WBRepo-Ship of Thieves-Remember the Magic Pt 15

[HollyTyler]

Ian, congrats on your successful dinner! I can imagine how sore you are today, that's a lot of work! But take comfort in knowing that everybody probably thoroughly enjoyed your hard work.

 

[EllaEnchanted]

I'm finished with all my Christmas shopping! I already had everything in Wish Lists at different sites online. Then all the retailers put everything on sale early for Black Friday. I monitored a Black Friday site and decided that the time was right to strike on Wednesday. I moved all my Wish List items into my Cart and purchased all my gifts. I got everything at a very good price. I used the standard shipping since it's early so I saved money there too. Everything has already been shipped and should be arriving within the next week or so. I can start wrapping and getting ready early. I'm liking that....no last minute rush and panic. I even ordered new holiday cards to mail out. I can take my time and leisurely get all my Christmas prepping done.

This year we'll chop down our tree two weeks before Christmas. I don't have to wait until the very end this year because me and John won't be home for his birthday. We'll be on the Wonder. So we can start earlier. I can put the presents under the tree as I'm wrapping them. It makes it easier.

Bubba, we do chop down our tree every year....except that we do it at a local tree farm and not out in the wild. It costs us approximately $25 for our tree....but it's good and fresh and fills the house with a beautiful smell. Add to that the mulling spices that John makes for the wine and the house smells divine. I love the holidays.

 

[HollyTyler]

The only leftovers I brought home from T-day dinner are ham and turkey. White turkey, skinless parts. I managed to resist the mashed potatoes and corn casserole, green bean casserole, croissants, etc. AND I did not bring home any of the 6 different pies they had or the chocolate covered peanut butter balls my sister made. Everybody was shocked, but I told them I've lost 11 pounds so far and want to lose the other 59, told them I know all the food and desserts are wonderful, but that if I take it home, I'll eat it all and it's just not worth it (and again stressed how wonderful their desserts always taste). My stepmom did make an additional pumpkin pie for Tyler because it's his favorite, and I didn't have the heart to deny him and make her feel bad, so that came home with me, but knowing that it's for Tyler makes it pretty easy for me to resist. AND I sliced it all up and put in in the freezer in individual containers, so I can take just one out each day for Tyler to have after dinner. I feel confident that I won't be tempted.

This is a whole new way of doing Thanksgiving and I really feel good about my choices. Up until yesterday, I would eat one piece of every kind of pie and have 3 plates of the main meal. It's shocking when I think of how much I used to eat and I don't want to be that person again and feel confident that I've said goodbye to her.

 

[EllaEnchanted]

The only leftovers I brought home from T-day dinner are ham and turkey. White turkey, skinless parts. I managed to resist the mashed potatoes and corn casserole, green bean casserole, croissants, etc. AND I did not bring home any of the 6 different pies they had or the chocolate covered peanut butter balls my sister made. Everybody was shocked, but I told them I've lost 11 pounds so far and want to lose the other 59, told them I know all the food and desserts are wonderful, but that if I take it home, I'll eat it all and it's just not worth it (and again stressed how wonderful their desserts always taste). My stepmom did make an additional pumpkin pie for Tyler because it's his favorite, and I didn't have the heart to deny him and make her feel bad, so that came home with me, but knowing that it's for Tyler makes it pretty easy for me to resist. AND I sliced it all up and put in in the freezer in individual containers, so I can take just one out each day for Tyler to have after dinner. I feel confident that I won't be tempted.

This is a whole new way of doing Thanksgiving and I really feel good about my choices. Up until yesterday, I would eat one piece of every kind of pie and have 3 plates of the main meal. It's shocking when I think of how much I used to eat and I don't want to be that person again and feel confident that I've said goodbye to her.

WOW Holly, this is a huge turnaround for you. I'm so proud of you too. It's harder when you have the choice to take it home or not AND to have it in the house for Tyler. You are doing so well, you're a star!

It feels good to be in control doesn't it!

