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#31

Marie , 12-26-2008 12:11 PM

Happy Boxing Day...
Ah, Christmas is over for another year. DGS thinks Christmas should be everyday. He's close to 3 yo and yesterday was an absolute thrill for him. Way more than in his previous 2 Christmases.

Almost DIL, DGS and I are going out and I'm on the hunt for an expensive fake Christmas tree that's price ha been slashed for the after Christmas sales. Our tree has sent my allergies into overdrive and I think that this is the last year for a real tree. Plus I told DH about auntie's tree stand woes and he grinned and said that wouldn't happen with our old stand if we went artificial. See auntie, you provide humor across the land, even weeks later.

Food was not bad yesterday. I had some moose munch but did stop. The only cookies I made were toffee bars and I wasn't very controlled, but did pull myself away pretty quickly. Past that, I did pretty good considering it was Christmas. I didn't log my food and I won't. But I will start today. DS1 is on his way back to Reno and at least it is between storms.

Judy, it sounds like you had a relaxing holiday. I'm glad as you've been so stressed for weeks (maybe years).

Auntie, I'm glad DH wasn't one of the accidents. I truly believe that a car accident changes your life. I was in a doozy in November 2007 (weather related) and it was my very first. Since then, driving has not been a pleasure. In the past, I'd occasionally enjoy it, but not anymore. Although if the wagon did get in one and is waiting for us to all jump aboard, then that accident would be acceptable.

Elyn, long time no chat. If you're lurking please come back.

Well, that's it in my neck of the woods. Everyone, be safe.
Marie

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#32

mazza , 12-27-2008 01:12 AM

*gurgle..*

*pop*

*fizz*

.... the sounds my belly was making on the morning of the 26th. Chicken schnitzel, ice cream, cake, chocolate....
But MAN it was worth it.

(We decided to have a different xmas this year and instead of making a roast or something like that, make something we'd been wanting to eat for a while [my immediate family are all pretty health conscious, so to us schnitzel is like.. well, christmas day!])

More than the time off work or the 'special occasion' food - time with my family was really what it was all about. It's crazy how much you take simple things for granted like that (well, me personally anyway). It's true the best things in life are free.

I hope you all had a great christmas! Will be back soon. Not around much these days .. still waiting for the dust to settle.

xo Mariana

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#33

judydc , 12-27-2008 04:04 PM

I've been taking advantage of this brief window of downtime to declutter, both my living space and my head A big part of my stress since the fall has been my discombobulated apartment. This afternoon I rearranged my living room, assembled my new Ikea table and unpacked most of my books. I finally gave up on a few random bits of old furniture that I've carried back and forth from place to place for years. I still need some new lamps, and I'll order a nice lateral filing cabinet, and paint a few accent walls (waiting until after a highly allergic house guest comes and goes next month) but I'm almost there.

Mariana, I haven't had schnitzel in ages! It's one of those old-fashioned things people used to eat all the time when I was a kid, like scalloped potatoes and stuffed cabbage. I'm glad that you aren't beating yourself up about indulging on the holiday.

Marie, I'd be so bummed out to be allergic to pine trees Since I'm rarely home for Xmas, I haven't bought a tree in a while. But I adore the fresh, green smell, especially if it's cold and snowy outside.

Auntie, your comment about getting the photos organized made me laugh. I've got a new stack that needs a home, too. Hey, if you take digital pictures, maybe you can just invest in one of those electronic frames--that might be fun.

Okay, back to work! I'm determined to finish clearing things up today. Tomorrow I fly out to visit my family, and it would be so nice to come home to a neat apartment!

judy

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#34

auntie g , 12-27-2008 04:47 PM

Hi everybody! I took down my Christmas tree today, sigh... I can't remember whether or not I've complained about it's lack of drinking water, even though it had a fresh cut, and then another one. Oh well, it was so dry that when I leaned in to take off an ornament, a branch snapped right off. That can't be a good thing. At least now I'll start getting things back in order, and soon I'll get my eating back in order too.

We're off to the city tonight for the last of the Christmas visits, so I should really be getting dressed, yet here I am messing around on the computer. Hmmm...

