Biggest Loser Alumni Holiday Edition: past, present and future participants welcome!

[SettinSail]

I didn't realize we were posting play lists! Here are some of my favorites:


Sexy Chic -- David Guetta

Maria

That is my SIGNATURE song !!! First song on my playlist and always makes me feel like working hard.

I had to laugh at the Charlie Daniels song but the more I thought about it that song is so fast and does make you feel like moving

Sorry about your rough week coming up and hope it goes by FAST!

Had not thought about Leif Garrett in years so I just googled him.......................where's the HAIR !!!!????
That's just cruel to lose all that beautiful hair. I guess he looks OK otherwise, just very very different. A lot of men do not age well IMO.

We REALLY wanted to see Book of Mormon when we were in NYC but no tickets under $170 and that's too much x 3.

Did anyone watch Jimmy Fallon on SNL last night? It was hilarious and had a lot of cameo appearances.

I'm excited becuase I just got a groupon for a segway tour of our downtown area for all 3 of us on Dec 30th. I'm going to try to gift this to DS somehow.
He only has 3 presents from Santa this year since he's getting a Mac.
Of course I do NOT need to be concerned about DS having a pile of gifts and we paid $$$$ for the Mac but old habits die hard

DS is at soccer practice and DH at the gym. I've vaccummed the whole house including both sets of stairs, and made a taco salad for lunch. Need to jump on the elliptical for 45 minutes and shower before they come back.
Think we will ride around and look at lights tonight; I've heard about 2 houses with lights syncronized to music in our area

 

[Rose&Mike]

Rose -- I love the Waitresses Christmas song! There is a Glee remake on their new Christmas cd, but the Waitresses win this one! I am so glad the 5M went well. We are going to have a blast at the Princess!


Maria

Seriously, best song! And don't you love The Middle--Jimmy Eat World? For some reason every time I hear that song I think of you!

LisaR--I'm glad your DH is doing good with the walk/run. I didn't really enjoy the intervals yesterday, but if I can get up to maybe run 2 minutes, walk 1, I think I will be a lot happier. I would just find my groove and the running minute would be over....But it kept me from over doing it, so that was a really good thing! Sounds like it was a good race yesterday!

****
So we were doing errands today and we had some time to kill and we went to Whole Foods for a snack and I found these:
http://snikiddy.com/product/mac-n-cheese-puffs

They were so good! I feel like such a BL loser, but I have been on the junk food train lately! Mike said, just get through the holidays, and get it back together in January.

I think if I can keep working out without huge amounts of pain, my stress level should go down. Plus I am kind of looking forward to January 2nd. Mike's ds died on Jan 1st last year, and it kind of set the trend for a tough year. So I am looking forward to a new year, new start.

 

[cclovesdis]

I tried to post yesterday, but my friend the Poof Fairy paid me a visit.

I am getting very frustrated with having to eat gluten. I am so nauseous. The worst part though is the vertigo. I can only push through it so much before I'm exhausted. My weight is up too. I cannot wait to go back to eating gluten free.

QOTD: We open presents and then eat breakfast. I insist upon waking up myself though. Sometimes that happens and sometimes my sister wakes me up. At 25, she still gets very excited for Christmas morning.

 

[jillbur]

Question of the Day

Do you open presents before or after breakfast?

With little ones, it's presents first. When the boys wake up, they are allowed to come downstairs and open their stockings while DH and I roll out of bed. We all do presents together (while the coffee is brewing), then we eat. I am hoping to make breakfast in the crockpot or a casserole the night before that I can just pop in.

I love my steam mop for cleaning the floor around the toilet

The swiffer wet is my bff. And runner up is clorox wipes!

Jill -- Moose antlers sound like they will be a big hit! I can't think of an odd thing my ds wanted, but when my youngest niece was 7 she asked for a pole for Christmas. Yes, that kind of pole. My SIL and BIL have no idea why that seemed like a good idea to her. They think she saw a billboard for a gentlemen's club

That's hilarious! I hope she wasn't telling everyone she wanted a pole...like her teachers. They might get the wrong idea about her mother
Kids are pretty funny.

