[flaggies]

G'day all,

Hope you all had a great Christmas and getting ready to bring in the New Year, 2002 unbelievable how time goes

One could hardly say that we overate, dh had a kilo of prawns, seafood sauce and a crusty breadroll and I had some pickled herrings and a crusty breadroll, a bottle of champagne and that was about it for the day other than some fresh fruit late in the day. Last night as we reflected on the day we thought of what we would have eaten had we been home.
There are some advantages for not being home!

The day after Christmas is always a huge time for sales here so this morning I wandered into town and had a bit of a browse.
Bought a couple of things that I couldn't live without and wandered on home again. DH is so sick of being house bound that we have decided to take the tram to a trendy street nearby and have some lunch/dinner there. Hopefully he can cope with his leg. You are so right Trudy it is just such a drag being restricted like this.

The weather here is ridiculous, quite cold and yet in Sydney they are having extremely hot weather and some horrendous bushfires that have caused quite a bit of damage. In Brisbane there have been some deaths due to the heat
I don't mind it being cool .

Well I have done my bit by starting a new thread so it is now over to you guys.

Cheers
Maria

[LilyG]

Maria: your Christmas sounds fabulous!
I bet you found alot of good stuff shopping! Im going tomorrow to see what I can find. Gotta love those 50% off sales!

Yep its time to "De-Fluff" for me. I know I should of started a New thread. But being "fluffy" seems to limit you. Just kidding!

[Trudy]

I really tried to be good for the last 2 days, but ended up being "fluffy" like Lily ... just loved that description.
Now to get back to normal.. Since I didn't over-bake or over-cook there isn't a lot left-over and I am really glad about that.
I had a wonderful Christmas with my family and I sincerely hope everyone else did too.

[painter5]

Maria thanks for taking on the job of starting a new thread. I feel like Lily. I think I am very fluffy today. Lily I like that description. There were too many cookies and things that found their way into my hands. Today I am back on track. Maria I read about the fires in the paper this morning. Hope they are put out soon. I see you helped the economy and did your bit by shopping the sales. Good for you. I might do that later this week. Meme welcome to the group. You are doing well. Keep up the good work. Your dog is cute. Hope that you all had a good Christmas with a lot of good memories. See you all later. I am having lunch today with friends.

[Lizziepie]

Maria: Thanks for the new thread. Hope to go out today to look over some of the sales. Have to spend my Christmas money

It is nice that we can all get back on track again. A bit of over-indulgance just happens at this time of year, but we all know it can't last, unless we want to become blimps instead of 'fluffy'.

meme: welcome, to a pretty lady and what a neat dog. Love dogs. Keep up the good work.

Slavika: You are right this is a special group, and thank you for putting it into workds for us all.

We had a quiet Christmas with friends, and was happy to have phone calls from all of our kids. A pleasant day, even tho' it was cold and rainy. Today is colder and tomorrow is suppossed to get into the 30's for us. Had to put a sweater on our little dog.

What are you all doing to celebrate New Years Eve? We will go to a party here in our clubhouse, but I don't expect we'll stay until the big ball drops. My dh turns into a pumpkin before midnight.

I do dread weigh-in on Sat. but since I skipped last week I have to bite the bullet and go.

Karen: Sorry you haven't been feeling well. Hope you are all on the mend. You probably worked too hard, and just got all worn out, so the 'bug' could catch you. Do take care.

Hi all. 'See' you later. Ann

[Yum Yum]

Good Evening all. I didn't do too bad, but I am glad I don't weigh again til Monday

Went out this morning and spent 37 dollars buying wrapping paper, bows, ribbons,tags etc for next year. Passed on all the other sales. I will wait a while, and see if I can get anything for 75% off!

New Years Eve will be playing Scrabble with my Brother and his wife. It is just what we always do. A glass of wine, and Scrabble. I'm sure some of you will have much more exciting plans than that!

I am ready to start attacking this fat again, I don't want to be a bit "fluffy" by swim time.....

Have a good day y'all!!

[flaggies]

G'day all,

Pleased everyone is recovering from the Christmas festivities

I have been meaning to welcome Meme , I am sure you will enjoy being part of our group.

Maria Yum you sound like a person to my own heart, just cannot pass up the bargains and isn't it so much better to get 75% off

I 'spoke' (on-line) to Jenye yesterday, it was nice having a chat and I will ring her soon and hope to be able to get out to visit before we return to Adelaide.
I have 'done' my back in and I am not very mobile at the moment. I have made an appointment with the chiropractor for tomorrow. Hopefully that will solve my problem.
Received a call from a friend this morning who will be coming to Melbourne in the New Year for a holiday. Should be good to catch up with them.

