Thru Thick & Thin is a group that was formed to give and receive support on our journey to take off the excess pounds and to keep them off. No matter who you are or where you are from, you're welcome here with us. We'll stand with you while you're losing and stand by you if you're not. We all have ups and downs and we need support in both.

Afternoon Ladies,
I hope I'm on the right one...I've gotten confused with the threads. Hope everyone's having a good weekend so far, and especially welcome to our newbie! I think Maria? I can't go back and look at the other thread, but hi!
Saw my attorney yesterday. For $2000 he will fix my problems for me, although he did tell me that Goofus would not be allowed to take the children out of public school for any reason whether I filed papers or not. But, I'm going to file them and get visitation and child support set , along with the school questions finalized by the judge. Anyway, enough of that! Jeff and the girls are out getting our Christmas tree, so I must vacuum before the tree needles arrive. Love you all, and I'll be back Monday for sure and maybe tomorrow if I get a chance. Stay skinny, ladies!
Love,
Sally

Hello Ladies

Hey look at me – I’m posting on a Saturday. It has been ages since I have done a weekend posting. Dh is out doing some Christmas shopping and I have some LF oatmeal raisin cookies in the oven so I thought I would take this chance to check in. Well I ran my 5k (3.1 miles) race this morning. My goal was 27 minutes and I am proud to say that I did it in 26:56. Beat my goal by 4 seconds! This was despite the fact that I had to run into a cold wind and someone put a HUGE hill at the end of the course. I almost didn’t I would make it. I love running. It gives me such a feeling of strength and control over my body. Both of which I felt I was lacking before. Sorry I’ll stop now – I know that I can go on and on and on and on and on about running…. Imagine poor dh!

Tammie: Sounds like you are doing absolutely fantastic! Congratulations. I wish I could be motivated to stay OP at this party tonight but I know I won’t be. I am very bad when it comes to social eating. I always go way over board. My only hope is that they don’t have a lot of vegetarian food that I way I am safe. Unfortunately though brownies and alcohol are vegetarian! Your outfit for the party sounds very pretty. I love velvet for the holidays. Although, I don’t think I have owned any. Hmmm. Have a blast at your party.

Oh timer just went I have to go check on the cookies ….. They were looking so good that I had to try one hot from the oven MMMMMM They are good. It is so hard to believe that there is NO added fat in them!

Maria: Welcome back. Glad that you found us again. What are you taking in school? It seems to be that you said you were going FT? Yikes! I am working towards getting my HR designation and will be done by the spring. My last 3 courses I have been doing through distance ed and just love it. I will only have to go to the actual college about 3 times per course. They are also very flexible for time lines so that you can finish later or earlier than the regular courses. I love your avatar. It is really pretty and puts me in the holiday spirit.

Skeeter: Mother Nature naturally turned on the a/c here! It was a balmy 36 for my run. Maybe I will get dh to take a picture of me tonight. Because gosh, darn it I plan on lookin’ good. Thanks for all your help with the walking stick. Mom is absolutely going to love it! Your hubby is such a sweetie! I am sure it is going to be perfect. I e-mail you privately from work next week to give you my address. Make sure that you let me know how much I owe you and be sure to include mailing charges as well. My natural nails are very soft as well. In fact before I had acrylic nails, you used to be able to bend the top portion of my nail backwards! I don’t blame you for not wanting to get them again. That all sounds pretty gross. :P

Sally: $2000 is a lot of money but if it will settle everything, it will be worth every penny! I’m sure that you can’t put a price on the value of your family. It does seem kind of funny to vacuum before the tree arrives but I know what you mean. Hope you have a fun day trimming the tree. I am hoping to have time to get to that soon too. Oh well enjoy!

Well that’s it for now. I have to get back to my cookies – the next batch is done. The apartment is smelling soooo good. I think I am going to have to duct tape my mouth shut!

Have a great weekend
Tobey

Hey everyone.

Well, I thought no one had been on the board since I posted last night. I went in the long way and discovered that my post had gone to page 2 and there was a new thread. I sure hate these short threads.