 

[LuvBaloo]

WOW Holly, this is a huge turnaround for you. I'm so proud of you too. It's harder when you have the choice to take it home or not AND to have it in the house for Tyler. You are doing so well, you're a star!

It feels good to be in control doesn't it!

Holly - great job! Stay motivated for yourself and for Tyler! He learns so much by seeing these good choices you are making! Be proud of yourself

 

[HollyTyler]

Holly - great job! Stay motivated for yourself and for Tyler! He learns so much by seeing these good choices you are making! Be proud of yourself

Yup, and that's why I didn't say anything about his pie, I don't want him to think he can never have any, but storing it in individual containers will help him see we need to limit ourselves and not go crazy with it. He's already doing a good job of making good food choices.

 

[Tink rules]

Hi all...

Will be back later to read and catch up...

Must go fight Black Friday over at the Rotterdam Mall (can't be ANY worse than trying to find parking last year so that the QM could go and get me a Calendar AFTER a huge snowstorm and no plowing...) I forgot to get my SIL a bday gift and we ARE showing up at her house tomorrow night...

Hey Deb... remind me again what I must bring with me???

 

[EllaEnchanted]

Hi all...

Will be back later to read and catch up...

Must go fight Black Friday over at the Rotterdam Mall (can't be ANY worse than trying to find parking last year so that the QM could go and get me a Calendar AFTER a huge snowstorm and no plowing...) I forgot to get my SIL a bday gift and we ARE showing up at her house tomorrow night...

Hey Deb... remind me again what I must bring with me???

Oh Michelle, you have the most precious package to bring....the QM.

Air kisses and hugs, can't wait to see you two. Remember the ressie is in John's name. We'll get there a little early so look for us.

 

[HollyTyler]

OK, I feel like crying. This morning, I thought I heard something while I was sleeping, but in my not fully awake state, thought it might just have been rain pelting my window. I just happened to look up and saw a mouse run across my bedroom floor just now. Out came the poison again. I was sure they were gone because I haven't seen any since Saturday. It looked really small, so I'm hoping it's just a straggling offspring that didn't get snapped or poisoned with the others. I'm definitely not sleeping in there tonight.

 

[iankh]

For Friends Without Facebook

Here we go, just for folks here without Facebook accounts, all of the episodes of "An Eastwood Manor Thanksgiving" posted to my Smug Mug account.

Just a note, one video "Getting the Table Ready" had to be edited down to reduce it by over a minute, because Smug Mug only allows a maximum video length of 10 minutes.

Here's the link to the gallery:

http://iankh.smugmug.com/Holidays/Thanksgiving-2009/10426276_Fd3AN/1/722777037_8dgsS

 

[katypop]

Well... they did say the snow was going to be north and west of Albany... isn't that where you live???

Hey Kathe... do they have BlackFriday up there too? Or do you have yours back in Oct?

Yup, right again, exactly where I live Michelle! And yes we have had snow, off and on again all day! It has not, thankfully, stayed on the ground though!

We don't have Black Friday here BUT this year a number of stores have tried to market it to us...."no need to travel to the states for BlackFriday...shop here for the same BlackFriday sales" We don't have a similar day of sales in Oct after our Thanksgiving. We have to wait for the day after Christmas, which is Boxing Day.

Hi kathe

sorry to hear of your GN seizures that must be scary what's his name we'll keep him in prayers

Thanks for the congrats on the pending job offer BUT - It will mean no TA Pretty freaked out about the being tied down part, but we need the money so for now I think I need to take the work

I'm still hoping you are onboard for the TA but understand that you might not be

My Great Nephew's name is Aiden. Thanks for including him in your prayers We enjoyed our visit with him today. He slept the whole time, in my arms of course

I'll take some of that snow please!

Holly, you can have it.........all

Didn't we just have this conversation...just a year ago

Well, I didn't go too crazy today, definitely used up all my points and all my remaining weekly points, BUT....I definitely ate way less than I usually do for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I'll get right back on track and plan on getting to the YMCA for some exercise each of the next 3 days.

Holly, good job! Glad you enjoyed the day, but are not letting it derail you! I started back to the gym a couple of weeks ago, just once a week. This week I went twice, and I feel so proud of myself!

