Good morning, ladies!!! Sorry I've been MIA the past few days. Things went downhill quite quickly Tuesday night shortly after I came in to work and I stayed tied up from then on w/ paperwork and taking statements. Then Wednesday morning I got home from work at 0600 hrs and had to be back up and getting ready for a funeral at 0900 hrs...I think I got 10 minutes of sleep in the end. Paid my respects, went back home and slept for 3 hours, then got up and got ready for dinner and the ballet.

Enjoyed The Nutcracker, as always, but the Greek food we had for dinner was NOT impressive at all. Shame, too, as I loooooooove lamb. The Starbucks aferwards WAS good, though. Spent Thursday catching up on sleep and trying to relax (and baking some whole wheat pumpkin chocolate chip cookies) and now I'm back at work for the whole weekend. Also, one of my mom's classmates from high school unfortunately lost a grandkid in the school shooting in Connecticut.

Hope you ladies have more fun in store for you this weekend than I do!!! The University I graduated from made it to the playoffs and the game is going to be televised today on ESPN2, so I'm getting up early to watch it. I'm so sad that I only have my dawgs' bowl game and the National Championship game left to watch this season.

Good morning, Natasha, and I hope you are catching up on some serious sleep! You had quite a week!

All my baking is done and ready for the cookie exchange tomorrow, and I also whipped up a double batch of Ruth's Cranberry Crunch recipe, which I now regret. That stuff should be renamed Cranberry Crack
since if you dare to eat it, you'll become instantly addicted and obsessed by it!

I need to go out for a few groceries this morning, and I promised Mom & Dad that I'd spend part of the afternoon with them. I really should start wrapping gifts, too! That's usually Jake's job, but with his carpel tunnel he's getting a reprieve this year.

Who else is up and ready for coffee this morning?

Natasha, you sure have had a difficult week. Lifting my mug to you and wishing for improvement.

Linda, Crack is right! It's definitely Food Porn which is why mine is all ready packaged and ready for gifting. I still have wrapping to do so come up here when yours is done.

Definitely ready for coffee this morning. Finished the Bling Tree last night and have it lit this morning to see if it can lift my mood which plummeted when I heard the news of the shootings in CT. So tragic. I am definitely not going to watch the news today.

Busy Saturday ahead - jam-packed but I'll soon be over the hump. Church tomorrow is at one of our sister churches in the Parish and I may break my rule and carry on into town to finish a wee bit of shopping. I need to find a cat calendar for a young friend and get a gift card for my son who is doing some reno to their new house. I was not going to do a single gift card this year but it seems appropriate in this situation.

Hope your weekend goes well. Enjoy the season.

Good morning. Horrific day to say the least. Natasha, your friend's grandchild and family are in my prayers. A very dear friend lives in Newtown. Fortunately his young girls go to the other grammar school. I have passed through Newtown on my way to work over the years. It is one of the most beautiful towns I know.

ironically I am going to active shooter training in January. It is so incredibly sad we need to train for these types of incidents, but no one is immune. Hug your little ones and loved ones a little longer and tighter today and everyday.

Still catching up at work, be back later

Good Morning

Thank you, Natasha, for starting our weekend chat. I am so sorry to hear your family has been personally affected by the tragedy, although in many ways we all are.

We had safe travels yesterday and I got plenty of rest last night so I'm up and ready to start my work week. I sweetly talked DH into making the big move and the tree up with all it's twinkling lights. I work the long shift today and tomorrow so it will be an early evening tonight.

I hope you all have a good day...the best it can be.

Take care!

Good morning.

I guess business has been slow at my store; my boss cut my shifts both yesterday and today. But I am working tomorrow. I am happy to report that we didn't go out to dinner last night. Although my MIL did invite us - but I begged off. I tried the Trader Joe's turkey burgers. Rather bland but good in a pinch. I like to have stuff like that in the freezer for last minute OP meals.

