~~ A Celebration of Life-long friendship ~~ Sew Sweet 16 ~~ Now N' Thens 3/11

[Clio]

Have a happy Thanksgiving today.
Wow You were busy yesterday. All I did was my mom's grocery shopping and then I wen to the dentist for a teeth cleaning.
Today we're all working. I'm working 1-10. My daughter and her husband are working 3 to something. All I remember is that he has to be in at 6 am tomorrow. They're going over his sister's for dinner before work. They're feeding us at work. We having a turkey dinner during the day and later on we're having sub sandwiches.
Have a great holiday.
Liz

 

[Terkina]

You were very busy yesterday. I hope today is a little calmer. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Here we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but some stores has started to do Black Friday. I won't be going shopping tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have to pack both the things I need for my London trip and the things my cats needs while their at my grandma's house. Then deliver the cats at my grandma. Get back home and be ready to leave for the airport at 8pm. So I will have a busy day tomorrow.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. I served a make ahead mashed potato dish one year. I loved it but the consensus was to go back to fresh mashed potatoes - bummer.

I had a lovely surprise this Thanksgiving. When I did my turkey shopping our guest list had six people. I bought a 14 pound turkey anyway, just because it looked like a nice one. It turned out to be a good purchase because I ended up with eleven people, three of them at the last minute. I already mentioned that our daughter and grandson would be there. But our son who lives in the area and two oldest grandsons came over, too. None of these grandchildren have ever spent Thanksgiving with us. And it had been seven years since we had any of our kids for Thanksgiving and now we had two of the three there. Just our daughter in Colorado was missing. But I was so happy to get the other two there.

 

[ljcrochet]

Sounds like you had a busy 2 days.

We all loved the beer bread, thanks for sharing the recipe. My DD asked me to make it again so she can have it for school lunch. Hopefully it will still be as yummy with the whole wheat flour, since i used all purpose flour for thanksgiving.


What about adding a little bit of beer into your dip to thin it out? One of my favorite dip recipes is soften cream cheese, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing mix and 1/2 cup of beer.

 

[PrincessCamille529]

I'm really excited to read this trip report! I'm turning 16 in May too!

 

[DMGeurts]

Have a happy Thanksgiving today.
Wow You were busy yesterday. All I did was my mom's grocery shopping and then I wen to the dentist for a teeth cleaning.
Today we're all working. I'm working 1-10. My daughter and her husband are working 3 to something. All I remember is that he has to be in at 6 am tomorrow. They're going over his sister's for dinner before work. They're feeding us at work. We having a turkey dinner during the day and later on we're having sub sandwiches.
Have a great holiday.
Liz

Thanks Liz!! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, despite having to work. Hopefully you have a day or two off now to recover from the craziness!

You were very busy yesterday. I hope today is a little calmer. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Here we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but some stores has started to do Black Friday. I won't be going shopping tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have to pack both the things I need for my London trip and the things my cats needs while their at my grandma's house. Then deliver the cats at my grandma. Get back home and be ready to leave for the airport at 8pm. So I will have a busy day tomorrow.

I hope you have an amazing trip today!!! Safe travels to you, my friend - and please let me know when you are home. I cannot wait to see pics, if you take any.

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. I served a make ahead mashed potato dish one year. I loved it but the consensus was to go back to fresh mashed potatoes - bummer.

I had a lovely surprise this Thanksgiving. When I did my turkey shopping our gust list had six people. I bought a 14 pound turkey anyway, just because it looked like a nice one. It turned out to be a good purchase because I ended up with eleven people, three of them at the last minute. I already mentioned that our daughter and grandson would be there. But our son who lives in the area and two oldest grandsons came over, too. None of these grandchildren have ever spent Thanksgiving with us. And it had been seven years since we had any of our kids for Thanksgiving and now we had two of the three there. Just our daughter in Colorado was missing. But I was so happy to get the other two there.

Hahaha... Our make-ahead mashed potatoes are almost gone, I am half-tempted to make another batch, since we have a bunch of other left-overs to eat yet.

What a wonderful, WONDERFUL Thanksgiving surprise!!!! This makes my heart so happy to hear - just to have most of your family together for the holiday must have made it so special for you!