Sally~I'm so glad that you are going to get what you deserve from the ex. That will teach him to stick his foot in it. He should consider himself lucky that you are letting him be a part of your girls' lives even though he is not supporting them at all. Have a good family day getting that tree up.

Tobey~WTG on your run this morning. I had faith in you, girl and am looking forward to seeing that black dress. The cookies sound really good, I can almost smell them from here. Maybe we could just take payment of the walking stick in cookies. We went to the local civic center here in the woods and got some great Christmas gifts this morning. I bought 3 of the local Hog Valley T shirts and a really cool birdhouse. We have a Baptist church and a civic center. I picked up applications to become a member. They have craft shows the second Saturday of the month and Bingo every Friday night. Hubby can start taking his walking sticks down for the craft shows once we join. I can't imagine who shows up to buy the stuff though other than us.

Marlana~Where are you, girlfriend. I was expecting to read your post on the new thread but it wasn't there. Has your new fish calmed down any yet? It usually only takes a couple of days for them to get used to their new bowls.

I just stuck a chicken in the oven and it is starting to smell good. I think that I will go take a bath while I am waiting for it. I walked over to talk to some new neighbors that are clearing some land close to us and now feel like I have chiggers on me. I get them real easy so I better go get them off before they dig in. Y'all have a good evening.

Hi All

Here is an article from our local paper. The information is a mix of good ideas and stuff that most of us know already. So take what you want from it.

Tobey

How to win battle of the holiday bulge

The holidays are a time to eat, drink and be merry, but if you overindulge in goodies you may find yourself rolling into the new year like Mr. Claus himself.

Perhaps you're already carrying a few extra pounds and want to limit the damage over the next few weeks. You may have noticed a few pounds creeping on in the summer with such cottage fare as ice cream, potato chips, hot dogs and berry pie.

For others, weight gain begins at Thanksgiving and continues as Halloween candy lingers around the house.

The round of December cocktail parties and dinners — combined with hectic schedules that leave little time for exercise — can spell trouble. Consider that a typical holiday meal extravaganza can amount to 3,000 to 4,000 calories — and that's without second helpings.

While one large meal can make you head for the easy chair, it won't make you fat. Once your body digests it, it takes what it needs and stores the rest. In the case of a major pig-out, about 60 per cent of calories are tucked away. The bathroom scale may report a few extra pounds the next morning, but these are mostly from water. The extra salt you consumed in your big meal causes your body to retain fluid for a couple of days.

It takes days of overindulging to gain body fat. (Keep this in mind as you relax at home with all those leftovers between Christmas and New Year's.)

Festive foods don't have to wreak havoc on your waistline. You can still eat the foods you love and not gain weight. The strategies below will help you survive a season that celebrates chocolate, fruitcake and high-fat hors d'oeuvres.

THE PARTY CIRCUIT

Don't skip meals during the day in an attempt to "bank" your calories. This tactic will backfire, ensuring you arrive at the party ravenous and ready to eat everything in sight.

Eat a snack before you go. A low-fat yogurt and fruit, latte, energy bar or bowl of vegetable soup can take the edge off your appetite and prevent you from overeating.

Sneak in a quick workout. Even a 20-minute run, brisk walk or stair climbing can burn close to 200 calories and reduce your appetite. You'll feel good about yourself and you'll be more likely to choose healthy foods.

Limit yourself to no more than one drink an hour. It takes that long for your body to metabolize one alcoholic drink. Drinking more often will result in a higher blood alcohol concentration, not to mention a weaker resolve to eat moderately. Alternate alcoholic drinks with sparkling water, cranberry and soda or tomato juice.

Avoid the mundane. Stay away from standard fare that you can have any time — potato chips, nuts, cheese and crackers, and so on. Make the most of your calories.

Stick with lower-fat treats like smoked salmon, cocktail shrimp, chicken satay, sushi, veggies and dip, crackers and antipasto.

