! I had to take my sweater off as it smelled and I was only there a little bit. But one puppy I did almost buy to get him out of there. I think she even lied about how old he was. Cause my puppy I did by was suppose to be almost the same age by one week and there was a whole lot of difference. Anyways my little Sparky is black and is a cocker spaniel. Raised so far with a little family with children. He was the last one left. Its his moms 3rd litter and mom and dad were both there on the premises. My hubby came up with the name and I liked it. So Sparky he is. I will try to put his picture on this site. I am going to make my homemade christmas eve bread today and clean the house. I have a few last min. presents to wrap. Well Marie I am glad your feeling a bit better. Maybe your losing due to the fact you changed things around a bit. They say our bodies get so used to everything being the same we sometimes platue. Maybe that was your case who knows but take it and run with it. Never question a gift horse. Training my little guy will be fun. He did already go potty outside so thats a start. Now if the rain would just stop. Take care and hope everyone is getting ready to feel good and have a super holiday. After the first of the year this lady is moving things forward in a get moving lets make a difference order.

I'm so glad that I'm checking in this morning. I was up late last night, losing at Scrabble and laughing with my mom and one of my brothers. I was talking myself out of working out this morning, but now I'm back in the right mindset. When I'm with the folks the most walking we do is through the parking lot, and with all this food everywhere and being sedentary, doing a formal workout everyday day is really critical.

Marie, I'm glad that the weight is still flying away, and that you're feeling better.

Carol, Sparky sounds wonderful. He is a lucky little pup.

Penny, I agree with Marie--you are stronger than you give yourself credit for...and fleas, butterflies, etc are all tremendously powerful and size. But I am like you in that it might not make sense to be a Keebler elf if you are trying to avoid sweets!

The school program was fun. I don't have kids so I'm easily touched by their vulnerability. It was the fifth graders' holiday program for the school. They will be in middle school next year. The songs were lively, with lots of dancing and silliness. You could see that by this time next year you couldn't get most of the boys to cooperate, but they are still childlike enough now to really get into it (after the first couple of songs).

Well, my shopping is finally done! I will probably spend the day wrapping presents and memorizing acceptable Scrabble words like "ka" and "za."

Enjoy your day!

Judy

Morning all. Well congratulations Carol and the new addition. I'm you got your baby from a happy family home. As sad as we feel for the puppy mill puppies, you just know that you're taking a risk. Best to go with the family breeder in that case. Sparky sounds beautiful and I know he'll add lots of joy to your lives. I bet your grandbabies are terribly excited to play with him. There's nothing like a puppy.

Judy, DH and I used to play non-competitive scrabble. I'm not a competitive person and so when we played the goal was to use every letter in real words. That was fun because it is a challenge. We succeeded some of the time and didn't others. BTW, I used to be competitive and it ruled who I was and it dawned on me that winning made no difference in life and it was like the lightbulb went on. So then my competitive edge turned toward working together. It was an interesting morph about 15 years ago. Anyway... Sounds like you're having a great time with your family. That's wonderful. My family isn't active and eats all the time. Everytime I visit it's difficult to stay in the right mindset so I definitely understand.

Still a bit under the weather but certainly better than a few days ago. The cold has moved to my chest and it's battling with my asthma for my attention. Thanks goodness for Robitussin cough med.

Yesterday I bought software to convert some of my DVDs to mp4 files for my Ipod. So I'm putting some movies on the ipod. Of course WATP videos were the first to make the transition to the pod. Now I definitely don't have an excuse to not exercise.

Speaking of exercising, I did 1 mile walking and 2 miles jogging today. I'm inching toward that coveted 1000 mile for 2006. I will make it, probably by a few extra miles but I'm pretty excited to make such a marker.
Marie

Carol - Congratulations on getting a new fur baby! Cockers have such a sweet disposition, I'm sure he'll be a wonderful addition to your family. It's so sad about those puppy mills. There seems to be a lot of them around. I'm glad you got Sparky from a home situation. The puppies from the mills usually have so many health problems.

