Good morning chicks.

You are killing me with the gingerbread talk. LOVE it. Cake, cookies. Now I have the tea and that is it. Sigh.

I am struggling to stay OP right now. I have a bad habit of what I refer to as "pre-cheating." When I know there is something coming up that will likely mean I eat off plan, like Thanksgiving, I tend to fall off plan in anticipation. Kinda like... why eat well now when I will just blow it in a few days. So far I have stayed OP but am definitely eating too much... snacking to keep out of my husbands chocolates. Sigh.

Must get my butt on the elliptical now. No bike ride today since DH is playing basketball.

Karen, I feel your pain. I haven't cheated but I want to so bad! I gotta keep my focus! I didn't get to see Harry Potter yesterday, my pal who I was going with had to go see her Uncle at the hospital. I hope he's doing better and I hope I can meet up with her today.

QUick Hi from snowy Nanaimo, BC. Because of the weather, my DD and I decided to cook Christmas dinner today and found a pre-stuffed (cook from frozen) turkey. Her DH has to work out on the ocean today (brrr!) and will be really glad to smell turkey when he walks in the door this afternoon.

Yesterday we shopped for gifts and I got what I deeded except for a gift from Mary Ellen who was with me every minute. :shrug: I'll wrap them while I'm here and leave them to avoid mailing costs.

I'm considering seeing the Harry Potter movie with my grans while I'm here. It'll depend onthe winter driving situation later.

Don't even ask if I'm managing to stay on plan, OK?

We don't have too many plans this weekend and it's probably a good thing as snow is predicted for tomorrow. This morning I made a cheesecake (no, not SB friendly) for my GS2 and I'm proud to say I got thru it without even a lick. It is in the over and the dishes are all done so I'm safe! :smug:. Tomorrow DH will watch the last Nascar race of the season and I'll putter around doing laundry, etc. until time to go to our DD2 for dinner. I'll be taking leftover lentil sausage soup and grn salad for me and won't mind a bit what the rest of the family is eating.

Okie, thanks for getting us started.

Nat, you are so busy. "Paint the study" alone would keep me occupied for longer than just one weekend. I admit that I don't even know what in the heck edamame is but am going to google it and find out. I am learning so much on this website. Just read that you decided to go to the gym. As Martha would say, it's a good thing. I know I would hate to have to do a makeup day. I've been thinking about getting something to listen to when I'm walking but am so behind the times, not sure what to get.

Beloved, sure hope you feel better today. With everything that you need to do, you might just have to pace yourself and take a break and rest every now and then. Glad DH is being nicer. That sure makes it a lot easier.

Hey Cyndi :wave:. I need to make a run to Trader Joe's soon as I want to put together a gift basket of mostly nuts for my daughters for Christmas.

Cottage, I remember making gingerbread men and houses plus the Christmas sugar cutout cookies with my grandchildren but they are too old now for that and so far none of them have given us an great grandchildren yet :(.

Heidi, know what you mean about cleaning before family arrives. I plan on doing some of that this weekend too. I have a cut glass collection that sits on glass and mirror shelves and omg the dust. Got to get those done.

Annie, how much easier it would be to have a partner on the beach with me. My DH is tall and thin (weighs almost the same as he did when we married over 50 years ago) and of course eats anything and everything he wants but just doesn't like most of SB friendly meals so I'm having to cook his meals separately which can be a pain sometimes.

Lex, have fun at the museum, it's sounds so interesting.

WT, Hang on with your fingernails if you have to. Get those thoughts out of your head and think how good you are going to feel if you stay op and get thru these next few days.

Well, I got out and walked this morning even though it was raining. Even though I didn't want to this morning and my legs felt heavy, it felt so good when I was finished. Now it's time to get the laundry started and fix lunch for DH.

Try hard my friends to stay on plan and have a good Wacky Saturday.

Later

I sent all the gingerbread men home with the grandkids, but my house is still full of the wonderful spicy smell. Shall I blow some your way? ;)

You could blow some my way Cottage, but you will have to blow awfully hard. South East or South West doesn't matter from where you are.

Take a deep breath now and blow! Thanks

We had a great time at the museum and saw people in a lab scraping dirt off an ancient bison skull. It was amazing! These skeletons have not fossilized and turned to stone. They have been preserved in peat for 15,000 years minimum.

OP so far, today!

