Good Morning!!!!
Having a great day!!!No morning sickness in 2 days!!!Maybe it is over!!!!

BFB--Goood Luck on the test!!!!I dont think I have it in me to go back to school!!I admire anyone who does!!!!

Lauren--Yep!!SOnagram Jan10th!!!!Cant wait!!I will scan it and post it!!!!Hope the sickness has totally left!!!

WEll, off to Christmas shop!!!I want to finish it all today!!!!The traffic is getting worse and it is time to get it all done!!!We took SD#2 to see Santa yesterday...I was shocked when she marched to him and sat on his lap for a picture!!!It is really the first Christmas for her now that she has grown up and realizes what it is about!!!!
Have a great day all!!!!
Vicki

Hi All,

Finally, I had a good night's sleep!! No waking up every couple hours in coughing fits!!

This is my plan...I had kind of put WW aside, and decided to concentrate on exercise for awhile. Well, I haven't exercised in just about 2 wks. because of being sick, and I haven't been following WW either. It's time to get back on track. I've decided I need to be more attentive to what I'm eating though, not just the number of points, but what I'm spending them on. I saw a show on Food TV about smoothies not that long ago, and I think I'm gonna check out their website and see if I can get some recipes. They used silken tofu in them, so they had protein and were a complete meal. I also need to watch my cholesterol carefully. I have not gotten the results of my bloodwork from last week back, but 2 yrs. ago, it was 318!! That was not a fasting total, it was on a full stomach, not planned, but I think it'll probably still be up there. I had not realized this before, but even though those Lean Cuisine's are low in points, they have a lot of Sodium and Carbs in them. I will still eat them, but I'm gonna try and make some meals too. Somewhere I think I read that you're supposed to limit carbs to 30 gms. a day? I could be off.

Anyway, it's gonna take a little time to get this plan rolling, but I'll try making little changes at first, til I get it all figured out.

Have a great day all!

Morning, all!

We're just returned from Mass. It was a rather unsatisfying experience (at least as much related to my attitude as the service, I expect) which leads us to try another Catholic church in our area. We've lived here almost two years and still haven't found the right church home for us. I love the Brothers who oversee services at the small church we attend now -- but I really hate the music. Music is such an integral part of Mass that I find it distracting and often leave feeling less than peaceful. So next week we'll be attending a different, larger church in a neighboring town.

I'm off now to exercise with my teen. My younger daughter is staying home to play violent video games on the computer with my husband. Sigh.

Hi All,

SB- I can relate to how you feel on the church subject. DH, who is Catholic, found a church less than a mile and a half from our apartment right away, and he likes it there. I am Christian (protestant) and have not found a church that I am happy at yet. The church I grew up going to is about 40 miles away now, and I just can't make that trip every week. I'm hoping that when we move, it's somewhere a little closer to there, so that we'll be able to go to that church again. Even if we could get 10-15 miles closer, I'd be happy.

RR- Glad #2 had a good experience w/Santa! How is #1 doing these days? Has she warmed up to the baby yet?

BFB- Hope the class goes good...what will you be studying?

Gotta run, my acorn squash is done!

Hi everyone! A few days and I can really get behind! How is everyone? I haven't read yet but plan to do that as I type.

I've just been busy the last few days. Had 2 baby showers, got Christmas decorations out of storage and am working on that, Santa train ride today, and just running around doing little things. My weight is not good. I lost .6 pounds this week but had gained 3 pounds last week so I am still over. Dh lost 5 this week! Too bad we weren't the same this week! (last week we both gained 3)

BFB, good luck with your exam! Sounds like a lot of studying. We'll see you when we see you and we understand your eyes might be tired of the computer screen.

RR, we saw Santa on Friday. I was unprepared for it and so I tried to neaten up ds as much as I could. He had seen Santa on a train ride a couple of weeks ago and said to the mall santa, "don't you remember me from the train?" It was so cute! I hope the a.m. sickness is gone!!

LBH, good luck on the new eating plan. You sound ready and motivated!

SB, good luck finding a good church. That is great that you and your teen are exercising together. HOw old is your younger "violent video playing" daughter?

I am not sure I can look at the previous thread without losing this post so I'm going to check that out. and I might post again.

dani

Hi again,
SB, a cardio kick class is cardio kickboxing. It's at my son's karate school but the gyms around here offer it too. It's aerobi with a karate/kickboxing style.. we do 1/2 hour of aerobic/cardio work adn then about 1/2 hour on the bags.. I have gloves (like Rocky! ) and wrist wraps and we punch and kick the bag and keep with the music. I never did taebo but I think it is a similar kind of thing (except for the bag work). Then there are lovely abdominal exercises at the end... yay.