Marie, I know what you mean about driving not being fun after being in an accident. I was hit in my first car, and it didn't scare me off because that thing was a TANK! You know, back in the days when cars were actually made out of metal. I loved that car and I wasn't afraid of anything in it, but alas, I eventually moved on to something a bit more modern, and plastic. Now I won't drive in the snow and ice at all, unless it comes up while I'm at work and I need to get home.

Have you found a new Christmas tree? DH and I were discussing going artificial since all the trouble we had with this year's tree, but we decided to muddle through the next 6 real trees, and celebrate turning 50 with a fake one!

Mariana, glad you had a nice Christmas with your family and your schnitzel! Had to look that one up . I always make meatballs in the crockpot for Christmas, so that everyone can eat whenever they're ready and there's no formal sit-down time. Works better for us since both of my sisters are notorious for being late. Hope your dust is beginning to settle.

Judy, ah decluttering! I really need to get on that, too! I didn't realize how many candle holders I have until I had to put some away to get out the Christmas stuff. And then I didn't realize just how many dang Christmas knick knacks I had either. Some things have got to go! As for the picture problem, I started scrapbooking several years ago, but then fell off that wagon, and now I've got about 9 years worth of pix in envelopes taunting me. (All the earlier pix are in those magnetic albums, at least they're in order!) Now I've decided to start up the scrapbooking again, but in reverse order, starting with the current Christmas pix. We'll see how that goes... Have a nice visit with your family!

Have a good one, everyone!

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#35

penpal , 12-27-2008 05:06 PM

Judy - I'm glad to hear you are using your down time to get more settled in your new apartment. My DH bought me one of those digital photo frames for Xmas, so I'm looking forward to gathering my favorite photos from my two iPhoto files. It can store 4,000 photos, so that should do the trick! It will be good to have the photos sorted out and in the same place.

Mazza - My tummy has been complaining a bit too with all the rich Christmas foods. My downfall has been the huge raspberry sherry trifle I made! I love schnitzels and often make them with the extra thin chicken breast slices.

Marie - I'm glad your DS1 made it home safely from Reno. It must have been a kick having your DGS over the holidays. He's old enough now at 3 to take it all in.

Auntie G - As I mentioned to Judy, I'm going to have my work cut out organizing photos for my new photo frame. I'm going to have it so the photos cycle about 2-3 seconds each. I may even start doing more nature photography again like I used to when we lived in California.

Elyn - Good to hear from you - I hope you pop in again soon.

Carol - It was nice to hear from you again too. It sounds like you've been busy as usual. Your jewelry making sounds interesting. What kind do you make?

I'm having a bit of quiet time as my DH and DS have gone target shooting. They said I was welcome to come too but I wasn't too interested to stand in the freezing rain for 2-3 hours! The snow has almost melted and it's an awful mess. We have tons of big branches which broke of our trees in the storm. One of our pines now looks like a hairy toothpick and there are several large broken off branches balancing precariously high up. So we may have to take the tree out . One of our neighbor's trees fell over and nearly hit our garage as you can see in the photo:
- IMG_1153.jpg (38.4 KB)
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#36

cacmsc54 , 12-27-2008 09:15 PM

Hello everyone. Well my time has been so busy with the family. Lots of food and need some hard core exercise this week. I am going to take advantage of a little time on sunday to start organizing my computer, craft room wow is it in need talk about declutter wow... The kids are off to go to an outing with some friends and their children. It will be nice for them. I have my other local gs overnite as well for tonight. FUN!!
I just had a taste of ice cream not a bowl oh step one it was tough. I am having a cup of tea instead. Well take care and its so nice to be back again. I guess my old pw was hooked up to an old email? Thats why I had to start all over for got it all. Crazy huh? Enjoy!!!