Sounds like you had a busy 2 days.

We all loved the beer bread, thanks for sharing the recipe. My DD asked me to make it again so she can have it for school lunch. Hopefully it will still be as yummy with the whole wheat flour, since i used all purpose flour for thanksgiving.


What about adding a little bit of beer into your dip to thin it out? One of my favorite dip recipes is soften cream cheese, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing mix and 1/2 cup of beer.

I am glad you enjoyed the beer bread... Mine didn't turn out the best this year... It's not horrible, just a little more salty than usual... I think I messed up the ratio of baking powder? Next time, I will use less. I am sure it will be just fine with whole wheat flour.

Hmmm... I've never thought of using beer - I will have to try that next time.

I'm really excited to read this trip report! I'm turning 16 in May too!

Welcome!!! I am very excited to have you here!!! I hope you enjoy my TR! My youngest dd is turning 16 in May (on the 8th) - how about you?

**********************************************************

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here...

It started off a bit boring though... And I was a bit restless because of it.

Gus came over in the morning - he was very tired from working at 2 jobs + school all week. He left around noon for his own family's festivites.

About 15 minutes later, my foster-parents showed up unexpectedly... It was a WONDERFUL surprise, and we were all so happy to see them. They were on their way down to my cousin Travis' house (which is near me) for Thanksgiving. We decided to edit our plans a little bit and join them for a few hours. Josh stayed home and continued to make our Thanksgiving dinner.

The girls with Grandma and Grandpa...

We really enjoyed seeing lots of family, we miss them all so much, as we don't get to see them very often. We've decided to make a point of trying to be better about holidays... Part of our issue is that we have so much family to see - but now that they've all recently moved away - we don't want to intrude on other family we didn't get to see often before. So, I am really excited to celebrate more holidays with them!

We came home and ate the most WONDERFUL Thanksgiving dinner we have ever had. Seriously. I don't know what's so different about it this year? It's all the same recipes we've always done - I've only made a few edits to them to make them much less processed - but I think that's what did it? It was a fantastic meal - just fanstastic! And the left-overs - TDF! Sooo good!

Josh also made pies... a triple berry and a pecan... I had a little bit of the triple berry on Thanksgiving, I have not yet tried the pecan. I am a little afraid to though, because I just love pecan pie and I am afraid I won't be able to stop... So, I am trying to wait until it's mostly gone before I have some.

I was able to get a good picture of V and I on Thanksgiving night... She was so cute!

The girls and I went to bed early... They wanted to try their very first "Black Friday" shopping experience... We decided we would wake at 2am on Friday and be out the door at 3am...

Aside from the few inches of snow we'd gotten during the night - it was a good trip into town - slow, but good. We stopped for gas first, because I was almost on E. Then we went to Ulta... We got a few things there and then we headed to the mall. We were very disappointed at the mall - we went specifically for the sweatshirts at Victoria's Secret that were $25... but the quality was horrible and they weren't even worth that price. So we left them behind. We stopped in several stores, but there was nothing we wanted. It was very disappointing.

Finally - we stopped at Old Navy... 3 years ago, I had purchased myself a red wool pea coat from Lands End, which I just loved... But it is comically monsterous on me now - so I gave it to BFF. Which left me with out a sorta-dressy coat (about as dressed up as I ever get). Well, ON had their entire store 50% off, so I was able to get a black pea coat for $29... It's not the best quality, and it's a bit scratchy on my neck - but it will do for now, until my body decides what size it wants to be... then I will order a nice one from LE again. I took a picture after I got home... It's pretty cute (however, I am noticing from my waist up, I am getting pretty small now, but my hips/rear are lagging behind - I wish my body would stay more proportional) - I think. And Alli wanted to be in on it...

We were done with that mall full of no deals... We decided to make our way to the new outlet mall... On the way, we decided this was the perfect time to shop... Virtually NO ONE was out there, so we had prime parking everywhere we went and no traffic at all. We've decided that this is what we will do every year.

