Good morning ladies! I hope everyone survived the long weekend!

I did relatively well so I'm pleased with that. I did run into some bumps yesterday because nothing seemed to satisfy me in terms of taste and that wasn't too good.

I did get a little Christmas shopping done over the weekend--found something for my mom and picked up a pair of jeans for DS #2. I took the boys to the mall and had them show me ideas for Christmas--I've found this is the best way to know what they want/like I also bought myself a couple of cute long sleeve t'shirts for the holidays--couldn't resist.

So how was everyone's weekend?

I had a great weekend. My mother came home from the hospital late on Thanksgiving Day (something to be thankful for!) She is sore, but doing well otherwise. She still has her 40 staples in her and a what a straight incision!

My sister and I made the turkey, etc. It turned out well. I ate too much, but that's the way I've been lately. I know that I have gained a little, but not as much as it could have been because I've been keeping active. I helped my parents with their laundry, shopping, and cleaning.

I managed to do a little shopping. It was 49 degrees on the morning of Black Friday, so it felt like Christmastime. I'm done with Christmas shopping, now comes wrapping. Next weekend is pick out the tree time and perhaps start my baking.

Melissa, that's the right idea. Show them what you want, then you aren't disappointed. DH stopped buying me clothes years ago. I think I'll ask him for a manicure and pedicure at the spa.

Hi to the rest of the lifers; I hope your Thanksgiving was great.

Hi everyone,

Sounds like everyone had much the same weekend. We ran a bunch of errands, did homework (sad, but true), ended up replacing our sink in our kitchen (easier than trying to get the broken basket out) and ate too much. The year of three thanksgivings will go down in Infamy. The only one I really enjoyed is the one that I didn't cook.

Lisa -- I did a bunch of kid related shopping this weekend. Note to self: Avoid toy stores on Saturdays in December.

DP is a bear to shop for, so I am going get the truck waxed and winterized and maybe buy her something for her ipod. I did pick up a calendar for her on Friday and a few stocking stuffers.

My dad wants my cashmere hat with the pom-pom. I didn't think the pastels worked well for him, but Nordys has one in red.

My brother, hmm, I just gave him a First Class ticket to Singapore, so maybe he should get me something?

My mom, who knows.

I think between spending a week in France with the dollar at an all time low and a new heating system, we'll be cutting back this year.

My parents left on Sunday am. I miss my mom and am trying to get her to come up in two weeks, my dad is trying to keep her in California, but I think she likes it up here.

Melissa - Is is fun to go shopping with the DSs?

Lisa -- spa treatments are a good thing.

Pam -- hope the week goes smoothly.

Hi Susan!

Okay, must get back to the grind. I heart four day weekends, but not the five day week that follows.

lala

lala, ditto on the five day work week; it's so hard!

Hello all,

I'm at home now, decided my hip needed a day off from work. I did go in yesterday for x-rays. I'm treating it with hot and cold and advil, I'm hoping it will be better. I have tons of work to do, but I can do it from home, without interruptions.

I guess its cold and snowy in the midwest. My brother just called me because he leaves for Singapore today and needed me to find him an alternate route if Chicago closes. Do I have a travel agent's liscence? Suffice it to say, if I were him, I would leave for Chicago now instead of at 1:30 pm...

Other than that, how is everyone else?

lala

Hi Ladies,

I really have to get going with my Christmas shopping. Other than the usual magazine subscriptions I renew for my Mom and sister and a couple of small miscellaneous gifts I haven't bought anything. I do know what I will get DH and my son, my daughter has indicated she wants a Jeep Grand Cherokee in hunter green..now that she has her learners permit, she thinks it would be the perfect gift. My Christmas decorations inside the house are up. Everyone is mad at me because I bought an artificial Christmas tree. I just couldn't deal with the setup/clean up of the real tree. I told them we may go back to real next year but after spending that much $$ on the tree I think it will be around for the next several years
I've also found the perfect Christmas gift for myself, but I've decided I will not buy it unless I loose the weight (still 5 lbs) that I want to take off. I can do it and this will absolutely keep me motivated to do it.

Lisa I'm glad your Mom made it home in time for Thanksgiving and she is doing well.

