Morning I'll check back in a bit.

Aud: Your birthday presents sound AWESOME!!! I never thought to look at the thrift/antique stores! Thanks for next years present ideas!!

Robin: How was your weekend?

Sherry: Sorry to hear about the loss! Hope your DD (and you all) is doing better?

Well, as I expected, the weekend was a bust. The WHOLE weekend. That I wasn't expecting. Well, it's back to it today. I also was drinking soda this weekend so I'm going to end up with the headaches from that as well! UGH! But back OP until this next weekend!!!

dont ask (we need a hanging head in shame smiley)

Aud~ you have no idea how much the little shop keepers appreciate it. We used to have a little gift shop/sign shop and we did very well during the holdiays. Usually December paid for Jan/Feb/Mar 's rent. Because business was really lean those months. I try to help out the little shops as best I can too. I remember what it was like

Yup, you would have seen my name in the recipe section...I have lots of favs. Nothing specific for the holidays tho....just fav recipes that I make alot.

Well, I just finished a chocolate chip cookie time to smarten up again!

What was your shop's specialty Robin? The shop that served me tea has the cutest stuff - high end antiques (and even a 40's style soda fountain) . . . but also just tons of "stuff" for $20 or less. My Sis has a New Years Eve Party for all her Grandkids (and her niece Tess LOL!) - Sis turns her dining room into the height of elegance with all the Family China/Silver Setting/Elegant Tablecloths and Candles . . . it's such a riot to see the kids correcting each other on which is the salad fork/soup spoon etc. Anyway, I saw a beautiful "antique" two tiered "mint dish" thingie for $8 for Tess to take with mints this year. Very Hoi-Polloi! The little old man and lady who run the shop must be in their 80's--ALWAYS there with their two cats. (I wouldn't know an antique if it punched me in the face) - I DO know that most of the things in those shops we have either given away OR thrown out. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

OOOOOOooops, forgot to get my Holiday Watch Red Grooove On! Hoping lilyb is busy delivering those 14 Puppy Watch darlings today!

Sherry & Laurie: Saw your Post in last weeks chat and just wanna give you a Shout Out and to hang in there . . . the Holidays are just the worst in some ways aren't they? Monday is my favorite tackle the world and get on with it day! Drinking a lot of water helps me feel better and "flushed out."

Let's make some treats "together" brendanerb . . . I think I'm making the pb/choco cookies Thrs just to have in the house FOR ME ME ME!!!!!!

we were in what is called restaurant row....tons and tons of restaurants, a smattering of antique shops, with a couple dress shops, 2 jewellery shops, and a few flower shops. We had assorted gifts ranging from twig furniture to candles to gourmet treats. With the sign shop in back. Now we just work the sign shop from home, but with imprintable apparel as an add on we started just this past summer. Its been a great "filler" for us. When the signs are slow, the clothing seems to pick up the slack for us.

Lily, I hope Molly and the puppies are all doing well.

Woohoo, we have puppies. 12 of them, all chocolate. I sure hope she is done anyway. She had the first one at 11PM last night. I was up all night. Of course she started having them inside and there was no way to get her outside. So, used old blankets and towels and plastic underneath and just let her get after it. LOL, what a riot. My DD saw the first one born, came running down the hall and promptly threw up. LOL. At 8:45 this morning, Molly went outside to the bathroom and then came back in. We had 11 puppies at the time. I thought she was done. I finally fell asleep in the chair. When we again counted pups there was 12. So, she had one more after I went to sleep. They are so adorable. I think the vet must have been off on his ultrasound count.

Needless to say, my eating wasn't great yesterday. Had 36 carbs. No exercise either as I was getting on treadmill when puppies started arriving. I am back on program today and NEED to stay there. My 14 yr. old stepdaughter cooked us breakfast as I'm too tired to cook right now.

aud, I love antique shops, but like you said most of stuff I see is stuff I threw away a long time ago. I wouldn't know if anything is of value or not.

Sounds kind of like we need to make a group effort here to get us all back on program. I am bad to eat more and cook more when youngest step-daughter is here. It's baked chicken , salad and green beans for the whole household tonite. I made LC enchiladas last night, but not too LC when I ate 3 of them. I did pass on the beans and rice, that much was good.

Hi Ladies

SorryI haven't been around lately,just don't have the time to post,I still getting up late in the morning,and DH doesn't think it should be jet lag anymore.Just got back from having a tire changed in our car so it will be safe to drive down to NY for the Christmas Holidays.