We did find a few awesome deals at American Eagle - our favorite store. Seriously - now that I am smaller, all three of us share our clothes... Which is sometimes nice and sometimes annoying. Allison found a really cute denim vest - if it was just for her, I probably wouldn't have bought it, but I purchased it as belonging to all 3 of us to share... So, that helps a lot. Also, each of the girls found adorable Christmas dresses... and then I purchased a pair of black and a pair of gray leggings - which I've been needing badly.

We did stop at Old Navy again and also the Vera Bradely outlet - but we didn't purchase anything at either place.

Then we went to Staples to get one item for the gift Allison is making Gus.

We hit Target... I didn't purchase anything there, except a movie for Josh and Downton Abbey season 4 (I have the other 3 seasons already).

Then I took the girls out for breakfast... It was so fun!

We were home by 8:30am.

Both Alli and I took naps, since we both had to work at 1pm.

Work was crazy - which I was glad for, I was a little worried it would be dead. Allison said that Starbucks was swamped!

I went home after work.

Gus picked up Allison and they went out to dinner, then back to the mall.

They came home and watched movies... the rest of us went to bed.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Black Friday! I hope you all did, as well! Prayers and good thoughts to each and every one of you!

D~

 

[Wood Nymph]

About 15 minutes later, my foster-parents showed up unexpectedly... It was a WONDERFUL surprise, and we were all so happy to see them. They were on their way down to my cousin Travis' house (which is near me) for Thanksgiving. We decided to edit our plans a little bit and join them for a few hours. Josh stayed home and continued to make our Thanksgiving dinner.

We really enjoyed seeing lots of family, we miss them all so much, as we don't get to see them very often. We've decided to make a point of trying to be better about holidays... Part of our issue is that we have so much family to see - but now that they've all recently moved away - we don't want to intrude on other family we didn't get to see often before. So, I am really excited to celebrate more holidays with them!

D~

What a great surprise! Your Thanksgiving turned out to be wonderful, too.

Our daughter got all her Christmas shopping done while we babysat. She did a lot of it online and then went out for early bargains at the mall. DH and I had a lot of fun playing hide and seek with a five year old.

 

[Clio]

This my second attempt to reply. What a wonderful surprise.
Work was crazy. For the most part costumes were nice but there were acouple of rude ones that didn't like the quay lines.
After work I did a little shopping. I got Maleficent on bluejay for $9.96 and the Wizard of oz, too.
Have a good day. I have to leave for work now.
Liz

 

[DMGeurts]

What a great surprise! Your Thanksgiving turned out to be wonderful, too.

Our daughter got all her Christmas shopping done while we babysat. She did a lot of it online and then went out for early bargains at the mall. DH and I had a lot of fun playing hide and seek with a five year old.

It was so wonderful!

Sounds like you had a lot of fun! I loved playing hide n' seek with the girls when they were little... For added fun - we did several variations... Our favorite was "hide n' seek in the dark" - we did that one a lot. When they were really little, I allowed them to use flashlights, but as they got older - they had to do it in the dark. The other variation we did was called "Sardines" - it's the opposite, so one person hides, the others try to find them, when they do, they hide with them - so the last person to find the group is the next person who hides. This version is really fun to play with a lot of people in a BIG old house - lots of nooks and crannies to hide in.

One of the criteria for finding the "perfect house" when we were buying was the "hide n' seek " potential.

This my second attempt to reply. What a wonderful surprise.
Work was crazy. For the most part costumes were nice but there were acouple of rude ones that didn't like the quay lines.
After work I did a little shopping. I got Maleficent on bluejay for $9.96 and the Wizard of oz, too.
Have a good day. I have to leave for work now.
Liz

I hope you had a great day at work! I didn't have any customers that were real bad, thankfully... One of my co-workers did, but seriously people, you come in at 3pm on Black Friday, when stores have been open since 6pm the night before - don't expect us to have all of our doorbusters in stock.

Sounds like you were able to get a few nice things... I didn't get much either, nothing really appealed to me.

**********************************************************

I had a nice day yesterday...