Our New Years Eve will be quite which suits me just fine. We can see the fireworks from our balcony.

The fires in Sydney and surrounding area are just heartbreaking, it is believed the fires were deliberately lit How anyone can derive joy from doing that is beyond me.

The weather here remains cool which I really enjoy.

Have a great day all

Cheers
Maria

[Ash]

able to log in. I kept getting the not logged in message and could not work out why, but at long last I worked it out.

Sounds as if everyone had a great Christmas, but we certainly need to get down to it in the New Year.

I spoke to Maria via Messenger yesterday and we are going to speak on the phone later and try to catch up.

We had a very quiet Christmas over here but had the family other than my daughter home as she was away in Queensland on a golfing holiday. New Years Eve will also be quiet with only Ted (my husband) and I here, we will have a drink to welcome in the New Year and then go to bed.

Happy New Year to you all.

Regards.
Ash/Jenye.

[painter5]

It finally turned cold and we had a dusting of snow last night. But there was a little ice under it and rush hour was a mess. I am glad that I was home by then. Maria Yum you sure bought a lot of wrapping paper. I am going out this morning to see if anything is left. I just hope that if there is and I buy it that I can find it next year. We are going to see the Rockettes Christmas Show today. I am looking forward to it. I am also finished with the cookies and junk that I have been snacking on. I gained 5 lbs this month. That is enough of that. See you later,

[LilyG]

Well I went shopping yesterday and got some Christmas cards and Wrapping paper for next year. Looked for some new lights for the tree but didnt find what I wanted. Oh well.

We arent doing anything for News Years here. Just relaxing and watching a movie. If Im lucky I will make it til midnight. But I generally dont

Later!

[slavika]

Hi Everybody Well I think it's time for me to
de-fluff too Lily . It was not a pretty sight when I got on the scale this morning. Fortunately I don't have to get weighed in until January 8th, so hopefully, by then I will manage to get the fluff off. You and your words Lily. LOL
Oh, I just looked outside and it's snowing the most beautiful big HORKIN snow flakes I have ever seen. It's like one of those globes you shake and the snow comes down. Just lovely.
My Christmas Eve dinner went off without a hitch and we had a great time with the "gift exchange" or as Glenda calls it, "Dirty Santa. I bought one of those "magic bags" that you heat in the micowave (hoping I would end up with it) LOL and DH bought a oak tray (something else I was hoping we would end up with. \ ALAS we couldn't hang on to either gift. I ended up with a lovely smelling candle on a square glass stand and DH got salt & pepper shakers and a really nice glass reindeer Christmas tree ornament. So today, I went to the drugstore and bought "myself" a magic bag.
We went to our Son and DIL's home for Christmas day, and they did a great job of putting on a lovely Christmas dinner. My DIL's table looked just great. She took very inexpensive small clear Christmas tree balls, and stuffed them gold tinsel strands. Then our Son used business card blanks to print a Christmas motif on and each person's name in script. DIL sercured the two together with that gold wire stuff that has stars on it. (We were each given our ball to take home when left.)
On Boxing day we went to our friends place just out of town. The younger people and the kids (including ours) all went on the arranged snow ride (pulled of course by a couple of hardy horses)
Then at 4:00 we all ended up at our friends place for swimming(they have a huge indoor pool) and playing games, chatting, eating, drinking, did I mention eating. I tried to count how many of us were there and with the children I think there was probably about 50 or 60 of us. They have Boxing Day every year, and it's really a fun time for everybody. One of the fellows that was there does wood carving, beautiful things. He presented me with a goose (in flight) that he carved, and put a brooch pin on the back of. He signed it to me, then his name, and the year. It's hard to believe that someone could carve something so delicate from wood, without cracking it. I just love it.
On New Years Eve we are going to an early dinner, 5:30, at the Country Club, and will not likely be up at midnight either.

Maria that's just awful about all the fires in Sydney. I understand from the news that they now think that as many as 40 fires were deliberately started. Why??? Who gains from something like that?
Ash sorry you had trouble logging on. I don't know why every once in awhile someone has trouble. Glad you're here now. Peggy I hope you enjoy the Rockettes.
Well, gang, I'm just finishing up the laundry, and I'm planning something really light for dinner tonight. One of the things I got for Christmas was a new Toaster Oven, so maybe I will make DH and I a grilled cheese sandwich with a strip or two of bacon on it, and maybe tomato soup. His last words to me this morning when he left for the office was, "make something light for dinner tonight" so I guess he is up a couple pounds too. hee hee

[Lizziepie]

Hi all: just got back from our Anniversary dinner. But hard to de-fluff yet. I was good, didn't have dessert. But that wouldn't count for much after all the rest that has come before.