THE HOLIDAY MEAL

Chew strong-tasting peppermint gum (sugarless, of course) while preparing food and cleaning up after meals to prevent mindless nibbling.

Slim down your favourite recipes. Use skim milk in mashed potatoes, serve steamed yams with herbs, add chicken stock to moisten stuffing. And cut the high-fat extras like butter on bread, whipped cream on pie and cheese sauce on vegetables.

Fill your plate with low-fat items first. Stock up on green salad, fresh veggies and whole grains. This strategy leaves little room for high-fat foods like creamy side dishes, gravy and mashed potatoes.

Nibble at your favourite higher-fat foods. Sample a few tablespoons of stuffing, scalloped potatoes or rich desserts. By taking a small bite of everything you love, you won't feel deprived.

Talk it up at the table. Chatting with relatives or friends will force you to eat more slowly. As a result, you'll eat less.

Heed your appetite. Learn to listen and react to your appetite. Take a break halfway through the meal and gauge your hunger level. Eat until you feel comfortable, not stuffed.

Be the slowest eater. Be the last to start and the last to finish. Remember it takes 20 minutes for your brain to realize you've had enough to eat.

LINGERING LEFTOVERS

Remember that once you've survived the holiday food frenzy, there's still another hurdle — leftovers that can accumulate around your middle and thwart your battle of the holiday bulge.

Custom-make "TV dinners" from holiday leftovers and freeze for hassle-free dinners when you're back at work.

Package foods like nuts, pretzels and chips in small snack bags. Limit yourself to one a day.

Grate leftover cheese and freeze it for later use in pastas, casseroles and baking.

Deal with leftover sweets by making dessert bags for your guests to take home.

Holidays are a time of indulgence, and splurges are certainly allowed. But if you make them the exception rather than the rule, your waistline will survive.

With careful planning and mindful eating, the chances are good that you'll start the New Year with nothing more than a credit card bill to work off.

Good afternoon~~So help me God I'm as silly as a town cow today. I got on this puter to see if anyone had wrote on the board since I did this morning. Much to my amazement, I hadn't wrote today. I know what happened, I got a letter from someone and they had sent me a card and I went to see it and much to my surprise the site had the best pictures for me to use to make stationery, which I'm into big time. I just forgot about you guys. I love learning to do things like that, I've learned a lot but got a long way to go. I haven't done much today except clean up the kitchen. My food has been good so for. I thank I might get through the day.

Jo Jo~~I'm afraid you have my number, I'm hooked on the Betta's. I'm going to get myself a reg. tank for them. But you know me, if things don't work the way they are I will work them around until they fit the need. I want about 4 betta's Skeeter has 4 so I want 4. Anyway I will get some plexie glass and cut it to fit the tank and make 4 compartments. That way they will all be able to see each other. Don't worry no glue will be in the water to kill them, I have it all figured out. I thank it will be very pretty and will give them a lot of room too.

Tobey~~I got the biggest laugh out of you post yesterday. The Box of Sympathy cards done it for me. She's the kind of person that always got my name when a group of people would draw names to exchange names. That beats all I ever heard of. There's an idea, fishy stockings, I'll give that some thought. You know I don't know If I ever sent you my address or not. I'll send it again. Hey girl you had that race figured down almost to the sec.CONGRATS! You are one amazing chick.

Tammie~~Hey girl, maybe some of your will power is rubbing off on me, I feel pretty good about my food today. I thank they are starving the fish to death. Just about any pet store has them. I pay 4.00 for mine.

Maria~~Glad you found your way back, it's a maze in here now. You don't have to start a thread at all. Just relax and take it a day at a time and this will all become very clear in time. your getting started off right by stocking the foods that's good for you. At least your headed off in the right direction. Keep coming back I'm looking forward to getting to know you. And hang in there with the food plan.