I actually dressed up and looked cute - it was fun! I had several people come up to me when I dropped Alli off at work (and did a little shopping) to tell me how fantastic I looked. That gave my ego a boost that it probably didn't need yesterday. LOL I've been trying to dress up a little bit more, and it's been fun - especially now that I've purchased a few things that actually fit me... I cannot wait to wear my sweater dress that was originally purchased for Thanksgiving - I've decided to wear it for our Anniversary in a couple of weeks and for our big family Christmas on my Mom's side.

Anyways... I took Alli to work yesterday, did a little shopping...

I belong to an embroidery group on Facebook - I can't remember if it was Tess or Nini that added me there - but I hate going into that group to read, because I always leave wanting to buy a bazillion things. LOL Someone had done these really cool embossed towels to give for Christmas... So, I decided to do them too... The embossed alphabet was $10... Yikes... but for Black Friday, it was on sale for $4 + 50% off... So, I purchased 6 different embossed alphabets for $12! Then, when I went to town, I grabbed a bunch of towel sets, and started working on them yesterday. They are turning out really nice - I plan to wash all of the stabilizers out of them today, so I can really see how they look.

I was also able to get last week's order completely stitched. I didn't think I would get it all done yesterday, but I worked way past dinner to get it done.

Josh and Victoria went to Matt's game.

Gus came over... The three of us (Alli, Gus and I) watched The Itallian Job - good movie, I'd never seen it before.

Josh and V came home and we all went to bed.

Gus left shortly after.

Allison works today.

Josh wants me to go to Matt's game, I haven't decided if I want to go or not? It's almost 2 hours away, and I could really use the time to finish last week's bag. The only reason I would go, is to see Matt's parents, who are here from Alaska - we don't get to see them often, and I really enjoy visiting with them. I'll see how I feel later, and if I can make it work somehow.

I think Gus is picking Alli up from work today... If not, then I will definitely have to stay behind to give her a ride.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I know we did - it was just so nice.

D~

 

[MEK]

I am way late to this party, but I'm here and eventually I will get caught up. I think you look fabulous! It's easy for you to critique yourself, but from my perspective you have made incredible strides over the last two years. Just amazing. I have never had to lose a substantial amount of weight so I am in awe of people who can do it. Looking forward to reading about your trip.

 

[DMGeurts]

I am way late to this party, but I'm here and eventually I will get caught up. I think you look fabulous! It's easy for you to critique yourself, but from my perspective you have made incredible strides over the last two years. Just amazing. I have never had to lose a substantial amount of weight so I am in awe of people who can do it. Looking forward to reading about your trip.

Welcome! I am very happy to have you here!

Thanks! It's been an amazing few years for me, just trying to find my way and make true lifestyle changes, and find my own optimal health. It's been a fun adventure, and even though it's so slow - I wouldn't change a thing.

**********************************************************

Just a quick update today...

I was able to finish last week's bag yesterday morning, which freed up the rest of my day for the game.

So, Gus picked Allison up from work and they hung out here for a while.

Josh, V and I went to Matt's game - he scored an unassisted goal - which was awesome! After, we went out to dinner at Outback with his parents. We had a wonderful time, and the food was delicious!

We came home and went to bed. Pretty uneventful.

I work at Target today. Nothing real exciting about that.

I have my last Planning Commission meeting tonight. I am very happy about that. I am ready to be done.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! We are in windchill advisories all day - I hate the cold... So, stay warm out there! Prayers and good thoughts to all of you!

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

Hey there!!

So happy you had a great Thanksgiving!!! I was able to keep up with all your doings on facebook!

Love your picture of you and V. simply adorable! and yes you look great my friend!

Keep up the great work!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I hope you all have a wonderful day! We are in windchill advisories all day - I hate the cold... So, stay warm out there! Prayers and good thoughts to all of you!

D~

We put up the outdoor Christmas lights on Saturday when it was 51 degrees out. I knew I would hate myself if I didn't do it when I had a nice warm day like that, so I forced myself out the door. Today the wind chills are in the single digits. Winter is back.

 

[WDW2012]

So glad you had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. I just realized from your last update that we missed you by one day We were at Tusker House the next day. Our Donald was great as well. My dd loves him and had a Donald shirt on and he went crazy over it!

