Biggest Loser--Fall 2011 Challenge for Losers & Maintainers!!

[my3princes]

QOTD: We have very few family traditions, but the ones we have are very important to us. Thanksgiving is very simple and tends to be healthier than what you seen in magazines. My father usually puts chestnuts in the stuffing, but this year's crop spoiled so we couldn't use them. Shopping on Black Friday has become a tradition for my mother, my sister, and I. The mall near my sister's apartment has all the stores, including Target, there so it ends up being pretty easy of a day. Our big tradition is Christmas Eve at my mother's parents. We spend hours the day before stuffing squid tubes with a stuffing mixture and then sewing the tube closed. My grandmother makes a special "squid" sauce and we have them with pasta. It is the only time of the year that my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and my immediate family all get together unless we are celebrating something else. My mother's brother and his wife didn't come to my sister's wedding, so it probably hasn't happened outside of Christmas Eve in at least five years. There is a lot of talking at the adult table, so it's the kids' table that looks civilized. We may be between 19 and 31 in age, but we will never give up our kids' table.

Black Friday shopping yesterday went very well. We got to the mall early enough to get all the deals we wanted. We started at JCPenney to buy a few kitchen appliances. They are mostly for my sister and BIL who are still in need of items for their kitchen. We bought 2 babies their gifts as well. We took those to the car and then went back to buy me a coat. I ended up getting 2 and my sister got one as well. We then went on to the Christmas Tree Shoppes. It was packed. It always is, so we were prepared, but still. I don't understand the demand there sometimes. I understand the wrapping paper and bags and stuff like that, but people were going nuts over candy. We went back to JCPenney to shop for my dad and BIL, but were not very successful. We didn't have a plan for them, so no big deal. We went to A.C. Moore, but my sister didn't find what she needed. She is trying to make my mom a piece of jewelry for Christmas and they are both being fussy. We went to Macy's and I got a new pair of jeans there. I'm not exactly happy with the numerical size, the I love the fit! We walked into Old Navy and saw the line to cash out and then immedidately walked out of there. It was probably 30 people long. I think it was after that that we bought our Christmas cards at Hallmark and then left for the day. We brought some water with us, but lunch was just so salty that we were starting to feel it. My sister and mom split some Chinese food and I ordered from a Mexican restaurant that serves gluten free nachos for $4 plus tax. I obviously flushed the salt out nicely because I was down over half a pound this morning. (I weighed in yesterday and was down 3+ pounds for the week. )

Well, that's about it for me. I stayed OP today and will enjoy some pudding later this evening. I find pudding to be a good evening snack. I eat a full cup of it so it's a full serving of dairy plus the flavor of chocolate for not too many calories. It fills me up too!

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone!

Very cool traditions. I've never heard of stuffing squid tubes?, but it sounds like an old tradition.

We have several videos that we watch. Two of them are the Snowden on Ice ones I mentioned a while back, and one of them is a Wee Sing Christmas. We don't do many outside decorations anymore, maybe some lights in the windows. I'm not putting the tree up before I leave, so that will more than likely not happen until I come home again on December 19th. We might not put it up at all, might just use my fiber optic one when it comes home.

We normally have a gathering between Christmas and New Years' at my aunt's house, but I don't really enjoy those. I'm the only one of my age, everyone else is under the age of 7 or over the age of 35, right on up to 85.

**********
I officially made my reservation at Pop Century today. My experience with renting DVC points has really gone downhill. The first person I rented from for our May 2010 trip was awesome, even offering to upgrade us to a Savannah view with no extra cost to me, because he read my pre-trip report and thought I sounded nice and "nice people should have good things happen to them." The person I rented from for October was okay, but had some communication issues with her. This person I will never use again. I first e-mailed over a month ago asking if she could move our reservation up two nights (at Old Key West), and e-mailed her twice more. Never heard back, so today I e-mailed again and asked her to cancel it. Don't know if it will happen or not.

But I'm booked in a standard view at Pop on January 10th. I've requested a king bed, we'll see what happens. I land at 11:25am, and don't really have plans that day; I think some of us might meet up at Downtown Disney.

Mom decided she would come visit for a few days, February 9-12, so we booked her at Pop as well. She wanted Port Orleans, but it's a little too expensive, even with the CM discount I'll get. So she reserved a preferred room, requested upper floor corner. I'll try and get those few days off to spend with her.

I'm making a grocery list for this week and going shopping for healthy food before I go get Mom from work. Going back to school tomorrow and need to use up all the frozen meat that is there in three weeks!