Skeeter~~I can't believe you've had to turn the air back on, it's cold here today. Well the temp is not that low but the north wind is blowing hard and that makes it cold. It's suppose to get pretty cold tonight. Hey girlfriend, I just read your post to Tammie, what about the ph balance of the water, explain before my boys dies. Just read some more about how you post, I'm going to do that too, keep a draft in draft's with the color's on it. I'm willing to learn anywhere I can. Good idea, sometimes I'm too lazy to put the colors in. That way the same color is for the same girl. Good Good Idea. Here's a better idea about the post you answer for you. I copy and paste all the reply's onto a draft and name it Post, and the one I write on is named Write and I go back an forth between them in out look. I don't go back to 3fc's until I'm through writing.

Sally~~Hi to you, hope the tree is a pretty one. It's was so much when I kids was young getting the tree put up. A very good memory for me. I got a tear thanking about it.

Well now I have my 3fc's ~~Thru Thick & Thin~~ draft fixed up to where putting colors on all my post will be much easier. Got to run and clean the back porch.

Good afternoon again~~I just set up my Write Draft in my outlook express, and I'm not writting on it, and I won't have to had anything to it except the words. Skeeter keeps her's in her drafts but I put everyone's name with a color that will be thiers everyday. My color is pink as you can see. I got the page fixed with all I wanted on it and mailed it to myself. Then when it come in I dragged it into a file I've made in outlook called "3fc's". I done that because if you don't watch out in drafts you will lose your information, and you will have to delete the information on a girl if your not writing to her that day. In the folder I will always be there for me to forward and use. I will just delete this after I have copied it and pasted it in to mail. So easy, and handy. Try it if you use outlook, if you don't use outlook, I can't help you. I had to edit because my tree attachment wouldn't flash.

Hi Everyone.

I'm trying to stay awake. I just got so sleepy all of a sudden. Its a little chilly in the house but I don't want to turn the heat up to much because I'm not sure if our heating prices are going to be like last winter or not. It just makes me want to crawl under the covers.

I went out to the mall for a few hours today. I picked up a few small items to use as gifts for my older nieces. I had pretty much decided to quit buying for them this year but I just didn't feel quite right about it so I got them each a shower gel, and one for myself to. Sears had one in Blackberry that smelled so good so that one is mine. I found one more thing for my mil and I want to fine another blouse or a pair of slacks and then I'm done with her and I have a couple of little things to get for dh and I'm done. Maybe tomorrow I'll have everything.

Skeeter, I wish we had a nice flea market here. We used to go to one every weekend when we lived in Cali. It was at a drive in and almost every row had tables set up. You could find pretty much anything you wanted there. I've not been to a good flea market since we left there in 85. Hmmmm, your talking about sweating and turning on the a/c and I'm sitting here freezing. My hands are ice cubes. I think I will turn the heat up a couple of degrees.

Marlana, Your plans for your fish tank sounds cool. I saw some mini divided tanks in Walmart but they were really little. I can't hardly make myself go over to the fish section now that I've heard those poor bettas arent being fed. I missed the description of the tree you made, can you describe it again? Hmmm, I didn't realize that there were town cows. I love your sayings.

Tobey, congrats on your race. You did really good. I personally like hearing about your running so talk about it all you want. Thanks for posting the article from your newspaper. I copied it to an email and sent ti to myself. Where are you finding your Xmas funnies that you attach?

Maria, I'm really glad you found your way back to us. These short threads, well, I'm not liking them to much. Hopefully they'll make them longer and we wont have to start a thread almost every day. Its just easier to respond to everyone when we don't have to go back and forth between threads.

Sally, its to bad you have to pay so much to shut your ex up but it will be worth it in the end.

To everyone else, hope your having a good weekend. I'm going to get off here now cause I'm worried about being knocked off line before I get this posted plus dh and I might go somewhere for a little while. So take care.