 

[sewmess]

Not even caught up (I'm a little afraid that it would take me all day and I'm supposed to be working.)

But - glad your holiday was good and I saw that picture of you and V on FB and laughed. It's nice to see her smiling instead of grumpy V.

Work turnover is amazing (partially my fault: I encouraged a member of my staff to apply for another position and she got it) so I'm going through stages of training. As well as getting ready for the holidays.

I'll try to stop in at least once in a while so you know I'm alive - and so I can see all you are good too!!

 

[DisneyTeacher01]

I won't say that it was 73 degrees here today!

 

[Sweetly]

I have no idea what happened to my reply, so here's the quick version:
So glad you had s happy thanksgiving.
We had a wonderful day, despite the snow.
I did go out Black Friday shopping, but not until late afternoon and only for a few hours.
Glad your work day wasn't too bad on Black Friday.
Have a wonderful day!

 

[DMGeurts]

Hey there!!

So happy you had a great Thanksgiving!!! I was able to keep up with all your doings on facebook!

Love your picture of you and V. simply adorable! and yes you look great my friend!

Keep up the great work!

Hi Mo!!! I've missed you! Thanks! We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend... I loved seeing all of your pictures on FB too!

We put up the outdoor Christmas lights on Saturday when it was 51 degrees out. I knew I would hate myself if I didn't do it when I had a nice warm day like that, so I forced myself out the door. Today the wind chills are in the single digits. Winter is back.

Yes, that must be done when the weather is good... Which is why we never get it done. Glad you were able to get the lights on though, and to have good weather doing it.

So glad you had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. I just realized from your last update that we missed you by one day We were at Tusker House the next day. Our Donald was great as well. My dd loves him and had a Donald shirt on and he went crazy over it!

BUmmer - I didn't realize we were that close! I am glad we both got good Donalds, he seems to be hit or miss.

Not even caught up (I'm a little afraid that it would take me all day and I'm supposed to be working.)

But - glad your holiday was good and I saw that picture of you and V on FB and laughed. It's nice to see her smiling instead of grumpy V.

Work turnover is amazing (partially my fault: I encouraged a member of my staff to apply for another position and she got it) so I'm going through stages of training. As well as getting ready for the holidays.

I'll try to stop in at least once in a while so you know I'm alive - and so I can see all you are good too!!

Hi Ruth!!! I know, we've all been busy! I'd rather have you working that catching up on the Dis... but I am very glad you took the time to say hi!

LOL... V smiles most of the time, and I love that picture of us - it's not often that we take pictures of ourselves, it's mostly Alli and I who do it.

Good luck with training and the holidays at work - I hope it goes smoothly.

And thanks for stopping by... I always worry about you all when you go "missing".

I won't say that it was 73 degrees here today!

Sigh... I could use weather like that right now. Soooo jealous!

I have no idea what happened to my reply, so here's the quick version:
So glad you had s happy thanksgiving.
We had a wonderful day, despite the snow.
I did go out Black Friday shopping, but not until late afternoon and only for a few hours.
Glad your work day wasn't too bad on Black Friday.
Have a wonderful day!

Hi Lynee! Yah - the Dis has been awful lately... I can't even access it via the app on my android - the app doesn't even work anymore.

Thanks!!! I am glad to hear you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, as well.

I hope you were able to get everything you wanted for Black Friday! It was a lot of fun for us - even though we didn't get too many gifts for others, it was fun to just be out in the middle of the night with my girls.

I hope you had a great day too!

**********************************************************

I had a nice day at work yesterday... It was busy. I had to do my normal book resetting, plus I run the photolab too - so I was constantly back there packaging up holiday greeting cards. It made my day go very fast.

Then I came home and made another batch of make-ahead mashed potatoes, ours were gone and we still have a lot of turkey left. I should have made 2 batches initially, but I didn't think we'd need them.

We had leftover THanksgiving dinner for dinner - and we probably will again tonight, or something similar to it... I've been eating it for every meal since Thanksgiving, but the rest of the family has had several meals where they have eaten out (especially Josh and V) - so they can't complain about TG leftovers. LOL

Then last night Gus came over... He tried to call me - but I still had my phone on silent from work... It was their 3 month anniversary - so he was trying to collaborate with me, so he could bring Allison flowers. It was soooo adorable! Allison has never received flowers before, so she was almost in tears. I think, next month, she has to come up with something good for him - as he has done something every month for her.