I would love a turkey sandwich, thank you!!

I forgot to tell the court officials about the federal holiday!!! Tut!

Hope you managed a good sleep last night.



First day was Monday and the practical side etc wasn't as bad as I thought. I was sooooooo nervous. However the case is pretty serious so is quite tiring. It is going on at least 3 days longer than they thought so some poor jury members will be in their 3rd week which is bad for some. One girl and her husband own a bar just down the road from the court in York and it is such a bad time for them to be without her. She asked the Court clerk is she HAD to do it and nearly had her head chopped off!!! The jury is a good group and we do have a bit of fun when not in court.



Have a nice day Kathe.

Sorry to hear about your great nephew. Hopefully things will settle down, but very scary for all.

Hope something turns up for your son.

We have this morning off court as a witness couldn't get there till this afternoon. It feels so relaxing.

Marilyn, glad you were able to get in a relaxing morning. I feel sorry for the jury member that is suffering business problems because of the case, just doesn't seem fair, does it

Morning Marilyn! Your jury experiences sound interesting. Richard did jury service a couple of years ago and he was up at the Old Bailey! He loved it - mainly because it was the summer, the weather was good and he had two weeks of working about half the hours he did normally!!! He went into work first a couple of times but in the main he just enjoyed the experience...

I'm in court the week after next as a witness. Almost 18 (yes, eighteen!!!) months ago, I spotted a guy in my back garden and told him to get out because he was upsetting my dogs!!! Anyway, turns out he had been allegedly trying to burgle the house next door. I gave a statement and that was that. Except it wasn't - I had to give another, more detailed statement (to the most obnoxious member of her Majesty's force who totally appalled me with his racist/sexist/everything 'ist' overtones, BTW) and then a few months later had to do an ID line-up. I couldn't ID him - over a year had elapsed at this point and I'm not great with faces at the best of times. I hoped that was that. Not on your Nelly!!!

So here I am, close to Christmas, with plans coming out of my earholes and I've got to allow a day to tell the court that I don't know anything, I never knew anything and I have nothing to say... I've had to keep the week free as they can't tell me until the afternoon before when I'm needed...

Karen, this just doesn't seem fair either

 

[HollyTyler]

Holly, good job! Glad you enjoyed the day, but are not letting it derail you! I started back to the gym a couple of weeks ago, just once a week. This week I went twice, and I feel so proud of myself!

Kathe, great job getting to the gym! I ended up being too lazy to go today but will try tomorrow and Sunday. If all else fails, Tyler will want to go every day after work to swim, and I try to do water exercises while he's playing in the water (it's better than nothing), and we try to race each other trying to run down one of the swim lanes. Fun, but still exercise.

 

[katypop]

Happy Friday all.

Well, Thanksgiving 2009 is now over. What a frenzy we had yesterday! It was actually a rather laid back and quiet day until about 30 minutes before the guests arrived and then all hell broke loose!

This was the first year I used the electric roaster, and I have to say that I will never go back to using the regular oven!

This was the electric roaster that when everything was sorted out, I got paid $1 to take home.

The dining room which is next to the kitchen was emptied, because the dining table was moved to the front room.

I had the roaster on a folding table in there. The turkey itself was browned for about 40 minutes in a hot oven to sear it and then plopped in the roaster.

I did have the annual thermometer disaster. For the life of me I don't know why after so many years I have not learned where to stick a meat thermometer in a turkey!

The turkey had been in the roaster for only about 1.75 when the thermometer started beeping. I knew it was impossible for a 16.5 pound turkey to cook in that short a time. The turkey came out .... probe, probe, probe, with the thermometer. Back into the roaster, ten minutes later beeping again.

Finally, 5 tries later I got the thermometer in the right place.

Ultimately, the turkey went in at 2:30 p.m. and was done at 5:30 p.m. The most remarkable thing was I never basted the turkey. Just added a little broth over it to supply liquid half way through and that was all.