Tonight is dinner out with friends. Since I am maintaining, I'm not worried about staying OP for the one meal. But it has certainly taken me lots of regains and re-losses with SB to learn that for me PH3 means living PH2 all the time except these special and rare occasions.

I need to get to the outlet mall to pick up a gift card for DS2. I know it will be a zoo. It's rather a drive so I hate to go and not at least run through some of the stores while I'm there And the last of DS1's gifts came yesterday so I'll wrap and pack and we'll send them off to him.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. Debbie - thanks for asking. I feel pretty good. Today marks 4 weeks on Prednisone and I get to drop down a bit more beginning tomorrow.

Good morning I slept in this morning in spite of protests from furry creatures. It's wonderful having no plans. I do think we will go to BJs and to Loot, just for fun. Loot is this really fun little store full of stuff salvaged from old factories and buildings. Everything is either original or used to make new stuff like mittens from sweaters. Last time we found those little plastic army men my brother loved, molds from the lint silver factory and other great stuff. I never buy much but I love looking around

Last night we had Indian food then saw the Hobbit. It was a fun evening and very relaxing. Need more of that in my life.

I'm going to make a big brunch to keep us away from junk food on the road. Maybe I'll skip a To Do list, just to see if I can make it through the day

Hi Beachers. It's been ages! I had a stall in my recovery, from my illness
It took me awhile to recover, but I'm back. How are y'all doing?

Good afternoon, everybody. Watching my Valdosta State Blazers wrap up the third quarter of what looks like a pretty sure win for them. Then again, still 17 minutes left of football and a lot can happen in that time, especially when only 14 points separates the 2 teams.

Fairly peaceful night at work last night until 30 minutes before quitting time when this happened:
http://wrpolice.blogspot.com/2012/12...-fatality.html

And it's back to the grind again tonight. Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far...and welcome back, Bella!!!

Thanks Natasha, I hope your team won!

Morning (early? late night?)-

Back from the cruise last week and it's taken me some time to get back to pop in - sorry about that. Gained about 4 pounds during the cruise (I know it was all pretty alcoholic drinks) and didn't go nuts, stayed exercised but hurt myself, TWICE. Then, I had to work all 5 days this week to make up time and next week, I find out if I have a full time job again. Stressful week that I refuse to eat my way through so...back on Ph1 for 1 or 2 weeks.

We're going on another cruise with my MIL in April and another in Europe in October so I've got two good dates to continue my journey.

Hope all are well...terrible things happening lately...

Good Morning

Welcome back, Jenn and BellaLucia!

Checking in now since I surmise I will be short on time later....dealing with insomnia, partially because I went to bed too early and mostly because I didn't turn the heat down. I've been catching up on projects including a little carpet cleaning (unplanned) directly related to the pup on lasix. oh well. it is done.

Happy Sunday, all. I work today at 7 and think we'll decorate the tree when DH gets up.

Good morning I forgot how much I like my crockpot porridge mixture on cold mornings, such a nice way to start the day. Yesterday was fun and relaxing so today is all chores and errands. First I need to create the list, then I need to get out and shopping before the ice gets here. It will be a perfect day for yummy cooking smells and being at home.

Hope your day is shaping up to be a good one without too much pre-holiday craziness

They did, they did!!!

Goodnight, everybody.

Morning!

It's nice to see you back, BellaLucia, and I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise, Jenne!

Natasha, hooray for your team winning! :clap: Sounds like it was an exciting game!

Cyndi, I meant to put some steel cut oats in the crockpot last night but forgot. I guess it's eggbeaters and toast for me this morning. I hope you get back before the ice hits! I'm glad it's only going to be rain for us here. Be careful!

My DD reminded me last night that Carley's Christmas pageant is this morning, and Carley is playing Mary. I had forgotten all about it! I must confess that I really don't feel like driving over there and having to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic coming back, but guilt is taking over and it's winning. We have our cookie exchange and hot tub party at Gina's this afternoon, and I was expecting a nice relaxing morning. Oh well, such is life. At least I have time for a few cups of coffee and I have a load of laundry going already.