Rise N Shine!!!!!!

It's that busy time of year eh? Is everybuddy getting ready for the holidays??? Today it's Combat Shopping! Yes!!!!! I will be wearing my comfy shoes and hitting stores with furor! Armed with cash to get my shopping done just so I have time to do all my Cwafty Pwojects!

Yesterday was a good OP day..but I was a big fat shlub.. It was Les Miserable out torreeential downpour with whippin winds..so I stayed nice and dry and started my wreath ..

Good morning! It was Les Mis here too, Schatzi. The snow is all gone and the dog garden is mud once again.

Today did not start well. The Girls left me a puddle gift on the kitchen floor! I guess Bad Mommy should have gone downstairs when I heard a desperate bark around 6. No big deal - they are very good dogs all the time so one accident isn't the end of the world.

Today I am going to pace myself. I've been doing standing stuff mornings, having a wee nap and feeling wiped out until bed time. This morning it'll be an hour of "stuff" and then an hour of leg on the coffee table. I'm not supposed to spend a lot of time with the knee bent which kind of rules out "relaxing" at the PC!

OMG! It's November 30! How the heck did that happen? Time to set up a December challenge and tabulate November results.

What's happening with you today?

Good Mornin', Schatzarrrrina!!! Looks like it's me n u up early today. I've got coffee and as soon as I'm sufficiently caffeinated I'll throw the dishes in the machine. I hate waking up to dirty dishes..yucky!

Yesterday I baked brownies for a bake sale today and resisted everything but a lick of the spoon!! This morning I've got cookies on and will resist them too! More for the cause.

That lowcarb lasagna in the recipe section looks good. I think that may end up as my supper tonight. Yummy. I may grab an eggplant and use that too since I have to go buy ricotta anyway! Have a great day, chicks!!

Good going, Pearshape! I just threw out some Christmas baking that I'd stashed away just in case! Too darn tempting! Lasagna sounds good. I must check out the recipe section for some inspiration.

Good morning ladies!

Hi Schatzi- good luck on your "combat shopping"!

Ruth- I was thinking about the exercise challenge already. I missed my goal by 300 minutes. I might be able to get in another hour tonight. But, I want to kick myself for missing like 5 days in a row. I am going to do it this December.

Speaking of which, I went to the gym last night and they have a challenge called Holiday Bingo. I am going to try to play. I got one square marked last night. If you get a Bingo, you get 1 free personal training session!!! If you fill the card, (which seems very difficult) you get entered in for a "Fit Kit" to use at the gym or at home (whatever that is!), 3 free personal training sessions and 3 free months. I am going to attempt it. It will motivate me to try new classes, work different muscles, get to the gym AND should help me look good in my New Year's dress!!

Pearshape- You are a stronger woman than I am. I would have downed a brownie. Good Job!!!

I'm hoping for a miracle overnight so I can end November where I started. I'm not much higher so it is possible.

If everyone can get their exercise logged for November today or tomorrow, I would really appreciate it. If you could total up your minutes (for anyone who is close to 1000 minutes), I would be ecstatic!

I'll start up the December Exercise thread in a minute.

Hi! I am ususally just a lurker, but today I have a mini-celebration to celebrate and wanted to share. Today I am picking my parents up from the airport coming back from Florida for the holidays. I started Southbeach right after my dad left so he hasn't seen me. My mom stuck around for a couple of weeks when I had lost about 13 lbs. Now I have lost 30 (wont update my ticker till tomorrows official weigh-in) and I can't wait for them to see me. They have been so exctied with my weekly updates, but I think they will be shocked with the difference. I know I am. Anyway, just wanted to share my happy news. Hope everyone has a fantastic day on the beach!

Morning chickiedoodles!

I'm down 3 pounds today! Yeah! I'm a little tired of pe*ing every five minutes, all night long but hey whatever works! This weekend will be the first challenge cause I'm going shoppin in Chicago! But I'm pretty motivated to do well. I've been working out with a Personal (pain manager) Trainer for over a month now and I'm happy with how my strength is increasing.

Just a quick drive by for me I'm off to teach the kiddies at DS's school how not to use drugs and help boost their self esteem.

