I'm sitting at my table with my coffee all by my lonesome this morning. At least I can share it with you all in the cyber world.

What a great week it was! I hope my family hasn't scared Ruth off, but they sure did like her and welcomed her into our family circle.
It's going to be hard to ease back into the same old routine again. This morning I have my hairdresser appointment, then it'll be back home again for a few hours until I head over to the farm. I'll be staying there until around 10tonight, so I don't have to go in until after lunch. I may spend some time checking out the Cyber-Monday sales and trying to finish up my holiday shopping. I have to find another present for Jake, since I gave him his Christmas present last night.

Good morning. Maybe mutter isn't a good word since it has negative connotations and I sure don't feel that way today!

My vacation with Cottage was wonderful and I feel beautifully rested. I think I have my mojo back! Looking at this week's schedule, it's a darn good thing.

The lads are coming to pull out my old tub and surround this morning and install the new. It's supposed to take three days but I have my doubts. Things always have a way of running on. It's a good thing I have a shower downstairs in the new bathroom. Once they are here (and know where the coffee is!), I'm going to try to get to town for a wee shop and then pick up my darling doggage from the kennel.

During the past week, I've been a real slug and the scale shows it so I am going to hop on the treadmill shortly and see if I can get back into a good exercise space. I can't do the usual gym this morning because of the tub thing but I can do treadmill!

What's happening at your place today? Have a coffee and chat a bit.

Good morning!

It's back to work for me today, too. It's pouring rain, so we'll be inside for recess, at least before school. If it was just my class it would be fine, but it's the whole school jammed into the gym until the bell rings... *shudder*

On to more pleasant topics... Beth and Fergie will have some father daughter time today while I'm at school. It's about time, too - Beth and I have had a lot of time alone together this week. It's been so great having her here. She introduced me to quinoa, too. I loved it with my supper, but I'm not so impressed with it at breakfast. It's good, but I think I'll go back to my steel cut oats tomorrow morning.

Gotta go, have a great Monday friends! *hug*

(Here's a picture of one of my 'grand cats' Nika "helping" me with the laundry.)

Good morning Very sleepy this morning because I was up half the night. That was a silly plan.

Cottage - You will have to let us know if you find any really good bargains

Ruth - You're motivating me. My ticker was also sent to time out for fibbing Maybe more exercise will help.
Good luck with that tub!

Heidi - thanks for the picture Hope your Monday whizzes by. How long is DD staying?

Nothing too exciting on tap today - office, reports, newsletter, schedule visits. After work I'm going to a meeting about a warming shelter. There are a handful of homeless folks around town and the churches want to create a night shelter during the winter months. It will be staffed and supported by volunteers. There already is one in the larger town near us and it works well. Apparently there is some push back so I want to add my voice to support the project. After that home and a workout.

Hope your Monday is bump free.

Good morning ladies!

Linda, you already gave Jake his present??? It's not even December yet! The first time Tom was in Korea, in '96, I sent his Christmas presents really early because I was afraid they would take a long time to get to him. He got them in early December and opened them all right away. I couldn't believe it! I had to send more. Come to think of it, maybe that was his plan...

Ruth, good luck with the new tub! Sounds like it will be a quick project with the good workers I'm sure you have lined up.

Heidi, hope the rainy day passes quickly for you. I think rainy days are the worst for teachers. I remember feeling so cooped up on rainy days. There are only so many times you can play Seven Up!

Cyndi, what were you doing up all night? Doesn't that always seem like a good idea at the time but such an awful one once the sun comes up?!

I am having a productive day. So far, I have made whole wheat pancakes for the kids and myself for breakfast, done grammar, math, and violin with Kadyn, gotten the kids all off to school, practiced my flute for an hour, dusted, swept, and vacuumed the third floor, done 84 push-ups, and gotten in a half hour cardio/weights workout. Connor just walked in the door from school so next on the agenda is lunch for him and me and then a shower for me while he does his homework. I'm hoping we can get his violin done before getting the girls from school because he has an eye doctor appointment this afternoon. At his regular visit a couple weeks ago, he failed (miserably) the glaucoma tests, so they're running a couple more in-depth ones today to make sure everything is OK. The eye doc said it's really really unlikely that he's developing glaucoma at this age, but it's best to know for sure. Keep him in your thoughts today.

I'm still getting back into normal eating. I had half a pear and a small pancake this morning and felt full and haven't had anything since. I think I'm going to finish off the squash soup for lunch, though. That will pack in some veggies.

Have a good Monday!

Kara

Happy Monday, Everyone!

Cottage, Was Jake getting his present last night TMI?

Ruth, Are you getting a big tub with jets?

Heidi, I always feel sorry for Auston's teacher on rainy days -- like today. 15 Kindergarteners. Bless her heart!

Cyndi, I may have missed this... Did you get the job you interviewed for?

Kara, What is the time difference between Germany and the US? I've only been up for 20 minutes, and you are winning the 'stuff done' contest.