Wow, you're leaving soon for Disney. How long is your work study with Disney? Do you know what you'll be doing?

 

[bellebookworm9]

Wow, you're leaving soon for Disney. How long is your work study with Disney? Do you know what you'll be doing?

Yup, I just need to power through the next three weeks: one short presentation on autism, one child development test, one sociolinguistics paper, one sociolinguistics take home final, one piano performance exam (I never want to hear "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" after next Tuesday), one written music exam, and my flute "jury". Then I have three days to pack between my last final and coming home.

It's exactly four months, from January 11th-May 11th. I am Main Entrance Operations, which according to Disney, could be any of the following things: Parking, Park Greeter, Ticket Operations; staffing outdoor Toll Plaza areas; operating a large motorized parking tram and delivering narrations on a microphone; greeting all Guests who enter the park and validating their tickets; operating turnstile areas; selling various ticket media at our water parks, Downtown Disney, or Disney’s Wide World of Sports; using computerized ticketing systems; strong knowledge of Walt Disney World Resort ticket media; cash handling - both manual and using computerized registers; assisting with audience control, including during parades; cleaning main entrance areas; standing for extended periods; and working outdoors. A valid driver's license is required for certain Main Entrance Operations roles.

I won't know for certain what I'll be doing until I arrive.

 

[my3princes]

That's a wide range of possibilities. I hope you get something good

 

[tigger813]

Just saw on FB that Nancy had her baby boy earlier tonight! No name as of yet!

Just wanted to share some good news!

Been decorating since I got home from work at 2 today. Brian's at his hs reunion tonight. Girls helped me with the tree and getting the downstairs decorated for my parents. I'm still trying to find places for everything upstairs. I can't put the window lights up until tomorrow as I can't find the suction cups so I will run to the store tomorrow to get more after church. I'm doing some laundry. Got the kitchen cleaned and one load in the dishwasher. I cleaned off the dining room table and put a plastic Christmas tablecloth on.

I need to get back to work. Ash went to bed late as I wanted her to finish her math homework that's due Monday. She has an English assignment to finish tomorrow as well as finish her room.

Back to work!

TTFN

 

[bellebookworm9]

Just saw on FB that Nancy had her baby boy earlier tonight! No name as of yet!

Just wanted to share some good news!

That's great! I was thinking about her the other night and wondering if she'd had the baby yet. I was thinking about other BL people we haven't heard from in a while, like Cam and Trina...anyone heard from them lately?

 

[glss1/2fll]

Just saw on FB that Nancy had her baby boy earlier tonight! No name as of yet!

Ohhh good. I was just thinking about her last week and wondering if the baby had arrived, if they'd sold their house, if they'd moved. Can't wait to hear the name. Thanks for keeping us posted!

QOTDs: Something I realized I was thankful for the day before Thanksgiving was pretty much never having that "I am so full" feeling. Well, guess what I've been feeling the last 3 days?! So glad we are home and there's no food in the house. Did have a nice Thanksgiving with family. We don't put up any Christmas decorations until after DS2's birthday on the 14th. Then nothing spectacular. The tree comes out of the box each year (LOVE that!) and a quilt/Santa decoration my mom made goes up on the wall, a few other things get scattered throughout the house and that's it. There was tons more when the kids were little, but I've been whittling back as they age. Mostly because they don't seem to care. Each day I do my advent Bible quote. Decorations go down January 6th.

We went Black Friday shopping a bit. Got up at 3:30 and headed off to the closest big town to my parents. Hit JCP (got our snowglobes!) for clothes for the boys. Gotta love dress shirts and ties for $10 each! Were at the next store a bit before they opened at 5 and got our free donut holes and juice along with half price socks. A year's supply for all of us! Also got a winter-ish jacket (only $20) for DS2 since he doesn't have one. Were back at Grandma's by 6:10 and everybody was asleep by 6:15!

Got back today with enough daylight for me to run 2.5 miles. I've been doing 1.5 for forever it seems. Today was great! Eventually I'll make it back up to my one time usual 3+ miles. LisaH, I love your idea about the jacket; I'll have to look for it! Thanks.

Better get to bed. DS2 has to be at church at 8:20 tomorrow. No sleeping in for us!

Hope everybody has a super Sunday!

 

[mikamah]

Good morning!

Congratulations to Nancy and her new little angel. So exciting for her. I know one day soon she'll be back here.

Happy belated birthdays to Buffy and LTS!