BFB, got my enell. I like it.. I tried it for the first time yesterday at the above mentioned cardio kick class and it worked well, stayed in place and was comfortable. I think under my arms on the side I need a little more coverage though. I will see how it goes. They charged me 58 dollars for shipping and I nearly flipped. The bra wasn't even that much. But I called and they were SO nice and worked it out. It was a mistake in entering the information on the invoice.

Jul, welcome back! It is good to see you! I could not live in your electric yard... I am so afraid of lightening!

Legal, welcome back also! Nice to see you again!

RR, congrats on the dr. appt. The heartbeat will be so exciting!

LBH, I got a new phone. I was so excited. I've had my old cordless for about 10 years and the answering machine for at least that long.. they have both lived good lives. I had a caller id box... so now I have a phone with the answering machine, caller id built into the phone. Instead of 3 things on the small counter, I have one thing on the wall. I feel free! This has little to do with your answering machine-grandparent story but it reminded me and I am just so darn happy about the new phone.

Ok, all, I am going again. Have a great night!

dani

Well I made it back from my weekend in New York and I didn't do too badly but I still think I may have gained a pound. I'll find out tomorrow when I do my official weekly weigh-in at home. We didn't really eat that much but it wasn't great food -one meal at McDonald's where I tried not to be too bad and a hamburger but no fries at another meal. I tried to make good choices while still enjoying my weekend away. My weight has sort of been stuck for the last week or so and I'll see what happens soon or I'll have to make some changes. I know the next few weeks will be hard with all the chocolate floating around. And I LOVE CHOCOLATE.

I haven't had time to read everyone's posts but I hope you're all doing well, enjoying the holiday season!

Elisa

HI ALL! I have been so busy the past few days & haven't had a chance to check in. And the one time I did have a chance to check in, the site wouldn't come up.

so, anyway, I shopped Thursday & Friday - got a lot done. Woo Hoo! Got some great presents for ds - a sandwich maker - he said he is always burning his grilled cheese sandwiches. I don't know if the gas is too hot on his burner or if he has lousy pans, but he ought to like this. And a great book on getting into a good law school - his next plan. One of these days (soon) I will be done!

I had a slight gain (.6 lb I think) at ww on Thursday for my after Thanksgiving (remember the fudge problem) weigh in so I was okay with that. It could have been much worse.

Saturday I made fudge for dh to take to work (and handled it okay!) and fudge in cookie cutters for little gifts for my sisters & mom; a giant cookie for my niece's birthday party & decorated it, pasta salad for the party; and Christmas soaps for my sisters & mom. And decorated a little tree to take to my Grandma (I get her one every year - she loves it). The party was Sunday - I didn't do very good - ate too much. Glad it was only one day - these holidays are tough tough tough for me.

Jul - I am impressed with your home schooling! It would take such discipline I think. I could never start at 2 or 3 - I am definitely a morning person.

SB - yeah for you on the homeschooling also. Great that you all are doing that since you want to. Yeah for discovering new muscles!! Nice that you exercise with your teen.

RR - glad all went well with the dr! Hope you enjoyed your shopping and got it finished!

BFB - good luck on your training course.

Lauren - good luck on working out a new plan! I read everyone's inspiring thoughts & I think maybe I'm a wimp for just wanting to hang on through these holidays!!

happy - wow for dh losing 5! Hooray for losing .6! (They say it is easier for men.) Glad you got that $$58 shipping charge worked out!

Elisa - sounds like you did pretty good. I'm impressed (as usual!). Last night when I wanted to get into the fudge I was sending with dh, I actually stopped & thought about it. A victory.

RABBIT

Hi! I'm getting ready to run up to my parents for a couple of days. Need to take the boys to pick out our tree. My parents have a tree farm.

We are still trying to get out more orders - its really been a busy fall for us! We've only got one more show a small home show the weekend of 15. It will be nice to get into winter routine and back into church- haven't been since June because we've been gone most every weekend for shows. The few weekends we have been home, we've had to work in the studio (bad of us I know). But like SB its hard to find the right church...we've been here 13 years and are on our 5th church....thinking about a 6th. I grew up Southern Baptist so I have lots of "Baptist Guilt" over all this church-hopping.

SB: too funny that we both love vintage hats. I had a huge collection when I was in college and sold it all!!! Just started collecting again last year - I lean towards black, but did get a beautiful red with lots of beadwork a couple weeks ago.
What homeschool material do you use?? Since we're doing kindergarten I've pretty much made up my own...the goal this year is too learn letters and numbers well enough to have him reading a little. I've got to decide what I want to use for 1st grade.

