Penny where are you? Most likely knee high in making some soaps. Oh I need to do that too. Oh so much to do so little time! I need to start staying up later or something? Penny I am going to make the lime, lavendar and poppy seed. Can't wait to try that one it sounded so cool. Take care!

Hi Everyone, today is going to be a long, icky day at work. I have to work all day then go teach a training this evening. I knew it was coming but I really hate working in the evenings. The scale again said the same thing. I'm pretty sure it's stuck on the same numbers... Did I mention I bought 2 new pairs of jeans this weekend in a smaller size. The other "new" ones were getting too big. So the scale didn't move but the tape measure did.

Carol, how you work FT and make all those things amazes me. There's not enough time in the day for that.

Hi Penny and Judy!!!
Marie

Hi everyone - sorry I've been MIA but have been under the weather with a bad cold. Not much new to report here. I'm trying to stay on track which isn't too hard as I don't have much of an appetite. I hope all your holiday preparations are going as planned.

Judy and Carol - I'm sorry to hear about your falls - I hope not too much damage was done.

Marie - Congrats on the tape measure shrinkage!

Have a good week everyone.

Fudge, coookies, cajun cashews....Carol, I swear, I gain weight just reading your posts . It's wonderful that you find the time and energy to do so much for your family at this time of year. I'm sorry to hear about your fall onto the steps, ouch! I'm much better, the swelling and aches are mostly gone, but I have nasty-looking scabs on my knee and hands. So much for my career as a plus-sized swimsuit model!

Marie, I bet you are a good trainer! I hope the day isn't too painful for you. WTG with the new jeans .

Since I'm leaving town again on Thursday, I'm a bit low on fresh produce at home. So this week I'll be digging into my freezer a lot for Lean Cuisines or leftover soups and crockpot meals. But I think I'll go buy a nice salad for lunch today, I miss fresh veggies!

judy

Marie thanks again on the DVD's. It sure helps me out. I feel like I am running out of time. Maybe I should take sometime off? Last night I made the rest of my cutout cookies and frosted the rest this a.m. at 6. Thats how I get things done. I really am a pretty motivated person always have to be busy. Can't sit and watch t.v. its not my thing. Marie see sometimes the scale doesn't move but we lose inches and thats not a bad thing. Building muscle is healthy. My bone desity test last week proves it. I asked at first oh how often does one need this test. The answer was every two years. I left there and won't return for 5 as I was off the charts my rate was so good. So I guess I am doing something good for myself. I always think oh I will measure myself but never do. I can tell by my clothes how the inches are going up or down. But it would be nice to know how many huh? I had the hubby give me a little caluator or steps =cals= miles for christmas. Didn't order my other cal counter as of yet. Maybe after the holidays.I am ready to send out the first package to my son and DIL cookies! Still need to make fudge and a couple other cookies nutmeg logs are a must in this family. Those I have to still make. The grandkids want to bake so maybe sunday we will do that. There kitchen is in the remodeling stages no sink or running water etc. Soon it will be beautiful I am sure of it. I did manage to eat a couple of those cookies while I frosted them. We all had a great laugh last night. I don't have a frosting recipe really just throw it together my own way. Well last night I have a jar with what I think is 10x white powdered sugar. So I throw it in. Then I take a taste to ensure everything is yummy. Oh my God it was cornstarch it tasted like elmers glue. We all laughed so hard. It was our christmas flop of the year I bet! Next batch was really tasty and hubby couldn't stay out of it. Funny! Tonights making soaps and putting the roof on my gingerbread house.
Judy I think between the two of us you got the worst of that fall. Man its not a good time of year to be messing yourself up too much to do in such little time. I am starting to stress a bit and need to get things finished up.I told the girl friends we are making soaps tonight and not stopping til their all done wrapped and sealed away for folks. See I just need to schedule it all and make it happen thats all. Simple suppers on these nights. Tonight will be toast bread with tuna on it. Easy! If I can get the baking out of the way and soaps by sunday it will be easy sailing from here in. Oh wrapping but my daughter will help me if I need it and she is fast with it. Judy I am trying to limit my groceries as well using up some freezer stuff this week. The extra baking is an expense for sure but well worth the family traditions. Some day when I retire things will be easier but thats a long time down the road. Hopefully I will be healthy at that lovely age to enjoy things. I should of thrown something in the crock pot that would of been a smart move. Take care girls I am going to eat healthy today!

Penny hope your feeling better soon this is no time to be sick thats forsure. Have some chicken noodle soup.
cc

Judy, eeks!!!! I would HATE being photographed in a swimsuit other than my own family pictures. Oh, the thought gives me the chills. Cellulite and fat rolls, I bet that I could sell oodles of suits with my physique. i'm glad you're surviving your fall. Be careful and enjoy your trip tomorrow.

