Le troisième jour de Noël, mon véritable amour m'a envoyé trois poules françaises and they are chatting away in French as I sip my coffee and try to crank us up. (When I was a child, my dad made us sing The 12 Days of Christmas every day until the 6th of January and I have a permanent ear-worm!)

I really wish the celebration did not always involve food - and specially good food too! Went to an afternoon Open House yesterday where Rachael actually served a full meal. So silly and hard to resist. It really helped that her huge Rottie, Bluto, was my friend. Came home and, without weighing, decided ten pounds has to be my weightloss goal for February 1! Now I have to figure out what to do with all the cheese, salami and smoked salmon still in my fridge. Maybe Joanne can use it for her NY's Eve bash.

We have the strangest weather. There is not a speck of snow on the roads or grass - just leftover bits in the woods. That is supposed to change by the end of next week but it has been so great to not have to deal with boots for a while. Above normal temps and sunshine are on the menu for another three days before we get more white stuff - a nice break after last years Snowmageddon. I'm almost tempted to cancel my February trip to Cuba!

Time to lug the trash to the curb. I feel sorry for the township guys this week since they have ten days-worth of trash instead of just a week. At least the weather is decent.

(If the three French hens are a nuisance, I have an axe and a chopping block.)

Pop in an share your Saturday plans.

Ruth, your Dad must have really enjoyed that song! Did he make you sing it in French?

I enjoyed a nice day at home yesterday, with the exception of a brief visit to Dad's. I did a lot of tidying up and then read and dozed after everyone left. I think today I may get out for some shopping, though. I'm looking for either an iPad or a tablet, and want to compare, but I doubt I'll buy one today unless there's a good sale.

As far as food goes, the rest of the family have been eating up leftovers, but I enjoyed a big bowl of salad for supper last night, and I realize now that I totally skipped lunch yesterday.

There's not a speck of snow here, either, and it's been quite balmy. I'll take while I can!

Good morning We still have some snow on the ground, especially in our yard. I'm hoping it will melt this weekend before it gets colder again. I am not complaining, it's been a gentle heating season so far.

I spent the morning cleaning, freezing, and organizing leftovers. Sunday night when we got home from NY I complained about the lack of leftovers. Now the fridge is overflowing

Tim is working this weekend so I am full on cleaning and organizing. I want to do more baking but know we don't need it around Here. Come January 1 we are doing 2-3 weeks of an elimination/SBD phase 1 hybrid so all that stuff needs to either be eaten, gifted, or frozen by then.

My exercise is finally improving thanks to an extra cranky back. Now to keep that going once I go back to work!

Cydni - what a precious picture!!! This has been a kind winter season for you.

Linda - Enjoy the sales today, if you go out. DH wanted to get me a tablet, but I don't think I really want one. The laptop is convenient enough!

Ruth - It sounds like you have had a really great holiday season!

Planned on getting a couple things done yesterday (Sam's, make soup), but my (myelopathy) symptoms got worse so I did nothing. I guess it can be normal post op, but it is still a bummer to deal with. Hopefully things will start to improve again, if not I'll call the doc. Great for my weight though, I didn't eat much for lunch or dinner.

So today hopefully I'll finish my soup - the broth is prepped. My neighbor uses "farm dust"....I thought she was joking, but it's an amish seasoning, so I'll try it. We need to get to sam's for decaf...I will admit I drink half caff, I am a complete freak on full caff coffee!!

Have a great Saturday!

Hi everyone! Sounds like a fun Christmas was had by all. Ours was very nice and today we travel to my in-laws in CT to celebrate with them. I have been soooo bad with food lately. I'm definitely doing a clean Phase 1 starting January 5 for two full weeks and that means no booze either! However, I've been exercising well, so that's good.

I've still got a full week off next week so I'm wondering how to structure that...this weekend is the last of our Christmas celebrating, and knowing me, our tree will come down on Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll check in again on Monday morning.

Good morning.

Gabby - Nice to meet you.

Cyndi - So cute!

Tammy - Hope you are back to normal soon.

I'm working again this afternoon and tomorrow. Yesterday was crazy at the store and the whole shopping center! Tonight we have a belated Hanukkah celebration with my family. Potato latkes - yum. That only leaves New Year's Eve for me to get through.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Good morning

Ruth. I enjoyed your french rendition.

Linda. Hope you find a nice tablet. I love mine

Cyndi. Ah, lovely. Nice to be a grandma, isn't it.

Tammy. I'm sure things will get better. I love soup.

Matilda. Enjoy your celebration with inlaws

Karen. Potatoe latkes are great, I make them sometimes too.

saturday bauble. Our over 20 year old christmas tree blew half the lights. Too hard to fix, we will takes it down before new year's eve. I guess I have to figure out how to brighten up the area for our guests. Dh got a new kindle, so I am inheriting his old one. Already bought a book to read for 3.99. Off to think of things to do for today
take care
Sophie

Good morning! Back home today after 2 days on the road visiting the extended family. It is good to see everyone and good to be back home.