I'm back from my brothers and we had a wonderful time. I must say how impressed I am with so many of you who did so well over the holiday. I definitely did not deprive myself one bit, but we did get out for a walk each day, and we did our 5k thanksgiving morning, so was happy to step on the scale and only be up 2.6 pounds today. I am ready for the PIP plan, to get back on track, track every bite and stay within my points from now til 12/23 at least 80% the time. I didn't finish the halloween-thanksgiving challenge successfully, wednesday night I made a chocolate mousse pie that wouldn't fit in the crust, so i had to finish the mousse. Even though I had no points left. And it was delicious. And today is a new day. Back on track, stay focused and lose that 2.6 turkey day weight by friday.

Deb-Thank you for coaching this week with the busy holiday weekend too. You're quite the shopper. I bought matching pajamas for my nieces on the Childrens place website, and that was the extent of my black friday shopping.

Lisa-Congratulations on earning your clippie back. 40 pounds is fabulous. I know you will reach your goal for the Tink. Hope you had a great 12 mile run yesterday!!! Love that you were looking forward to it.

Pamela-Your weekend at your mom's sounds perfect. I love going to my brothers for the same reason, we just lounge around in the mornings and drink our coffee. The kids got along great this whole weekend. Nice job on the running!! It's so nice when it feels good, but when it doesn't it's so painful. I wish I could go to the Nashua meet. Even if no bl members are going, I know you would have fun. I of course can't remember who I met other than Tracey and her family the time we did it, but I remember chatting with several different people, a couple sisters, a mom and daughter, all very easy to talk to and all with the same passion and love for disney, so I know if you go you will have a great time. But I know what you mean about going alone too. And we saw the muppet movie yesterday and loved it.

CC-Nice job staying on track this weekend. Thanks for the pamper week. I don't think I got enough water in yesterday, so I'm going to do it today and start flushing the t-day weight away.

qotd-thursday- I am so grateful for all of you here and for the endless support, my knees and ankles that allow me to run when I choose to, and my porches where I love to sit and relax and regroup.

QOTD-friday-To be honest, I didn't try to stay on track over thanksgiving. I ate all that I wanted, was full, but didn't feel sick like I over did it. The good things I did was start the day off with a 5k race, and after dinner, before pie, we took a short walk around the neighborhood. And friday/saturday we enjoyed the leftovers, but I think being away, prevented me from totally overdoing the pie. If I was home, I certainly could have and have in the past eaten a few piece of pie while watching tv at night. Sitting around the table with my brother's family whenever we ate was so nice.

saturday qotd -I have Christmas eve here at my house, which I love doing. My siblings and family and my best friend and her family come over, I make chicken broc ziti, and lots of appetizers, and desserts. I've been doing since I bought my condo back in 1991, so I guess this is my 20th year, except for one year my mom was sick, so we had it over there at my sisters. I love to decorate, and normally do some this weekend, but we'll be a little delayed this year, hoping to get the basement really cleaned out and organized first. I have a ton of decorations for in the house, and we'll go cut a tree down in a couple weekends. I usually put icicle lights on the front porch but I know one string stopped working last year, so don't know if we'll do that this year or not.

Hello to everyone else! Hope you all had a very nice holiday weekend!

 

[lisah0711]

Good morning all!

A big BL congratulations to Nancy on the arrival of Bronxbaby!

Saturday QOTD: I just realized that I hadn't posted at qotd yet. So since there has been lots of talk of shopping and decorating etc, I would love to hear what your family per holiday traditions are, not matter what you celebrate.

We do a lot of holiday decorating at our house. Christmas is one of the larger ones. One of my favorites is an aluminum Christmas tree that we put up in our home office -- it is just like the one we had when I was little. (My parents had left the midwest and were living in Southern California and were young and modern).

And speaking of holiday traditions . . . does anyone hear the faint sound of bells? I think they might be jingle bells heading our way . . .

The Biggest Loser Alumni Holiday thread will be starting on Friday 12/16 and ending Saturday 12/31. It's an informal challenge with daily coaching and no weightkeeping our other challenges. Just hanging out together giving each other support. We try and see if we can round up so alumni from past challenges as well. I have several daily coaching spots open so if you are interested please PM me. The thread won't be posted for awhile yet.

Have a great day all!

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

QOTD Holiday Traditions...
For as many yrs as I can remember we have done the X-mas decs going up the T-day weekend. We do an advent calendar. 2 trees-one is FR with colored lights and des, 1 in LR with white lites,gold,red,clear,more traditional orns-me and 2 DS. Usually the outside lights are done by DH and 2 DS. I do the inside (garlands,decs in each room) mostly by myself.
Lots ofcookies and baking. Christmas dinner for everyone at our house.