Karen, stay strong and I suggest starting on a "new" mentality. I stay strong during days like today so I can have flexibility when I need it. No need for me to hose out the cupboard in the role of human garbage disposal today, when I can sit down later this week and enjoy a sane holiday meal….anyway that's my train of thought (and the visual helps me).

Okie, stay strong!

Ruth, :wave: Merry Christmas!

TallandThin, I'm sure Trader Joes has edamame. Yum! You rock on not licking bowls, which can be such a big trigger! Perhaps the up to date gals can give you and I an Ipod lesson someday. I'm behind the times, too!

Joy(Shad), :wave: I pondered the quote in your sig. Very powerful! Thx!

Karen, the pre off plan cheating, that is what I do!!! I hadn't defined it, but thatnk you! Somehow, knowing what I am doing and why makes it easier to stop it the next time.

I am coughing my lungs out, I stayed busy all day cleaning in prep for tomorrow's feast. I even prepped the food (coughing the other way mind you)

I am sorry no personals, I just wanted to check in. I found out that the football game will be on at 1 EST, everyone is arriving between 12:30 and 1. We will see.

Feel better BelovedK, we love you! I saw Harry Potter by myself and I cried! I also laughed! My friend and I are going out tomorrow and I think I will watch For Colored Girls again, more my speed.

Hey again, everybody!!! :) Hope you guys are having a good weekend so far. Finally got into the brownies that I made the other day tonight, baked mom a double batch of the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, made the taco casserole, went to Mistletoe Market, and watched The Last Song. I'm pissed, though, b/c the disc was damaged and we had to skip several scenes towards the end b/c it wouldn't move forward. So basically I have no idea why her dad thought he was responsible for burning down the church. *shrugs*

Cyndi - Ooooh, pumpkin cheesecakes sound delicious!!! I was planning on making a cheesecake and toyed w/ the idea of buying some pumpkin spice, but I think I'm just going to make a regular cheesecake and the pumpkin bread.

cottage - Yes ma'am, I finally got off my rear end and headed out to the gym around 0430 hrs. Good luck finding the edamame at BJ's!!! ;)

Heidi - It's so funny, ain't it, that we did w/o iPods for so many years and now it's like you just can't live w/o them...it's like cellphones!!! What in the world did we EVER do w/o cellphones, right??? LOL I can manage w/o my iPod if I have a magazine to read (thank God I did last night) but it never fails that I get stuck w/ hearing either Taylor Swift or Katy Perry at the gym every time I don't have my iPod. UGH!!!

annieoh - We do steak and shrimp w/ a salad and twice-baked potatoes (pre-SB, obviously) for Christmas every year. This year we have to ditch the potatoes and, since I recently developed an allergy, the shrimp as well. I have to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Night, so we'll be doing our dinner early. Congratulations on making it through Phase I...the hardest part is over, hon!!!

Beloved - Hope you feel better soon!!! Glad that the hubby is being nicer to you. ;)

WaistingTime - BACK AWAY FROM THE CHOCOLATES!!! LOL It's just not worth it...right??? Hope you made it on to the elliptical w/o those chocolates reaching out and grabbing you. I don't know how I would do if there were chocolates in the house that aren't sugar-free.

Ruth - Enjoy your Christmas Dinner...hey, you gotta get it when you can, right??? ;) Enjoy your time w/ the grandkids and worry about getting back on plan when you get back. ;)

TallandThin - Good for you for making it through the cheesecake preparation w/o indulging. Aside from tiramisu, cheesecake is my favorite...you're a better woman than me, for sure!!! ;) Don't be fooled...our study is super small. ;) It shouldn't take long to paint it at all. As for edamame, it's just soybeans. I had never had it until I visited a friend in Boston a few years ago. It's lovely just served steamed in the pod (don't eat the pod, LOL) w/ some sea salt. YUMMERS!!! Don't feel too far behind...I just got an iPod a few months ago and I ended up just buying it from my niece for $20 (which she tried to turn down). It's an OLD nano that's only 4G...I think the new nanos are up to 16G!!!

Okie - I heard For Colored Girls was a really good flick...I might have to go see it sometime.

The Mistletoe Market was fun. We ended up buying a couple of pieces of jewelry at good prices and we got 2 hours of walking in while we did it. ;) Now I'm going to head to bed...I've got a lot to do tomorrow, so I need to be up bright and early. Have a good Sunday!!!

Natasha, I think I'll head to bed, too. Your day sounded fun, except for the movie.