Thanks for all the well wishes on the 10K, I think it went pretty well, I finished in 1:25:33, which I think is pretty good for being sick and then having to get back into training.

Glad it went well. I need to sign up for a race to get me going since I've only been running 1x a week since Thanksgiving.



Well, today did not go as planned at all. Ok, I take that back. This morning went well at church. Then it went downhill. I made dough for ginger snaps and put it in the fridge to chill. I made chocolate chip cookie brownie bars for DH for school tomorrow. Then the lady selling the moose antlers called. We took the boys to my moms and went to pick them up. They are awesome by the way. DS8 will freak out! Well, apparently I forgot to latch the dog's crate when we left. She was laying in it, so I just forgot. So, our super separation anxiety ridden dog decided to go through the garbage in the kitchen and jump on the counter to sample the brownies. We had to clean up that mess while I made dinner (stuffed pork chops). DH went to pick up the boys and I ironed clothes. DS5 came home and layed on the couch with 2 blankets on him. Took his temp...101. And he's complaining of a sore throat. I took him to our Express Care and yeppers...Strep again. So cookie dough is still in the fridge and DSs never did eat the pork chops. DH is taking chocolate covered oreos I made for Christmas instead of the dog slobbered brownies. Oh well, I am exhausted and going to try to relax and get to bed early tonight. After I do my checkbook, that is!

I'm just glad all this happened on a Sunday when I don't work! I'm going to call DSs pediatrician tomorrow to let them know he has strep again. He just had it not that long ago and then had the week of a fever. Poor kid. It sucks to see them sick. I'm just glad he's got antibiotics in him so he can wear his new jammies on Tuesday for Polar Express Day at school (kindergarten). Funny thing~DS8 missed Polar Express day when he was in kindergarten because he was sick. What is it with these kids lol?

Enjoy your Monday everyone!

Jill

 

[mackeysmom]

Help - I need an Intervention

Those are half of the 200+ red velvet cookies I baked today. So far I've been good - you'll notice only 1 is missing. I have to stay strong until Tuesday when they will be taken to a cookie party!!

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Question of the Day

Do you open presents before or after breakfast?

Christmas Eve at my house. When we were kids, we would go to sleep after Christmas Eve mass - we would probably only be asleep an hour or so before our parents would wake us up. Santa only left one big (unwrapped) present for each of us - our parents gave us the rest. We would stay up late opening presents and sleep in on Christmas morning. After a big Christmas breakfast, we would go to my Aunt and Uncle's house and spend the day there with all of the cousins and grandparents.

Now that we are grown and my sister had kids of her own - we've sort of "tweaked" our Christmas Eve tradition. Everybody comes to my house on Christmas Eve (usually between 15 - 20 people) for a big dinner.

Before dinner I give my nieces and nephew each a stocking to open. After dinner, we (my nieces, nephew and I) exchange our gifts only. They open their "family" gifts Christmas morning at their own house. I'll sleep in on Christmas morning and then make my way to my sister's house where she will cook a big meal for everybody (to include her in-laws).

I've recently found out (thanks to a fellow Dis-er) that the Christmas Eve thing is part of a German tradition. My father was German, so I'm assuming that is where my family got it from.

- Laura

 

[Rose&Mike]

I tried to post yesterday, but my friend the Poof Fairy paid me a visit.

I am getting very frustrated with having to eat gluten. I am so nauseous. The worst part though is the vertigo. I can only push through it so much before I'm exhausted. My weight is up too. I cannot wait to go back to eating gluten free.

CC--why are you doing a gluten challenge? Do they have tests they want to run? What are they looking for specifically? I can't imagine doing a gluten challenge--part of the reason I gave up on having an official c-d diagnosis. They really need to come up with better tests!