Our annual Christmas trip to WDW! Thiss has been for many yrs. In 2003 we did a 1 wk cruise-on Magic- instead of the parks but just wasn't quite the same. I did love how beautifull the ship looked though all dressed for X=mas.

 

[my3princes]

Just saw on FB that Nancy had her baby boy earlier tonight! No name as of yet!

Just wanted to share some good news!

Been decorating since I got home from work at 2 today. Brian's at his hs reunion tonight. Girls helped me with the tree and getting the downstairs decorated for my parents. I'm still trying to find places for everything upstairs. I can't put the window lights up until tomorrow as I can't find the suction cups so I will run to the store tomorrow to get more after church. I'm doing some laundry. Got the kitchen cleaned and one load in the dishwasher. I cleaned off the dining room table and put a plastic Christmas tablecloth on.

I need to get back to work. Ash went to bed late as I wanted her to finish her math homework that's due Monday. She has an English assignment to finish tomorrow as well as finish her room.

Back to work!

TTFN

Yeah for Nancy. Can't wait to hear the detail

Good morning!

Congratulations to Nancy and her new little angel. So exciting for her. I know one day soon she'll be back here.

Happy belated birthdays to Buffy and LTS!

I'm back from my brothers and we had a wonderful time. I must say how impressed I am with so many of you who did so well over the holiday. I definitely did not deprive myself one bit, but we did get out for a walk each day, and we did our 5k thanksgiving morning, so was happy to step on the scale and only be up 2.6 pounds today. I am ready for the PIP plan, to get back on track, track every bite and stay within my points from now til 12/23 at least 80% the time. I didn't finish the halloween-thanksgiving challenge successfully, wednesday night I made a chocolate mousse pie that wouldn't fit in the crust, so i had to finish the mousse. Even though I had no points left. And it was delicious. And today is a new day. Back on track, stay focused and lose that 2.6 turkey day weight by friday.

Deb-Thank you for coaching this week with the busy holiday weekend too. You're quite the shopper. I bought matching pajamas for my nieces on the Childrens place website, and that was the extent of my black friday shopping.

Lisa-Congratulations on earning your clippie back. 40 pounds is fabulous. I know you will reach your goal for the Tink. Hope you had a great 12 mile run yesterday!!! Love that you were looking forward to it.

Pamela-Your weekend at your mom's sounds perfect. I love going to my brothers for the same reason, we just lounge around in the mornings and drink our coffee. The kids got along great this whole weekend. Nice job on the running!! It's so nice when it feels good, but when it doesn't it's so painful. I wish I could go to the Nashua meet. Even if no bl members are going, I know you would have fun. I of course can't remember who I met other than Tracey and her family the time we did it, but I remember chatting with several different people, a couple sisters, a mom and daughter, all very easy to talk to and all with the same passion and love for disney, so I know if you go you will have a great time. But I know what you mean about going alone too. And we saw the muppet movie yesterday and loved it.

CC-Nice job staying on track this weekend. Thanks for the pamper week. I don't think I got enough water in yesterday, so I'm going to do it today and start flushing the t-day weight away.

qotd-thursday- I am so grateful for all of you here and for the endless support, my knees and ankles that allow me to run when I choose to, and my porches where I love to sit and relax and regroup.

QOTD-friday-To be honest, I didn't try to stay on track over thanksgiving. I ate all that I wanted, was full, but didn't feel sick like I over did it. The good things I did was start the day off with a 5k race, and after dinner, before pie, we took a short walk around the neighborhood. And friday/saturday we enjoyed the leftovers, but I think being away, prevented me from totally overdoing the pie. If I was home, I certainly could have and have in the past eaten a few piece of pie while watching tv at night. Sitting around the table with my brother's family whenever we ate was so nice.

saturday qotd -I have Christmas eve here at my house, which I love doing. My siblings and family and my best friend and her family come over, I make chicken broc ziti, and lots of appetizers, and desserts. I've been doing since I bought my condo back in 1991, so I guess this is my 20th year, except for one year my mom was sick, so we had it over there at my sisters. I love to decorate, and normally do some this weekend, but we'll be a little delayed this year, hoping to get the basement really cleaned out and organized first. I have a ton of decorations for in the house, and we'll go cut a tree down in a couple weekends. I usually put icicle lights on the front porch but I know one string stopped working last year, so don't know if we'll do that this year or not.

Hello to everyone else! Hope you all had a very nice holiday weekend!

I'm glad that your jumping back on track today. Hopefully those few lbs gained with be short lived. congrats on the 5K

Good morning all!