Slavika: Your boxing day party sounds like great fun. And a nice indoor pool. Your wooden goose lounds lovely. My dd gave me a hand carved humming bird, that I could wear on a cord, but it is so fragile, I just put it in my shadow box.

I don't expect we will be up at midnight either. We will go to the party at the clubhouse for a while, but we have never stayed up to watch the silver ball descend, and don't believe we will start this year.

Lily: A question for the computer expert. I got pictures developed at Walmart, and it says that I can view them on the internet and share them. How would I go about posting one of them on our thread, or isn't this possible? Just a thought.

Maria: Isn't it sad that there are those pyromaniacs who get some twisted pleasure out of setting fires? That was one of the causes of some of the fires we had here in Fl. They say that often the arsonist will be hanging around a fire just to watch. That is surely sick.

Happy New Year all. Ann

[flaggies]

G'day all,

A warm day here today after some very unseasonal cold weather. I went for a walk this morning around the Botanic Gardens and bought some beautiful cards in the gift shop there. The cards are blank so now I will search on the net for a suitable poem, one is for a wedding and the other for a 50th birthday.

I also rang Jenye and we had quite a long chat. I will definetly try and get out to see her before we leave Melbourne, it is always nice to be able to put a face to a name.

Slavika the snow sounds just beautiful . Your christmas sounded like a lot of fun and some great gifts.

Ann I hope you are able to post the pictures for all of us to admire. I will just put in my 2 cents worth but I think what they mean is that you are able to post them somewhere in a photoalbum, I have some of my pictures on http://picturetrail.com.
If you go to that site and 'follow the bouncing ball' so to speak, you can post them there, then let us know your password (mine is 'flaggies' ) and we can all go there to have a look, by the way it is free. Lily may have other suggestions but this is one that I know off.

I sincerely hope everyone is de-fluffed by now and ready to be fluffed-up again for New Year's Eve

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant last night and I had a couple of 'shangrila's', goodness that would get you pretty well 'fluffed' in a hurry , they were very nice

I am off to get ready to go to the chiropractor, my back is not too bad today but I will still go.

Cheers
Maria

[Trudy]

I was over at my DD's helping her get ready for a party they are hosting tomorrow night. She works all day tomorrow, still can't figure out why they couldn't wait till Saturday ... only the young.
Meme Welcome to the board, that is a lovely picture of you and your dog. I feel I know you a bit already because I read the posts on the Fibromyalgia board sometime. I have it too.
Maria Those fires look just terrible I don't suppose anyone has an answer as to why they would be set. Hope you had good luck at the Chiropracter.
Ann Happy Anniversary! How many years does that make?
Slavika .. I got a glass reindeer tree ornament too, I wonder if it is the same one. My DD tucked it in with a gorgeous nightie and slippers. I hope you went into the pool and the hot tub, what a beautiful setting they have.
Jenye .. how nice you and Maria got to talk, now you must meet each other before she leaves.

I am probably the only one here who never goes to the Boxing Day sales. I just can't stand the crowds. These last few years have had really great markdowns before Christmas so I have taken advantage of them. My cards were 50% off when I bought them from a Carlton Cards Shop.

We are having a couple over for New Year's Eve. They are good friends and we have spent many a Dec 31st with them. It will be comfortable, relaxing and nobody has to get all dressed up .

I should have gone to work out yesterday, but I was just too tired, so tomorrow will be my first time back. I have a feeling it will be hard, even though I was there on the 19th. Even a week without a work out stiffens me up so much.

Goodnight all, and have a nice day tomorrow... ...

[LilyG]

Slavika: Sounds like your DIL really went all out for Christmas. Her Glass balls sound beautiful. Your Boxing day sounds great to! Lots of people!

Ann: I would do what Maria said. That way you can share with your family and friends to. I have never used picture trail but it looks easy. If you just want to post one picture then when you are replying just attached it to the message. There is a box at the bootom. Just click the browse button and find the picture on your computer and double click to bring it in to the box. Then when you are done replying it will attach. I think it has to be a certain size so if you have a problem email it to me and I can reduce it.

Maria: Those fires sound awful. I cant believe people do something like that. Such a shame. I feel pretty much De-fuffed now. Cept we are going out to dinner tonight. ALAS.........

Trudy: Your News Years sounds great to me! I always like just relaxing with friends. I have never been much of a partier. Hate going out with all those crazy's anyways.

Best get some things done. Have a great day all!