 

[EDuke98080]

CC--why are you doing a gluten challenge? Do they have tests they want to run? What are they looking for specifically? I can't imagine doing a gluten challenge--part of the reason I gave up on having an official c-d diagnosis. They really need to come up with better tests!

I was thinking the same thing when I read the original post. My Dr. said that when symptoms are that severe on gluten she never would have a patient do a gluten challenge. My GI gave me the diagnosis w/o a challenge, said that the significant improvement on a gluten free diet speaks volumes and is the right treatment without a biopsy. I am so sick if I get gluten by mistake, I cannot ever imagine eating it on purpose. They do need better tests! I hope that the challenge is over soon, I sympathize with the gluten discomfort I do think it is important for each person to do whatever their Dr recommends for their individual situation though.

 

[glss1/2fll]

I admit it. I live in the dark ages. I don't have a playlist because I don't have an ipod. I really like quiet. Quiet is nice. But since the cold weather started and I've actually ran a few times on a treadmill, I can see where some jamming music would be good.

We open our presents before breakfast. The kids have a strict rule that they cannot get up before 7:30 AM. Once up they can go directly to their stocking, but presents have to wait for everybody! Breakfast is usually something prepared the night before and popped in the oven as soon as we get up. Nobody is hungry right away because they shovel in the goodies from their stockings!

I ran today and was just so tuckered out afterwards. Not sure why. My time was fast but I didn't feel like I was rushing or speeding--just plodding along! weird

Got some goodies wrapped up today--much to DS2's chagrin, "Ahh." But he was the reason I decided I'd better do it NOW. I'm still behind and DH is talking about taking a little road trip Thursday and coming home Christmas Eve. It'll be fun, but adds a lot of stress for me in terms of baking/Christmas dinner.

Tomorrow is spend the day at the basketball tournament day! Yahoo! That there's sarcasm! DS2 has a game at 10:30. I work concession stand 11:45 to 2:45 then have a nice long break until DS1's game at 8 PM. I'm also helping out with the hospitality room's lunch that day and breakfast the next day. Fortunately I've done my part of the shopping so it should be easy to get things organized with the other moms. I don't think coaches and referrees are into pretty so no decorating to worry about!

 

[my3princes]

Good Morning. I didn't seem to sleep much last night. ugh. Not sure if I dread work this morning or what. I do know that this is going to be a very long 10 1/2 hour day. I need to pick up stamps after work and get our Christmas cards mailed out. They may even arrive to their destinations before Christmas

I made a couple dozen Christmas ornaments last night. I make some sort of new ornament each year and hadn't done so this year to I'm glad to keep up tradition and now I have fill in gifts for friends and teachers I feel like I'm doing well on the Chrismtas front. The house could use a good cleaning, but otherwise all seems well.

We have an appointment with our Mortgage officer on Friday to refinance, but I heard that her Dad passed away on Saturday morning so I would think that may need to be put off until the following week. I'd love to get the process moving, but I totally understand and feel horrible about her loss. She has done all of our mortgages so I don't want to switch officers just for the sake of getting it done.

My tummy is off this morning and food just doesn't look appealing. It's hard to pack a breakfast and lunch when the thought of eating makes me cringe, but I'm hoping that I feel like eating at some point. Guess I should take some vitamins just to be sure I get some nutrients in.

Have a great Day!!

 

[pjlla]

Happy Monday morning friends! I"m glad to see that so many of you have made the successful move to our new thread!

I will be your coach today! I am working, so that may mean I am not able to pop on a lot today, but I trust that you will all be able to take care of each other!

QOTD for 12/19/11:

We all have great family traditions for holiday time, be it Hannukkah, Kwaanza, or Christmas. But imagine life got REALLY crazy busy and you had to start dropping things from your list. What is the ONE tradition that you could not possibly foresee giving up? Is is making special cookies together as a family? Is it a relaxing cocktail party with friends? Trimming the tree with your kids??