Carol, I love the frosting story. My favorite kitchen good up was when I was a teen and made my mom's birthday cake (a torte). The recipe called for 3 t. baking soda and I put 3 t. baking powder. The cake was tall and gorgeous. Man did it taste like what my doggies drop in the back yard.

Penny, I'm so sorry about the nasty cold. Makes holiday cheer sort of hard. Take echnicea and golden seal. It knocked mine out this past fall. On the bright side you're on track calorie wise.

I jogged 3 miles this morning and it's my day to get off an hour early to take the dogs on the 2 mile walk. It is raining however. I love the desert. Okay, I hate rain and I call this the desert rain forest because in December we get most of our annual moisture. But I will take the dogs out regardless if it is raining. If it is, I'll be taking a hot bubble bath afterwards.

Carol, the DVDs are on their way. I love the internet, click and ship through USPS and voila, I don't have to go to the post office. The mail man will pick it up.

Time to work I suppose.
Marie

Penny, I hope you'er feeling better today! At leaast your appetite's not a problem when you're feeling sickly. Practically everything makes me want to eat, just to have a different sensory experience than misery .

The stories about cooking flubs cracked me up. I have so many....when I was a teenager, proud of my poundcake-baking skills, I used tiny bundt pans to make mini-pound cakes. Alas, they came out as something more like weird, over-browned cookies, what a waste of batter!

Today is a frantic day, four longs meetings have left my brain frazzled. I brought carrots in for the afternoon crunchies, but instead I'm indulging in carmel rice-and popcorn cakes, carrots ar too healthy to deal with my stress at the moment! I wasn't comfortable working out this morning, and I haven't been to Curves yet this week, so that's a drag. But the bandages are off my hand, and my knee is steadily improving, so maybe tomorrow....

judy

Marie thats super and I can't wait to wrap them up for her. I am winding down a bit on shopping. At least I know what I need basically to finish up. A few runs here and there and of course aways last min. things. Stocking stuffers and all. We still do our adult children Dad enjoys doing this part for them. So I need to find their favorite candy couple lottery tickets etc. No biggies but they add up. Last night was soap night Penny which you'd been here it was like a little factory an assembly line for sure. Next time we need a few more molds to do it a bit more quickly. But in about 3 hrs. and a couple glasses of red wine we got finished and the kitchen cleaned up. My favorite soaps last night were the lime,lavender, poppyseed and the oatmeal w/ orange peel, oatmeal, ginger and cinn. in them. Fun and pretty I say! Tonight we will wrap them up and put together a couple of recipe jars for gifts. We also have our gingerbread houses to finish up. They both are put together now. But my friends walls kept falling down we had a few good laughs! Thank God for such nice girl friend I am blessed. We look out for each other and help one another all the time and she lives right next door. For country living thats pretty good. We are having our Christmas celebration together this weekend shrimp, steak grilled outside its in the high 40's crazy weather. My cals were good yesterday I did manage to have a handful of mm's at work. But other than that it was a pretty good day. I will jump on the scale friday. I missed yesterday! Marie keep up that exercising! Liked the cake story!
Judy watch that knee don't push it too much it could end up lasting a lot longer. I have had my knee surgery etc. oh how well I know the misery of a sore knee. The baking stories are great! My daughter in law's first ham she baked pour thing put it in the oven went 4 wheeling for a bit with the son and came back to realize it smelled great but she never removed the plastic which is the 2nd seal. Poor thing I remember that phone call. I have the meeting syndrome today Judy. One annual this a.m. and 2 new intakes this afternoon. One is the high proirity case then the other is one I requested. So now I am all filled up again. Lots of paperwork. I have a little cold I am fighting off no time to be sick. Lots of flu symptons going on in our area. One nursing home shut down 2 units yesterday. Its scary to have so many weird things going on this yr. I guess maybe the suffering of my flu shot was well worth it. Though it wasn't very nice for almost a week.
Take care girls Judy good job with the rice cakes. I in the past have take one put a little peanut butter on a few choc. chips on top then microwaved for a itty bit. Oh so good and not so bad for us nice treat ck it out.
I plan on being good today. I am putting pork in the crock pot with sauce. The girls are going to have dinner here before we start our projects tonight.

Carol, I'm gong to start calling you "Mrs. Claus," in honor of your holiday spirit and energy ! Some people work themselves into a frazzle and are stressed and unhappy, but it sounds like you've figured out how to have fun while shopping and making gifts. Good for you! Another cooking story: when I was young I loved going to a certain restaurant in Chicago and having their pan-fried trout. So I bought a frozen, boxed trout fillet one day, and put it in the frig to thaw out. The next day, my mouth watering, I pulled out the frying pan, pepepr, flour, etc., but when I opened the package, I saw that the head was still on it I'm a city girl and pretty squeamish, but it cost too much to throw away. So I called a friend on the phone to distract me, covered the fish head with a paper towel, and whacked away with a cleaver...I did enjoy the fish, finally, but I never forgot what "fillet" technically means in cooking circles.