Schatzi - thanks for the power shop sister! I just upped the botox on Monday - not bad - I got almost 4 months out of it. Everytime you have it done it is supposed to last longer!

Everyone else! have a great OP one. I'll change my ticker later! Got to run!

Hi Chicks

Schatzi-Don't feel like Christmas Shopping as it despressing glummy day with rain coming down in buckets. Have a great time today with your shopping.

Barb-I hit my November exercising goal by 5 mins. Barb is all total up for you. I didn't think that was going to happen as I hadn't had more that 45 min of exercsing per day on my fately bike. while watching TV. Wish my weight challenge was as good. I seem to lose & gain the same pound over & over again

Anchor- doing the happy dance for your lost 3 lbs., congrats you dong great after a TG weekend.

Lindy-30 lb, good job, your on your way Big congrats

Hugs BB

Good morning everyone...quick dash for me. I have a very messy bedroom to clean!
Have a great OP day!

Hi everyone. Just dropping in to say good morning on my 3rd day on the Beach. So far so good. Having done Atkins before, I'm pretty familiar with what things are good choices on Phase I (minus the heavy fats of course) and am so glad to be feeling good and not hungry! Those darn BAD CARBS do me in with hunger pains, for sure. Glad to be rid of them. Glad everyone is doing so well.

Lindy - wow! 30 lbs is great! I bet your parents will be thrilled for you.

Ruth - maybe you need a laptop!

Schatzi - good hunting!

kangblue - keep up the good work! You can do it!

Anchor - congrats on the 3 lbs!

pearshape - yay on the self control! I know what you mean about the dishes, though I've become inured to it!

everyone - hello, all! Have a good day on the beach!

me - I know you are all getting tired of my recent mantra, but... I'm so tired! I was up til 4am working on my preliminary map for my city - I've got the geography down, and the villages (neighborhood clusters), the waste management facilities, and the wastewater treatment. Most of what is left is the downtown area. Then I still have to write my paper justifying my design, in addition to all that other stuff I listed the other day. I'll start in on reviewing the Tempest when I'm done here - I haven't read it in years, so I need a refresher in order to be able to comment intelligently on it! This assignment feels more like an architecture assignment than a science project to me - it's really, really tempting me to go back to my love (architecture) rather than teaching (secure, and summers off with DS). What to do, what to do!

This is what my Chair from school council wrote to me when I talked about my insecurities about speakng next Tuesday. It speaks volumes.
“H, I appreciate the glimpse into your struggles with who you are as a person, as a woman. I also know from my own experience that questioning who I am in the world has softened some of my harder edges, made me more compassionate and led me to a richer partnership with life. While I don’t think that self discovery has to be painful, I do think that struggle is a sign of life fighting for expression against the deadening of the status quo. The trick is not to make the struggle the only way we assure ourselves that we have value, I guess that means for me the struggle can lead to a revaluation of who I am, but I need to go beyond the struggle and really accept my gifts/strenths/talents and then share myself to really fulfill the promise of the quest/struggle. I say all this because I think we are a culture with a strange attachment to suffering, I think we find it hard to really truly celebrate ourselves and accept our ok-ness. In this world, joy is the most radical and subversive way of being. For what it’s worth, I know you as a woman of deep caring with many strengths and much to offer and I want to apologize for my careless remark to you last night about having a week to figure it out...I had no idea that you were doubting yourself in this way and regret my insensitivity. That you question things (especially yourself) is part of what makes you vulnerable, open to new things and people and I believe that is the greatest and also risky way (but in a good way) to spend our short time here. Sorry to wax philosophic but this is one of my favorite subjects.”

Incredible, eh.

I am not doing well on the beach.

Maybe you're not doing well on The Beach but in the Big Wide World of Life, you are doing fine!

I just got a terrific comment from my Britlit professor, and I just had to share it, I'm so happy! I had asked her if she'd be willing to grade and comment on a hard copy of one of my papers, and which one she thought was the best, and here is part of her reply: "If I gave the Chaucer paper a 5.0, it's probably your best. As near as I can recall, I've given only two of those this quarter. A paper has to be truly outstanding to reaceive one."

Isn't that nice? I feel warm fuzzies clear to my toes!