For us I would say it was just our relaxing Christmas morning together. DH's schedule for many years made it impossible to have any traditions for Christmas Eve. And we aren't the "cocktail party" types. And again, his schedule kept us from decorating together as a family (although he is always there to help cut the tree and bring it in.... well, except for last year). So our tradition boils down to Christmas morning.... at home, in our jammies, opening gifts and having a nice breakfast.

Looking forward to all of your answers!..........................P

 

[pjlla]

HEY... where is everyone???

Anyhow, I have thought of a bonus QOTD! For those who celebrate Christmas....


White or colored lights??? Flashing or still???

For those who celebrate Hannukah.....

Real candles or electric??

............P

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Shawn, yes we do have quite a collection of boys on this thread. Luckily we have people like liesel, Pamela, Buffy and Taryn with Disney girls for our Disney boys.

Only 1 girl and I think she's to young for most of this crew!! LOL My boys are in the 10-15 age range too.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

OH I forgot to readd them to my playlist!! I took it off for summer. For some reason my iPod is hung up on BBVD, every other song was theirs.
ETA Dona, we've seen them at the casino a few times. They play in the Wolf Den and it's free but you have to be in line like 3 - 4 hours before they open the doors. The boys love them too, DS10 used to call then Boo Bat Daddy when he was little.

We were discussing our Disney trip for next Christmas a little while ago.

Oh you'll have to let me know when you go!! We are headed down the 18th to the 28th. I can't wait!!

CC--why are you doing a gluten challenge? Do they have tests they want to run? What are they looking for specifically? I can't imagine doing a gluten challenge--part of the reason I gave up on having an official c-d diagnosis. They really need to come up with better tests!

I was going to ask the same thing. CC don't torture yourself if you are sure you are going to get the actual diagnosis you already know. You know your body better then anyone else.

I admit it. I live in the dark ages. I don't have a playlist because I don't have an ipod. I really like quiet. Quiet is nice. But since the cold weather started and I've actually ran a few times on a treadmill, I can see where some jamming music would be good.

I love the quiet too but if there is no background noise my ears ring constantly! To the point it's painful.

We all have great family traditions for holiday time, be it Hannukkah, Kwaanza, or Christmas. But imagine life got REALLY crazy busy and you had to start dropping things from your list. What is the ONE tradition that you could not possibly foresee giving up? Is is making special cookies together as a family? Is it a relaxing cocktail party with friends? Trimming the tree with your kids??

I won't give up buying the kids their annual ornament and seeing Santa. Even when they are all adults and teens we will go see Santa.

White or colored lights??? Flashing or still???

Main tree and boys room have colored, craft room, bathroom and our room have white. DD wants to change hers to colored though.
Still lights, the blinking gives me a headache.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

One more quick post before I have to run. DS11 called from school with an upset tummy.

Anyway just wanted to post that the caffeine headaches are finally gone. I've been staying strong with the no soda thing and the no fast food. And I'm down 3 pounds in the last month. I was back up to my original weight from the beginning of the challenge but just scaling back those 2 things has made a huge difference!!!
January 1 I'm kicking it into high gear because I'm aiming for the Princess 1/2 in 2013. Plus we have 6 months until Disney and I want to be down at least 20 pounds.

 

[bellebookworm9]

We all have great family traditions for holiday time, be it Hannukkah, Kwaanza, or Christmas. But imagine life got REALLY crazy busy and you had to start dropping things from your list. What is the ONE tradition that you could not possibly foresee giving up? Is is making special cookies together as a family? Is it a relaxing cocktail party with friends? Trimming the tree with your kids??

We don't really have many traditions that I couldn't live without. As long as I have my little Christmas tree and some music, I'm happy.

White or colored lights??? Flashing or still???