Me: We are decorating the office for Christmas today and tomorrow. I have all my favorite Cajun Christmas decorations ready to go. I'll post pictures on facebook later. Our Open House is Friday. You all are invited!

I cannot believe how close we are to Christmas. I'm so thankful we exchanged presents with my family last week. Over half of my shopping is done. Now the hard ones -- my hubby and MIL.

Hope you all have a fabulous day!

Chelby, we're six hours ahead of east coast time. It was really funny when we were in Korea and I was saying, "Good night!" right when everyone else was waking up!

Kara, Jake's watch broke a few weeks ago, and he really depends on it and missed it. I found a great deal on Amazon and had it all wrapped and hidden away for Christmas, but last night he showed me an ad in the Sunday paper and said he was going to go after work today and buy himself a new one. So, I ended up giving him his gift early. I may or may not get him something else, or maybe I'll just get him something practical like a new shirt or sweater so he'll have something to open on Christmas morning. Poor Connor! I'll keep him in my thoughts and hope he gets a better report from the optometrist today.

Cyndi, what were you doing up all night? Couldn't sleep? I hope the meeting regarding the warm shelter goes well. I can't believe that some people would vote against such a thing! Some folks are just plain selfish and too wrapped up in themselves. Have a good day.

Heidi, rainy days are made for arts & crafts, but I guess that's not possible with so many children stuffed into one place. Hope your day goes well.

Ruth, I hope the bathroom work goes smoothly and gets done without any glitches. Let's share a cup of tea later this afternoon, OK?

Fortunately one of my professors had the foresight to make his paper's due date prior to thanksgiving...the other one is due Wednesday, so I need to write it today (class tomorrow)...and I have a quiz tomorrow and a lot of homework due for a biblical language class, so I need to get cracking...no rest for the wicked.

Still, the house is clean and decorated for Christmas, the fridge is full of SBD approved Thanksgiving leftovers, somehow I ate a completely SBD Thanksgiving followed by a cheeseburger (with bun) the next day followed by a 3-pound loss. Not sure how that happened, but I guess I am not going to argue. I'm going to guess it was a fluke and not some special diet trick.

Oh. While I was preparing the raw turkey for the oven, our rescue dog and our normal dog started to argue over who was going to get the giblets, I stepped backward to break them up (my hands were covered in goo) and I got bitten! on the butt! So I went around the water park looking like I had a snake bite on my tuckus. (2 punctures, big bruise, no infection so far). No points for clearance puppy.

Weeb

My daughter nearly "spoiled" one of daddy's few presents, daddy wanted ramekins for Christmas. We made the SBD pumpkin cheesecakes from 3FC (very good) and she said, "I KNOW WHAT WOULD BE PERFECT TO MAKE THESE IN MOMMY HAS THEM IN THE MIDGET CLOSET" (we have a victorian house with interesting alcoves with some short doors and the non-PC nickname stuck, sorry to any that are offended) and I was like, "NOOOOOOOOO we don't, very smart little girl." and she was like, "Yesssss we do!" and I was like, "wink wink we don't!"

I have a friend who cuts my hair in about 10 minutes in the bathroom at school - she used to be a hairdresser in the "before-time"...I don't know what I would do without her.

I'd love to get a new tub. ours is plastic (why anyone would make a tub out of plastic I don't know. and why anyone would take out a claw-foot tub of a victorian house, I don't know!) and our water is very very hard. The tub is ALWAYS stained. Was the install expensive? I would like to get a jetted tub but we're brokey brokey broke.

How many dogs do you have? are they big? Sending our dogs to the kennel costs more than boarding them.

It's priceless cooked in a casserole...maybe you'd like it cooked in a breakfast casserole?

it always seems smart when you're doing it, doesn't it?

I'll say!

Good morning, everyone! I've been MIA over the holiday and that's because I was too ashamed to come here and face what I've eaten. I did at least get my workouts in!

I'm back at work right now and need to get my nose to the grindstone...we have 3 - 5 inches of accumulated snow predicted for today and tomorrow, so I'm expecting at least one snow day. I really can't afford it for all the work I need to get done before my boss, one of my appraisers and I head out for a conference next week. So, off to work I go!!

Good Morning Everyone

Thanks for starting us up, Cottage and Ruth. I'm glad you both had a super wonderful visit and that you were so kind to share it with us! I know it's hard to get back in the swing of things after a holiday, especially as nice as yours.

I'll be quick because we're coming up on the Eisenhower Tunnel which takes us under the Continental Divide-heading West. Ah...yes...we woke early and decided it was time to get back to funderland. I can be at my Yoga class at the pool by 10.

Have a great day everyone! I'll be back post-tunnel.

trying to get back in the groove bbiab!

Grrrrr! My bathroom guys had the 3rd down instead of the 30th on the schedule. It's just as well I did clean the tub this morning.