A big BL congratulations to Nancy on the arrival of Bronxbaby!



We do a lot of holiday decorating at our house. Christmas is one of the larger ones. One of my favorites is an aluminum Christmas tree that we put up in our home office -- it is just like the one we had when I was little. (My parents had left the midwest and were living in Southern California and were young and modern).

And speaking of holiday traditions . . . does anyone hear the faint sound of bells? I think they might be jingle bells heading our way . . .

The Biggest Loser Alumni Holiday thread will be starting on Friday 12/16 and ending Saturday 12/31. It's an informal challenge with daily coaching and no weightkeeping our other challenges. Just hanging out together giving each other support. We try and see if we can round up so alumni from past challenges as well. I have several daily coaching spots open so if you are interested please PM me. The thread won't be posted for awhile yet.

Have a great day all!

Have fun decorating. The Aluminum Christmas Tree sounds interesting. I'm sure I'll be around for the Christmas chat thread.

 

[my3princes]

QOTD Sunday: What can you do Today to better prepare yourself to stay on track this week?

I use Sunday as an opportunity to catch up on laundry, get all the meds organized for each day of the coming week, make a big batch of crepes for the kids to heat up in the mornings for breakfast. All the little things that add up during the week and take away from the time I could be using to exercise, eat better or sleep

 

[dvccruiser76]

DD's stress level is absolutely off the charts right now and I just don't know what I can do to help her. And of course, anything that is going wrong now is totally my fault. I have been trying to help her with keeping her room picked up, bed made, laundry clean, swim bag packed/unpacked, lunch sack packed/unpacked. But I cannot do her homework for her, I can't do swim practice for her, I cannot go to school for her.

Hi Pamela,
Hope DD is doing better. My niece does swimming this year and my sister said it is a really big commitment. I'm sure with everything else it's a lot to handle.

I can't believe we are leaving for NYC next Weds !!!

Yahoo, how was the parade? What time did you get in line and did you have a good view?

It occurred to me that since I started the WISH BL Challenges, I have gained 40 lbs. I feel like I am completely stuck. I checked with the pharmacist today and it is not my meds. Actually, some of them cause weight loss. I will be bringing plenty of water with me tomorrow and am optimistic that that will help. I figure I'll "start at the very beginning, for that's a very good place to start."

Hang in there, you've been doing great the last couple of weeks and the boards show

Yesterday, though, I did the coolest thing. My sister, a friend, and I went on a Pizza Walking Tour. It was a three-hour walking tour through Little Italy, Chinatown, and Greenwich Village. We learned all about the history of pizza - how it came to NYC from Italy, the history of the old coal-fired stoves, etc. Along the way, we stopped at three different pizza places and sampled slices. We also stopped at a small cheese shop and got to sample fresh mozzarella cheese that was made just minutes earlier.

Very cool, I'm going to check out the link.

Just selected my dates for the college program: January 11th-May 11th! It's the second move in date, so I'm very excited-and that means less time between my last day of work at school and first day of work there!

Yahoo, that answers my pm

Hello Friends!!!! I have let my busy life get in my way since last july and I am ready to say move over life because I am just as important too! So I am back and committed to doing my best to finish out this challenge.

We're glad to have you back

I was helping Alan unpack the last few boxes we have in the house. I came across Josh and I's old DVD camcorder. I hadn't seen it in years and actually thought I had lost it.

I took it and went back into the office. I went looking through my desk and found a few of the mini DVDs that I had recorded stuff onto. I plugged the camera in to let the battery charge some off the charger. I then stuck a DVD in and held my breath as I hit "PLAY."

What comes up on the screen you ask?

Maddie, at about 4 months old. The only reason I know that is because she had a pacifer in her mouth. At around 6 months old she gave them up cold turkey.

I sat back and just watched it. I hit the finalize button to make sure it was finalized. The next step was to remove it from the camcorder and stick it in the DVD player. Would I get lucky? Would I actually be able to watch it on the 32 inch screen tv? I put it in hit a few buttons on the remote and held my brath again as I hit play. There smiling back at me, Maddie.

I put another one in and almost cried when I realized it was NICU footage. Alan was in the guest bedroom organizing stuff. I called for him to come in the office. He walked in and took one look at the tv, took a look at me, back at the tv and said two words,

"Awwww Maddie"....

Happy birthday & Merry Christmas to me all wrapped into one.

I don't need anything else...