Colored. We keep them on still, but occasionally the ones over the fireplace will blink when they are set on still-my mom says it's my grandfather teasing us.

***********
Today is going to be busy because I'm moving out! I'm doing a last load of laundry and then packing up the last few little things.

 

[pjlla]

Only 1 girl and I think she's to young for most of this crew!! LOL My boys are in the 10-15 age range too.

Well.... my DD is too old for most of the boys here! She is 16 1/2.... but would love it if the right Disney-lovin' guy appeared in her life in a few years. A castle-front proposal and Disney wedding is definitely in her future plans!!


I won't give up buying the kids their annual ornament and seeing Santa. Even when they are all adults and teens we will go see Santa.

My kids always get an ornament, but we've never been regular visitors to Santa. You must have years of pictures!


Main tree and boys room have colored, craft room, bathroom and our room have white. DD wants to change hers to colored though.
Still lights, the blinking gives me a headache.

Yup, me too... blinking lights make me a little....

One more quick post before I have to run. DS11 called from school with an upset tummy.

Sorry to hear this. I"ve been told that there is a stomach bug traveling through the school here.....just gonna keep washing my hands today!

Anyway just wanted to post that the caffeine headaches are finally gone. I've been staying strong with the no soda thing and the no fast food. And I'm down 3 pounds in the last month. I was back up to my original weight from the beginning of the challenge but just scaling back those 2 things has made a huge difference!!!
January 1 I'm kicking it into high gear because I'm aiming for the Princess 1/2 in 2013. Plus we have 6 months until Disney and I want to be down at least 20 pounds.

You are doing GREAT with the caffeine and fastfood bans! WTG!! Our Dunkin Donuts ban didn't even last 12 hours!! Because there isn't any other fast food out where we live and we are in the car A LOT, we tend to use it as afterschool snacks and the occasional meal. Thank goodness that the kids don't care much for donuts. Usually it is something like a decaf iced mocha latte with skim/no sugar for DD and an egg and cheese wrap for DS.

We don't really have many traditions that I couldn't live without. As long as I have my little Christmas tree and some music, I'm happy.


Easily pleased.... that's nice!


Colored. We keep them on still, but occasionally the ones over the fireplace will blink when they are set on still-my mom says it's my grandfather teasing us.

***********
Today is going to be busy because I'm moving out! I'm doing a last load of laundry and then packing up the last few little things.

Oh my.... last bit of packing. It must feel strange.


****

Off to see if any one else has posted in the 2+ hours since I started this post!! ................P

 

[pjlla]

Well.... looks like I scared everyone off with my difficult questions today!!

I'll just make one comment about my day..... this is the kind of class that makes teachers take up heavy drinking!!


But I'll make it through the day. Not sure if I am working tomorrow or not. I would love to say NO, as I need to hit the dump and buy one last large gift at Target.... but the $$ is nice too.

DD has a Rainbow Girls initation tonight, so it will be a long meeting. I won't hang around. I think I will grab some Subway for DS and myself and try to buy a few stocking stuffers for DH and maybe hit Target for that one last gift I need, in case I do end up working tomorrow. Or I'll see if DD can carpool to Rainbow and I'll stay home and clean!!

Lunch today was yummy..... small mixed green salad topped with some cold leftover baked fish from Friday night.... very filling, even on a cold day. I'd love a cup of coffee right now, as my fingers are cold, but I'm trying to cut back on the acidity in my system, so will skip it for now. Maybe I'll enjoy a cup of decaf tonight when I am out.... and I'll have a green tea after school.

Anyway.... I am presuming that it is quiet here because everyone is busy with their last minute holiday stuff and work. I'll pop on again later..........P

 

[my3princes]

Happy Monday morning friends! I"m glad to see that so many of you have made the successful move to our new thread!

I will be your coach today! I am working, so that may mean I am not able to pop on a lot today, but I trust that you will all be able to take care of each other!