I also bought some candy decoration so I can attempt baking some cookie for the g-kids and adults. Going to make drop cookies with candy kisses on top. Wish me luck,that they come out OK.

Have lots to do,starting with house cleaning upstairs,than I have to get ready to start dinner. Leaving for my DD's house on Thursday and won't return until next week. So I don't have to much time to get everything straight around here.Don't want to stress out.So far, I'm doing fine.

Lily-Congrats:congrats: on your new puppies,just in time for the holidays.You'll get back to lowing the carb intake again. You had a exciting time,on that your back OP you'll do fine again.I'm on a protein/veggie thyme for my meal. Had much to much carbs when I was on the cruise,so I'm cutting all.

Robin-Hope you we're stress out on restaurant row.

Aud-Thanks for starting us up today.

Hugs BB

Wow, 12 puppies Lily!!! Congratulations!! Pictures, I want to see pictures

-This is one of the puppies.

-These are the puppies bundled up sleeping together.

Sorry, these pic's aren't great. They are web cam shots and puppies wouldn't be still. Molly was getting anxious, so had to hurry.

aww thanks Lily! They are adorable!! Just adorable!!

The puppies are cute. I'm so glad they finally came, your description of your mother dog's distress was worrying me. I'm sure she feels much better now.

Brenda, and all, thanks for the condolences. She wasn't a very close friend, but she was someone I cared about and her husband is a very kind man who always has a friendly word for me, so I feel bad for him.

My daughter and I were comforted by reading what Jesus had to say to the mourners of the 12 year old daughter of Jael in the Bible. He told them that the girl wasn't dead, she was just sleeping. Then he proceded to wake her up. For him death is no more difficult to end than sleep is for us. So that thought helped both my daughter and me.

Anyway I've decided that with only two weeks left of this year I'm going to put on a little steam. Started this morning with 15 minutes of aerobics (wanted to do 30, but needed to get to work). I'm going to do the rest this evening. Also have been on strict induction today. Had an egg for breakfast and steak and brocolli for lunch. It was good. Now I'm facing what to make for dinner. This won't be easy.

A guy at work is losing weight by not eating after 5 PM. He goes to bed without dinner. Says he's lost about a pound a day doing it that way. I'm thinking I may try combining his way with Atkins just to see if it helps. I've noticed in the past when I don't eat dinner I usually lose the next morning.

I want to hit the 240s again before the year is out, so that I can start next year in a better spot to aim for the 190s. That was my goal for this year and I blew it by giving up about mid April. This year I want to really try a little harder.

Lily- the puppies are so adorable and cute thanks for sharing


Nothing new at my end going to bake 50 Christmas Cookies [not all for me] 12 for g-kids-12 for adults 12 S/F for my diabetic son and 12 for my dh & me.I hate going empty handed when visiting.

I have to go but I will be back later to read all your posts


Hugs BB

I fell asleep exhausted about 7PM last night and slept til 8AM. I feel great now after getting rested.

Molly is doing great now. She looks a lot healthier than she did when she had the previous litter. She's being great with the pups. I was worried that I couldn't get her to eat yesterday. But, this morning. She had drank all her water and ate all her food. I'm using the Science Diet food for nursing moms' right now and giving her the calcium tabs that I got from the vet. She wants to be in the Child's pool with all the pups , constantly. She has improved at being a mommy. Last time we had to make her lay down and feed the pups. Anyway, all 12 pups are healthy and doing great. I was very worried about Molly when I took her to vet clinic on Sunday, DH laughed at me for taking her and didn't think it was necessary. Oh well, She's my baby and I didn't want anything to happen to her. What do men know anyway. LOL

Sherry, I'm doing induction level food too. I am now officially with the program and trying to be strict again. As for not eating after 5PM, I couldn't do it without being asleep by 5:01. I am most hungry of the evenings. DH cooked my LC dinner last night and it was very good. I just love it when someone else cooks for a change. And, OMG, my 14 yr. old DD did the dishes after dinner. It was like an early Christmas for me. LOL. I was so exhausted that if dinner had been up to me, they would have gotten cold sandwiches.

I bought my DD a new digital camera for Christmas. After she opens it, we'll get some good puppy pic's and I'll post them. Maybe some will have their eyes open by then.

Lily, Congratulations on the pups. We are expecting goldens in a couple weeks. Just now selling the last 2 from the previous litter (we have 3 moms) as there has been a flood of ads for goldens in the Madison paper. Since my dh is a vet we don't have to worry about that end of it.