Marie, I hope you had fun with the doggies in the rain yesterday.

Penny, I hope you're recovering.

I'm off to NYC. I'm a little stiff-legged from the sore skin, but the problem area has shrunk down to about two inches in diameter, so I should be fine in another couple of days. I'll get to the airport early and try to get a bulkhead seat, 'cuz if the person in from of me leans his seat back, I'll scream! I'll try to check in via Blackberry tomorrow.

In the meantime, keep up the good work!

judy

Hi everyone, it's been a busy, somewhat irritating day. But part was nice. We had our annual Christmas party at the district office and it was very nice. I didn't want to go but the new guy and my co-worker went with me and it wasn't bad. I took about 2 forkfuls of about 8-9 different things and then dessert. So my calories are probably clown for the day, but too bad. I have no idea what it was but if the average of 25 calories per bite is semi accurate, then it wasn't too bad.

I jogged 3 miles and walked 2 miles before work. The rain walk yesterday was a bit chilly. I stayed warm and dry but the moisture made my sensitive teeth cold. that lasted most of the evening.

Tonight I must wrap and package the out of town gifts. Since I've had them since early November it would be VERY bad if they were late.

Judy, I like Carol's nickname. Have a good time in NYC. I don't envy you but if you're a city gal (that doesn't like fish heads...) then it's probably good. Actually, I'm a country gal and I hate fish heads, chicken parts, touching ground beef, etc.

Mrs. Claus sounds like you had fun with the gingerbread house building. I'm just not that patient. People think I'm patient since I do stained glass but since I'm good at it, rarely does a piece break wrong. But when it does, I get a tad upset.

Penny, hope you're feeling better.

Tomorrow, co-worker and I are going over the mountain for a training. It's supposed to snow and be icky. He's not real daring and is trying to get out of it. But I have a couple stops at the store for finishing up Christmas shopping so it's imperative that we go.
Marie

Hi all - I'm back and feeling lots better. Thanks for all your good wishes!

We're sitting here with the generator on as the power is out. The wind is howling about 50 mph and it's supposed to get worse tonight. We're hoping none of our big trees come down.

Marie - I'm glad you enjoyed your Christmas party at work and didn't do too bad calorie wise. Take care going over the mountain tomorrow. I know how tricky that road can be at this time of the year as we often went over to Medford when our DS was in college at OIT (we had to stay in Medford because of my altitutude problem).

Judy - I feel for you having to go on a trip when you're still sore. You're a real trooper! I had to laugh at your 'fish' story! I did quite a bit of fishing with our son, so I'm not so squeamish about such things. Once you've put live bait on a hook you can cope with anything! I don't like fishing anymore though as I now feel sorry for the fish.

Carol - or should I say "Mrs. Claus" Send me some of your energy too! Luckily I got most of my Christmas stuff done before I got sick and now I don't want to do any more shopping, baking, etc. - that's it for me. My DH & DS gobbled up all the cookies and expect me to make more. Well, maybe they should have a go at baking and surprise me with something!

My appetite has returned with a vengeance and that unfortunately coincided with several gift packages coming from business associates containing chocolate and cookies and a huge package of smoked Alaska salmon! Having the power out has made me eat like a cave woman stocking up on fat for the winter! I'm going to have to work out hard at Curves tomorrow.

