Too bad the Davis house site didn't have Christmas pics. Sounds like a lot of fun.

I was making more cookies yesterday. One more batch to go. I have to mail my dad's Christmas package this week with all the baked goods. And I'll send Larry (my boss) his cookies too. It's work but I enjoy it.

Rob has developed an earache and is in a bear of a mood. His sister is causing a lot of problems, I think she's having a mini-melt down.

The thread's quiet. How's everybody doing? I'd better start working on my Monday list. Have a good one, gals.

Good morning ladies!

It is COLD here in Florida today....45 degrees, to warm up to 65....I know, I shouldn't b*tch, but I don't have a warm coat like Kimberley does!! :)

Our company barbeque went well! Everyone went away with at least two gifts and a belly full of ribs and chicken! We also had the bouncy castle for the kids as well as ice cream and snow cone machines. Everyone went home happy (I think!)

WARNING: The next paragraph may be TMI for some!

Okay, so my TOM is freaking me out. I had all the symptoms, but only half a day of any bleeding (and not much at that). Very odd! I have the sore breasts and general b*tchiness, but no other evidence. Makes you wonder......


Sounds like Kimberley and Marge are really getting into the Christmas spirit!! Baking cookies and going on house tours--what fun!

ON the news last night here in the Orlando area, there is a church heading up a "To **** with Happy Holidays" campaign. It is protesting the retailers that have removed Merry Christmas and replaced with happy Holidays. You can read about it here http://www.withoutwalls.org/ Looks like the petition is led by the American Family Association, an organization that has some controversial viewpoints. No matter what side of the debate you stand on, it is definitely fuel for passionate debates for a long long time.

Oh, Jen, don't you worry bout TMI around here! :p

I did a bit of holiday baking myself this weekend. I made white chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, and 2 loaves of that ice cream bread (one strawberry and one a Friendly's ice cream flavor called Strut your Streusel--both VERY good!). Needless to say, I have gone crazy on calories with that all in the house, but it'll be gone when I bring it to the party at work tomorrow.

As for my TOM, I'm not supposed to have it since I'm in the middle of a pill pack, but like last month, I have been spotting a bit and extremely hungry and emotional. Perhaps these pills are no longer strong enough for me? I'll have to ask my doctor when I go in for my yearly in January.

Jill: That would be my guess regarding your pills. Your doc would know for sure.

What was that recipe for the ice cream cake/bread? I might give that a try....

Hiya, hiya. Jill, it could be your pills need to be readjusted because of your weight loss. My doctor told me the spotting et. al. was likely due to that. Then they started getting wonky after I got off the pill -- really heavy with painful cramps, and my cycle between them got shorter than it's been. Then she told me I was in perimenopause, the precursor to menopause. Jen, how old are you? Could that be the issue with you? I just know I'm all over the calendar now and don't know exactly when to expect TOM...I miss those regulated pill months sometimes!

Dinner with Howie's nephew and family was great! His kids are well-behaved, and watched some cartoons while we played a few games of dominoes after dinner. I found a couple of club chairs at curbside a week or so ago, and it turns out they match our living room/dining room AND they are so comfortable , Howie can sit at the table without discomfort. :D It's so fun getting to know Thomas and his wife - this is the first time we've had them "all to ourselves" instead of smalltalking with them at a family gathering. Love it!

Kimberley: I'm 40--will be 41 in April. I've always had wacky cycles until a few years ago, when I dropped 70 lbs. I became like clockwork then. Since I started gaining weight, they have become more iffy. The solution is obvious....

Glad you had fun with the family...although I have no clue how to play dominoes!!

Morning gals!

Jill, that's awful about your ovarian cysts! I can imagine how painful that must have been!

I didn't get much sleep last night--we watched the movie "Sideways" (kind of weird, but good) and got to bed late last night.

Alan had a telephone interview with a company in (GULP) Butte, Montana! I do NOT want to go there!!! He doesn't think they will offer him the position anyway. Secretly I hope they don't! I want to stay in Florida!

Jen, for me weight loss, exercise and stress all affect my TOM. I'm sure I skip periods (still have symptoms) because I'm in that peri state too. If you're really nervous about it, you could go to your gyn and have it checked out, never hurts.

I would like to see it be ok to say Christmas again, it is a religious holiday. I'm not a very religious, but that is what it is. I'd like to see it be less of buying frenzy too. Why should we feel so pressured to buy things to enjoy it?
That's my 1.5 cents, heh heh.

