Good Morning Ladies,

Hope you all had a great weekend. Sorry about your flu Card but sounds like you bounce back quickly. Sounds like you had an awesome birthday Sno.
My Party was a great success. 60 + people came, lots of fun, dancing,good food and music. I was exhausted on Sunday so of course nibbled far to much and didn't cook much. I am not even going to weigh in until Wednesday because I'm sure the scale will not be find to me. Still lots to do to be ready. I'm hoping to finish my shopping this evening. My Christmas vacation is going to be pretty quiet just immediate family and some evenings with close friends. I have 10 days off over the Christmas holidays and I'm looking forward to the down time. Hoping to take this time to establish regular excercise again since I'll be finished all my christmas prep.
Keep it up with the walks Maggie. Its a great way to minimize the extra calories. Before I sprain my knee I walked almost daily. If I was to tired to make it to the gym I would at least take my two dogs out for an hour.

Have a great day everyone,

Nina

Good Morning All,

Well the weekend has come and gone and it went so fast. So our trip to Houston was so much fun. Although getting through traffic was horrible, and the funny thing is I sorta miss living there, but the traffic is for the birds. It took us 30 minutes just to go 2 miles. So got off the freeway and stuck to the streets but hey even if I had to stop at every light it was faster than the freeway. We were running so late we just stopped at La Madeleine for dinner. I had the french onion soup and a sandwich nothing too heavy. The concert was great and they symphony was fabulous. Joel Osteen is a great speaker and so engaging. I can't believe they turned The Summit (were the Houston Rockets used to play basketball) into a church, but they did a really great job. It looks magnificent. The ceiling is covered in this mesh looking stuff and when the symphony was playing it had a light show to go with the music. Absolutely gorgeous. Afterwards we went to Rice Village and went shopping and stopped for dessert, strawberry shortcake my favorite. Saturday was all day baking and the funny thing was that I only had one cookie. I think I had so much going on and was so hot that I didn't want anything. Yes, we had the windows open on Saturday because it was 78 degrees, darn Texas weather. DH finally decided to turn on the air conditioner once the oven was on for so long. Sunday was a big family reunion all day and then finally all the presents wrapped Sunday evening. Okay so can I take a nap at my desk today? No, have to prep for my meeting later. Oh and I forgot to mention that in somewhere in all of this I lost 1 pound, well 0.6 from the week before last to 0.4 last week. So only 1 pound until I reach my goal! Yeah me!

40: Sound like your party was a huge success! That's what the holidays are about getting together with friends and having fun. The dancing sounds like so much fun! I can't wait for Friday to I get off until Jan. 2. So lots of resting for me.

card: Hope you are feeling better, the flu not so fun. I with you why couldn't you get sick on a weekday and take a sick day. The fairies didn't clean my house either, but DH was real helpful and even vacuumed. It think it was because I let him eat alot of the treats I made.

Sno: Sounds like you had a fabulous Birthday! The spa, I am so jealous.

magnolia: What is your Christmas soup? Doesn't feel great to have all the presents wrapped and done, I know I do!

6 more days until Christmas, are all of you ready yet? I am not going near my scale today. I am in a really good mood, so why upset myself? My flu is kinda making a comeback, but it's off to work anyway. I did reasonably well yesterday considering chocolate was put in front of me. I had one small kiss and walked away. Then my mother sent a trifle over for the kids, I found the smallest bowl I could and just put a tiny bit in it.

40 - sounds like your party was great and you have some really nice plans for the holidays. We are not going to leave the house this Christmas. Every year we drag the kids to 2 or 3 dinners, so this year we are just staying at home by ourselves. good luck getting back into the exercise routine now that you are ready.

dolly - sounds like your concert was just the thing to put you into the Christmas spirit. I wish I could have been there. And I am very jealous about the air conditioning. My furnace is going non stop, although it did warm up a little last night. So hopefully today won't be too cold. Excellent self control on the cookies, way to keep it up.

Well off to get ready for work. I hope you are all feeling very Christmasy now that we are into the final week and don't stress too much just remember one tastes just as good as two but has half the fat and calories.

