Turkey day is behind us; only Christmas and New Years to go, LOL.

Got some stuff to get done this week at work - without eating my way through it. Just thinking about stress makes me think of using food to relieve it. Chanting to myself, Food does not relieve stress, Food does not relieve stress, Food does not relieve stress.

Hi Bill! So true! I've found that in fact, it adds stress. Sticking to my boring old food habits take stress and decision making on that front out of the picture. It's one of the very few calm areas of my life (I have 4 kids!).

I maintained over Thanksgiving for the first time in my life and for the first time, was not trying to lose over a holiday. Yay! I also ran 3 miles on the treadmill for the first time ever - loving the new freedoms that come with goal weight!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Oh, my goodness! I think I may have to lay down the law here. DH's tummy seems to have expanded over the weekend. I guess it's just as well because if he's on a diet it'll be easier for me to get back on the wagon.

Meanwhile a busy week ahead. DS has 3 or 4 cavities that will be filled Wednesday and I have to contact the oral surgeon to arrange to get his wisdom teeth out soon. Friday we're seeing Craig Ferguson (would you call it a concert?) and Saturday we're off to Fullerton to see my DD's concert. All that and a few trips to the grocery store after my family leaves to go back home today. I also need to get my house back in order after having house guests for a week.

Everyone have a great day!

LOL Bill, and all the other various holiday season gatherings that happen between now and then!

Debi, great job on your run!

Allison, I always smile when I read about you driving to Fullerton for your DD's concerts. My parents used to always drive out to Claremont for my concerts when I was in college.

I'm easing back in to the work week by working from home today. I'm not sure if working at home is making me more or less productive. On the one hand, I'm not getting distracted by people wandering by and asking me questions. On the other hand, my laptop is excruciatingly slow and the VPN is too slow for me to remote desktop in to my computer at work. They have a new laptop on order for me but it's taking forever to get it. Right now it's a trade-off between slow compiling on my laptop or typing lag in remote desktop. I'm going for the slow compiling because I hate a lag between when I type and when it appears on the screen.

Still working on dealing with my legs being overused. That's what I get for trying to follow a running training plan. I should have known it would be too much for me. In any case I backed off a lot to let my legs recover, but I'm a bit concerned that they'll take forever. Saturday I ran 3.5 miles (down from the 4 I was doing when they started hurting) and iced my legs yesterday but they're still a bit tweaky. My plan is to keep doing 3.5 until I can do it without pain, then bump to 3.75. Official training plans always bump up 1 mile at a time but I think I need to go by 0.25 increments.

Bill - No, eating does not resolve stress. I'm telling myself that this week, too. :0

Debi - great job on maintaining this holiday! Fabulous!

Allison - glad that you survived your holiday crowd. I am totally going to put myself and DH on a more restricted dinner schedule the next few weeks, I think we ate everything that wasn't nailed down last week.

Jessica - take care of your legs. I never follow official training plans, I just made up my own as I went along, but loosely followed the pattern of lactose interval run (or whatever you call it), tempo run, long run, typically ran three days per week. Increased a little bit every run, some weeks by a larger amount than others.

I have got to get back on track before Christmas hits. I went of the rails at my vacation, and have to pull it together.

Good day everyone!

Good morning everyone.
Anyone shopping for Cyber Monday? I've done so much shopping already that I shouldn't but I'm sure I'll poke around and find something.

Great Thanksgiving here. Dd was home and now she's gone back. She comes back again soon though.

Food does not relieve stress needs to be my mantra as well. I do pretty well with it most of the time but my mind wants me to eat!!

Already experiencing pre-Christmas holiday stress. Dh's family is coming to our area right after Christmas. They will stay in Napa (this is his parents, both of his brothers and their wives, and my 3 year old niece). They all have MUCH more money than us and they sent an itinerary of the plans for while they are here. They wanted us included and put us on all of the reservations (which have all been made down to the wineries and each meal). If we did what they have planned we would be out $5000 minimum! They booked us at a hotel for $400 a night-- meals at the top $$$$ restaurants and wineries that cost $50 to TASTE The wine and $200-$250 to buy a bottle! My dh is the only one that drinks-- my girls are underage and I don't drink. So dh and I have been going round and round. He never wants to say we don't have as much $$ as the others but we really don't want to do most of it! So I finally got dh to send an email saying we will attend 2 of the dinners and one lunch, we will not stay in the hotel nor will we go to any of the wineries. We will see what the fallout is. I hope dh stands strong!! His family drives me CRAZY!!

Bill, so true.

Debi, congrats on maintaining over the holiday and on your 3-mile run!

Allison, I'm pretty sure my BFs waistline has also grown a few inches recently... he says he's up for eating healthier with me but we'll see how it goes (he is already pretty good about exercising, which is great). I like to pick recipes from Cooking Light but he always manages to make them less healthy (a little more cheese, some bacon - you know!).

Jessica, I often find it hard to work at home. No distractions from co-workers, but there's always the laundry, cleaning, little things I notice that need to be done!

Michele, good luck with things with DHs family. Hopefully they are understanding. That's a lot of money for something you wouldn't even enjoy (the wineries). Heck, I love wine and I'm not willing to fork out that much $ for it!

Thanksgiving eating wasn't too bad - definitely some indulgences but no over-stuffing. The drinking was another story. The part of BFs family I was with really swills it down!! I found that as soon as my wine glass was half emptied or so, it became refilled, so I was trying to be conscious of this and sip slowly, but I know (from the headache Friday) that I overdid it.

We got back home late Sunday and BF offered to pick up a pizza - UGH - I love pizza but it does not love me. Sometimes I get by ok but often I have a horrible stomach ache (perhaps some level of lactose intolerance).