Good morning, barely. Man this work stuff is kicking my butt. I am really lucky to start back this weekend though, it's very slow. Our census was only 13 last night, we have 28 beds. Sometimes we are about full on the weekends. YIKES! But all in all, it feels like I was never off. The warm weather that we had is long gone, but I think it was enough to confuse my cat. She just went into heat. Normally they don't from Sept to about Feb or March because if she had kittens in the middle of winter they might not survive. Good thing that my boys are fixed. They just go through the motions. I would love to have another litter of kittens, but it's so hard to get rid of the little babies. 3 of my cats I helped deliver, 1 was even on my birthday. That was pretty cool.

Jojo- I know what you mean about the heat bills last year. I'm a little skittish to turn the thermostat up. We'll have to wait and see. Gas prices are down, so that may help. The station near my house is .98 a gallon. I also got some blackberry gel from Bath and Body. When I went back to get more, they said it was only an autumn "flavor". Maybe I'll have to check out Sears.

Marlana- You guys are still confusing me with all of your fancy computer talk. I'm lucky I've figured out how to post! Your tank does sound really neat. I'm not talented enough to come up with and make something like that.

Tobey- Your article does have a lot of good hints. The big problem I run into at work is that all the docs send something to each unit in the hospital, and it's usually junk food. You'd think a cardiologist could send a nice fruit basket to a cardiac floor instead of having pizza delivered. Congrats on your run. You talk all you want about running, maybe you'll inspire me to get off my butt and get back into it. I used to run pretty regularly, about 4 times a week. I'd also like to place an order for some of those cookies. I've got a cookie cookbook from my grandma. There's alot of "hearty cookie" recipes that I may try. They have dried fruit, oatmeal, bran flakes, even wheat germ in them, so they're not all bad!

Skeeter- See what has happened to Marlana. You have four, now she wants four. Man oh man. I nice baked chicken sounds good. I'm still working on Turkey leftovers. I'm still on the first side of the breast!

Sally- You go get your ex, and teach him a lessen. He "drew first blood" so to speak. I remember having a real tree when I was a kid. Picking it out, and putting up all of the decorations was almost as big of a day as x-mas itself. Enjoy it while your girls are still young!

Tammy- You are doing great with your plan, especially for this time of year. That shooting near you was on our front page of the newspaper the other day!

Maria- Just finding your way back to us is a big accomplishment nowadays. What are you going to school for? I've forgotten if you mentioned it. Like Tobey, I'm also taking classes. I'm going to the Univ of Iowa, working on my bachelors in nursing. I hope to graduate in May.

Well girls, it's about time I go take a shower and get cleaned up for work today.

Jen

Hey everyone.

I woke up at 4:00 this morning to rain. I wasn't even mad about the waking up part because it has been over a month since we had rain and we got 3/4". Now the sun is shining again and will dry it up fast but it was sure nice.

Tobey~Thanks for the article, I need all the help that I can get. I hope that you had a good time at that party and took a picture. We are all looking forward to seeing you in that dress. We can add looking like you in that dress to our dreams of reaching our goals.

JoJo~We have two flea markets within an hour of us. The closest one is small but we go there a lot to get plants in the spring. I enjoy outdoor shopping like that. Of course, that's why we don't go in the summer but it is a great winter activity here. I love the homemade crafts and junk. And some of it is junk. Did you watch that skating last night? I thought that Phillip used too much time playing the role of George of the Jungle but it was cute. The judges sure didn't like it though. I couldn't believe that Kristy fell and Kurt didn't do his typical comedy routine. I also loved that Indian routine by the pair. Duh.........you won't have a clue what I am talking about if you didn't see the show.

Marlana~I'm not sure if I understand how you are organizing all that stuff to post. I just use a draft and the board. When I am finished writing, I copy and paste to the board. That is when I delete anything there that I don't need. That way my draft always stays the same. This would be a lot easier if we were sitting beside each other. I'll bet we could really learn some stuff then. Wait, the light bulb just lit up and I realize why you mailed it to yourself and put it in a folder. Okay, I think I will do that too because I did accidentally delete this draft a while back and had to make a whole new one. Well, I did all that and when I tried to change something in the text, it printed my name in brackets every time. I'll have to play with it a while and see what I can do to stop that.

