Good morning everyone,

It got into the 40's overnight and it's only supposed to be in the 60's today. We had to put our heat on this morning. Winter has arrived.

The couple we bought this house from suggested that we go to this certain neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. We went last night and we've never seen anything like it. Every single house was lit, they even put lights down on their lawn. DH & I will go back some night and take some pictures.

Nikki, you are doing so well with your dieting and exercising. You have a lot of motivation going.

Anne, are those hooligans still calling?

Lynn, how is Mya's back leg doing?

Have a good day everyone.
Aleka

Good Morning Everyone:
We are suppose to be getting dumped with snow today. I have been
spending the morning getting my stuff ready to go back to work tomorrow.
P.U.

Aleka, the jerks finally quit calling but our whole house is upset including
my mom and sister. Everytime the door knocks we all just about expire.
I said to my DH when we went to bed last night I don't know if we should
be expecting a brick to fly through the window or what. What really worries
me is school is out on Friday for two weeks giving these punks even more
free time.
Sounds like that neighbourhood you are talking about is really in the
Christmas Spriit. I love the lights myself.

Hi Nikki, hope all is going great with you.

Lynn are you getting the snow too?

Anne.

I forgot it's Sunday, I posted on last weeks thread today.
Thanks Aleka
Anne, bet your not looking forward to tomorrow. Just think, you might be retired this summer. Wouldn't that be great?
Have a good day, Nikki

Hi Everyone:
I'm up bright and early to make my way back to work . Nikki I love the
idea of retirement. Lets hope ......... The pressure of that job is more than
I can hack, yet after giving 30 years of my life to my job I certainly don't
want to walk out empty handed My son Michael is now telling me he
wants to move out with a friend in January. He feels he needs more "space"
I know the recent chain of events with these punks and all our stress levels
have upset him. He is only 20 and not very mature. Like I needed more
stress eh? I feel like I am wearing a sign that says "kick me"

Nikki, do you go to classes for WW or are you doing the points on your own?
I'm sure I told you guys but I lost 100 pounds with WW some years ago.

Aleka, is it still coolish where you are? We are snowy and slippery......

Wish me luck to everyone!!!! I can't wait to see (kiddin)

Anne.

Good morning,

Anne, good luck to you today on your first day back at work. Hopefully will be different and be nice for a change. You have worked at the hospital a very long time. How much snow did you get? Yes, it is still cool here. It's only supposed to get into the mid-60's today and possibly the rest of the week. Maybe with your son moving away, those jerks will start leaving all of you alone.

Nikki, well....I did watch SS and I did buy something. I bought some of her bread mixes. She was showing a pizza crust that was made out of her sourdough flavored bread mix. I wanted the sourdough, but the other flavor that came with it was onion. So, instead I got the WW, Rosemary & Garlic, Cinnamon, & Rye. Hopefully she'll offer the sourdough on her website and I can buy it there.

Lynn, how are you doing?

DH & I are off to Ft Myers this morning to get my IL's Christmas gifts. We always get them gift cards from 4 different restaurants in that area. My MIL said that they'll be making their holiday visit this week. So, I am assuming that we won't be spending Christmas together. So, DH & I are starting to make our own plans.

Have a wonderful day everyone.
Aleka

Good Morning,
Anne, my youngest daughter moved out when she was 17. She had finished high school and had a job. I had given the girls a choice of $1000 or a trip for their graduation present and she took the money and moved out. She was mad at me for taking her underwear out of the washer so I could start another load (I laid them on top of the dryer-yes she was washing only one pair of underwear in the machine). I told her it was my house and my machine and I could use it any time I wanted to. She said fine, I'm moving out. I thought it won't last, that she was way too immature. But, it turned out to be the best thing for her. She grew up in ways she never would have here. Michael will discover all kinds of things he never knew. Maybe starting out new, in a new location away from those thugs, he will be able to relax and not worry so much. I know it's hard to let them go, but it's so important for them. Like little birds flying on their own.
I don't go to WW yet. I joined on line and it was really a waste. You can get most of the support from the message board and it's free. They are starting to make more parts of the WW site for on line members only. The website itself needs updated, it's slow and not half as fun to use their message board as this place is.

Aleka, I read on the HSN board that SS's food will be sold in Whole Foods starting sometime in early 2005. I'm not into it anymore, but I really would like to get the jam. The way DH eats it, it would be gone in a week. I try to hide my diet food (something special), but he finds it and eats it up. I've never seen anyone eat like he does, and I'm an overeater. Wow, some of the clothes were so far out there, I don't know who is buying this stuff. The jewelry is way over priced for cz's and sterling silver. It seems like it's just getting more and more expensive too.