I got on the scale this morning and I lost 3 pounds! I've NEVER lost 3 pounds in a week. I had set a goal to lose 10 pounds by the end of November. I only have 2 more pounds to lose! I had bought a couple pairs of size 22 jeans about 4 weeks ago. For giggles I went and tried them on about an hour ago and they fit! So in a month I've lost 8 pounds and dropped a pant size!!

Awwww sometimes in the middle of a tough time something good happens Hang in there and keep up the good work, your recent losses each week have been great

Just a quick drive by for now with the QOTD:


If you were one of the seven dwarfs, which one would you be today -- Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, Doc, Sneezy, Bashful or Dopey?

Sleep for sure, this cold is getting the best of me

I hope everyone is having a good weekend! I have not sent my weight in yet, because as of yesterday I was down 4 pounds--from a violently nasty stomach thing that I had on Friday. I'm not sure if it was a virus, food poisoning, or just some very poor choices on my part, but I was dog sick on Friday. Mike came home and worked from home because I was feeling so weak and yucky. So, I'm going to see where I am at tomorrow. I would be much happier with a modest loss for the week.

Hi Rose, hope that you're feeling much better

Hello fellow losers. I'm Deb and I'm your coach for this week. I just got home from Black Friday shopping, we started at 9 PM last night 12 hours later we've successfully conquered all the stores in our area I plan to take a nap soon, but wanted to pop in with the question of the day.

Do you go every year? My BIL's wife goes and shops from midnight until 9 every year. When she told me the line at Kohl's was 2 hours long I had to laugh. It sounds like fun, but I try to be done shopping by Thanksgiving every year so I can relax a bit.

Just saw on FB that Nancy had her baby boy earlier tonight! No name as of yet!

Thanks for the update.

Congratulations Nancy

I'm back from my brothers and we had a wonderful time. I must say how impressed I am with so many of you who did so well over the holiday. I definitely did not deprive myself one bit, but we did get out for a walk each day, and we did our 5k thanksgiving morning, so was happy to step on the scale and only be up 2.6 pounds today. I am ready for the PIP plan, to get back on track, track every bite and stay within my points from now til 12/23 at least 80% the time. I didn't finish the halloween-thanksgiving challenge successfully, wednesday night I made a chocolate mousse pie that wouldn't fit in the crust, so i had to finish the mousse. Even though I had no points left. And it was delicious. And today is a new day. Back on track, stay focused and lose that 2.6 turkey day weight by friday.

Hi Kathy,
How is Michael doing? Lisa mentioned that he was sick. Maybe there is something going around town. Dylan and I have been sick for like 3 weeks now. He just finished Amoxicillin, but still has a cough and mine has gotten even worse. I'm wondering if it's close to pneumonia, so I'm going to call tomorrow and get an appt. to be seen.

Are you going to the tree lighting next weekend?



Hi everyone, hope that you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I had a crazy week at work the previous week, so slacked a bit and then we left for NH on Wednesday so I'm just catching up now.

Keep those weigh ins coming

 

[cclovesdis]

I ended up being busier than I ever expected this morning. I'm sorry this is so late.

Pamper Week, Sunday, 11/27: Spend some time today doing anything you find relaxing.

 

[my3princes]

I do go black friday shopping every year. Several years ago I camped out at Best Buy overnight to get the door busters, but now people start lining up on Wednesday and I'm not that dedicated

We finished decorating the outside of the house and even outlined the camper with rope lights. It looks pretty cool.

Now I'm catching up on my email and Dissing then I'll probably do some Hawaii research. Have a great evening.

 

[jillbur]

Hello everyone! I have been so MIA for a few days now. I'm glad to be back! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice. DS8 has been sick since Monday (with high fever) so I've been preoccupied with him. Today was his first day of being fever free. DS5 started complaining of a headache after church around noon. He put on pajamas and laid on the couch with a blanket. This is not a child who ever stops moving. I took his temp...101.1! Great...DS8 was sick for 6 days! I hope DS5 doesn't have the same thing!

My family (minus DS8) ran a 5k on Thanksgiving and I was so happy with my time! DH and DS5 were supposed to run together, but I think DS got a little scared of all the people (around 1500 people) and decided he would just walk. It took them 54 minutes, but I was so proud that he did it. When I asked if he wanted to do another 5k, he said, "I only want to do 3ks, 2ks, or 1ks from now on." lol. I guess he's not a runner like me and DS8!

