Good Morning Ladies, and Mike... ;)

What a crazy, busy time of year! Made my cut-out cookie dough this morning, so I'm killing time while it chills. Sounded like a great excuse to pour a cup of coffee and catch up with everyone.

Still feeling icky, but not sick either, so I'm trying to hurry up and get everything done, just in case it turns into the same thing that my husband had. Thankfully, so far, it doesn't seem like it though.

Tori,
I love those fleece blankets! They are so soft and comfy! We made the same one a couple of years ago for various friends and family. They all loved them.

Darlene,
I so admire the joy that you show for Christmas! I don't know if it's my age, burn-out, not feeling well, or what, but I'm dragging myself through the preparations this year. I haven't wrapped a thing yet which is really unusual for me! Mid-December is the height of college decisions and scholarship apps. and decisions and it just seems like we are given more deadlines than hours in a day to get them all done. If you are fortunate enough to get an acceptance letter, you also get another package of forms to fill out and additional scholarships to apply for. January and February will be even worse, I'm afraid. I'll be so glad when her senior year is over.

Mern,
So glad that your friend is on the mend. What a terrifying experience for her parents! I sure hope that she will make it home for Christmas, although I'm sure that she will be limited to what holiday treats she'll be permitted to have. What a terrible time of year not to be able to eat! Hugs to her dad as well. The same thing happened to me once when my dad was in ICU. I walked in and crumbled to the ground. I know exactly how he feels. I guess I'd make a terrible nurse. lol

Mike,
Prayers to your relative... again, what a bad time to have spinal surgery! Hope everything goes well. Let us know.

Time to get back to the cookies. :) Luckily, they don't tempt me much. I may have tried the biscotti and the icebox cookies yesterday... strictly for quality control, of course! ;)

Hope you all are able to take a few minutes from your busy day to take a break and take care of yourself... enjoy a cup of hot tea, a great mug of coffee, a moment of prayer or meditation or whatever brings you a moment of peace and relaxation. ;)

quinn

That's why maintaining is so difficult. It's also no fun. I find it more fun to eat like crazy, gain... then lose. I'm about to talk about my yo-yo below.

Thank you, and yes, you can never have too many coupons. :)

Thanks! So mom is gonna lay the law down?

Thanks & I want some homemade cookies. Speaking of cookies, a couple years ago my GF went digging and found all of my mom's Christmas cookie recepies (my mom use to make the best Christmas cookies, every year except for the year she was dying). She surprised me by making them all for me. It was like reliving my youth.
Enough of that... on to my yo-yo

I was looking at my weight graph and it's like a yo-yo, I'll try to post it later but these are my weigh in weights (for the past few weeks) at the beginning of each 7 Day Motivational thread.

11-28-11 I was up to 184.6, after crashing and burning Thanksgiving week!
12-5-11 Down 7 pounds to 177.6, a good recovery from my crash and burn.
12-12-11 Back up to 182.2, was sick & lazy last week and let my discipline slip out the window so I gorged.

My goal this week was to drop 3 pounds. That would bring me down to 179.2. Since that's still above my 177.6, I'm going to aim for -5 pounds (I say this AFTER cheating today), that will put me back down to 177.2. Looking at the not-so-big picture, that would be going from 184.6 (11-28-11) to 177.2 (12-19-11) in 3 weeks. -7.4 pounds in 3 weeks is still good. :)

It was supposed to rain today but it looks to be clearing up. I'm calling it a day. I worte my 4 policies this week, I'm going to go walk the French Quarter.

Tori, I'll take some pics. Do you want to see anything in particular?

I'm completely jealous!!!! Take lots of pictures!

a pic of a plane ticket with my name on it with the date of Feb. 18 on it would be great thanks. I'll send you the mailing addy too ;)

Quinn, will do.

Tori, sorry, can't help ya on that one. :(

ah well, it was worth a shot! any pics will do then

Uhh, Mern I don't think you need to bring the baby to a shower, so no need to shop for one :D.

It may be because I never had children (definitely by DH and my choice) and although I love children, I'm not much of a baby person, I have never enjoyed showers - especially all girl showers. I love buying the gifts for mom and the new babe, but attending the function has never been at the top of my list.

Quinn, you deserve the patient mom of the year award to handling all those college/scholarship apps + all the holiday prep. I suspect once you get a chance to sit and take a deep breath, you will find yourself back in the spirit.

Darlene, your idea of a moving out basket is great! Sure wish someone had done that for me! I think watching him open up all of those little packages will be a riot, maybe you could hide something special in the pile.