A cyst farm, boy, that's nice. I guess that's what they call a bedside manner....:dizzy: That does sound like it was really painful.

I think the problem with Christmas isn't just that it's religious, but that it excludes other religions. If you advertise for Christmas, what about those who buy gifts for Hannukah (or whatever of 20 different spellings)? I think "Happy Holidays" is best for retailers because it doesn't exclude anyone. Almost every religion celebrates something this time of year, or even just to include New Year's, it's a total holiday season, not only Christmas. I do celebrate Christmas, but I have also worked retail where those who do not celebrate Christmas get very offended at the commercial world assuming that Christmas is the only important holiday of the season, which I think is understandable.

Although I bet there are plenty of kids out there who have no idea what Christmas really supposedly represents in Christianity besides decorated trees and wrapped gifts, so I definitely agree that it has been over-commercialized. Then again, that's how retailers stay in business, right? :dizzy:

I always thought I'd like to be Jewish and celebrate Hannukah--eight days of presents! LOL:present:

Yeah, but remember Hannuka Harry on Saturday Night Live...Might be 8 days of presents, but they're things like socks and underwear. ;) LOL

OMG Kimberley I forgot about that! LOL

Hey girl, just wanna say how awesome you are for standing up for your man. I'd do the same if I were in your shoes! You guys are a perfect match!

I'm very grateful for him. He wasn't real happy that I wrote his cousin - Didn't know I had done it until he replied to Howie. He never replied to me, however. I agree, we are the perfect match. :love: I've got his back and he's got mine.

Tomorrow at Noon I see a chiropractor for a consultation and x-rays. If he thinks this junk with my shoulder and arm is nerve/alignment-related I'll go to him. If he doesn't, I guess I'll see the orthopedic specialist who diagnosed the bursitis in my hips. All I know is, tomorrow's good timing because tonight while scrapbooking, my arm was not only tingly, but also started hurting again. It's the pits and I want to get better. Like right now! :dizzy: Think that's doable? ;)

Hey Kimberley...

I know how the arm thing hurts. I had a rotator cuff injury a couple of months ago.

How much will your insurance cover for chiropractic care? Most of them have a very limited budget for chiropractic. You may end up at the ortho anyway. I hope you figure out what it is soon!

I guess how I see it is that it's not a retail holiday, it's been made into a retail holiday. So for retail to embrace other religious holidays to make them equally as lucrative for retail seems to me not that great an answer either. I don't mean to argue for non-inclusion, my feelings run more along the lines of the spirit that I see this time of year to have (whether you're talking about Ramadan, Hannukah, or Kwanzaa), which to me should outweigh materialism and shopping, stress and debt.

They've been playing the Hannukah song all week on the radio, so funny. What happened with your cousin, Kimberley? Good luck with the treatment, hopefully you'll get relief asap.

Regarding the cousin, see this thread.

Just got back from the chiro - looks like there are some vertebrae out of alignment in my neck, and the nerves which come down from that area go over the shoulders and down the arms. He took x-rays and I'll know more after I see him at 4:45pm, when I go back to his office to go over the x-rays and get an adjustment.

OH man....I miss going to my chiropractor in Indiana....he gave the BEST adjustments! Let us know what your line of treatment will be, Kimberley!

LOVE the Hannukah song, Marge! "Put on your yamulka, it's time for Hannukah...!"

Yes! He can help. :dance:

When I went back to see him, I brought in Howie's films because I knew he'd be interested in seeing them. He couldn't believe Howie's still working. He did find the back x-rays and CT scans particularly engrossing -- I kinda figured he would since they're the backbone of his business (snicker).

He showed me the x-rays of my back and said my lumbar spine is too straight, and there's some subluxation of the vertebrae in my neck. There's also some arthritis in a couple of the vertebrae. The numbness and tingling in my right arm comes from the neck vertebrae being all whopper-jawed and he started adjustments on that and the other two problem areas today.

I'll see him two more times this week, then 3x/week for the next two weeks. He's confident I'll find a good bit of relief in the amount of time we have to work with. Thank GOD.

He also was flexible on his fee -- normally he gets $35 a session (yie, 3x/week?), but because of our extenuating circumstances and that I'm self-pay, we worked out a discounted rate. He asked what my co-pay would have been were he on my plan ($25). We worked it out with him offering to take only 2 copays for every 3 adjustments. That's doable, I think. I have to do *something* and this seems like it will help. God bless the guy for working with me on this, I tell ya.