Michele - wow, I was annoyed on your behalf when they booked hotels for you for the holidays, adding in the winery tours and other things is over the top! I hope DH stands strong as well.

Iris - I love pizza... love it love it love. It gives me a little tummy ache too - I used to think it was the cheese, but I think now it is the grease and butter on the crust.

I wonder where I posted this morning? Oops!

Great evening all!

Dagmar

Howdy! I've been scarce around here, just been really busy getting stuff done for the holidays and finishing up a class at the local college. We have to mail anything we want to arrive before Christmas by early next week, or else send it express mail/Fedex/etc which ends up costing more than the presents! I have streamlined things a bit by sending gift cards for the teens and almost teens. I have no idea what they like/want/have....

I did okay over Thanksgiving. Had dinner at home, so I controlled what went into things except desserts that were brought. And a good thing too as I did something to hurt my back last Wed and am just now feeling better, and easing back into exercising.

Michele - Yikes on the cost of what your DH's family has booked. That's more than we're spending for a whole month in Hawaii!! (for the house, car and airfare)

We had an ice storm here last Monday, schools and businesses closed. Then on Wed we had 4-10" of snow (depending on where you live), and now today the wind is howling (gusts to 75mph!) and drifting all that snow, besides making the wind chill below zero. So glad I'm retired and don't have to get out and go to work. My cats spend most of their days curled in little tight balls sleeping.

Pat A month in Hawaii? Swoon!!! I am murderously jealous. Though it sounds like you will need it with the weather you're having! We have temps hovering just above 0 and Mudpie refuses to go outside!

I have a really weird stomach thing for the fifth day in a row. I went to a baking class last Thursday night where we made (and ate) things with yeast. That's the only thing I've done differently so I'm wondering if the (relatively) fresh yeast dough did something to my innards.

I've been taking Imodium with little effect. I think I'm going to break down and make a doctor's appt. if I can get in for Saturday. There is only one washroom open down at the beach and I need to get this thing quashed. Bleagh!

Dagmar

Paperclippy - what issues are you having with your legs? Is it soreness or joints? I've just started running and am trying to figure out what to do/not do. I'm taking glucosamine which helps everything all around.

Shannon - cyber Monday netted a few books, but nothing too exciting. I did find two Rapunzel dolls at Walmart for $12, cheaper by $6 than anywhere else. I have a 6 year old and 15 year old that loooove barbies (my 15 year old is new to the U.S. and never had barbies before). ARGH about the Napa thing - no need to spend that kind of money! Good for you for standing up!

@Waterrat - I'm with your cats. I spend most of my days here in Colorado curled in a tight little ball as well! Last winter, I had lots of insulation. This winter, I'm thinking that wintering in Florida is not such a terrible idea. My bones ACHE!

Dagmar - ugh...gluten sensitivity? When we got back from 3 weeks in China, my gut was in a complete uproar (compounded by the fact that we adopted a 13 year old!). I started taking acidopholus (the live bacteria found in yogurt, but can be taken in pill form). It was like a miracle! Make sure you get high quality stuff found refrigerated at a natural food's store.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! The kids are back in school today after being off since last Wednesday - I am READY for routine!

Dagmar, maybe one of the other people in the class had a stomach bug that got passed on to you? Get well soon!

Debi, I am particularly vulnerable to repetitive stress injuries involving tendons. I have chronic tendinitis in my wrists (from my job where I type all day, and my hobbies), and my knees and hips seem to have their tendons get inflamed really easily. I don't really get any of the acute type injuries, only the overuse injuries.

Pat, can I come with you to Hawaii?

Michele, I hope your DH stands firm with his family! Spending $5000 for a vacation in the area you already live in is just ridiculous. I think my sister is spending about that much on her honeymoon to the wine country of South America that they're leaving for in a week or so . . .

Hi Iris, Shannon, and everyone else! I had a nice surprise when I got into the office this morning -- a thank you note from my boss for doing a good job on writing a document that got delegated to me, including a Starbucks card. Now I feel very appreciated.

Feel better Dagmar! Yuck!! Sounds like a doctor appointment might be wise. How is your kitty doing?

Things are finally starting to slow down here. My family left yesterday morning and they called last night to say that the trip (so far) was uneventful, yet cold. They still had a few hours to drive but wanted to check in so I could get to bed. That was nice as I was totally exhausted yesterday. I hadn't slept well Sunday night which meant even more exhaustion yesterday and since I'd taken most of last week off, I had a ton of work to catch up on at work. Thankfully my house cleaners come Thursday so I'm not paying a lot of attention to the grime at home--just cleaning the kitchen as needed to heat up leftovers for dinner. But I went to bed by 9 last night and slept great. Of course I didn't want to get up this morning, but I managed.

Kitty question: I've determined that Ringo doesn't like pate style canned cat food. I prefer to feed grain-free. I was feeding him Wellness, but their stew-style canned isn't grain free. I tried WeRuVa, which he likes, but I'm wondering what other stew-style canned foods are grain free. I did a lot of searching yesterday with brands that I know of and can't determine which are pate style vs stew style.

Dagmar~when does your kitty come home? Hope he is doing well. Hope you feel better yourself.

Jessica~isn't it nice to be recognized! How nice!

Michele~I think your alternative to DH's family's plan is quite acceptable and hopefully it will all work out.

Pat~oh, the cold! I'm so cold here and all we have is a frost advisory! My brother drove home Sunday and he said it snowed practically the entire trip and traffic was horrible making the trip hours longer than usual. At least they got home safely.

Debi~you adopted a 13 year old? Wow. Talk about commitment! I'm assuming the adoption was from China? My best friend adopted two children from Russia, but they were 4 years and 2 years old at the time. Even with that, they came with a myriad of problems. Perhaps the orphanages in China are more hands-on with the children.