I am more interested in classic looking men, like Richard Gere and Mel Gibson.

I love Mel Gibson (41 here, heh heh). It will probably be after my lifetime that any man better than Robert Redford and/or Paul Newman comes along. Even in their 60s and 70s they are amazing.

I agree the whole Katie Holmes thing ruined Tom Cruise for me, though I was pretty on the fence with him to begin with. I think you might all be surprised by Joaquin (it is hard to spell!) when you see him on the screen (if you haven't seen him in a movie yet), he has real charisma.

Aimee, I don't take baths very often, I use the gel in the shower with one of those bath loofah things. I was watching Top Model (since they went to London) and got a laugh out of them all squeezed in the phonebooth in just undies. Ladies, honestly, it doesn't matter how good you look, please use deorderant!

Another stone I really like for jewelry is citrine. I saw a pair of antique citrine drop earrings when we were in the Hudson Valley a bunch of years ago. I enjoy window shopping, but the truth is I very rarely see anything I feel like I have to have. When I saw those earrings, I couldn't leave without buying them.

2 lbs lost! Congrats!

The evil scale spoke to me this morning and didn't say anything good. I gained -- and if you knew how much I hate saying this -- 3 lbs. I don't think I ate enough to really gain that much weight, and I've been slowing increasing the exercise, so who knows, maybe it's water weight and/or bulking. Jill, I'm making your 1/2 lb look not so bad! You know this is after 3 weeks of losing, and 2 weeks of not eating any chocolate. It's frustrating. What can I do but buckle down this upcoming week (which is Thanksgiving!).

Kimberley, too bad the parka wasn't warm enough. I've had my eye on the long underwear for a couple of years. I don't take the cold well. I grew up in Northern California were the normal temperature range throughout the year is about 40 degrees (from 40 to 80).

Well, that's my book for today, gotta jump in the shower. I went to the gym this morning and had a nice workout. It's dang cold here, in the mid-30s.

Take it easy, chicas.

Marge - i have faith that you will lose that next week.. and I am digging into why I am overweight to begin with (having a life coach as a manager helps!)... I'm hoping to "let go" of this weight and then I can help you too!! I'll help the WORLD!

Okay, I have a huge huge huge headache, we are talking migraine strength.. so this hurts to type. I am off to work... I have no choice.. I'll talk to you ladies later!

-Aimee

Hope your headache cleared up, Aimee -- those are the pits. I'm thankful I've not had headaches the last several weeks.

I forgot to tell you guys that the reason the cable was out is kinda embarassing. See, there's these little metal connectors at the ends of the coax cable sections, ya know? And they can wiggle loose without coming completely off the cable. Heh. In our case, the cable was actually separated from the connector, back in the rear of the cabinet we have the modem in. Sheesh. It's probably been loose for some time, and finally popped off. Fortunately, I saw the problem in time to call the cable co and cancel their visit here!!

I'm down 2 pounds this week. Woo!

Kimberley: Congrats on the 2 pounds!! And the cable incident? Could happen to anyone. A similar issue happened to me with my computer. I felt like a dorkus maximus.

Aimee: I hope the headache goes away. I've had some bad ones in my time, bad enough to get nauseated from it. Migrane strength should do the trick for you.

Marge: Looks like we are approximately the same age! I'm 40... You and I were young adults when Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner ruled the screen--remember Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and The Bodyguard? YUMMM!!! Don't know what's happened to him lately--his recent movies are crappy, IMO. I plan to see Walk the Line sometime this week, so I will get to see young Mr Phoenix in action. I saw him on Oprah recently--very handsome for a youngster! LOL

Oh, I think Costner is really handsome, as is Mel Gibson. Those eyes!!

Hey gals--just wanted to let you know I won't be around until next Tuesday. I'm taking Monday off work to spend extra time with my best friend and godson when they come to visit--they are on their way now!!

Have a great weekend--see you Tuesday!

Jen - have fun with them

I decided to come home from work, well not really... my manager sent me home. The headache is mostly gone, I have some residual stomach nausea... I think I am getting sick, the headache settled into my sinus's, so I bought some London Drugs brand extra strength sinus medication. Wow... London Drugs is a local chain, and their brand of drugs are ALWAYS so much better then their name brand counterparts. Dunno why, probably a mental thing.. either way I am feeling better. Fortunately I accomplished enough to justify going home!