My neck feels much looser after the adjustment, but my mid-back needs some convincing. Owie. I know from previous chiropractic care that it's always darkest before the dawn when it comes to adjustments, and I'm looking forward to getting past the ouchie point and feeling better. ;)

In other news...Still trying to be positive about the whole "lifestyle change" thing. It's been rough going on the weekends and I've not felt very motivated to eat right after the weekend's over. I've not caved the last couple weeks, but the maintains have me bummed. I want ONEderland...But how badly? Tonight I stocked up on a bunch of veggies both cannned, fresh and frozen. I know I'll eat 'em and I know that'll get me back in the mindset I need. It was just easy to get lazy during the busy weeks of entertaining and not feel like doing much food prep.

I might not reach the 15 pounds by Christmas goal, but this train is not derailing!

Good for you! My train has derailed wildly, and I know I need to get back on track, but this honestly seems like the absolute worst time of year to try! Our TOPS meeting for tonight has already been cancelled due to inclement weather--it's supposed to be a messy mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain for most of the day, and since it's been extremely cold these past couple days, it's expected to freeze on contact with the roads. It's supposed to start around 7-9am (luckily, it's 6:20am now, and I'm already at work), so I'll head home at 3 as usual and just STAY home!

Point being, no TOPS tonight, no TOPS last week, and no TOPS next week since I will be in CT. I considered going to a TOPS group in CT while I was up there, but the closest one meets on Wednesdays, and I won't be there till Thursday, so so much for that!

It's actually surprising me how much the accountability of TOPS has really been helping me, and I guess I didn't know how important it was until it was gone. I had been considering not renewing my membership come March when it expires, but maybe I will just go check out some other area groups to see if I can find a better fit. The ladies in my group are nice, but most only have a few (20 or fewer) pounds to lose, and I'm the youngest member by a landslide (last meeting I went to, I had a lovely conversation with a few ladies about their osteoporosis medications).

In any case, there's no way I'm meeting my 15 pounds by Christmas, but at least I'm still down a bit overall since we started that challenge, so it wasn't for nothing!

My sister went to the chiropractor after a car accident and I know how much that helped her. So, sounds good.

That was a great letter to your cousin, he should have owned up to his comments, but not everybody is able to do that so easily.

I'm number three having a bit of trouble these days. I haven't really strayed that far off, it does look like a gain this week, which I think may have to do with TOM too -- got a similar gain same time last month. I think it's hard to think of staying on plan when it's the holidays, I don't know about you all, but we're surrounded by goodies here. It's an eating time of year. Once January comes, we'll be carried on by the momentum of all the millions of Americans going on a diet and exercise plan, all the news stories will be about it, tons of commercials from gyms and diet programs. All the talk shows will focus on it.

Sounds like a plan checking into other TOPS. I would bet you'll find one that has younger people, and a better variety. My journal works as my accountability. I even chart the lbs lost (and sometimes gained :o ) over time, so I have the truth of what I've done and not done staring me in the face when I open it each week, ha.

I liked the thread that Apryl started once about what one thing I will do this week. I want to say I won't eat any cookies, but I can't see me keeping that one. I will have 3 days out of this week where I will not eat any cookies or sweets and I will keep to my exercise plan. My cookie eating will not exceed one cookie in a day. That I can do.

Anyone else?

Hi ladies:

Make me number 4 on the "derailed" list! I'm amazed at how quickly I can regain weight! Two months ago I was 300 lbs, today I was 322. It comes from not sticking to my plan and having an "all or nothing" attitude when it comes to my plan. I know some of my gain is water, but it can't ALL be water. My current plan is to at the minimum maintain my current weight (hopefully lose!), then after the holidays go full force.

You should have labeled your post FOOD PORN!! Cheesy eggs sound yummy, as do the pancakes!

I'm one of those who lets go of the dieting mentality as well during the holidays....that has GOT to change!!

So do you think we shouldn't expect too much out of ourselves right now? I mean, are we setting ourselves up to fail? The holidays are HARD!

I just think it's good to say that, yes, we will try our best at this time, but not to set a specific number (I want to lose X amount by New Year's Day!). Personally, I think it is a good goal to just NOT gain over the next couple of weeks.

Well, it is getting messy here! It snowed for a couple of hours this morning (nice big fluffy lakes falling slowly--very pretty), and I'd guess it accumulated maybe 1.5-2 inches, and now it just downright POURING rain, but the ground is so cold that some of it is freezing, so we basically have roads that are all slush and ice--should prove to be a fun drive home (only 1 hour and 20 minutes to go...)!