My sister and I did the whole Black Friday thing. We were at Walmart at 8 pm so my nephew13 could get a PS3. Luckily they gave tickets for those. It was quite chaotic in our Walmart. I just don't get why people don't think rules apply to them, and just take things before the sale actually starts. I personally didn't see any bad behavior, but others in the store told me some crazy stories (like 2 grown men fighting over a waffle iron and a lady who climbed on top of the display of towels and threw them everywhere). We also hit up Target, Penneys, Sam's Club, Dunham's, Kmart, Sears, and Home Depot. I would have shopped more, but DS8s doctor wanted him to go get bloodwork done, so I had to quit. I did get some great deals and avoided getting pepper sprayed like some people!

My family had Thanksgiving yesterday, so I am feeling pretty full from leftovers today! I did good on my weigh in this week, but I know I'm up today. I didn't get to run today because of rain, so I decorated and cleaned instead. I'm hoping to get to the gym in the am for yoga and pm for circuit training tomorrow since we don't have school (opening day of hunting in PA).

Wow...it feels good to be back lol.

QOTD Sunday: What can you do Today to better prepare yourself to stay on track this week?

I made a weekly menu and grocery list last night and went grocery shopping this morning. I am also getting cleaning and laundry done so I don't get overwhelmed in the middle of the week. I am going to make slow cooker oats tonight so I have breakfast for the week already made. And, hopefully, I will be checking dates, clipping, counting, and bagging Boxtops tonight after the kids are asleep. Myself and my friend split the job. Each class collects and we have a contest to see who gets the most. The winning class gets a pizza or breakfast party. We usually collect before Thanksgiving since it gives me time to count, but I haven't started yet. I am hoping to get half done tonight. Whew-I'm trying to be like pjlla

Jill

 

[jillbur]

I forgot who asked, but someone asked about a high school that was doing Beauty and the Beast. It was West Middlesex High School in West Middlesex, PA. I would be amazed if your family was from the same town. My sister lives there and it is very tiny. But, they did a great job!

Jill

 

[SettinSail]

Hello Losers!!! We are back from NYC and had the BEST time!

We talked about going every year for Thanksgiving but probably will not. It just would not seem right to be away from family every year and we would also have to figure out how to do it much cheaper. Everything was SO expensive! I would love to do some cyber Monday shoppng but I don't think I should after all we spent this week.

As for the parade, it could not have worked out better!!! We left the hotel at 7:35 which is a miracle for us. We had decided to walk the parade route up towards the starting point and just stop at the first place we found that was closest to the street. However, the sidewalks were blocked off every so often and you couldn't go any farther down that street. So we ended up right beside the steps of Bryant Park. We wedged in front of a phone post (the phones were on the other side) so we had something to lean back against and the railing blocking off the street was right in front of us and there was no way anyone else could wedge in there to get in front of us. The sidewalk was blocked off all around the steps to our right and later we were surprised to see that the families of all the police officers walked up at the last moment and got to stand there. Well, a small perk for all the officers do is what I thought but a lot of people were angry about it. We were right on the curb and had nice families on either side of us. 6 young girls sitting on the curb to our left drew a lot of the performers and marchers over to them to throw confetti over them or high five them and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Of course they did that to us too, we all sort of looked like we were together. It was so much fun and over at around 11:30. We were so tired from just standing there so long. It was cold to me but it could have been a lot worse. I wore my new long down coat, hat, gloves and scarf. We got soup and sandwiches from the deli across the street and went back to the hotel room for about 90 mins and watched the AKC dog show until we had our energy back. We didn't know that if we had made it all the way up to the starting point at Central Park there were bleachers there. But no telling what time you had to be there to get a seat. We didn't see any of the Broadway dancers that come out at Herald Square and do their acts. They must not actually walk the parade route. It makes sense but I just never thought about it. We were so pleased about the whole experience. It greatly exceeded our expectations.

Even better, I am only up 1.6 thanks to all the walking we did. I certainly did terrible eating wise

I've only caught up on the last page so far so I'll read back farther as I have time between doing laundry tonight.

 

[my3princes]

Hello everyone! I have been so MIA for a few days now. I'm glad to be back! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice. DS8 has been sick since Monday (with high fever) so I've been preoccupied with him. Today was his first day of being fever free. DS5 started complaining of a headache after church around noon. He put on pajamas and laid on the couch with a blanket. This is not a child who ever stops moving. I took his temp...101.1! Great...DS8 was sick for 6 days! I hope DS5 doesn't have the same thing!

My family (minus DS8) ran a 5k on Thanksgiving and I was so happy with my time! DH and DS5 were supposed to run together, but I think DS got a little scared of all the people (around 1500 people) and decided he would just walk. It took them 54 minutes, but I was so proud that he did it. When I asked if he wanted to do another 5k, he said, "I only want to do 3ks, 2ks, or 1ks from now on." lol. I guess he's not a runner like me and DS8!