Card,
Glad to hear you are feeling better and you did so well with the chocolate and trifle. The concert got me into the Christmas Spirit, know I am just waiting for the week to be over and then the vacation begins!

:ginger: Hey ladies ... :ginger:

I confess I am at 218 (gained a pound back the last few days ... :mad: ) but it could be worse. I've not been great, so I'll take it. :)

Dolly, so glad you enjoyed the concert. I would love to have been there also ... I'm sure it was very uplifting. Way to go with getting that pound off! :hug: Oh yes, my Christmas soup is an unusual one with beef, carrots, cabbage, onions, red wine, all kinds of yummy things, and too much work to do very often. :o

Nina, I'm glad you enjoyed your party, and that it went well. Wow, you had a big group! I'm sure you burned all your calories and more just hostessing! :dance:

Snow, sorry to say that I haven't been walking but I'm proud of you that you are! Glad that your birthday was special!

Have a great evening, all. Back to the wrapping and maybe some baking. I have done one cookie, but my DH has eaten MOST of them (and I gave a few away!)

Cheers! :hohoho:
Maggie

just a few more days!
 

Hi all:

well so much for my diet--I am still not completely feasting but am not dieting--I am like Card--staying away from the scale. I will re-assess next Tuesday!

Still walking which feels good. Going up to my folks on Saturday and staying until monday--then coming back. It will be a nice trip--super cold around here!

Take care everyone and keep me posted!

Sno

Well couldn't stay away from the scale for two days running and I got a very pleasant surprise this morning. I am at 207. Either I lost a lot of water weight or fighting this cold and flu is just using a million calories a day. I am not sure which. Yesterday I gave the chocolates to dh (after sampling two) and the candy canes to the kids. Why does everyone give you fattening things on Christmas?? Why can't they give you a nice salad? One of the girls from work is bringing in baking on Thursday. I am going to package it up and send it home with everyone else. I will not eat it, even though she makes both of my favorites, shortbread and this really funky carmel popcorn which is unbelievable.

dolly - glad you are feeling the spirit. There really is nothing like Christmas to give your mood a lift.

maggie - good attitude, 1 pound is not insurmountable. You missed my 13 Halloween gain, that one hurt. Just remember to sample and pass if it is not an absolute favorite. Stay strong when you can and it will add up to less pounds gained. We all know it's hard. Try to walk when you can. Everything counts in the long run, what you ate, what you didn't eat, when you exercised and when you didn't.

Snow - As long as your not feasting just yet you will be fine. I switched to really low calorie lunches, a large salad, probably 4 helpings of veggies in it, a piece of fruit and a 50 calorie yogurt. That way I have a few extra calories to spread throughout the day.

Well off to get ready for work, 5 more days ladies, stay strong.

Morning everyone,
Awesome Card. I love those little surprises but I'm sure from the way I'm feeling that my weight would probably be more of a shock so I'm still to chicken to step on the scale. Maybe tomorrow. I'm in a festive mood and not going to jinx.
Sounds like your concert was glorious Dolly. Nothing like beautiful music to put you in the spirit of the holidays.
Maggie 1 pound is only a little blip in the big picture just a warning and I bet if you go for a walk it will be gone tomorrow.
Sno keeping up with those walks in the frigid weather takes determination, keep it up.
Well must go do a christmas craft with the kiddies this morning and we're decorating cookies this afternoon. Wish me luck because two year olds and icing make for an interesting (to put it politely) combo that will hopefully put me of wanting to sample.

Have a great day,

Nina

:tree: Card, your advice and commentary is RIGHT ON! Why do I need to be reminded of all that when I KNOW IT SO WELL!!! :D Thank you, lady. :hug: I am going to try to get that walk in today. Not one more chocolate chip cookie will touch my lips as it is NOT my favorite, and I SHOULD be eating only favorites. And I'm so glad you're at 207 ... I guess there's a silver lining, even in the darned flu, huh? :dizzy:

Well, Dolly, Snow, Nina, everyone ... :grouphug: to you all, too! My wrapping is done, I believe, now to clean, clean, clean today! Have a good one, ladies! :candy:

Good Morning Chicks,

Looks like we are all off to an early start today. So I come to work and I see one of my co-workers setting up a table. I am like okay why are you doing this, and it is because our little area by the coffee machine is too small for all of the baked goods. So now we have table with loads of sweets and goodies. Our boss's wife made each of use a box of stuff as well. I am going to stay away I don't know how, but I am going too. Where is my will power dust? I need to go find it!

Game plan for holiday gatherings...talk talk talk so I can't put food in my mouth

Game plan for at home...keep busy busy busy...no time for yummies

magnolia: don't worry about that pound. It is the holidays and we can't be that hard on ourselves. Just remember that if you only gain a 2 or 3 pounds when you would normally gain 10 pounds that is a big accomplishment. I agree with card try and take a walk or do something to just get it off of your mind.

sno: Have a great trip with your family!

40: That so reminds me of the time I had my friend's three year old help decorate cupcakes. She would lick the cupcake top and then put it in the sprinkles before I could catch her. Messy but so cute.

card: Congrats on the lose, yeah take it where is can is my philosophy!

Okay, so I couldn't resist and weight myself today and let me just say I have reached my New Year's Goal. Officially at 150! I am doing the happy dance right now and probably all day long. That has given me the motivation to walk right past the table of sweets at work.

:balloons: :dance: :balloons: for you, Dolly! So happy for you ... You are doing grand!

Maggie :hohoho:

Hooray Dolly
 

:congrat: Awesome:congrat: Dolly,
It must feel great to have made that goal and a week early.
Chicks I've had the flu for the last day or so but am feeling much better this evening. I weighed in this morning and I'm back to 170 :carrot: :carrot: I know its because of the stomach upset but I have also been very good most of this week. Everything is coming together nicely and my kids are all excited :present: even though they're in their teens. We're just relaxing this weekend and I'm teaching them how to do some baking tonight so got to run. Have a great weekend everyone:elf:

Nina

okay, okay, post Christmas weigh in 210, I'll take it because I was a very naughty girl. but I had a really good Christmas. I broke down and did baking, baking, baking for 3 days. Suffered horribly through the flu for a few days and now, it is time to take it all off after all the leftovers are gone. So I have declared open season on left overs. I will not cook for the next 2 days, you will have to eat leftovers. All of the kids have been warned. Do not open anything, do not use anything but the microwave. I am going to dinner at my mom's today. But I will not eat very much. I never do somewhere else. It just isn't polite to graze in someone else's house.

Congratulations to all who lost. Comiserations to all who gained. And lets all get back on track as soon as possible. Well off to prepare a very healthy garden salad to take to my mom's. There will be at least one low calorie option there even if I do have to provide it myself.

:wreath: Seasons Greetings everyone:wreath:

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I had a few days of feasting but started to get back on track yesterday and I'm back at it today. I made it to the gym with my DH this morning and had an excellent leg and ab workout followed by an hour on the elliptical. I didn't really have any choice about how long my workout was as we took one car and my DH always works out for 2 and a half hours. I think I'll go with him more often because with nothing else to do but wait I will automatically do more cardio. I know my weight is up by several pounds so will wait until New Years Eve to weigh in officially. We're going to a tacky Vegas New Years party so I'll be trying to fit comfortably into a little red dress. We're going as a card shark and ditzy dumb blond. Maybe I'll get my DH to be the blond and I'll be the card shark.

Card. Good for you making the salad :elf: and getting back on track so quickly.

I'm making turkey soup with barley for dinner tonight. My biggest challenge
is the 1kg of chocolate truffles that was given to us by my sister-in-law and the farious boxes of chocolate that seem to pop up everywhere I turn. Chocolate is my biggest weakness and I've been eating it so much that I feel a little sick so today no chocolate. I'm not going to undo the 1000 calories I burned at the gym.:dust: to all who need it, i know I do.

Hapy Hollidays everyone,

Nina