Well, Today is my last weigh day for my first goal and I lost another 1.5 pounds so my grand total lost was 22 pounds. It feels great. I am going to eat what I like for today and tomorrow but then I am back on it and I will come up with a new goal for Now until Valentines Day Monday.

Kempy, Have a great Christmas and I feel the same way about you all too. I love you guys!!

Noelle, I hope you and Michael got your cookies for santa cooked. Poor little guy. He must be so excited for Christmas now.

Today we are going to take the kids to my in laws house so that we can all slide in their back yard as a family. It will be so much fun. I havent gone sliding in so long.

Mickey is okay now but I will be so nervous the next time he needs shots.

Way to go Angie!!!
You've made losing weight through the holidays seem easy and BEATING your goal~~ WOO HOO!!! I'm so proud of you and glad that you shared your progress here. You rock girlfriend

MERR Y
CHRISTMAS

Angie, Cal, Cherie, Dips, Holly, Julie, Kempy, Red
You are a great group of women and I am so blessed to know you all. Have a wonderful weekend and please be safe out there.

Hi girls I am about to get the presents under the tree on this Christmas Eve. We just set out the cookies and carrots for santa and the reindeer. I have a local Christmas mass on tv. It has been a great Christmas Eve. I hope you all had a nice one and tomorrow on Christmas Day you spend it with the ones you love!

I am so thankful for the gift of friendship that we all share. Love you girls!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Good Morning girls!! I hope everyone has had a great Christmas so far!!

I got my ipod and a tv for in the kitchen and a hand mixer and perfume. The kids got me jewelry and Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I had a nice morning. Yesterday we took the kids sliding and that was so fun and tiring. I built an X rated snowman for my inlaws. Lets just say he was hung well.

Well, I gotta go get cookin!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

PS: Brit says HI!!!!

Good Morning girls!! Well, Christmas is over and I am back on track. I am doing another holiday goal for Valentines Day of 15 pounds. Lets see if I can do it.

I love my ipod.Setting it up and the twins up only took 11 hours!!! Jay hooked the tv up in the kitchen, it is a flat tv that hangs on the wall beside the fridge so when I am cooking supper I can still watch tv. I love it. He is so good!!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

Happy Day after Christmas *burp* Man! I am up 3 lbs of bloat from Saturday morning. Am I avoiding my WI tomorrow? I dunno yet...Yesterday we had king crab legs and a prime rib roast...not to mention all the gingerbread cookies we made and ate. They were SO GOOD! I got a recipe which used orange zest and they were delicious! Not low fat at all but I'm back on track today. I have to drink my water water water to flush myself out.

Angie you got some cool stuff. I got a new pair of running/walking shoes, some 5 lb hand weights and new socks from my husband. At least he's very practical yes? My sisters gave me great stuff from Thailand though, jewelry, designer bag knockoffs and some gift cards.

I will be tied up at work today, hopefully posting all the incoming payments and getting them to the bank. i hope not to work tomorrow so I can do a little laundry and get my bags packed. I have to spend some time with my baby as well since we will be leaving without him on Wednesday afternoon.

Have a great day everyone. Do tell what ya got for Christmas!

Noelle, I am up 3 pounds of bloat as well. I guess I ate more than I should have but oh well, Just as long as we get back on track it is all good right?

Have fun in Vegas. I will be missing you while I am stuck here in a snowstorm.

Darnit! I guess it's a Federal holiday since Christmas fell on a Sunday. It's like a ghost town in the area where I work. Luckily one of our guys is working on a car in the warehouse so I'm not alone. Rick is working in town and we have one other guy on the road. Oh well, I guess this one day that I am working when everyone else is not is to make up for the past 3 weeks of slacking off

Angie, I am hungry right now but i am concentrating on inputting my invoices and getting my checks ready for deposit tomorrow (the banks and post office are closed as well)... but I keep dreaming about what I am eating for lunch. I guess I'll throw a lean cuisine into the microwave or something, to stay away from the left over prime rib. There's so much fat congealed on the top it doesn't look appealing the day after anyway--yuck! Hey, we are pretty much striving for the same weight-loss goal for February, except I put my deadline as 2/25 which is my 11th anniversary. I'm pretty sure we can reach those goals since they seem pretty conservative at this point. When I reach my Feb goal I will finally be in one-derland again. Isn't that sad? I feel good though, that we're actually back on the right track again. Give me a high-five sister!

I can't believe it's all over already. We had a great time. Ashley was so excited with everything she got. Hubby felt bad that he didn't get me anything, but I reminded him that he's taking me to Paris next summer; I'll take that as a late Christmas present.
Yesterday afternoon we went to my brother's house and all the other brothers and sisters came over as well. It was chaos, but so much fun. After dinner we had our gift exchange then the adults had a white elephant exchange--it was a blast. Several people got together after that and played Disney Scene It game--what fun!! We were all there until after 8pm. By the way, the snacks that were out were veggie trays. There were some cookies, but I didn't have any of them...mainly the kiddos ate them. Can we say hyper!!! ...and there were 14 kiddos under the age of 12.
Today, we took it easy and got things ready for our trip to Calif tomorrow. My BIL painted some more today. The house is looking great. We have to get another ladder before he can paint the stairs. Unfortunately, he could not do the Venetian plaster because he couldn't get the supplies he wanted and he said that he needed much more time than he has here. Oh well, at least the rooms in the house are getting some color. I'll post pics after it's all done. He also mixed his own colors to create just the shades that he wanted. When you see the pics, keep in mind that he used only a brush because he doesn't like the rollers.
I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. Noelle--have fun in Vegas.
Talk to everyone after we get back. You girls are awesome and I truly feel blessed to know each and every one of you.

