Hi everybody. How was your weekend?

Mine was relatively quiet. Went to the gym Friday nite and had a great workout and run. Cleaned the house on Saturday. Got most of the holiday glitter cleaned up but I notice there are still bits here and there. Oh well, it could be worse.

Finally got outdoors for a run on Sunday morning - 7.5 km. Dinner at my sister's last nite. Oh yeah, wrapped gifts yesterday afternoon til I ran out of bags and boxes. Will need to replenish supplies and tackle the rest of it some night this week.

Weight down a bit today. Going to the gym after work and to my last relaxation/mindfulness course tonite. I will miss the group.

Over to you.

Susan

Susan, thanks for getting the thread started. It sure sounds like you're feeling better. Cleaning, wrapping, and running! Congrats on the loss. I have WI tonight, but I'm not hopeful, been hitting the sweets. It's so hard this time of year.

On Friday, I had my hair done and a pedi/mani. That was nice. Then I saw a holiday music review with many of fellow performers. It was entertaining. On Saturday, went shopping and to lunch with a GF and then had the last night of the play. On Sunday, I sang in a concert that was well-received. In between I cleaned, wrapped a few last minute gifts and then baked, too.

Some of my cookies did not turn out as well as I had planned. I tried a new recipe that was a lot of work and they're not so thrilling. My biscotti and pound cake turned out great. I was planning to make some pizzelles, but it's too humid here now and they don't turn out well when it's humid.

How's everyone else? Melissa how was Chicago?

Hi Susan it was a quiet weekend for me too. Did a little baking and a little Christmas shopping. I need to take inventory of what I have so far and see what still needs to be purchased.
The weather here has been really nice with temps in the mid to upper 40's. I sure could take that all winter. Next weekend were going to Burlington VT, that will be quite chilly with the wind coming off of Lake Champlain.Brrrrrrrrr. Congrats on your weight loss and enjoy your relaxation course tonight.

Where's everyone else??

Hi, Pam. Now I know why I had trouble posting yesterday. You and I must have been trying at the same time. The site kept giving me an error.

It was very rainy here yesterday, so I didn't go anywhere last night. It was actually nice to sit at home. Went to WI and was up 5#--I'm not happy; however, there may have been something wrong with the scale because in the morning I weighed myself on my very accurate home scale and I was up 3#. How could I gain 2# during the day? Anyway I still had a gain and it was not a surprise--I've been eating too many sweets.

I need your help. I'm having some friends over next Wednesday for a little Christmas get together. Do you have any easy appetizers that I could put together? Thanks for any recipes you have. It will be after work, so I need to do quick things.

Lisa: It's a nasty time of year. You will lose this just as quickly as you gained it, as soon as all the festivities are behind us. And I agree with you re the scales. A 2# gain during the day seems a bit much.

Pam: It's breezy here this morning, and that means wind chill. Most of the snow that we got last week is gone. Back to a green/brown Christmas.

We wrapped up the stress course last night. Several of us have exchanged phone numbers and plan to continue meditation at the Shambalah (spelling?) centre on Wednesday nites.

Another good gym visit yesterday. I'm coming down with another cold (sigh) so I did speed walking on the treadmill instead of running.

What am I doing wrong, that I get a cold every few weeks? Any advice?

Susan

Susan, that's terrible about the colds. It sounds like your immune system is not up to snuff. At first sign of a cold, I take Airborne and Zicam and they cut the length of the cold. For immune system support, colloidal silver is supposed to be good. Another thing to do is SinoFresh--it's cleans out your nostrils and that's how the little nasties get into our systems.

I'm not sure if you have these products in Canada, but check and see.

I have to go to the chiropractor. As the day has gone on, my back is hurting more and more. I don't know what I did although I was lifting things over the weekend. Ouch!

Good morning!

Yesterday I played catch up at work and along with that had 2 meetings that took up a good deal of time. It's finals week here so we're also coordinating some tests in our office. The end of the week will be much quieter and next week the place will be basically deserted.