Jen~These dang fish really get under your skin. Sally bought three of them a couple of weeks ago too. They are just so pretty and easy to take care of and cheap too. Everything in Florida is starting to bloom because of this crazy weather. It got down to 49 a couple of nights at the first of Nov and then got hot again. All the plants think that it is Spring now. It sounds like you are doing okay at work. Just don't strain yourself and overdo it. The chicken was good. I had forgotten how good plain baked chicken is. My husband was asking what I used to season the chicken with because it was so good. I am going to use the leftovers to make a low fat chicken salad.

I hope all you ladies are having a good weekend. I cleaned my fish tanks this morning and then the floors. I am going to spend the rest of the day being lazy.

Good Morning~~I played hookey yesterday, just didn't get aound to writing, I could have but was to lazy. It's colder than blue blazes here this morning, 18 degrees. Nothing going on around here over the week end, same ol same ol. I'm going to Muskogge again today, hubby wants a new warm vest to work in. Would you believe tht Walmart doesn't have them this winter.???

Jo Jo~~I'm so glad we have the stove to burn wood in. Last winter we avoided paying the hight fuel bills with it. We've had it ever since we moved here in 1976 because that is all the heat in this house then. About 5 years ago we put in central air and heat. Then we got a little lazy about building a fire except when it was really cold. But the price of N. gas got us off our bohunkes's to build fires.

Jen~~Bless your little cats heart, she needs a boyfriend and you got a couple of blanks in there with her. I don't know how for your boys actions go, but your house must be interesting right now! My boys are so mean they can't be together, wonder if I could get them fixed.(fish) I'm going to see about getting a fish tank they had a Good Will store last week, but the problem is they don't know if it works or not. They said they would sell it for 20.00 they was wanting 40. I really thank 20.00 is a bit high. It is a big one though.

Skeeter~~We are needing some rain here, hubby had to dig up a corner post and the ground was hard as heck. I can't explain anything I don't guess. I'll email you a copy of the draft I keep on file to use to answer you guys post. Maybe that will explain it better. It's working really good. In fact I will send you a copy that I'm answering on right now, and a copy of what it looked like before I wrote. I don't keep mine tamplate in the draft file, because you will, or I will lose it. When I send you a copy of mine you won't have to make one up. You have a different outlook than I do. We could set beside each other if you come and see me this coming year, if we could take the time from fishing. Any plans???

It didn't take long to post to every one this morning, I wasn't the only one to play hooky. It's a busy time of the year. Have a good one.

I recieved this in email this morning from an old friend...2cute...It explains how we can keep our threads shorter or longer if we wish. We don't all have to do it if we don't wish too. We can go back to 25 post on each thread if you guys want to.

The Answer Is Here

Did you know that we can each
control the number of posts that appear on a page??? I bet you didn't!
Anyway, If you would like to see more posts per page, go to 'profile' at the
top of the page. Then on the next screen chose 'edit options'. Then go down
quite aways and you will find a spot that says something about posts per
page. You will probably find that 'per forum default' or something shows up
in the window. Well, if you pull that window down you will see that you can
select 30 posts, 60 posts, whatever you want. And best of all.....it WORKS! I
now have set mine to 30 posts per page and so whenever someone starts a new
thread....cool and if no one does, then when I get to MY second page (30
posts) I'll start a new one. See what you all think.

As I'm sure all of you know already that 2cute wrote on another thread, in fact she started that group, and finds it too much to write on both threads. I've tried this and it works. The down fall to it is every new thread will have to be set.

~~What's your vote, start a new thread after 15 post or 25????????? I do expect you all to vote. Just put a big yes to 15....or....yes to 25 at the bottom of your next reply.

Good Monday morning to you all.
I did plan on checking in yesterday but I just didn’t make it. I spent almost the entire day and night studying. YAWN! I am writing one of my final on Tuesday night. My brain hurts from trying to stuff all of that information into such a tiny space! We still haven’t got our tree up. However, we have made a commitment to get it up after my exam Tuesday night. I think that will be a nice way to unwind.