QOTD for 12/19/11:

We all have great family traditions for holiday time, be it Hannukkah, Kwaanza, or Christmas. But imagine life got REALLY crazy busy and you had to start dropping things from your list. What is the ONE tradition that you could not possibly foresee giving up? Is is making special cookies together as a family? Is it a relaxing cocktail party with friends? Trimming the tree with your kids??

For us I would say it was just our relaxing Christmas morning together. DH's schedule for many years made it impossible to have any traditions for Christmas Eve. And we aren't the "cocktail party" types. And again, his schedule kept us from decorating together as a family (although he is always there to help cut the tree and bring it in.... well, except for last year). So our tradition boils down to Christmas morning.... at home, in our jammies, opening gifts and having a nice breakfast.

Looking forward to all of your answers!..........................P

Spending time with family is the only tradition that I wouldn't give up. Other things can come and go, but family is what life is all about. We really had an awaking when Hunter was sick as I sure that many can relate to.

HEY... where is everyone???

Anyhow, I have thought of a bonus QOTD! For those who celebrate Christmas....


White or colored lights??? Flashing or still???

For those who celebrate Hannukah.....

Real candles or electric??

............P

We used to do white lights, even clear bulbs in the candles in the windows, but over the years we have transitioned to colored lights. I even switched to red bulbs in the windows this year. We still have one tree with white lights as they are built into the tree, but I think that's it. I HATE blinking lights all of our are non blinking. One of our neighbors got very fast blinking LED lights for their porch. I keep wondering if people will get seizures driving by

I finally found time to take my lunch break so I thought I'd try to keep up. My office mate is on vacation for 2 weeks so I have my own office

 

[mackeysmom]

QOTD for 12/19/11:

What is the ONE tradition that you could not possibly foresee giving up?

Each year, my local newspaper prints a list of houses on Long Island with amazing Christmas light displays. We have a tradition to drive around and check them ALL out - on the same night. (For those of you who don't know Long Island, we're not talking about a quick drive around the neighborhood - we are talking about several hours of driving/sightseeing. ) We will listen to Christmas CDs the whole time and usually drop by Dunkin Donuts at some point to get hot chocolate.

Bonus QOTD! For those who celebrate Christmas....

White or colored lights??? Flashing or still???

I decorate in only blue and green lights - all still, no flashing. In the house I have a white Christmas tree with blue lights, my front windows have green lights, and I have blue and green lights on the bushes outside my house.

I know they look white in the picture - but the lights on the tree are blue (as are all of the decorations).

- Laura

 

[Worfiedoodles]

QOTD for 12/19/11:We all have great family traditions for holiday time, be it Hannukkah, Kwaanza, or Christmas. But imagine life got REALLY crazy busy and you had to start dropping things from your list. What is the ONE tradition that you could not possibly foresee giving up? Is is making special cookies together as a family? Is it a relaxing cocktail party with friends? Trimming the tree with your kids??

The one thing I won't give up is being with my Dad. He comes out every Christmas. The only one I have ever spent without him was when I was 8 mos pregnant and he was working, so couldn't fly out.

White or colored lights??? Flashing or still???

For those who celebrate Hannukah.....

Real candles or electric??

............P

The lights on our tree are white and don't blink. We have a variety of lights outside (one is a strand of giant bulbs that goes around our retaining wall and is multi-colored).

Maria

 

[Disneywedding2010]

Christmas tradition I could do without -- all the baking

Lights: We have multi colored stilll lights around the house and white still lights on the Christmas tree

I baked for about an hour and a half today.

2 dozen oatmeal butterscotchies
3 dozen chocolate covered pretzels
2.5 dozen peanut butter blossoms

I'm going to make chocolate chip tomorrow

I'm going to eat some dinner (yummy roast in the crockpot) and then I'm going to go watch some DVR'ed shows. I'm really tired today and other then baking didn't do a whole lot today. I'm hoping my mood will pep up tomorrow.