I had a great time in Chicago. Our bags got delayed so we were without our "stuff" the first night. Good thing I pack a change of clothes and essentials in my carry on bag! The one thing I did not have was a sweater so the first order of business was to purchase a fleece from Lands' End at Sears on Friday morning before we hit the Magnificent Mile and State Street. It was very cold there on Friday but we walked a lot so hopefully that'll help burn off some of the goodies we enjoyed. I had hot cocoa from the Hershey's store, deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's, and a bratwurst & hot wine from the Christkindlmarket. I didn't overeat just ate things I don't normally eat here. On the upside we did do a lot of walking.

The weather here has been unseasonably warm--last week we had snow and this week the daffodils are poking up. It was 57 here yesterday and today I think is going to be a little cooler (54).

I need to get moving on the Christmas shopping--I had ideas just haven't gotten out to get things done. I can't believe that Christmas is a week from Monday!! The university is closed Dec. 22-27 and then I'll work the 2 days in between (28 & 29) and then be off until the 2nd. I'm not sure how much baking I'm going to do--nut rolls are a definite other than that I'm not sure what else I'm going to do.

Lisa: The 2# could be anything--weight fluctuates throughout the day so don't worry too much about it right now. Drink lots of water and try to get some lower point foods in to satisfy you

Susan: Are you sure it's a cold and not an allergy reaction? I tend to get a lot of sinus problems aggravated from my allergies and being closed in. The warm/moist weather breeds molds and they give me a lot of grief! I hope you start to feel better!

Pam: DH and I were in Burlington when we were first married and it's beautiful there. I'd love to go back and spend more time. Have fun!

Hi to Lala, Julie, Liz, Austingal! Hope you're all doing well!

Melissa, Chicago sounds great! I'm glad you had a good time. Thanks for the hug. I'm not going to stress about it. I can't believe your daffodils are poking up--it must be warm!

Went to the chiropractor twice. I'm much better today.

Went to a fun Christmas party last night with DH's running friends. Met some new people and we enjoyed ourselves.

Anybody have easy appetizer ideas for my party next week???

I was up 1.8# at WI today...I was hoping to stay the same but what can you do??

Lisa: I have a great shrimp spread/dip recipe that I'll post for you tomorrow. I'll check to see if I have anything else too.

Thanks, Melissa. Sorry about the gain.

Lisa: Here's the recipe. It makes quite a bit; if it's a smaller gathering you can cut it in half. I serve it with RF Ritz or Club crackers. I make my own cocktail sauce with horseradish & ketchup because I like it with more of a "bite". It's always a hit and it's easy to make ahead. I don't shape it into a ball but rather put it in a nice bowl.

SHRIMP DIP
24 Servings at 1 POINT per serving.

2 Cans Tiny Deveined Shrimp
1 8 oz. package Light Cream Cheese
1 8 oz. package Fat Free Cream Cheese
1 Tblsp Horseradish
1/4 cup chopped onion

Drain and rinse shrimp and soften cream cheese. Combine all ingredients and shape into ball and refrigerate. Serve with a side of cocktail sauce.

Thanks, Melissa.

Well, ladies, my back is not any better, so I'm taking the day off tomorrow. Hot and cold compresses and a visit to the chiropractor for me.

Hi everyone!

The weather here is incredible! It's sunny and 55! It's hard to believe Christmas is around the corner with the temps so warm.

I'm struggling with snacking and I know that part of the problem is stress/emotional. DH's brother-in-law was just diagnosed with liver cancer and from what we know he has multiple tumors on the liver and some on the lungs. The doctors are saying six months but you never know. When I talked with him he said that they are going to do everything to make his quality of life good. It's sad. Along with that my sister called and they are checking her for ovarian cancer. When it rains it pours it seems. She's been having some problems and didn't follow up with the doctor after her last surgery to remove her ovary. They are doing more blood work and she's scheduled for a sonogram January 3rd. The military runs things way different than "civilian" hospitals. It just makes a person stop and think how being upset over weight gain is really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

On a more positive note, DS #1 is looking at getting married the first part of August next year! They've been looking at reception halls and have talked with a church so things are moving along with that. We're going out Christmas shopping on Saturday afternoon (he asked me ) and I'm looking forward to spending some time with him.

I did get a couple of things ordered on line and found something for my GF in Florida. I have my lists--it's just a matter of getting things.

So how's everyone else doing? Lala, are you hanging in there??

Hi to Susan, Lisa, Julie, Austingal, Pam!