Cyndi, what an adorable picture! Enjoy your time off.

Ruth, I think part of my weight issue is that food is always part of our celebrations. So many of us equate food with love. I have been trying to remember that just because I have a big meal planned in the evening I don't have to binge all day.

Tammy, "farm dust" made me laugh! What kind of spice is it?

I need to do some cleaning today. I am going to try to avoid the snacks and desserts while I am at it. Happy 3rd day of Christmas and watch out for the French Hens!

Just saw the headline of NYPD officers waiting for the funeral, and thinking of Jennifer.

Ruth - I know what you mean about those leftovers! I’ve put together a “care package” for my son so hopefully he will drop by after work today and get those things out of my house!!

Linda - Have fun shopping. I love my iPad and don’t know how I survived without it. It’s taken the place of nearly all my cookbooks and I do all my reading on it now. Not to mention all those games that eat away my time. Although…I made a rule for myself that no eating can occur while using it so that’s really helped with that mindless snacking.

Cyndi - My DH wants to wait until Jan 1st to start phase 1 but I doubt we will last 2-3 weeks on it. You are a strong woman!!

Tammy - I’m curious too - what is “farm dust” - I have a couple Amish cookbooks but I’ve never noticed it before. Hope you get to feeling better really soon!!

Matilda - Have fun at your continuing celebrations! I’ve dipped my toe in the alcohol pool way too much this month so I’m with you on eliminating the alcohol for a while in January.

Karen - Good luck at work this weekend! Sounds like you work retail and boy is that a difficult job this time of year!! I wish for you to have only patient and kind customers! Thanks for the warm welcome!

Sophie - I think your 20 year old tree lasted way longer than any I’ve ever had!! It seems like every year something loses it’s lights. We are slowly converting everything to LED so I hope we won’t continue this tradition of rewiring at least one thing each year!

Beth - Welcome home! Good luck avoiding the snacks and desserts - those darn things know my name too!

Turned out we had over 9” of snow yesterday and my back is certainly feeling it! I took some tylenol and hopefully things will start to loosen up soon. I’ve spent the morning getting our budget caught up and next is some more sewing. DH asked if we could wait until Jan 1st to start phase 1 so we are going out for sushi tonight. I’m still trying to keep myself as close to phase 1 as I can so it’s not such a rude awakening on Jan 1st! I sat down last night and planned out some phase 1 meals and put together a shopping list so we are ready to go. I find it’s so much easier to stay on target when I have a kitchen full of good choices.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday!!

Gabby

Quick check in for me we are on the road for our trek to Colorado. I did not bring my laptop so probably will not be checking in often this week.

It's gorgeous here we're waiting for the Boo to awaken so we can get out for a walk and some lunch!
Getting the whole fam on Ph 1 this week once I hit the grocery (there will be infractions on the 31st and the 3rd but I don't want it to be a resolution with the jan 1 start

Hi everyone!

I left Glenwood early this morning because there was the possibility of bad weather. Roads were sketchy but I made it through without snow tires on the little car and after a quick stop at the house headed right down to Denver to get those snow tires purchased and put on at my favorite Costco.
Mom is with me doing her shopping so that's nice to get that all taken care of.
Thinking of Jennifer and the funeral today. I don't usually turn on the TV but will turn it on today when I get home.

Gabby, that's a lot of snow! Seems like there wasn't that much on the top of Vail Pass.

Safe travels to Pearlrose!

Happy weekend everyone!

Evening chicks thanks for thinking of me today. By far one of the most moving funerals I have ever attended. I don't know the estimated total in attendance, but it had to of been over 10,000. Imagine that many people holding hands in prayer. Tears flowed freely by all of us there. We were fortunate to be near a gigantic screen and were able to watch, except when our backs were turned, the entire service. NYPD lined one side of the street and other agencies were across the way. At the end they walked over to shake hands with us and thank us for supporting them. Truly amazing. I was very proud of the strong show of support to Det Ramos' family. VP Biden and NYPD Bratton spoke so eloquently. Even Gov Cuomo got the crowds to laugh a little on this somber day. Ruth, Ottowa and Toronto PD were there, St Paul MN, Alaska troopers and officers from around the US stood as one today.

I even managed to run into several members I ride to DC with and even former colleagues from my dispatch days. Just a shame we see each other under these circumstances.

Long day of standing and walking, miles of walking. Going to call it a day soon as I am going in for a 0400 start.

Hopefully I'll have time for personals tomorrow.

Beautiful and touching description, Jennifer.

Hope you get some good sleep and that we get to visit you more tomorrow .