[gma22]

Good morning to you ladies! It is 30 right now supposed to warm up to 40 then be cold tomorrow again. I see Las Vegas even got snow this year. My great niece goes to UNLV and she said people were totally freaked. She lives in South Bend, so it was nothing to her. They have about 2 ft of snow at the moment and ice on top of that. My sister said it warmed up enough to melt but the plows didn't come through so it is like driving on cobblestone.

Susan: Hurrah on your loss! I'd give you a smilie, but it doesn't want to post for me this morning. I have heard about liquid bandage but never seen it. I will have to look for it. I have super glue for my acryllic nails I guess I could use! lol I am about in "get rid of the darn decorations" mode. I am sick of them and am thinking of doing at least part of it today.

Maggie: I imagine I will slow down, but I always lose weight fast at the beginning. That may be because of such bad eating habits by body sheds a lot at first who knows? You have been on the program a long time so it isn't surprising you have to eek out ever ounce of loss. It will come though. Oh and thank you for the Christmas card, but you didn't sign it. Good thing I looked at the return address as I don't know anyone in Kansas but you.

Jean: Hope you aren't buried under snow today. No one wants ottomans anymore or the ones I have seen are big enough to sit two people on. Maybe she will eventually find one. Hope your holiday plans all come together and you can get everything done.

You all have a nice Sunday. I am going to start on morning chores and get some exercise in before Jack gets up I guess.

Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Good afternoon, ladies! Rain left this morning and now it is a lovely sunny day.

I went to church this morning. I have to say I haven't got much done around the house this weekend. I just can't get the hang of doing things one handed. I'm sure it'll all be here when I can.

Maggie, you are doing it right weighing once a week. I confess to weighing every morning, but I know the fluctuations are just that and take my official WI as the number of the week.

Jean, it's hard to find an ottoman that isn't big enough for the whole family. I have one I've had a long time, just keep making new slipcovers for it. I know you are now down to counting the hours until the end of school.

Faye, I can see that you'd be tired of Christmas decorations since you had to put them up earlier than usual. Liquid bandage is located with the regular bandaids.

I guess we could change our name to the Steel Magnolia Turtles to describe our weight loss. It just isn't fair when you work so hard and stay OP and the loss is small and the one sitting next to you doesn't stay OP but has a big loss. But then we will be the ones to get to goal and maintenance!

Have a good evening!

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! We are having a ground blizzard, but still had church and made a WM run after dinner this noon. Bob has a 4 wheel drive pickup so it was nice to be able to plow through where a car couldn't go. Several "dummies" were stuck in drifts; they are so dumb about driving in snow. It's -2 as I type and much lower if the wind chill counts for anything.

"Gma" -- I am sick of the tree clutter just because it is half done! I will get it finished tonight, I hope. I'm glad I didn't plan on dragging out a lot of stuff this year because that's not going to happen. I did get a good share of my groceries yesterday. Now I just have to figure out the salads and I'm good to go. When we lived in Ohio they would panic at 2" of snow. We would just come and go like we always did here in Iowa. At the furniture store they had BIG coffee tables and the tops were on spring type hinges that would raise the top several inches. I finally asked the salesman what they were for thinking computer something or other. He said it was for eating in front of the TV! I guess people don't sit down at the kitchen table, as a family, to eat meals. I know our kids' families eat in front of the TV.

Susan -- For whatever reason (I thought it was the previous minister's preference) our church no longer sings the old well known Christmas carols before Christmas but afterwards. It just doesn't seem like Christmas without the carols in church. They are having a "carol sing" at the 7:30 Christmas Eve service. We plan on going to the 2:30 service with MIL so will miss out there too, I suppose. I have tomorrow and Tuesday morning until I am officially done with school . . . that is if the weather cooperates. I'm not sure what Plan "B" is if we wouldn't have school. The weather report sounds like it will just be very cold and very little snow coming. I am dreading the heat bill this month.

I do need to fold a load of clothes and work on some more of my cards. I gave up trying to beat the deadline and figure I will do well if I get them out before New Year's. We always get a few late ones too.

Have a nice evening, stay warm, and have a marvelous Monday tomorrow!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[gma22]

Good morning ladies! Oooh it is very chilly here, 16 degrees and it is a bit windy so probably right around 0 or so this morning. I saw it was 2 degrees in South Bend so they have to be freezing to death. I think the cold Jean just experienced has blown through there.

Today is weigh in and I am down 6.5 lbs for the week!

Jean: I put all the decorations away and Jack took the tree out to the corner yesterday. The needle mess was awful. I ended up having to use a broom and dustpan on the carpet because it overheated my vacuum. It is all put away for another year now except the tree skirt and the nativity scene. Jack has to bring me home some newspapers from work to wrap them in and we have to get another big box for storage. While everyone else is getting excited and gearing up for Christmas Jack and I are done.

Susan: I am bad about getting on the scale too often and like you, take my weekly weigh in as the number of lbs lost for the week. I finished the very last hat, the very last project for someone else and can now go back to working on my sweater. It will probably be too big by the time I finish, at least that is what I hope for! lol Here is a pic of the last hat I made Emma. I didn't like how it looked so I fooled with it a bit.

Have a good start to the week everyone!
Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Good morning, ladies! A chilly, windy 26 degrees which they say feels like 13 degrees with the wind chill factor. Guess who had to get gas this morning!

One of the tenants where I work delivered her usual dozen of Death by Chocolate cookies. They are from a 5 star restuarant, The Trellis, here in Williamsburg. They are enormous. $29 for a dozen so I'm never tempted to buy them. I'm busy trying to give them away. I'll keep 3 for Christmas Day when I go to my friend's house. The rest have got to go now! One year she gave me a very nice quilting calendar. I with she would go back to that.

I just found out one of my older (81 years) friends was diagnosed with lung cancer on Friday. She had breast cancer 15 years ago and was pronounced cured. Doubly sad coming at this time of year.

I'm the only one at work today so it is very quiet. I'll probably go home at one and do the same thing tomorrow - then I'm off until January 5.

Faye, Congratulations on the great start on the road to a healthy weight! All that exercise must be paying off! I love the hat. They are all so bright and cheery.

Jean, I know the experts tell us not to eat in front of the tv if we want to maintain a healthy weight. It leads to mindless eating and trains us to think we have to have food when watching tv. I used to do that but now I only eat at my place at the table with the proper dishes and silverware, even if it is a snack. I find this works better for me. I love the old Christmas Carols. We are having a lot of them at church this week.


Maggie, hope things are going well for you!

Anybody have a take-along recipe for a vegetable side dish I can take for Christmas that is WW friendly? I usually just eat steamed vegetables with a little I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray. Not exactly festive.

Have a good day!