BTW - Matthew McConaughey is HOT in my books! I love his accent, and every time I hear about him it's always a nice story. Oh and Jerry O' Connell?? He is a hot hot man. His eyes are so nice... shhh.. my bf might not like to hear I'm saying all of this!

Marge - I have missed every single America's Next Top Model this season, I've had the crappy Wed night shifts for a while. Fortunately I am not addicted to it! One less tv show fo rme to watch.. I don't like the cold, I grew up in the cold.. so I don't get it myself. Vancouver is fairly mild, one of the most mild places in Canada. You know I was thinking, I basically live in the best place in Canada, there is no up from this.. so what does a person strive for?? Hmmm..

Kimberley - that is fairly embarrassing, but fortunately you caught it before anyone else found out! My brother used to be a tech person at the local ISP, one time he talked to a lady and she couldn't figure out why her internet wasn't working... turned out that her modem was switched off. True story! We all do stuff like that.. women are just the ones who admit it!

I think i'm gonna go nap... teehee... bye gals!

-Aimee

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'll take the help. I actually know in my heart we'll both do it. We'll all do it. Congrats on the 2 lbs, Kimberley.

Jen, I agree about Kostner, he is cute, I've seen all those movies (and some of the bad ones too, heh heh). Yep, Mel has great eyes. I want to see Walk the Line, let me know how you like it. And have fun with your friends.

BTW - Matthew McConaughey is HOT in my books! I love his accent, and every time I hear about him it's always a nice story. Oh and Jerry O' Connell?? He is a hot hot man. His eyes are so nice... shhh.. my bf might not like to hear I'm saying all of this!

heh heh, well, Rob gets his Victoria's Secret commercials.

I basically live in the best place in Canada, there is no up from this.. so what does a person strive for??

yeah, your area of the world sounds really nice. I'd like to come see it one day.

I gotta go do some shopping today and get some other stuff done.

Take care, all.

Howie called last night and said he was going to drag the tree upstairs when he got home from work and put it up. He puts the lights on as he assembles each row, kind of drizzling them in between the rows, so it's a one-step process. Anyway, he did just that, and we decided to go ahead and decorate it right then rather than wait until today. I love getting out the ornaments each year, talking with Howie about the people who gave them to us or the event they signify. There's one ornament with a sealpoint Siamese cat which we now fondly look at in rememberance of Elliott.

We finally got to bed about 7:00am. Neither of us slept well, just kinda wired and out of sync with our normal schedule. He finally gave up trying at 11:00am and just got up. I toughed it out until 1:00pm.

Other than his watching the OSU-Michigan game and our going to Caribou tonight, we have no plans today. His brother came over and did some work out in the yard. God bless the guy, he's hurting, too...But he still helps us.

We splurged this year and went with a farm-fresh turkey, s tomorrow we'll pick up our turkey and box of fixin's from a local farmer group. Mmmmmmm! Since we're expecting about 13 adults plus a few kids, we're going to get a second turkey, just from the grocery store. We want leftovers!

Is it Thanksgiving weekend in the USA?

Marge - we need to just DO IT! Just like nike says! I have the Manifesto of Lululemon on the wall in my bedroom, it definitely inspires me (when I'm not purposely ignoring it! ).

Kimberley - this is an odd one from you eh? My goodness! And a christmas tree already up? Do you possibly love it more than I do??

Today I woke up late, with a sinus headache AGAIN.. I'm actually wondering if it's an infection? Anyways, I relaxed, read a magazine.. Michael Kors inspired me to find my own style! So I was going thru fashion mags picking out things that I like, to see if maybe there is a clue there.. we'll see how it all turns out!

Marge - I have a question... is there a way to shop at Bloomingdale's online? There is a Betsey Johnson scarf I *must* have, and I was going to see if my brother can buy it online.. it's SO cute, and so expensively nice... I'm in LOVE.. lol.

Josh is taking me out for dinner, so I better go get myself all pretty!

-Aimee

The turkey sounds great, Kimberley. We're going for a turkey breast, a full turkey for the 5 of us is too much. Our place is too small for a tree, but we bought 2 live potted baby trees from the local Polish store, a spruce and a false cypress (Lenny Spruce and Elwood).

Have no fear, my Canadian twin, we'll do it. One step at a time. Actually Thanksgiving is next Thursday, so my next weigh in is Thursday morning -- I'm planning on those lbs being GONE.