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#37

Marie , 12-27-2008 09:38 PM

Hi everyone, sounds like everyone is wrapping up the Christmas holidays. Auntie, our tree was so brittle that it made is simple to pull the lights and ornaments off. Just pull and watch the needles fall. We did find a nice artificial one. It was $300 before Thursday and yesterday was $150. Lots of tips and it comes with lights (that was the down side but I liked how full it was). So my last real one is out the door. Now to get my asthma back under control. DGS and almost DIL both ended up getting colds from her mother so I'm hopeful I won't get one. I'm just getting all the crud out of my bronchial tubes from the Thanksgiving round. BTW, they both have moved on to her father's house so my house is quiet. Kai is exhausted from DGS chasing her everywhere. They have become best friends

Carol, sounds like your family visit has been going great. Enjoy the night with your local GS.

Judy, I'm proud of you for decluttering your new place. That probably will make you feel more settled. I am not good a disorganization (hence the moment the vehicle left the driveway this afternoon I was on a cleaning frenzy. Have a safe trip!!!!

Penny, I LOVE my digital frame my DS2 and DH bought me for my birthday. I love the changing pics and it has the coolest side effect at work - it relaxes me. I didn't put sad pics on it and when I think of the moment the pic was taken, it makes me smile. It was really stress reducing at the beginning of the school year. BTW, it took my 5 hours to organize (touch up red eyes) on about 175 digital images. I think it takes as long as the scrapbooking auntie.

mazza, I couldn't agree with you more. The best part of my Christmas was the time with my family. There is nothing better than that.

Recidivist and DisgruntledOne, I hope you both had a GREAT holiday.
Marie

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#38

Marie , 12-28-2008 10:42 AM

I did it, I was under my cals yesterday. On Friday I was over by 200 and yesterday under by 100. I'm thrilled as Christmas day didn't toss me from the wagon. Unfortunately I haven't exercised since Wednesday, but I'm going to take the wonderful Blizzard Bear and her doggie siblings for a walk in the sleet. Yes I know, how pleasant. But my doggie is 8 today and she has to have a birthday walk.
Marie

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#39

auntie g , 12-28-2008 10:50 AM

Happy Birthday Blizzard!!!

On my way out, will check back in later...

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#40

Marie , 12-28-2008 07:25 PM

Auntie, Blizzard says "Thanks very much!!!" She's had a delightful b-day. The walk was only partially in sleet. There was one point there was a little blue showing in the sky. We walked 2.5 miles and ony a couple nasty pains in the knee.

Both the Packers and the Vikings won today. The Vikes - sort of a sad thing as their ability to disappoint will now continue another week into the playoffs. I'd had a little hope that football would be over. And wow, auntie, your Eagles destroyed the 'Boys.

Food is right on track today!!! YEAH!!!! It's sort of difficult with this humungous bowl of candy on the counter, but I haven't reached in it except twice since it appeared on Christmas. One was a peppermint hershey kiss (25 cals) and the other a truffle (about 75 cals), not so bad.

That's it for now. I have to go back to work tomorrow. So sad...
Marie

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#41

auntie g , 12-28-2008 08:12 PM

Gotta go Eagles green tonight! Whoooo, what a game!

Penny, it sounds like you do have your work cut out for you with pictures, too! I did start scrapbooking Christmas, but I haven't gotten very far yet. Good luck with your tree branch mess. Broken trees are so scary, but I tend not to think about it in the winter- though I guess I should. I seem to worry about it in the summer when there are thunderstorms. Either way it's no good! Stay safe out there!

Carol, suck up all the kid fun you can get! Sounds like you've been having a great time!

Marie, I hope we can polish off the Vikings next week for ya (I'm under the impression that that's who we're playing), but I'm just happy that we took the Cowboys down. Don't you love the "we"? I make fun of other people for talking like that, but I guess I do it too! My brittle tree, oddly enough, did not drop needles. The branches just snapped right off. Something was really rotten with this one. I can't understand why it never drank any water. Weird... Sounds like your new artificial one is a goodie. It'll probably be a lot easier with the lights already on it, too! I'm glad Blizzard got a good birthday walk, and that your knee is holding up! Congrats on ignoring the candy, too. Oh, I've been soooooo bad...

Have a happy Monday, all!

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#42

mazza , 12-28-2008 08:34 PM

It is NOT NORMAL for the weather to be alternating between windy/cold, hot/humid and torrential thunderstorms. A sydney december is usually nice and sunny but this year.... things are very odd indeed.