There was a fair bit of experimenting, considering that this was the first year for brining and the first year for the electric roaster. It was also the first year I've every roasted a turkey unstuffed.

I think I can safely say that everyone LOVED the turkey. There have been friends who have been coming for years and thought that this was the tenderest, moistest and most flavorful.

I have to admit myself that this was the best one I've ever done. The brining added tenderness and flavor, but I think the roaster also contributed a lot, because the cooking space is small there is more vapor and steam in the cooking process.

As I said, browning is a challenge, but between searing it for the first 40 minutes and a browning concoction I painted it with, it came out looking very greeting card-esque.

On Wednesday there was a panic because we thought we might not have enough food, so I added in another dish, green beens sautéed in olive oil with garlic and lemon.

Doing this meant I had to reheat and plate all of the dishes I made in advance AND 3 dishes to finish in 30 minutes before dinner. This is the most number of dished I've had to do at the last minute.

I had to finish the mashed potatoes in ranch dressing, do the brussel sprouts in cream, garlic, basil and pecans, and also do the green beans.

Three dishes to finish at the last minute was really too much.

Prior to this everything was calm. The turkey was out of the roaster and resting. I had done the washing up from the roaster and even finished the gravy.

Then, bedlam!

Unfortunately, I never got to socialize before dinner because I was busy doing the last minute prep.

As it turns out we had more than enough food. Our upstairs neighbors were no-shows for dinner so instead of 11 we were 9. As it was we had enough food for about 14!

Next year, there will not be so many last minute dishes!

I'm so glad that I did so much videoing in advance, because during dessert, our friend Martin reminded me that I had bought a wine to go with dessert.

Kudos to our wine merchant! The wine they selected for me to pair with dessert was perfect and fantastic! I must pop in there today and complement them.

It was really a lovely evening. I think that Jackie's sister Dianne had a nice time. I was a bit concerned considering that she was the only woman among an all male dinner!

It took me until 2:00 a.m. to unwind last night and finally go to bed. I woke up today at the unheard of hour of 8:45 a.m.! The only reason I woke up was because Truman started woofing because he wanted his breakfast. I had literally passed out!

Something that also really worked out well was having the wine and cheese set out in our den prior to the guests arriving. That meant that people congregated in there, rather than in the kitchen as they usually do, crowding me in when I need to get stuff done.

This morning I ache. I've taken ibuprofen. I could hardly walk when I got out of bed! When I fed the dogs, I couldn't even bend over to put their bowls down. I had to very gently lean against the wall and slowly squat down.

We have no plans for today. No shopping. No nothing. Maybe a little walk later after we move the dining table and chairs back into the dining room.

Next year I'll also have to create a plan to put all of minions to work!

Ian, I feel so very tired and achey just reading this! I can only imagine how yummy the meal you prepared was though, and can't imagine that anyone would be a no show Please, please pick me to be one of your minions next year

Today was the dredded weigh in after turkey day.....Ut Oh. I got on the scale, a closed my eyes, took a deep breath and peeked at the number.....I WENT DOWN TWO POUNDS AND HIT MY 50 POUNDS LOST TO DATE....the day after turkey day. OMG I'm ecstatic. I can't believe it. I know I tried to do good yesterday but I didn't know I did that good. WOW!!! When I plugged in my new weight on the WW site I got a little blue star jumping up and down with the number 50 in it and I'm just so damn happy I could fly.

Great news Deb!!! Congrats

 

[katypop]

Here's the link to where we are having lunch with Deborah on Sunday. And yes, there will be bubbly involved. All four ladies are happy members of the champagne girls and John is just happy he can drink without having to pour.

http://www.jerseycity.hyatt.com/hya...p;jsessionid=QZEVC0NT0PGRCCTEAGDSFEYKMQAYQIV0

Oh, how I wish I could join you! Have a wonderful time! I'll be at work, but when I get home I will have a glass of wine in honour of the champagne girls.....and John

Enjoy your shopping outing with the girls. I'm glad that you're not missing out on this time of Serenity's life. You will look back on this and be thankful and you'll always have that special bond with her. It's precious.