Lynn, are you still dog sitting? Did you get snow up there? We have some incredible wind going on out there. It's been blowing for the last 2 days and gusts up to 50 mph. My birdfeeders are blowing to the side more than they are hanging down. I have 2 squirrels visiting now. I have a little hanging tray that I put sunflower seeds in for them. They sit in it and eat their seeds. I love squirrels.

Good Morning All:
Aleka, we didn't get too much snow but man is it cold. For some reason
today my bus didn't show up. Me and DH were standing out in minus 14
degree weather for 1/2 hour until the next one showed up.
Well is as rude as ever. I am just going to make it my point to
communicate with her as little as possible. We have a town hall meeting
today with the CEO maybe I will be finding out more about the proposed
take over.
Nikki, do you have to be a member to look at the message board? I use
to go to the classes on my lunch hour with a friend. I found it expensive
though. You can't beat WW for their common sense approach to weight
managment, thats for sure.
Aleka will you and your DH spend Christmas at home or celebrate at a
restaurant?
Nikki, do you celebrate at home or at one of your daughters homes?
Anne.

Good morning,
It must be that TOM for me. I just have no desire to exercise and feel like crying all the time. DH look out, is all I can say. He knows by now, I'm not myself at this time, so he is doing his best to get along. Of course, he can't do anything right, and he knows that too. I try so hard to keep myself undercontrol and together, but it's almost impossible. I will be so glad when this is finally over. One good thing, last month, it was much lighter, so I decided Anne was right and I'll see what happens.

Anne, you don't have to be a membe to visit WW's BB. I think you have to be a member now to use their recipe swap, the point counter, menu builder, etc. I never use those things anyway. I find all the recipes I can use on the BB it's self, then there are countless free places too. All I did was order some stuff off of ebay and I don't use most of that anyway. The things I bought that I use all the time are my calucator for figuring out how many points are in something and the Food Companion to look things up quickly. On occasion, I use the Dining Out Companion. I'm not even sure I will go to any meetings, unless I start to lose motivation. It's expensive like you said and the meetings here are at 5pm on Tuesdays, which is supper time (for us) and not a good time for me to go anywhere.
Hope you get good news at the meeting today.
We will be going over to DD #1 Christmas Eve for finger food and presents. It will not be a big deal, since we are giving them money and I asked them to only spend $30 on us or less. DD #1 can't afford more than that and DD #2 will go over board and out spend her, making #1 feel bad.

Better get moving, have lots of stuff to do today, Nikki

Good Morning All: Just lost another post. I was merrily typing and hercomputer clicking and up pops the add for the most advanced smilies and puff goes my post. That ticks me off so much. It is very snowy here, if fact it has been cold and snowy since DD and I got back here Sat. afternoon. We brought her puppy (Mya's puppy) with us and they had a great time together. Mya's leg is doing much better, it will take a week or so more I think. Anne isn't it strange how we live in the great white north but when the snow and cold hit our transportation systems break down, ( e.g. the Go Train). I don't know what the TTC costs now but I know what the Go train costs and it is a major rip off in the service department in the winter. Well 2 more kids killed by kids this past weekend, when are the law makers going to get the Young Offender's law is NOT working!!! Hope you hear some good news in your meeting today, I have several friends happily enjoying retirement thanks to a nice package. Did I mention that I saw a bunch of SS's products in Chapter's when I was down at DD's last week. Some were expensive some were not to bad check it out the next time you are in the area of a store. I guess my kids were late bloomers to leave the nest. DS left when he was finished school and bought a car at 23, DD left when she bought her house 2 years ago, and I didn't want her to go then and still miss her daily presence. The circus that is my family Christmas has started. My step-father is a control freak and has to have everything his way. The kids have long stopped spending Christmas with us because of him. We do a Christmas Eve thing with them. The problem is if he doesn't like what our plans are ( my DB, DH and me) he says "I will just spend it at the home with Mom". Now as long as we can we want Mom to have Christmas with us so he is in control and he knows it. DH says he wishes we could just stay here and if the circus continues who knows that might be an option. Well I guess I should get my day going, I'm hoping it will stop snowing or at least slow down so I can get to curves. I also want to finish my wrapping. Will be back Later.

Sorry about the typo's in my post. I was so P---ed about losing my post I forgot to proof read.

Good afternoon,

I've been addressing Christmas Cards just about all morning. DH has gone to the PO to mail them. Sometimes men are worth it.

It has gotten really chilly here. It's supposed to get down into the 30's tonight, and they said that around Tampa, which is about a 3 hr. drive north of us, may even see a freeze. BRRRRR!

Lynn, glad to hear from you and that Mya's leg is better. That's rough when someone is controlling like your step father. Do you spend Christmas at the home where your mother is, or do you take her out for the day? What would happen if you, your DH & DB stuck to your guns and did what you had planned?