Skeeter: I am with you – there short threads are driving me nuts! Although it sounds like we may now have the solution! The race was a lot of fun. I was feeling so good yesterday (no sore legs!) that I thought I would go for a short 2 mile run on a study break. It felt like I had 50 pound weights on my legs ! It was actually the toughest 2 miles I have ever ran. But I was glad that I got out of the house. It was a beautiful day and since I was running so slow, I had a real chance to enjoy it. On Saturday I baked a batch of LF/SF peanut butter cookies after my batch of the LF oatmeal cookies. Both turned out really good! I brought in most of them to work as we are decorating our office tree today and thought it would be a nice treat to go with everyone’s eggnog and apple cider. When I get a chance I might post the recipes for anyone who is interested. I think that’s great that hubby will have a chance to go into those craft shows. I bet there are lots of people who go to them! Don’t know if I have ever been happy to be woken up at 4:00 am! Hope you enjoyed your lazy afternoon. I am looking forward to one of those! That is why I took most of my vacation after Christmas. I find that if I take it before Christmas, I feel like I need to spend the days rushing around in order to get ready. If I take it after Christmas, then there is nothing to do but relax and enjoy the days!

Marlana: Sounds like you found a great new site. How has the stationary been coming? I haven’t received your address yet. So if you get the chance ….. I find it very helpful to get a goal before I run. I also try to tell people about it before I go. That way if I find myself slowing down, I start asking myself if I want to go back and tell people that I met my goal or make up excuses why I failed! That gets my butt moving! I just make sure that I set realistic goals so I don’t kill myself. I love your cruisin’ Santa / Reindeer attachment! Yikes! I just read this morning’s post – it is cold there. Much colder than here. Which means I will not complain about the weather! That is a favorite past time of most Canadians – including me! What can I say EH? 3 Cheers for 2 Cute!!!! YES to 25 just my two cents worth!

Jojo: That shower gel sounds nice. I love getting bath items for Christmas. Santa normally remembers and puts a few in my stocking. Glad that you like that article. I have been trying to remind myself that it is possible to get through the holidays without gaining weight. I did it last year and I am going to try and survive it again this year. However, that is not to say that I don’t treat myself at this time of year. Guess it is just about balance. I have been finding my attachments all over. Google now has an images search so it is a quick way to find pics. I really love that feature.

Jen: I can imagine that it is tough to get back to work. But even while you were off you were still working hard with school work, leaves, etc... Hope that around Christmas you will have some time just for you and goof off a little!! It is tough when there is free food lying around. I have a tough time staying away from that as well. Yes I do love running. If you are getting back into it, here is a book a HIGHLY recommend “The Complete Book of Running for Women”. This is a link which describes it: http://chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?C...074FEC20C21510
I can’t say enough good things about it! The oatmeal cookies turned out great. I will try and get the recipe posted in the next few days (after my exam).

That is all for now. I have duck out and pick up the eggnog and apple cider for out tree trimming party this afternoon. What a tough job I have – oh woe is me!

Have a good one!

Tobey

Yea! It's Monday. I'm off today. Boy, you don't hear too many people say that they're glad for Monday. Last night was busy. Not necessarily hard patients, well, somewhat, but just unusual ones. Oh well, such is life. I was a little tender last night, not really sore though. I guess it's to be expected, it's only been 3 1/2 weeks. Today looks to be a beautiful day. The sun is shining, not windy, and it's supposed to get around 50. We are still very lucky for this time of year. I think last year at this time we were starting to get buried in snow. We got almost 3 ft in December. I surely can't complain. Today I'm going to work on burning those darn leaves. At least I'll be outside getting fresh air. Tomorrow I have to go into work for a few hours to catch up on alot of inservices and competancies that I've missed this year, not only from being off 16 weeks from 3 surgeries, but my shift is so busy I don't have any down time to work on them.

I checked out the way to lengthen the threads and 25 isn't a choice, it goes by 10's. I don't care what we pick, 20 or 30, but I want longer threads!

