Judy -- awww...thank you! It is great to be welcomed back so enthusiastically.
I feel very loved and appreciated with all of the nice things you had to say, thank you so much!
Yes, I'm thrilled to have the credit cards down, not happy about the $800, but it could be so much worse.
Christmas baking is so hard, I buy what I need wherever possible. I don't have the willpower. If I will be baking, I make sure that it's out of sight, out of mind, or better yet, out of the house.
I like the cellar idea -- the farther it is out of sight, the harder it is to get to, the better.
Princess -- why thank you! How sweet of you.
I am sorry to hear about your health problems, and I hope that it gets better very soon. What awful timing, being in pain during the holidays.
As for me, ladies, I'm proud of myself -- I tried step last night, and made it through the whole intro class. I'm horribly uncoordinated, so there were some embarrassing moments, and my good friend kept having to stop to explain new moves to me, and it was hard work, but the bottom line is that it's a good work out, and it's a change, which is important. I stopped working out for about 1.5 months -- I had to give up caffeine for two weeks in preparation for a blood test, and it just knocked me out. They found out that I have a kind of hypothyroidism, which is why I feel so tired so often, so you can imagine what it was like going without coffee. And then I went to New Orleans for a week on business, and it was so hard to get back into gear. But I'm working on it. I know that, once it becomes a regular habit again, it'll be much easier. I'm tricking myself into going to the gym by agreeing to just do 30 minutes on the elliptical, and if I feel like it, I'll do something harder and longer, like step or spin -- the hard part's getting in the door! I have found that psychological tricks like that help with the "startup" anxiety and dread of getting back into working out. And if all I manage is the elliptical, well, every little bit helps...
Tomorrow is my WW meeting during lunch. We had our holiday party Friday, and I was Not Good, so I'll be thrilled with maintenance. Thursday I'm having lunch with a friend so that I can give her a Christmas gift, so I will try and chime in Friday, and when I'm gone in Phoenix if possible. I have a feeling that the holidays will make it a bit quiet around here.
Anyway, back to work. :
: to my turtles!
PS -- I found a "before" picture of me from 2002 that's sharper and more telling (it shows more of my weight gain), and I'm scanning it. I'll have to show it to you guys with my latest "after" picture, it's amazing.