Cal

Good Morning!!! Half the bloat left me last night. YEAH!!! I got to use my ipod for my workout yesterday and it helps so much! I put it on hard rock for the workout and I am actually pedalling harder and faster than normal.

My in laws are leaving for Florida tomorrow. They gave us about 2 days notice that they were going so now I am only getting half a paycheck for 2 weeks (since her bakery will be closed and not needing donuts) and my checkbook is short right now!!!! And to add insult to injury she decided to take my BIL (pothead) kids with them and not mine. She has NEVER taken my kids anywhere. She has however been practically raising those 2 and the princess. Mine get left out every time!! okay enough ranting from me.

Wow, It is gonna be so boring here for the rest of the week. Everybody is going to be gone. I hope you all have fun and I will miss you.

I gotta go workout.

Good morning girls. I am trying to find the time to get everything done today...it's going to be tough and I'll probably miss some things but I couldn't not say Hi to you guys. Yesterday after dinner we meant to go back to the office (in the evening) but we ended up staying at an outlet mall for 3.5 hours! I bought 2 more pairs of shoes (just call me Imelda Marcos) and a leather backpack bag which I got for only $15 (reg. price was $55). The sales were really good (I was suckered into their marketing ploys yet again) and well, Rick and I just like to shop. I think even though it's going to eat time away from working, I am going to my WI today. I know I will show a gain instead of a loss, but I'm hoping this will galvanize me into trying to do my best while in Vegas. I will not go WILD on the food and gain 5lbs. Last week I was only 1.5 lbs away from my 10% loss goal...i have to fight hard to get there. **oooh, non-scale victory--I can fit back into my old leather jacket (the one I couldn't zip up or move my arms around in 20 lbs ago )

Angie, that is great that you love your iPod for working out. That sucks your inlaws will leave you in a lurch like that, and that they show favoritism on the other grandkids. You know I've probably said this before, but they (in-laws) probably have the opinion that those others are at a disadvantage compared to yours, and that they do those things to make up for what the other kids don't have--like good parents! kick me if I said too much.

Cal, we have a Harry Potter Scene It game here. We make so much noise while playing it. Glad you enjoyed your Christmas with the family, it sounded like so much fun. Enjoy your trip to California!

Hi Girls

It sounds like everyone had a nice Christmas. I got a couple of shirts, p.js, and some money from my mom. I think I may go buy an amish oak bench I have had my eye on. Oh my mom surprised me with a scrapbook of pictures and sayings from the time I was a baby to to now. I cried so hard. It was so sweet. She is not to crafty, haha....but it turned out great. Lets see....the kids got an endless amount of toys,LOL. Time to clean out the old ones! I have been letting myself eat what I want. But it is going to be buckle down time after the first of the year. I guess I don't want to feel deprived and overeat because that is what I usually do. So I think I am going to make a Valentines Goal too! And hold myself to it. I have to lose about 10 or so pounds to be around where I want to be. The dog is doing great. She is almost 100% potty trained. The breeder she was at already had bird trained her so we have thought about it and I think we will be sharing her with my fil since he wanted to get a pup in the Spring. He will hunt with her and will baby her. Other than that my dh is off a couple of days this week and we are looking for an indoor water park to take the kids to. I wish we were in Disney right now.LOL.

Have a great trip Noelle! Have fun and relax! Good luck at your weigh in. Proud of you for everything. Thats funny we had a prime rib roast on Christmas too. YUM.

Cal your house sounds beautiful. I wish you could send him here! Can't wait to see pics. Have a great rest of vacation!

Angie I am sorry about the in-laws....I wish they were taking you and the kids. Bummer! Glad you are enjoying your ipod. Also love the idea of the mounted tv in the kitchen. I always wanted one while I am cooking too. Great job working out. I think I will drag myself out the door for a walk. The sun hasn't been out here probally in a week! Hope it is sunny by you!

I might not be around we are thinking of heading up north by my Dad for a couple days. Hi to everyone else!

I know everyone is really busy getting ready for your trips but can you all say a prayer for Tinky my cat. He is the tiger one I found on a walk a few years ago. He is at the vets with a urinary blockage and the vet says he only has a 50% chance of surviving it. He says he may go into shock when they squeeze the baldder to get rid of the blockage and die on me. I am so nervous waiting for the call from them. I hope he makes it he is my baby. He likes to be carried on my shoulders like a shawl and he likes to be spun in my computer chair. He thinks he is one of the dogs too. I will miss him so much if he dies.

Angie, your poor kitty is in my prayers. I hope he is going to be okay. Hugs