They are just adorable though...

After dinner, Josh and I left for our very last Planning Commission meeting. So happy to be DONE with it! I still have to write up the minutes, and start the rough draft of our Annual Report to the City Council - but other wise I am done. Only 1.5 City Council meeting left for me too... I think the current Mayor and I are going out for drinks after our last one... It's been a long run for both of us, and we are both ready to turn it over.

Our meeting was very short - so we came home and hung out on our tablets for a while, and relaxed. I barely remember going to bed.

Today, I will be starting on my last custom order to be mailed out before Christmas. My next 3 orders after this are all for local friends and co-workers, which are for Christmas gifts, but they don't have to be mailed. However, I do have to sneak in one more custom order that was an auction winning - I plan on doing that one this week, on the side.

I will also be lifting weights this morning. I weighed an measured yesterday, but I did not take pictures. I have not done this since the end of September, so it's been 2 months. I only lost -3.6 lbs during this time, for a grand total of 63.4 lbs. -.25" forearm, -.25" neck, -1.25" waist, -1.5" navel, -.25" hips. So, I am definitely losing inches and changing my body shape, even if I am not "losing weight". Which is fine with me... I'd rather be smaller than weigh less... Now, if I could just get my rear end to be a nicer shape, I think I'd feel much more successful. I am definitely slowing down, the closer I get to my goal... I am not sure if it's because I am not as strict as I once was? Or if it's my body truly slowing down? I would just like to coast through the holidays at this point, then I plan on buckling down a little bit more after the holidays.

Are any of you planning to do New Years Resolutions this year? Mine, from last year, was to try and make my body healthier... I didn't want to set myself up for failure by giving myself a NYR of "losing 20 lbs" or whatever, I just wanted it to be a little bit vague, yet attainable. I feel like, at the end of the year, for the first year ever, I have kept my Resolution for the entire year. I think I plan to do a similar resolution for this year... Not that I believe in resolutions that much, but I do like to take that time to refocus - and having many, many people alongside me doing the same thing is very motivational to me. I really want to make it to my goal size sometime this year... I may not have the body compostion that I dream of when I get there, I have a feeling I will always be working on that part of it - but ideally, I'd love to hit my goal size in time for summer clothes.

Anyways... I hope you all have a wonderful day! Prayers and good thoughts to all of you!

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

So sweet of GUS!!! Yes A better be a better girlfriend! No presents!!
Just kidding Gus is a lucky guy for having Allison as a girlfriend and better thank his lucky stars!

If i see-smell Turkey i might lose it.
i need to look up Turkey soup..

 

[lovedonaldduck]

I have missed keeping up with you over here! I've been swamped with work and Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas but I miss knowing what's going on in your world when I don't have the time to swing by.

Will you share your make ahead mashed potato recipe? Mashed potatoes are usually my Thanksgiving responsibility and I'd love to not be making them the morning of each year.

I got my bag in the mail yesterday! I love it! That was some fast shipping from Minnesota. Now I need to see when I can talk DH into another day trip so we can take Anna to the parks I think it will have to be after Christmas though - we are busy this month! This Saturday, Peyton has her first 5K - and she just told me today she wants me to run it with her I am not in shape to run a 5K but I think she still does a lot of walking so hopefully I can keep up with her. My fear is that I will slow her down. Sunday we are having a Christmas celebration with my parents, since my dad leaves on the 10th and won't be back until late January. One of the following 2 weekends we will be heading down to the new American Girl store in Orlando so the girls can pick out their Christmas dolls. DH also read about a train ride at the Okefenokee swamp to see Christmas lights that we may end up doing. I also have no Christmas presents wrapped yet and I still need to tweak our Christmas decorations.

I am still sticking with yoga and still enjoying it. This is huge for me as I have never found an exercise program I enjoyed before which will hopefully help me to stick to it.

I hope you have a great day!