Anne, I hope your meeting goes well today and that you can get more information about what's going on with the hospital. DH & I will be spending Christmas at home....I think. It depends on the weather. If it's warm we'll pack a picnic lunch and go to the beach, just to say we were at the beach Christmas Day. If we do that, we'll have our Christmas dinner when we get back. I got all of my WW material on e-bay also. But, I haven't been very faithful doing it like Nikki has. Personally, I do need the meetings to keep me OP.

Nikki, hope you're back to normal soon. I looked up Whole Foods Mkt. and there is one not very far from us, which opened up last week as a matter of fact. I do hope SS food is reasonable and that there is a good variety of products to buy. DH & I really do love her pancake mix. There was nothing else on TV last night, so watched SS on HSN. They were selling her slow cooker. They had made a pork roast. I'm not a big fan of pork roast, but my mouth was watering. It looked soooo good.

Hope you all have a great afternoon.
Aleka

Hi Everyone:
I don't know too much after the meeting but this I do know, effective
April 1 all management( ) will be employees of the "new" company.
We won't be finding out too much for several months after that. I am wondering if what I do if I will even be included. This position
can not be moved out of the hospital because I deal with patient valuables,
telephone activation payments for patients being admitted, patients that
want to pay bills on site, preparing all bank deposits for all 6 bank accounts,
so who the heck knows if I will remain an employee of St. Mikes or get an
offer I can't refuse

Nikki, hormones suck, right know I am way late. I am nearly at day 50
since my last TOM.

Lynn, did you hear the Matty Baronowski's family has suffered yet another
blow. Another brother was just killed in a car accident

Hi Aleka, Hope you are enjoying yourself.

Anne.

Good morning,

It got down into the 30's overnight. We actually have our heat on at the moment. It's rather chilly and breezy outside. I've got my fall clothes on.

Anne, sorry that will still be working at the hospital. Maybe they'll put her in a different dept. so she can be miserable to someone else. I'm sure from now until April 1st, there will be plenty of rumors going around. I do hope you get a good incentive to leave. Speaking of hormones, are you getting any hot flashes? That is the worst. Thankfully mine aren't all that bad and don't seem to last that long...but long enough. Sometimes I also seem to get chills instead of the hot flashes, which I like much better.

Nikki, I thought I had seen everything. But, yesterday on HSN SS was selling cocktail mixes made with Sommersweet You received 2 bottles of Margarita Mix, 1 bottle of Apple Martini mix, and 1 bottle of Cosmopolitan Mix. Chris Scanlon was the host and I was in stitches watching them sampling the drinks. SS was making them with vodka and really..really good Tequila. I think she did this for the holiday season. She also said that you could make the drinks with club soda.

Lynn, how are Mya and her puppy getting along? It must be entertaining to watch them.

Have a good day everyone.
Aleka

Hi,
I did exercise today, so I feel better doing that. Yesterday, I was doing the WATP 2mi and after 1 mile, I just got bored and quit. Today, I was thinking of remodeling the house, so the time went by fast.

Lynn, hope you have a good Christmas, despite your stepfathers wanting to control everything. He sounds like a difficult person to deal with. Bet your glad to get home.

Anne, my hormones are a mess. I do have hot flashes and then they turn into cold sweats. I'm always turning the furnace up and down. DH says he is either baking or freezing.

Aleka, I've heard great things about Baha Bob's drink mixes, but I've never tried them. They are made with splenda, here's a link to the website, the prices look fairly reasonable.

http://www.bajabob.com/

I've also seen his products in stores around here too.

I got my vacuuming done, my laundry is well on the way to being finished, so all I need is a shower. Then, I'm going to pop some popcorn and watch my reward movie for losing 2 lbs last week. Have a good day you guys, Nikki

Hi All: Lost another post I will be reading the posts here soon and than emailing you all on your email addresses. I know that the pop-up's pay for the site but they are driving me nuts. Anne, I hadn't heard about Matty's brother. How much can 1 family endure? April 1 is the year end for the hospitals isn't it? If so that package could be a reality I have had a busy day, Curves, than laundry than I wrapped all my presents, than ironing and some running around. Tomorrow I will open up Curves than we are going to Barrie to pick up odds and ends. Aleka my cards were done yesterday, I was playing on the computer and the radio announced it was the last day to send to USA so hope you american girls get your cards along with our snow bird friends. Mya went to the park for the first time today and didn't play for long. It is amazing how animals know their limitations. My DB is going to have it out with my step-father. He going to explain that after 35 years DH and I have to be able to have some of our own plans. I am spending Christmas Eve and most of Christmas day with him so maybe he can make some plans of his own. DH has had enough of him and has reached the end of his patience so the next week or so will be very interesting. Nikki, you have my sympathy with your hormones. I am always hot, I am still wearing a shell with a short sleeve t-shirt and it is below zero here. I don't think I will be wearing a winter coat this year Well that's it for now.