I think the dry air is giving me sinus headaches.

Yes, Virginia, there's is Bloomingdale's online but they don't always carry everything that's in the store. I did a quick google and saw a couple at Dillard's online. Very cute.

Today I did an early morning gym session (boy, was that place empty), then Rob and I did a little shopping in the neighborhood. Then we went and sat in the park for a little while. Nice and sunny today, not too chilly, lots of colorful leaves still. Think I need to go take a nap.

Dry air does it to me, too. The best thing I ever do in the winter is use our humidifier. It's a console model that takes care of our whole house. I can really tell a difference when I use it!

The turkeys they received for the Thanksgiving boxes were only 11-14 pounds each...We'd all been told they'd be 17-18 pound birds. Instead of refunding a little of the price or throwing in extra produce or staples, they just said they were sorry. Not so good. :S The "pumpkin pie" pumpkin they included only weighs 2.7 pounds, and I doubt that's enough to make a pie from. We're pretty disappointed with the whole thing. The produce is nice, but boy...

We picked up a second turkey at Wal-Mart. They matched another local store's price, so we only paid $6 and some change for a 20-pound turkey. It was 29-cents/lb. What is the going rate where you live?

Aimee, yeah, I *do* love Christmastime. Have you looked on eBay for your Betsey Johnson scarf?

All this talk of turkey--I've always been the odd one out on Thanksgiving because I don't like turkey! My mother always had to buy a 20+ pound turkey when we did T-Day at our house because she has 3 brothers, 2 are married, and one remarried a woman with 2 daughters who are both married and have 3 and 4 kids, so when the whole gang gets together, it's 23 people (including children). We're not doing that whole shabang for T-Day this year, though--we're doing it for Christmas instead since my aunt is a nurse and only gets every other holiday off, so her kids (the 2 married girls with the 7 kids between them) go to their father's on the holidays when their mother has to work. But christmas will certainly be a full house, and I think my mother is cooking turkey for that!

Jeff and I are going to his cousins' for Thanksgiving (the ones whose basement he lived in for over 2 years), and I said I would bring some sort of dessert, but now I don't know what! I said no pie (since I always seem to burn the crust), so now I've got to find something good to make on Wednesday. Eek!

Well, I've got a ton of work to do here at the office (feast or famine, I tell ya!), so I'd better get crackin'. Hope your Mondays all start your weeks off right!

Hey, Jill - Good morning, lady! You don't like turkey? Oh, the pain...The pain. Actually, you'd be the first person we'd invite over (more leftover turkey for us!). Do you like apple salad? Maybe you could make that? My MIL makes one with apples, sliced grapes, walnuts, and Miracle Whip Light. OH, what a wonderful combination of flavors.

I had another rough night, a combination of my shoulders and hips hurting and my having too much coffee too late at night. After realizing I was awake more than I slept, I finally just got up so I wouldn't be lying there awake *and* sore. My recliner's prtty comfortable and good for a nap later.

The new coat should arrive today. Crossing my fingers it's not Pepto or neon!

20 lbers go for about $17 in our local grocery store. Our 5 lb turkey breast is $12 (from a butcher, they wrap it in bacon and stuff it with herbs and garlic). We have it once a year, at Thanksgiving, so it's a nice splurge. Plus the prep is just throwing it in the oven, can't beat that.

Jill, you could make a fruit salad, dress it up fancy with kiwi slices and red grapes, apples, oranges, canteloupe, strawberries. Then bring a store bought pound cake (or if you want to make one, they're fairly easy). Entemanns's pound cakes are great. Or make a pumpkin bread. I make a fresh cranberry bread with orange that I like, but Rob thinks it's too cakey (ie heavy). I don't think there's anything wrong with buying the pie.

I'm going to make a sweet potato pie, we tried it one year and loved it so much we make it over the apple or pumpkin. I agree, the crust can be a bear to make. My mom was so good at it! She always made filled cookies for Christmas, sort of a soft sugar cookie with two types of fillings, one with pineapple and one with raisins.

That sucks, Kimberely, about the missed night of sleep. After years of tossing and turning, when that happens to me, I finally caught on and learned to get up and read. Staying in bed is useless and frustrating.

I just booked a room for my boss at the Lowell to stay in while his condo is being painted. Not too shabby, hunh.