I'm staying full-force now, except for one treat day a week. My problem was letting the treat day turn into two...And to use them as an excuse to just munch all day and go way over my calories. If I can't do this during the holidays, it will be too easy to just slack after them, especially with the crazy stresses of Howie's surgery. That, plus the fact that in all likelihood I'll be eating on the run and at the hospital for a week until he gets out. I can deal with sweets easier because I'm not faced with them every day in an office or in gifts from friends -- they all know not to do that (I hope!).

Hi ladies:

Big news! Tomorrow we are finally getting cable TV AND high speed internet at home! We weren't sure how long we would be staying at our present place, so we didn't get it when we first moved in. Well, I was tired of watching shows on a snowy TV! American Idol starts in a couple of weeks, and I want to have a clear picture this year!

And I hate only having internet access at work! I'd like to be able to surf and post on the weekends again. Plus it will help Alan to jobhunt if he was doing it from home.

How much snow/ice did you all get? Looks like NY got a good heap of it. How about everyone else?

Update: Got my company bonus check today....WOOHOO!! It was the equivalent of two month's salary! Needless to say, my company did very well this year....

Wow, awesome bonus! Howie got one, but it was less than a week's pay. Still, it was unexpected and most welcome.

We didn't get the ice storms, thank goodness. Friends of ours in Maryland put a bunch of their employees up in a hotel last night knowing that the ice storm would make the roads impassible, especially for those having to come over the mountain from a neighboring town. They rented a bunch or rooms, bought the folks a nice dinner out, and had the needed warm bodies at work today. They have oodles of loans to close today, and it would have been disasterous for all those people to be home from work.

I am feeling so much better after just three visits to the chiro. OH, sweet relief!

OH!! And I finally lost a pound. Wooo! Next week, I'm going to be in ONEderland for Christmas. I just know it. :D :D :D

Okay...So where is everyone? *Sniff* is it me? I showered! ;)

have to make this quick since I haven't jumped in the shower yet, so don't sniff in this direction!! heh heh

congrats on the bonuses and the 1 lb :carrot: here's to onederland!

I have to bake more today (I like it), it's time to give those cookie presents away. then shopping, then wrapping. tis the season. the Christmas trees on 9th street near the gym smell WONDERFUL. I love walking by there.

:hug: (ps it rained so pretty much all the snow is gone and it's almost 40 degrees here, we're sweltering!

I weighed this morning and have, indeed, reached Onederland!! Wooo! Started a thread in the 100 Pound Club forum. Kimberley's a happy camper today!

We're heading into Columbus to visit my MIL's siblings. See y'all later. :)

WOOHOO, Kimberley!!!! Congrats on getting to ONEderland!!!!!!!!!!!! :carrot: :carrot: :carrot:

WOOHOO ON ONEderland!!!! What an amazing holiday gift for yourself! :elf: :encore:

Good morning ladies!

I purchased a new home computer with my bonus, and still have lots left to put into savings--hopefully for a return trip to England in the spring, or possibly a trip to Vegas in February. I'm also sending some to one of my sisters who lost her husband last Christmas and has had some struggles. I want to send it anonymously though...still trying to figure out how to do that. I can't mail it from here because it will have a Florida postmark. I might have to send it to my other sister who lives in the same town, then have her send it out.

Will check in later!

Kimberley: Does Howie have a template for the charts you all use on his site? I think it is a good one!

Thanks, you guys! Jen, if you write to him from the link at his website, he'll be glad to send you the file. :)

Ohhhhh, I ate stupidly yesterday. We spent the afternoon and evening with our best friends and just fell into old habits. She made baked spaghetti topped with cheddar cheese, plus a salad and bread. We could have done just fine, but didn't. After we left there hours later and hungry, we got pizza. I'm feeling down today, thinking about how easy it is to slip into old habits. Blah.

Tomorow will be better, and I am on track today. Like last week, I'm going to adjust my calories down to make up for going too many calories over on my treat day. At least I only had the ONE treat day this weekend - that's a step in the right direction after the last three weekends of food porn! ;)

This process is literally a meal at a time, isn't it? That seems like a more attainable goal to eat right at each meal rather than a whole week or a whole day.

Just think Kimberley! You could be at your drivers license weight by Valentine's Day!!

Way to go, Kimberley!! And during the holidays, I'm very impressed :)

wow, Christmas is coming up on my fast and furious. And I'm swamped at work. Enjoy yourselves, gals.