Judy - School holiday programs are so heartwarming. The kids (and teachers) put so much effort into it and it puts everyone in a good mood. You reminded me about Scrabble. I was introduced to it by our son, who played it with one of his friends in high school. He challenged me to a game and I thought "I won't beat him too badly so that he's embarrassed". Well, he kicked my a$$ big time. I was amazed at his good vocabulary. I'll have to get the board out and get him to have a rematch. It keeps your mind active. It's also something to keep my mind off eating!

Marie - It was interesting to read your thoughts on competitiveness. I've always been very competitive too and realized I don't need to be that way. It dawned on me that I have a lot less stress if, for instance, I don't try to win every challenge at Curves. Also on Spark People they award points for different things and I found myself spending wasted time trying to get as many points as possible - for what??? It's such a relief when you realize you don't have to always win. I'm also working on not being a perfectionist and expecting the same of others. I've found that even if I let things slide a bit, they usually work out ok. I'm glad you're feeling a bit better and that the scale is cooperating. I'm amazed you're still able to do so much exercise when you're sick. You're such a techie with you iPod - my guys have them but I wouldn't know how to use one! They seem to be really popular though. I guess I'm too lazy to pick out what tunes I'd want on it. I usually just tune in to the oldies station if I want to listen to music. I can't stand having earplugs in my ears, so that would be a problem.

I'm starting to feel more in control now that I've given away the last of the candies I made. I won't make them again, they are just too good! The only cookies left are the ones my DH & DS like - the kind that I don't care for too much. I'm hoping that my flea-sized or butterfly-sized willpower will grow to that of an eagle in the new year!

Merry Christmas! I hope you are enjoying yourselves today. I'm having a good, relaxing time. I managed to work out most days so far, but it's hard to get the chocolate monkey back into the box once I let him out to run wild for a couple of days. One of my gift was a big box of fudge, which I plan to regift or toss before getting on the plane Wednesday.

Be well-judy

Hi All,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas . We're vegging out in front of the TV watching a fishtank video one of us got for Xmas and enjoying a glass of champagne before the prime rib that's in the oven. It smells sooo good! The yorkshire puddings are ready to go in soon. Here's to you and yours!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Penny I love yorkshire pudding. I "made" it last year for Christmas but forgot to put the flour in. Oops!!! It was more like an icky omelet. I was asked not to make it again this year. Hmmm, wonder why. But when I do make it right, it's so awesome. My kids love it too.

Judy, good for you for exercising on your relaxing vacation. And the fudge, hmm, such as waste to throw it away but worse to have it turn to fat. I do love dark chocolate and know that monster intimitely.

We've had a great Christmas. I got several wonderful gifts. Most Christmases I'm usually disappointed but everyone got stuff they love. It was so awesome and unusual. My fave... a portable speaker unit for my ipod so I can listen without headphones in all rooms, not just my craft room. I'm thinking a bath listening to Christmas music sounds like a delightful evening.

We took the doggies out to the mountain to let them run so they'd be tuckered out for the day. It was raining so I was cold and damp, but it worked. I also got a 2 mile walk in out there in the rain.

Marie

I'm packing my suitcase and hoping that if I bat my eyes and smile widely at the guy at curbside check-in, he won't weigh my bag and charge me extra...it's kinda heavy!

The remainder of my visit was good. I did some chores for my mom, whose small cabinets and storage spaces are always an overflowing jumble of things she can't get to or forgot she had. I got to spend a little more time with my sis and my youngest nieces, who are funny, smart and exhausting. Last night I went out with one of my bros to hear live hiphop and reggae at the House of Blues, basically standing and/or dancing for four hours. I did a short workout yesterday AM, but probably won't have time today.

It sounds like everyone is having a fine time! I am too, but I will be glad to be home later today.

Ho, ho, ho--judy

Just a quick note I am of to work again today! Well Sparky turned into Little Bear. He really looks like a grizzle bear so we renamed the little guy. He is surely a lot of fun and work though. My DH will have to care for him today and I think he really is fond of him. Last night he road to the airport to pick up his Uncle Jim with Dad I was in bed. He wants him to get used to going in the vechile once in awhile so what better trip than to the airport. Well eating has been really off and why cause its around tonight we are having pea soup in the crock pot cooking while I am at work. The cookies are getting put away etc. Trying today to get a grip on it and stopping at the gym as well. Take care and I will catch up later on.