Lala I agree, your brother owes you a gift. Hope he makes it to Singapore and you should get a travel agent license!

Melissa that's a good idea taking your son's shopping to find out what they like. I think I will try and do the same...if he can squeeze me in to his busy schedule .

Hi to Susan.

Well ladies back to this boring lease I am trying to negtiate with a prospective tenant. The fun never ends. Talk to you later.

Alright Pam -- dish....

I'm almost done summarizing Gay New York for my class. I can't tell you how much I did not enjoy this book, not so much for content, but for writing style. Its soo densely written that it hurts.

I'm jealous you have your decorations up. DP found a tiny tree abandoned in a ditch on her drive to school this am, she rescued it and it will be the bears tree. We'll buy our big tree this weekend and buy garland and everything. I'm waiting on some nice variegated holly from a friend.

Pam -- jeeps are nice, but wouldn't a volvo be safer? My parents left a nice fairly grand limited here in Seattle, its not green, but I'm sure Earl Scheib can do it justice.

Brother update: He made it to Chicago and should be boarding soon. I told him to get his butt to the first class lounge for some sushi and free booze. I wonder if he found it. Anyways, I told him to remember his sister at the cartier boutique in Hong Kong. I wonder if I should send him a list?

Hope everyone is doing okay!

Good morning everyone. Back to work after 5 days off. Got loads of stuff done - pedicure, haircut, babysitting, painting, cleaning, decorating, even a trip to hospital emergency room to have a fish hook removed from my friend's hand (long story). I'm exhausted and had to come back to work for a rest .

Your president is in town today and from the sound of the security arrangements, I think I'll just sit tight until he leaves. Glad I don't have to go anywhere near the airport. I was stuck in traffic in Ottawa several years ago when W's father was in town - a nightmare!!

My eating hasn't been too bad and my weight has at least been holding steady and not increasing. I got out for a 10 km run on Sunday; it was quite difficult as I hadn't done that distance for a while.

I'll check in later.

Hello from cloudy Florida. Would you believe there is another storm out there? Otto should not be a threat to us, but geez!

Gifts are wrapped; boxes are ready to mail; haven't started Christmas cards yet or the baking or the decorating. We'll get a tree this weekend.

Susan, glad you're still running. DH ran our local marathon (Space Coast). He was happy as he was under 4 hours: 3:57. It did get a little warm, but there was a breeze. Yes, whenever the Prez is around, traffic jams abound. I think it's great that he visited Canada.

lala, Cartier? Hmmm, you don't ask for much. I hope your DB has a good time. What is a bear's tree?

Hi all,

Susan I was thinking of you when I saw W in Halifax. I would sit tight too.
Good on ya for getting everything done!

Lisa -- hey, wish for Cartier, be happy if you get Zales. I have my eye on a trinity ring and it could be cheaper there than here. I know its not cheaper in France! A bear's tree -- we put a small tree for our small collection of bears each year. Its a small tree.

Oops, is today the first day of Advent? Our very talented friend made a beautiful advent wall quilt that we can put up. I guess I'll go diving for ornaments tonight.

Good on DH for all these marathons. I think he's run at least 5 this year!

Whooo.

Anyways, hope everyone else is okay. I must order a few things and explain to someone why we pay maintenance for software every year whether it gets used or not.

lala

Good afternoon ladies! Well it's really windy here and this morning it was a balmy 50; the temp has dropped down to 40 and it's supposed to get colder by the time I leave work today. They're calling for rain mixed with snow but we'll see. I'm hoping the wind blows it right by us!

Susan: Better off to sit tight--when he was here in our town traffic was shut down 45 minutes prior to his arrival and then again for some time after he went through. It sure made things a mess. I know what you mean about getting back to work to get some rest, hopefully things will quiet down for you. It sounds like you got a lot accomplished.

Lala: Yes, it's fun to go shopping with the boys--I'm just thankful that they want to go with me! How's your hip? Feeling any better?

Pam: We have an artificial tree and depending on our mood and time we sometimes get a real tree. I won a certificate from our local radio station for a free tree this year so we'll be taking advantage of it. I don't have decorations up yet--maybe this weekend I'll tackle that. Our tree won't go up until around the 17th.