Tori, I love those fleece bankies. With all the cute prints out there you can really make something really special for each of your giftees. Last year I made flannel PJ bottoms and found appropiate T shirts to go with them for 4 of my friends and relative. They were a big hit. I too am not particularly artsy, but I love crafts when I get the time and a creative idea.

Bindi (love the name) a couple of candy canes here and there won't wreck the diet too bad. At least they take a while to finish (as long as you don't chew through them):rolleyes:

Main80 - oh yeah, maintaining is hard.:confused: I have to say that is exactly why I stick around here. It has been said before, losing the weight is the easy part, maintaining that loss for the rest of your life is the hard part. You know what to do... just remind yourself that your old habits are what got you into trouble in the first place, and you really do not want to go back to that place.

April, how did the Dr appt go? We have a bunch of coughers around work this week and DH has been fighting some sort of bug, I am trying to avoid them ALL :D. Back when I was in college and then grad school, I was sick every single holiday... I refuse to let the happen again! (at least do my damnest to avoid it.)

Mike, I'll send my wishes and prayers out for your brother's successful surgery and recovery. BTW, you seem to be rocking your goals this week. I too am a midnight (actually 2 -3 AM) wanderer. Luckily, I am rarely hungery so I don't tend to hit the fridge. I will have a cup of sleepytime or chamomile tea which helps a lot.

This week I have been on a bit of a carb binge. Don't know if it is a response to low carb diets the last couple of weeks, the holidays, or just a fluke in the meal planning. But I have to say, my energy level has definitely been low.

So is this a cause and effect, or an effect and a cause? Is the low energy driving me to seek carbs, or are all of the carbs contributing to the low energy? Now, I haven't gone too far over board, mind you. Stayed mostly w/in my maint. calorie level, but homemade pizza, DH's manicotti (twice), chinese/thai food w/ white rice. Even lunches have tended away from protein and toward breads and pasta. hmmmm, I guess I won't stress about it, but it has been and interesting observation.

Quinn, thanks for your kind words for Bethany and her parents. Right now I think all she wants for Christmas is a Slushie and some ice cream. LOL Oh, you poor dear--crumbling to the ground when your Dad was in ICU. I can hold my own in a crisis, but when it's over, as soon as I get home I get the shakes really bad. The last thing I'd ever want to do for a living is be a nurse. Aw, that's great that you had time to relax at the computer with cyberfriends and a cup of coffee. Sure is fun coming here to chat, isn't it? It's the real sharing that makes our group so tight--and that's really special. I'm looking forward to some free time in about an hour when my daughter comes home from work. Live-in GD and her boyfriend are going with his grandparents to a Christmas dinner at their pastor's house tonight, so DH and I will have a whole evening alone with no grandkids to drive anywhere! Hooray!

Mike, even though it's only possible Bethany swallowed a piece of toothpick, knowing her mother, she probably won't be allowed near a toothpick until she's married and moved away from home. LOL Aw, that's so sweet that GF made your Mom's cookies for you! Yep, that's quite a yo-yo weight report. But we gals know how quickly you can take off the weight when you set your mind to it. We have a lot of faith in you! :) Enjoy your walk in the French Quarter!

Pam, I got a big kick out of your post. I did see several babies, but none of the mothers would sell me one. So I bought baby clothes instead. I love babies, but at 65 I've had my fill of babysitting them. I do enjoy the mixed couples showers--they're more like relaxed parties and we usually don't have to play the organized games like figuring how many squares of TP to take to measure around the expectant mother's tummy or finishing the nursery rhymes. I totally respect your decision to not have children. I know a lot of totally happy and fulfilled couples who have made that decision. I've gone on my share of carb binges and I don't regret eating the carbs, but hate that sluggish feeling afterward due to the blood sugar plummet a few hours later. When I have low energy I can better replenish my energy level with a combo of protein and fat, both satisfying my hunger for longer periods of time than the carbs. Mmmm, manicotti--I LOVE that! Have you ever tried the Dreamfields brand of lower net effective carb pasta? I control my blood sugar through diet alone and I've found it fits in very well with my carb limitations--only 5g per serving. I find it here in the regular dried pasta section of the grocery store.

I didn't go to the French Quarter. There was a fatality accident on the interstate and the roads were closed. We stayed in town and went out to lunch... and I ate too much. Had too much bread as well. We are supposed to get up early tomorrow and go, so I'll post pics tomorrow.