My sister and I did the whole Black Friday thing. We were at Walmart at 8 pm so my nephew13 could get a PS3. Luckily they gave tickets for those. It was quite chaotic in our Walmart. I just don't get why people don't think rules apply to them, and just take things before the sale actually starts. I personally didn't see any bad behavior, but others in the store told me some crazy stories (like 2 grown men fighting over a waffle iron and a lady who climbed on top of the display of towels and threw them everywhere). We also hit up Target, Penneys, Sam's Club, Dunham's, Kmart, Sears, and Home Depot. I would have shopped more, but DS8s doctor wanted him to go get bloodwork done, so I had to quit. I did get some great deals and avoided getting pepper sprayed like some people!

My family had Thanksgiving yesterday, so I am feeling pretty full from leftovers today! I did good on my weigh in this week, but I know I'm up today. I didn't get to run today because of rain, so I decorated and cleaned instead. I'm hoping to get to the gym in the am for yoga and pm for circuit training tomorrow since we don't have school (opening day of hunting in PA).

Wow...it feels good to be back lol.




I made a weekly menu and grocery list last night and went grocery shopping this morning. I am also getting cleaning and laundry done so I don't get overwhelmed in the middle of the week. I am going to make slow cooker oats tonight so I have breakfast for the week already made. And, hopefully, I will be checking dates, clipping, counting, and bagging Boxtops tonight after the kids are asleep. Myself and my friend split the job. Each class collects and we have a contest to see who gets the most. The winning class gets a pizza or breakfast party. We usually collect before Thanksgiving since it gives me time to count, but I haven't started yet. I am hoping to get half done tonight. Whew-I'm trying to be like pjlla

Jill

Fabulous job with the 5 K and getting yourself ready for the week ahead.

Hello Losers!!! We are back from NYC and had the BEST time!

We talked about going every year for Thanksgiving but probably will not. It just would not seem right to be away from family every year and we would also have to figure out how to do it much cheaper. Everything was SO expensive! I would love to do some cyber Monday shoppng but I don't think I should after all we spent this week.

As for the parade, it could not have worked out better!!! We left the hotel at 7:35 which is a miracle for us. We had decided to walk the parade route up towards the starting point and just stop at the first place we found that was closest to the street. However, the sidewalks were blocked off every so often and you couldn't go any farther down that street. So we ended up right beside the steps of Bryant Park. We wedged in front of a phone post (the phones were on the other side) so we had something to lean back against and the railing blocking off the street was right in front of us and there was no way anyone else could wedge in there to get in front of us. The sidewalk was blocked off all around the steps to our right and later we were surprised to see that the families of all the police officers walked up at the last moment and got to stand there. Well, a small perk for all the officers do is what I thought but a lot of people were angry about it. We were right on the curb and had nice families on either side of us. 6 young girls sitting on the curb to our left drew a lot of the performers and marchers over to them to throw confetti over them or high five them and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Of course they did that to us too, we all sort of looked like we were together. It was so much fun and over at around 11:30. We were so tired from just standing there so long. It was cold to me but it could have been a lot worse. I wore my new long down coat, hat, gloves and scarf. We got soup and sandwiches from the deli across the street and went back to the hotel room for about 90 mins and watched the AKC dog show until we had our energy back. We didn't know that if we had made it all the way up to the starting point at Central Park there were bleachers there. But no telling what time you had to be there to get a seat. We didn't see any of the Broadway dancers that come out at Herald Square and do their acts. They must not actually walk the parade route. It makes sense but I just never thought about it. We were so pleased about the whole experience. It greatly exceeded our expectations.

Even better, I am only up 1.6 thanks to all the walking we did. I certainly did terrible eating wise

I've only caught up on the last page so far so I'll read back farther as I have time between doing laundry tonight.

Sounds like a wonderful trip. I'm glad you had a nice time.

 

[donac]

Good Monday morning

Just a short note. I have to get moving. The new superintendent is coming in today so I want to get in early. I think I also have people coming in to make up tests that they missed last week.

Congrats to Nancy and her family on the new addition.

We had a nice day yesterday with my parents and 2 of my sisters. One of the sisters is the family we will be going to dw with in Aug. We talked about the trip a little and were talking about where we wanted to eat. We didn't decide on anything.

Have a happy and healthy day.

 

[my3princes]

It's Monday after a long weekend. We need a fun QOTD:

If you could be anywhere right now, doing whatever you wanted, where would you be?

Deb