Went for a long 2 hour walk yesterday and climbed up some rocks near the bay. It was devine. I'm reading a really good book called:

"There are two
errors in the
the title of
this book."

Penny - quiet time is always nice. I can't believe how awesome that photo looks! With all the snow and everything. By the way - thin chicken schnitzels are my fave too! The tastiest kind, I reckon =]

Judy - Hooray for decluttering! I'm addicted to freecycle these days and every time I walk past or see something I don't frequently use, I jot it down. If I don't think about it again until I find my note, it goes.

Carol - Nice to have ya back

Marie - I haven't been exercising much either lately. It becomes so easy to fall into the collective mentality of "oh, but its christmas.." and I start to make excuses for different things. It's nice being lazy sometimes though.

Auntie - I've been bad with candy too. It's hard to resist imported blackberry toffee. Pure sugar but soo tasty and chewy. My new treat-y type food these days is icy poles (frozen fruit juice-type "ice cream" things). They're 65 cals and quite nice on a hot day.

What are everyone's NYE plans?

xo Mariana

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#43

auntie g , 12-29-2008 07:24 PM

Howdy all! Back to work tomorrow, bleccch! I can't wait to get back on the wagon- I feel soooo crappy, but I can't seem to stop making it worse. That's the only good thing about being back at work, I won't have time to think about what I could be eating next. I'll be so busy thinking about how I need to find a new job in an impossible economy.

Mariana, you've got some crazy weather going on there! Ours has been off kilter, too, one day freezing and the next 65�. I'd love to have a nice weekend snow, but it's not in the forecast yet. That "Errors" book sounds intriguing. I liked the sound of the title, so I looked it up. I may have to get it next time I'm out and about. We're planning on a relatively calm New Year's Eve. We're going down the street to a friend's house and hanging out by the fire pit, unless, of course, we get precipitation that night. In that case, we may just stay home. We're not big party-ers these days, and frankly, I could use some rest. That's sad, isn't it? What are you planning? Something fun, I hope!

Off to prepare for the workday misery. Have a good one!

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#44

mazza , 12-29-2008 08:02 PM

Wheeeeeeeew I went for a long bike ride last night on my loveable but piece of crap-esque current bike. I fell off riding down a hill near the bay and flipped over the handlebars, fell on my left knee (impact was on the medial side of my thigh) and my right hand. My hand was fine but the impact travelled up my arm and the pain was pretty intense - it felt like a fracture. I couldn't move it for a while and I felt like something was wrong. I waited a little while and then went back to riding slowly.
Later on, sitting at home reading, I could feel that it still felt 'wrong' .. I started moving my wrist and hand around until I heard a large (but very satisfying) click. Sure enough, something had moved back into place and/or corrected itself because after that I felt fine.. it still hurts a bit but I'm sure there was not much harm done.
Anyway - that's my eventful story for monday night.

Auntie: a relatively calm new years sounds like the way to go. It's always nice being able to hang out (especially at a friends house near by; very cool indeed ) after a week like xmas. It's always seemed pretty intense to me - from the 24th till about the 3rd of january - two big days (25th, 1st of course) so close to each other don't give us much time to rest/recover or just be quiet at home.
I'm not sure about my plans yet. I'd though about going into the city to see the big fireworks display - but there's always so many hundreds of thousand of people in the city on the 31st, it's kind of off-putting. A friend from the central coast was going to come down to sydney - don't know if that's still happening. It might be a quiet NYE around here too.
Plus, I have a pretty good view of the bridge from my apartment...

I'm catching up with some girlfriends tonight who I'd fallen out with but recently got into contact with again. (a three-person friendship group where we each sort of went our seperate ways and became distant) After 4 years of barely speaking it's like we picked up where we left off. We're seeing the Curious case of Benjamin Button.

Less than 72 hours left of 2008!
Mariana

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#45

RN BSN 2009 , 12-29-2008 08:11 PM

wow mazza glad you're not hurt

Today was a banner waving day, plenty of exercise, biking and swimming... and 1700-satisfying calories consumed. Chocolate included.

Hope everyone enjoys their new years

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