Lisa: Good for you for having all your shopping done and things ready to go. I should be so organized! I'm doing okay on things but need to kick things up. Too bad about the cloudy weather, but at least your temps are comfortable.

Lala: The first Sunday of advent was November 28th but if you're doing an advent calendar or something similar today would be the day.

Does anyone here do anything for St. Nicholas Day? I usually get some small stuff for the kids. I was down .4 at my meeting today--I'm happy with that but would've liked more since I made a big effort to keep my journal and walk...next week will be better. The next week and a half are going to be busy and it's going to be a challenge to stay OP. How's everyone else doing with our challenge?

i'm doing terribly. my jeans are tight and I need to get with the program. Frankly, I've been more than a bit despondent about my career aspirations and that is manifested in no control in the hand to mouth alley of foodage.

However, my inablility to sit comfortably in my jeans (tighter ones) is impetus enough. I think flex is going to be my friend for the next month.

Melissa, I hope you don't get any of that white stuff. Good for losing (any loss is a good loss).

lala, I'm having the tight jeans problem, too. Thanks for explaining the bear's tree. What's going on with your career? Are you unhappy with it or is it no advancement? How's your hip doing?

Hi Ladies,

Don't know what's wrong with me tonight, it's almost 10:00 and I'm raring to go, not even getting drowsy. Usually I'm half asleep by now. Well as I mentioned my decorations are up but I can't seem to leave them alone. I keep rearranging everything. The problem is last January we painted the living room and bought new furniture and the setup is completely different so my decorations seem a bit off . Anyway....I think I'm making everyone crazy...so I should stop.

Lala Ok I'll dish...what I'm thinking of getting myself for Christmas is an oval full length mirror for my bedroom. The mirror is in an oak frame and surrounding the frame are tiny flowers the color of..."mulled wine" the new color in my bedroom!!! But... I'm not going to buy this mirror to look at my flabby legs and butt. So no mirror until I lose 5 pounds and start looking better. Actually I'm feeling very motivated to stay on the program..hope the feeling lasts..so far 4 OP days in a row. I'm going to weigh in on Friday and I'm hoping for a kind number on the scale. What's up with work??

Lisa that is terrific that your gifts are already purchased and wrapped. That must be a nice feeling to have that out of the way so soon. I didn't hear about Otto, hope he doesn't wreak any havoc on Florida. Unfortuantely I'm a member of the too tight jean club also but I'm really trying to fix that.

Melissa that's a good idea to alternate between real and artificial trees. We had windy weather here also. The gusts were over 30 mph..hope the wreath I just put up doesn't blow off of the door!!

Susan that was some weekend. So did you end up cutting your hair a lot shorter or did you just trim it up. I'm still trying to grow mine out but I don't think it's going to go on much longer. I really not happy with the way it looks lately.

Well ladies it's after 10 pm I should try and get some sleep. Hope you all had a great day and I'll talk to you later.

Whew - George has left the building and life has returned to normal.

Pam: I was trying to let my hair grow out too but I couldn't take it any longer (no pun intended). I looked and felt very unattractive. I've returned to the length I've had for the past few years - an inch or so below the ears. My hair is quite thick so it doesn't look as short as it may sound. I also got highlights and, for the first time, lowlights. Wanted a little more contrast. I quite like the results!

lala: I have been restricted to 2 pair of jeans for the past few months - all of the others are too tight. I'm going back to 1-2-3 starting today. I had a lot of success with that program and it's really no different than flex but you know how it is - if ya find something that works, stick with it. What is happening with the job? I remarked to DH last night that I might not make it to retirement and asked if he was prepared to support me. No answer. H-m-m-m

Melissa: Good for you on the loss. You'll probably see better results next week, especially if you're too busy to think about food.

Lisa: The majority of my gifts are purchased and wrapped too. I want to do some baking to give to close friends but I'm going to wait another week or so for that. It feels really good to be so far ahead.

Weather has been beautiful here. Well, a lot of rain but that's better than snow.

On a completely unrelated note - how come 20 hot flashes a day don't result in some serious weight loss? With all of that energy burning up my body, you'd think some of the fat would melt away in the process. Being a woman sucks some times...