Judy I enjoyed the fish story. When my son was abut 15 he fished a lot. I got to clean the fish one day. By the time I was done there wasn't much left to his big catch of the day. After that I don't rember doing anothe one. I love to fish myself but the hubby has no interest. My girl friends fish too crazy bunch we are. Enjoy NYC hope you get to the park to see the pretty lights I have never been there for Christmas. I only live about 4hrs away but never attempt the city. Someday the girls and I will venture.
Thanks for the nickname cute! Sometimes I do feel like her though. I did finish the gingerbread house and it came out pretty cool. Better than last years I guess it takes some practice. My SIL loved it and it really is for her as part of her request as a gift. So the little grandson says to her yah know your suppose to share! Out of the mouth of babes. I loved it. Sometimes children are just great to have around. They were all over last night for a bit. It was a bit crazy wrapping soaps, making dinner, gingerbread houses etc.... But I wouldn't trade it for anything this is Christmas! Today I am taking a day off from work a bit of sinus started here and I don't want to over exert myself. Yesterday was 2 days wrapped into one at work. I put out a lot so off today doesn't sound like a bad thing at all. I have things pretty much done at the office nothing I can't catch up on Monday. My scale is the same but that is okay I haven't been an angel by any means but not totally bad either. We are having our Christmas party at our house on saturday with our friends. Steak grilled outside, shrimp, baked potatoe and salad, bread and some dessert of course. Maybe I will whip up a cake ? Time will tell I still have some cookies to bake. Marie I am with you on getting those gifts out of town mailed. I did send a box of cookies on Wed. but now need to get their pkg out or it will miss them. I send it with the packaging in a special box purchased at the post office 8.10 anywhere in the US and it suppose to get there with in 2-3 days normally christmas and HI well more like 5-6. So out today I say. I need to get my little stocking made up for them I am going to cut it out in a bit and sew it tog. Wrap some little surprises inside it. Then a few other things and off to the post office. I am sending a couple of gift cards too. Well take care and at this time it would be great to lose a lb. but tough to manage. All the little tastes of this and that adds up. Penny no fun hope your power is back on soon. The wind can be rough. Losing trees is dangerous and upsetting thats for sure hope they stay put. We have been having crazy weather never like this before 60's yesterday in December! Normally we would be shoveling snow knee high by now. The ski resorts aren't too happy and it really hurts them but for me I love it. Driving my normal day is about round trip with clients and all 50 miles. Penny sometimes when the power is out I don't mind as long is its only for a few hrs. but how long has yours been out? We have a generator after that storm 8 years ago when power was out for a few days. Take care!

Happy, happy Friday. Finally, the day I wanted to arrive did and the trip across the mountain was good. Learned loads and shopped a little bit. But more than that it's vacation time!!!! I don't go back until the 2nd. I am so happy. Can you tell????

Before I left I did 3 miles jogging and 2 miles walking but boy was I tired. Usually I perk up after about 1/2 mile but no today. I'm tired. Tomorrow I'm sleeping in by an hour. Then I'll probably bump it to 7 for the duration of the vacation. No need to get up a 5, right???

Sunday we're going to Crater Lake with my co-worker and his wife. We're going to go snowshoeing. We have two extra sets that our sons rarely used so they're going to join us.

I bought myself a couple gifts today. Another pair of smaller jeans, a coffee grinder (for my new expresso machine I bought last week) and a stirring stick blender thingie. Yes I'm getting into mochas. I make them with the expresso, 1 c. skim milk, a T. of unsweetened cocoa and some equal. Only about 110 calories and terribly good.

I've started listening to Cesar's Way about dog training today. I guess I'm not a good leader. "Don't treat your dogs like humans, they're dogs" Okay I understand why, but they're my babies. So I'm thinking I won't be terribly successful.

Penny, so glad you're feeling better and I hope you're weathering out the storm. I read about the high winds and destruction a bit ago. We got some high winds but not too much. A little snow and that's about it.

Carol, I totally agree you about it would be nice to lose a pound for Christmas but probably won't happen. This week has been the hardest of all for food wise. I need to get on track but I'm thinking maintaining until after the holidays would be a success.

Well, it's bed time so I'll chat later.
Marie

Carol - I hope your party went well. Your soap making sounds like fun - a glass of wine always makes things go smoother, I say! I'm glad your lavender/lime/poppyseed soaps turned out nicely. They are quite colorful and a bit different. This year I made labels by printing them on my computer and just cutting in about 3" strips and wrapping around the soap, sealing with a bit of clear tape. I put different graphics on them from the web, nice pictures of lavender for the lavender ones and a little beehive graphic for the honey & oatmeal, etc. I got lots of compliments on how they looked and it was easy to do. It sounds like you've been having quite a heat wave! The weather has been weird this year.

Marie - Yay for you being on vacation! Your snowshoeing plans sound like fun. I'll have to try your mocha idea. I make us a latte on my handy dandy little espresso machine every day so I'm going to try adding a bit of cocoa powder next time. I hope your dog training is going well. I think I'm too much of a softie to be successful training a dog. We only have cats, so you can forget about training them to do anything! I was in a store the other day and a black lab service dog was there waiting with his owner off-leash. He nuzzled me in the leg and tried to follow me out of the store, even though I hadn't paid any attention to him as I know that's a no-no. He had such a sad expression like he just wanted to go out and play. He was in big trouble and the trainer told him off very sternly. He looked over at me with such a hang-dog expression! Maybe he's just starting out and will learn not to be distracted.

Judy - I hope things are going well for you.

We were luckier than a lot of people up here with the big wind storm. We only had a few branches and some debris to clean up. The power was out for 8 hours so we were glad to have the generator. There are still folks who've been out of power for 3 days, so we're very fortunate.

Have a good week everybody!