Tobey- I should be studying for my final Wed, but I haven't yet. Shame on me. I'll work on it tomorrow, plus I get a 2 hr lunch break before I take it. I am going to check out that website, and the book. I will need something to read when I'm on semester break. So far there hasn't been much for x-mas food. A nurse brought in cookies last night, but since I didn't get a meal break, the couple I had didn't hurt me too much!

Marlana- My poor little girl. She walks up to her "boyfriend" (they have had a litter together before), sticks her rear in his face, and he walks away. Talk about rejection. Sometimes he's interested, sometimes not. I would agree, I think $20 is too high for a tank that you don't know if it works or not. It would be rough if it leaked when you tried to put your fellas in it.

Skeeter- Sometimes "just chicken" is really good. One of my favorite ways is a skinless, boneless breast sprayed with butter pam on both sides and wrapped up loosely in a foil packet. Then I just bake it. It is soooo tender. The way you guys are with betas, I'm like that with cats. I saw another boy I want. I saw him at the petstore. They rotate cats from different shelters in there. He's big, maybe 20 lbs, and soft, and furry, white and a real light tiger on his back. He purrs, loves, and gives kisses. But I already have so many.

Well, I've got to go check out that website, finish a load of laundry, and go get those leaves.

Jen

Hey everyone.

We got over and inch of rain yesterday and believe me, we needed it really bad. Went on our 2 mile walk this morning before 7:30 but it was so hot and muggy the dogs were dragging their ears on the ground by the time we got home.

Tobey~I got the pictures and the address. You sure are a pretty young lady. It is hard to imagine you with a weight problem with the way you looked in that dress. It was a gorgeous dress and you should be so proud of yourself and the way you look in it. I will get the pictures posted to the album this evening while my husband is watching football. We were on out way home today from out walk when a hunter that we know came up behind us in his truck and stopped to chat. He had just spotted a bear on the road we were on. It was a half a mile from where we turned and started back. I have been taking my dogs with me this year and worry a little about a bear meeting with them. They enjoy the walk so much that I hate to make them stay home.

Jen~Well you got back into your work routine really fast. You sure seem to have a very busy job with the shortage in nursing. I still find it hard to believe that you are back to work with not limits after less than 4 weeks after surgery. I hope that you don't have any problems. That doctor that released you better hope so too. We are having the leftover chicken again tonight with a baked potato and salad. Whatever is left after that is going into a chicken salad. My husband and I don't eat a lot of meat so we can get at least three meals out of one chicken. How many cats do you have? I got carried away last night looking at betta websites and saving pictures of the really pretty ones. I don't know what I will do with all those pictures unless I start attaching them to all my emails.

Marlana~Gosh, I'm talking about the heat and you are talking about how cold it is. It will be hard for us to imagine the other ones weather. My Outlook is messing all of my incoming mail up. I got three email notifications today from this forum. The first two were fine but the third one had an attachment. The attachment was from notepad with all the same information as the email. Then I got an email from Ellie that was all the addresses from being forwarded and showed an attachment. The attachment was the same as the email with just the addresses and no text on either one. We haven't talked about our traveling plans for this next year yet. I think that a trip to Oklahoma sounds good. How does late spring sound? I don't want it to be real hot while I am there because I want to stay in one of those cabins at the RV park that is close to you. Can you get some information for me? If my dogs aren't allowed, we will have to find a motel close that will accept my well behaved very house trained boys. Is there anything like that close to you? I also need to find something for hubby to do while we fish. He gets to dogsit but it would be nice if the campground was full so he could spend the day visiting. He loves to do that. Did you say 25 posts? I thought we used to go 30 posts before we started a new thread. I vote for the longer one thread. I changed the setting in my profile and noticed that a lot of the pages disappeared from the threads. hat a relief. Thanks to 2cute we can stop starting new threads so often.

Well, I need to go finish dinner. That chicken is warming in the oven so I need to nuke some potatoes. Y'all have a good evening.