RR: Wow!! Paying to walk on snow, thats great!! You know they have a hotel somewhere that is totally made of ice...even the beds, chairs, etc... Not something I'd want to pay to experience.


Good news!! I lost that 1.5 lbs that I gained last week. I'm back to 174!! Anyone have any exercise tapes they don't use??

- jul

Hi Everyone,

Sounds like everyone is really busy, it is so nice to see soo many posts . I tried to stop in on Friday but the server was down and then got busy and didn't make it back.

We've got most of our christmas decorations up, and I've started shopping, I just can't seem to get in the mood yet though. I think it's because it's so warm yet. They said Nov was the 4th warmest in recorded history here, and I'm not sure I liked it.

I'm so excited we ordered a sideboard for our dining room and the sales lady said it would take 6-8 weeks to come it, and last week (2 weeks after purchace) they called to say it was in. They're delivering it Wed. I was just hoping it'd be here before Christmas.

On the weight front I've been doing better, I'm working on more water and less wine right now, I need to start writing it down, I actually think I'm not eating enough.

RR - Glad the dr's apt went well. Land's End is giving away a 'white christmas' this year. You're entered if you buy something. I thought that was funny, but the town selling walks in the snow pretty funny too.

Jul - Too bad about the trees, and finding a church. Glad you're busy with business though.

SB - To funny about the sore muscles which that was my problem .

LBH - Glad your feeling better. Good luck on the new plan, I've gotta get one of those going myself. Married life is just great .

Rabbit - You are just the crafty diva aren't you? I'm trying to get my sewing room set up so that I can get some stuff done before Christmas. But I'm not making any promises.

Happy - Isn't it kind of anoying when you eat the same as the guy and he looses lots more. Oh well it'll all work out in the long run.

Well, sounds like dinners done. Gotta go.

- Tech

Having a rough evening...just checking in!!!!Off to bed to sleep through the nausea!!!
RR

RoadRunner -- I hope you're feeling better when you're next online to read. I've no tolerance for nausea myself -- it makes me too miserable to bear!

Tech Alum -- A new sideboard -- how exciting! We just got new dishes -- and that excited the heck out of me. I can't imagine having somewhere new to put 'em!! Wow!!

Jul -- some of my favourite pictures of my teen were taken when she was a toddler and spent hours every day exploring my hat collection. LOL! My favourite right now is this mauve mushroom shaped velvet hat that I finally found a suit to match. We homeschool using my own curriculum. Some of the tools we use include A History of US by Joy Hakim, the wonderful social studies magazines Calliope, Faces, and Cobblestones, and the math books by Saxon. While we are Christian we aren't really Christian homeschoolers -- which makes us stick our in our area where most who homeschool are. I keep my kids involved through our local rec center and church activities. Its a challenge, eh?

Rabbit -- I think that shopping is the absolute best part of the holidays -- and trying to resist the cookies, fudge, cakes, pies, dips, chips and more is the worst. Bravo for you handling it okay this weekend!!

Sudden kitchen crisis -- gotta go!

SB: Thanks for the tips on those Social Study Magazines. I haven't heard of any of them. I did order a science magazine but can't even remember the name of it....haven't rec'd the first issue yet. I keep looking at Calvert, its not christian based at all. And several other christian families use it that I know of. Infact, I think its used in alot of public schools. Some of the christian based ones get on my nerves a bit by using scriputre (out of context) for teaching everything. I'd rather teach facts...and add my own beliefs to it.

Tech Alum: I'm envious!!! I'd love a sideboard....but need to build the new dining room/kitchen addition first. I do have a beautiful antique buffet but I keep it in the living room.

- jul

Hello everyone,
Has anyone heard from Nancy lately? I have noticed she is not here since I have returned. I wonder how she is doing.

RR, I hope you feel better tomorrow! Thought that was over!

Tech, it's warm here in the east too. Hard to get thinking about Christmas though I have some decorations up and about 1/2 the shopping done. What is a sideboard? Oh, and just so you know, I didn't eat the same as the Mr. He has his own plan and I have mine (sort of). He just stuck to his and I didn't. But it is true that it seems he can lose more faster.

Jul, cool that your parents have a tree farm. I read about that ice hotel in the 3rd grade reading book last year and also in the Time for Kids mag. It was cool! (so to speak) I think they have to rebuild it each year.

Elisa, welcome back. It sounds like you really did try while you were away. Good luck at weigh in!

Have a great night all! I just came back from my cardio kick class and so I feel I did my part for today.. (especially because I didn't really feel like going).

goodnight!
dani