I ended up at my moms after our museum trip and she was cooking off 2 turkey carcasses she had brought home from the Sr. center and making Posole. It was a major disaster zone, so I helped her finish and clean up and my kitchen got neglected. I was headed to bed about 9pm and found one of the pups(probably Rudi) had peed on the carpet in the laundry room. So....I got out the carpet cleaner and once that project was finished I was wide awake. I've burned my candle at the wrong end and am headed to bed, but got alot accomplished in addition to the carpet. I now have a mental idea of how I will strategize to have an enjoyable Thursday with the younger generation. I have no choice about the event, and it's fun, just too much partying and bad food. *lightbulb* goes on I will take a knitting project to enjoy while they drink beer for hours. (last year I dipped into the crisco cake)

On that note, have a great Sunday! See ya'll later.

Thanks for the well wishes :)

I got up at 5 to get the stuffing started in the slow cooker, I have no idea how long the turkey will take, it is a smallish one so I don't think more than 3 1/2 hours or so. I feel a bit better this morning, I took Mucinex and it helps get things moving. Yech, I hate being sick.

Natasha, I saw The Last Song ans cried so hard with my DD (10) that I was still crying in the parking lot :o I am a sap, but that was a good movie (and I wasn't expecting it to be)

Lexxiss, I think it's a good idea to take a knitting project, I used to knit, it is meditative and keeps your hands busy (no eating, lol) Sorry about the carpet pee, that's a puppy for you :)

Cottage, I got some Celestial Seasonings Gingerbread tea, you should try some, it helps with the gingerbread craving :)


T&T, Congrats for resisting the cheesecake. I may make a sugar free one for Thanksgiving (my MIL is diabetic) it really sounds like you are going to have a nice relaxing and cozy Sunday, enjoy :)

Ruth, yummy Xmas dinner :) I want to see Harry Potter too, I think we might see it on Thanksgiving evening, it turns out that DH's family IS holding a Tgiving dinner. I love shopping for others, I can't wait for black Friday (DH did the whole thing together last year)

:coffee: Good Sunday morning!

Beloved, truth be told, I'm like Heidi. I love the aroma of gingerbread, but I don't care for eating it. I bet your house is going to be smelling good pretty soon and I hope your dinner is a big success. I'm glad you are feeling better!

I'm enjoying a quiet cup of coffee after a very busy day yesterday. Besides baking gingerbread men, I took the grandkids to Barnes & Noble for the reading and book signing of the author of the Skippyjohn Jones books. (I can't remember her name. :dizzy:) Anyway, the place was packed and our number was 67 to have the books signed. We waited over 2 hours, and I checked and found out it would be at least another hour or so before they got to our number, so we finally decided to leave. The kids were happy, though, since I bought each of them a new book with a CD, and a stuffed Skippyjohn Jones. After they went home and I got the house tidied up, Andrea called and asked if they could come back for a few hours because there was a power outage on their block. So they were here until close to 10pm last night. It was fun, but Jake and I were both tired and happy to see our bed after they finally left.

Today is going to be a lot less hectic. I already stripped the bed and will get the laundry started when we get back from breakfast. I'm going to make lasagna for supper for the gang, and I'll make a SBD friendly butternut squash lasagna for myself so I'll have leftovers for the week. :)

Have a great day, whatever your plans are, and I hope Ruth enjoyed a nice pre-Christmas dinner with her DD's family!

Good morning :coffee2: We are getting ready for an early morning trip to Trader Joe's. Last time we got there early on a Sunday it was empty and made for a pleasant trip. Hoping for the same this morning. After that it's farmer's market then home for more cleaning, cooking, & laundry. I'm going to try to get a break early enough to go out for a walk too. The time change is still throwing me off. I'll be back later for personals.

Good morning!
It sounds like everyone is having a busy, productive weekend!

Fergie is going to go pick up my mom tomorrow so I want to get everything done today, so I can just relax and visit with her tomorrow when I get home from school. We've got plans to have lunch with friends after church so I got up early to get some zucchini bread in the oven this morning. So much to do and so little time - but I do love this time of year. :lol:

TallandThin, my DH took a while to adjust to eating differently. It's been over a year now though and he's resigned himself to this new way of eating. I still do 2 meals occasionally but most of the time he'll eat whatever I fix these days and he will make the white chili, refried bean soup and a few other recipes from this site on days when I have meetings after school. Here's hoping your DH will come around, too. :crossed:

Ah, my oven timer is beeping. Time to see how the zucchini bread looks!
Have a great Sunday friends! :hug: