Hi everyone!

The boards have been really quiet lately and I'm wondering where everyone is! I know a lot of people have off today for Veteran's Day. Unfortunately I'm not one of them!

It's hard to believe that the year is winding down and it's only a little over 6 weeks until the New Year comes around.

I'm going to take advantage of the mild weather we're experiencing and go out for a walk over the lunch hour today.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Hello Melissa & everyone else,

Another great run of weather here this past week - was able to get out and do some walking over the weekend. The weather is continuing to be pleasant this week, too.

Wow, the news of another plane crash in NYC makes me jittery. I guess they're investigating it as an accident, but who knows.

I decided about 2 weeks ago to go on a last-minute Carribean cruise with my mom, one of my sisters, and my nephew. My sister works for one of the airlines but took a temporary 6 month layoff from the downswing of business since Sept 11. My mom hasn't really been anywhere for about 5 years (that's when my dad got sick), so my sister thought it would be a nice treat for her. Well, it worked out pretty good for my work schedule, and it was pretty inexpensive because she received her airline discount on the cruise & we're all flying on passes. So, on Thursday, I'll drive to the Twin Cities & then we'll fly to Florida on Friday. DH & DD will be staying home & having Thanksgiving at his sister's house. It will strange not having Thanksgiving in the traditional way, but I am excited to get away & relax. It may sound selfish, but I am looking forward to some time away from hubby & daughter. The hardest part is figuring what to bring for clothes - hate to bring too much, but don't want to be unprepared. Anyone been on a cruise lately? Is the dinner dress code as dressy as they make it sound in the cruise information?? I am a little worried about the excess of food you always hear about. I am prepared to be exercising on a regular basis on the ship.

Well, back to work,

Hi. I haven't been writing much lately. Don't know why. Not much to report on this end. I think I was stressed out at work for a couple of weeks. Now things are calmer, I can get gabby again.

In the eating department, have been overdoing it, which I don't like. The beginning of the holiday season seems to be upon us. Have been doing some baking for a bake sale at work. I wonder if a year ago I would have been so reckless about eating the output! I think I was more disciplined then and would like to regain the control. Is this the universal problem or what?

KT, your cruise plans sound like fun. I can certainly understand wanting to get get away from the spouse. I'm sure I'll never get the opportunity in such a pleasant way; I hope you enjoy it! I was on a weekend cruise a few years ago and the cruise line was actually pretty specific about the "dress code" for dinner. There was one evening for which they asked people to dress up, not black tie or anything, but "nice". Otherwise, it was very casual. I don't know what was wrong with the cruise I went on, but I didn't see so much food and since it was pre-WW, I would have done full justice to the chow. But it wasn't outrageous at all.

OK, back to work.

Hi Melissa, Katie and Laurel and everyone else.

I spent the weekend visiting my family in New Brunswick. There was a surprise birthday party for my older brother on Saturday nite, and all except one sibling made it home for the occasion. Of course, the little ones were the stars of the show. Too much food, but I did manage to get exercise so it wasn't a complete bust.

I can't be much help re the cruise dress code Katie. Have never had the pleasure. Where are you cruising to??

I won't get much opportunity to post this week because our office is moving. We'll pack on Thursday and physically move and set up in the new location on Friday. I'm happy about it; it will cut at least 40 minutes off of my total daily commute.

Is lalala back from her travels yet?

Hey there guys.

Katie - I went on a cruise about a year ago, and the ship had differnt dining rooms. They gave you the option to dress up or not, but it was kind of fun to get out of casual wear and put on a little black dress, or long skirt. I particularly like the long skirt approach, 'cause you can switch shirts, blouses and create a new look without taking a whole wardrobe.

Remember that whatever you pack in the bags will probably be sitting in the bags for quite a while, so non-crushable is definitely the way to go. Also you may want - just until the boarding is done to have a small bag of veggie munchies to take some of the hanging around pressure off.

Have a great time!

LM I've been eating overboard too and between work and family stress am probably going to have a tough time the next few weeks. Hang in there!

Hi all,

Just back from NY, supposed to fly out yesterday afternoon and
that didn't happen. My thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost loved ones and the neighborhood devastated.

So, it was lovely in the Hudson river valley. Sunny and brisk, good puttering weather. I waved at you laurel from the Palisades parkway .

Spent yesterday rebooking flights once we decided to go back up north to try and get to La Guardia. Booked into a hotel (kaching) and went into Mahattan. Spent a lot of time walking, my paws hurt. Anyhoo, for anyone in the area (Laurel and Myra) I would suggest Stormking as a fabulous place to spend a day.

kt- cruise sounds like lots of fun. I would opt for not ostentious, the idea of a little black dress, a few scarves, the long skirt and a nice pashmina sounds good. Being a munchkin, long skirts don't work well, but nice tailored wool crepe pants or those silky ones would be nice. The only cruises I go on are scientific, dressing up for dinner requires taking off raingear and washing off fish goop. I would much rather be on a caribbean cruise. By all means, bring your work out stuff and use that equipment. It was funny to see an older couple in the hotel "gym" last night on the bike and treadmill in their street clothes.

Okay, I understand the stress eating. Its gotta stop!!!!!!!!!!

welcome back seesaw and patch from weekends away!

more later,

lala

Hi everyone. Another quiet day on this thread.

The contractor who renovated our bathroom is "showing" our house tonite. He has some clients who want to install hardwood floors and he thinks they might like the type we have, so they're coming over for a peek after work tonite. I told him it was OK as long as he didn't try to sell it.

By the way, there are some photos of the house and the new bathroom at the following site. Have a peek if you're interested.

http://www.geocities.com/oathill2001/home.htm

See ya later.

Hi everyone! It's been extremely busy at work the past couple of days. We're working on a "Christmas Angel" program and it's been quite time consuming. The phone hasn't stopped ringing. There are a lot of changes that are going on as well.

Anyway, I'm holding on and I'm not letting myself get into any stress eating. I'm trying to get out and walk and I'm hoping to maybe get to our rec center this evening with the kids for some activity. It sure would help with the stress as well.

I went for my weigh in and I'm down 1# which is good. I'm focusing on staying OP. I'm going to be out of town this weekend and next week I'm off on vacation. Not much planned other than a day trip on Monday. Thanksgiving should be fairly quiet for the most part.

The weather here has been unusually mild for November but I'm not going to complain

Have a great day everyone!

Seasaw: The bathroom looks like something out of a magazine! I'd be locking myself away in there "Calgon take me away"

Hi everyone,

things are getting back to normal here. I really hate travel delays and I'm the queen of them.

So, seesaw, I'm at home right now, so I can't see your pictures quickly. I check them out at work. I'm sure I'll be floored (ha ha).

We are doing our annual thanksgiving fest on saturday. We have friends flying in and a v. messy house. Right now in the pouring rain I am having my windows washed . My cleaning diety is here all day tomorrow, I have lots of heavy cleaning to do.

The dog is mad its raining. He is not used to this and feels that
bassets melt in the rain, thus he is contemplating building a porte cochere for those delicate matters.

So, I am trying to be good, but yesterday I noticed my hand was in the cookies that DP (curse her) had bought in NY. So, no self monitoring. This has got to stop. I'll be by myself for the next few days, so that should help..
Well, I should mosey on to work, I have too much to do.

hope all is well and kt have a great cruise!!!!!

lala

Hello everyone -
Been very busy at work getting materials together for a board meeting, so I finally have a couple minutes to respond.

Seasaw - I am crusing to the eastern Caribbean which includes the following ports of call: we leave from Ft Lauderdale, Florida, & stop at San Juan, St. Maarten (the Dutch part), St. Thomas, & Nassau, Bahamas. I am looking forward to it. BTW, I looked at the pictures of your home - WOW, it's gorgeous, something out of Architectural Digest magazine from the looks of it!

Thanks Patch, LM & lala for your tips on what to wear. I am going to bring a simple black dress, another navy dress that I wore at a wedding this summer, plus some fun capri pants with tops that I can wear with them or with a few pairs of shorts that I've packed. I always have the problem with having too many shoes/sandals to bring. The dress code they have listed are casual, informal & formal. Even the description of casual sounded pretty un-casual to me. I do have my workout gear packed - I plan to use their exercise facilities to the max, plus my sister will be a good workout partner for me. My mom & sister are naturally thin, so I figure I can't pig out TOO bad with them around as a reminder to keep my appetite in check.

Melissa - congrats on the 1 pound loss! Our weather has been unusually mild here, too. This morning I awoke to thunderstorms of all things in November. It's about 61 degrees right now - tomorrow it's supposed to hit 65 - unreal. This weekend is the kickoff of the gun deer hunting season - no snow for the hunters to track the deer this year.

Gotta run - I'll check in later with weigh in results from my meeting tonight.

seasaw, what a beautiful home! the only thing missing as far as I can tell is...YOU!!! what about pix of yourself??? Later...I take it back; found your pic (and the "real" name, folks, ssssshhhhh). Nice to see you!

KT - have a wonderful time!!!

Melissa - great about the pound

Self stayed the same this week. Fairly miraculous considering the potato chips on Saturday night.

Lala - so close and yet so far????? boo hoo!

patch - you sound kind of stressed out - hope all is well...

Okay, I'm going back into Seasaw's tub...

seesaw: your house looks fabulous! Nice bathroom and good color choices. I shall be over with my rubber duckie and
bath salts.

Maybe I'll get around to posting pictures of our house renovations in progress.

lala

Good Thursday morning. Imagine my surprise to find lala, her rubber duckie, laurel and melissa in my tub last nite Thanks everyone for your kind words. We bought the house about five years ago and have done a fair amount of renovation but I think most of that is behind us now.

Melissa: Down another pound. Good for you! You're back in the comfort zone aren't you?

Laurel: Ditto. Staying the same is always a reward, especially if potato chips have been in the picture. (Speaking of pictures, I figured someone would find it.)

katie: Sounds like a great trip. You should be fine with those clothing choices.

lala: I look forward to seeing your reno photos. It's such a relief when the work is done and you get back to normal life (no sawdust in your food, no drywall dust in your hair, etc.)

patch: You're welcome to a nice long soak in my tub if it would make you feel better.

I weighed myself this morning. Ahem - up 5 pounds in two weeks. Does that tell you how badly I've been eating? Luckily, I am tired of junk food and ready to return to normal. So my journal is by my side and my water bottle is filled. I'm gonna do this!

Good morning

Another mild day here in PA--it's supposed to get up to 66!! Very mild temps for November for us. Although I shouldn't say it too loudly, last year the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we go hit with a doozy of a snowstorm and the students couldn't get home because the interstates and airport was closed. I'll take every nice day!

Seasaw: I'm not in my comfort zone yet...I'm just 1# below that 2# over my goal (143). My goal is to get back to 139-40 to give myself a little cushion. It's just a matter of refocusing and getting more walking in.

Seasaw, you bring up a good point about getting tired of the "junk"...I find that I hit a point where I just don't want to eat that type of stuff and I crave eating healthy. I seem to be in that frame of mind now and I think it's due to the impending holiday season and knowing that if I'm going to maintain my loss that I need to pull in the reigns.

Lala: Hope you're getting back on track...I hate it when something like cookies, chips, etc. are calling me. You'll get back on track

Hi ya everyone.

Its Friday. Yipee. We have our annual thanksgiving w/friends tomorrow- so approx. 17 people around lala's table. Should be interesting. In deference to Ms. Stewart, I made my gravy last night w/turkeys I had sponsored in Applachia and made croutons from bread that I grew the wheat myself. (JOKE)......

However, the gravy is done and the croutons for stuffing are croutoned. I have out of town guests, 2 right now and 3 unexpected that expect and will not get to stay tonight. I am running a bed and bisquit some days I tell you....

I am looking forward to seeing my friends (who I feel at times are much like my extended family) and be thankful that we are healthy and have roofs over our heads.

Just had a most fabulous massage at the spa I go to regularly. I have major tension in my neck and jaw from grinding my teeth. She did a great job of relieving the tension. I booked another one for week after next. I'll need it after thanksgiving with the family.

i hope that Patch is doing okay with her family stress. Hang in there! Holidays are tough, especially with the loss of your
father in law.

Melissa: congrats on your one lb loss! way to go.

laurel: what is your bake sale about? sounds like fun, fun, fun.

I made some pretty nummy lowish points (could be made lower) muffins last night for my guests. I'll post the recipe if you want.

i also hope kt is enjoying her caribbean cruise. Enjoy a daquiri for me, huh and pass the sunscreen!

seesaw - Thanks for the extra fluffy bath towels. I'm giving your new house 5 stars!

okay, i've droned long enough and my viz. has finished.

lala