It sounds like your son is very persistent. That's a good thing. It will happen, tell him to just hang in there and keep trying. I'll send some positive pixie dust his way.

Thanks Deb I had a great day today! Didn't buy anything, other than lunch We had a great girls day out though, and Sara found a wonderful dress to wear to a Xmas party she is going to tomorrow night.

I'm finished with all my Christmas shopping! I already had everything in Wish Lists at different sites online. Then all the retailers put everything on sale early for Black Friday. I monitored a Black Friday site and decided that the time was right to strike on Wednesday. I moved all my Wish List items into my Cart and purchased all my gifts. I got everything at a very good price. I used the standard shipping since it's early so I saved money there too. Everything has already been shipped and should be arriving within the next week or so. I can start wrapping and getting ready early. I'm liking that....no last minute rush and panic. I even ordered new holiday cards to mail out. I can take my time and leisurely get all my Christmas prepping done.

This year we'll chop down our tree two weeks before Christmas. I don't have to wait until the very end this year because me and John won't be home for his birthday. We'll be on the Wonder. So we can start earlier. I can put the presents under the tree as I'm wrapping them. It makes it easier.

Bubba, we do chop down our tree every year....except that we do it at a local tree farm and not out in the wild. It costs us approximately $25 for our tree....but it's good and fresh and fills the house with a beautiful smell. Add to that the mulling spices that John makes for the wine and the house smells divine. I love the holidays.

Wow Deb I am so envious!!! I have so much shopping left to do!

I have a pot luck Xmas party at a friend's on Wed, then we are having our Xmas tree decorating party next Sunday. No idea when I'm going to get shopping done

OK, I feel like crying. This morning, I thought I heard something while I was sleeping, but in my not fully awake state, thought it might just have been rain pelting my window. I just happened to look up and saw a mouse run across my bedroom floor just now. Out came the poison again. I was sure they were gone because I haven't seen any since Saturday. It looked really small, so I'm hoping it's just a straggling offspring that didn't get snapped or poisoned with the others. I'm definitely not sleeping in there tonight.

Holly, this is so unfair! I hope your mouse problem is gone SOON!!!

 

[katypop]

Kathe, great job getting to the gym! I ended up being too lazy to go today but will try tomorrow and Sunday. If all else fails, Tyler will want to go every day after work to swim, and I try to do water exercises while he's playing in the water (it's better than nothing), and we try to race each other trying to run down one of the swim lanes. Fun, but still exercise.

Thanks Holly! Good luck with fitting in some water excercises! I wish we had a pool at our gym. I have always loved the pool workouts the best!

 

[HollyTyler]

Thanks Holly! Good luck with fitting in some water excercises! I wish we had a pool at our gym. I have always loved the pool workouts the best!

They have a rollerblading rink too, and that's my favorite thing to do there, but Tyler struggles and we only manage to spend 5 minutes there. I told him if he keeps trying for a few minutes every time, he'll have it figured out soon. He's not convinced. So that's what I want to try to do if I manage to go on the days he's not with me---rollerblade like the wind!

 

[katypop]

For Friends Without Facebook

Here we go, just for folks here without Facebook accounts, all of the episodes of "An Eastwood Manor Thanksgiving" posted to my Smug Mug account.

Just a note, one video "Getting the Table Ready" had to be edited down to reduce it by over a minute, because Smug Mug only allows a maximum video length of 10 minutes.

Here's the link to the gallery:

http://iankh.smugmug.com/Holidays/Thanksgiving-2009/10426276_Fd3AN/1/722777037_8dgsS

Thank you for sharing with those of us who are facebook deprived
I'm so glad you have had an enjoyable Thanksgiving...Cheri Looking forward to 2010

 

[Tink rules]

Morning Marilyn! Your jury experiences sound interesting. Richard did jury service a couple of years ago and he was up at the Old Bailey! He loved it - mainly because it was the summer, the weather was good and he had two weeks of working about half the hours he did normally!!! He went into work first a couple of times but in the main he just enjoyed the experience...

I'm in court the week after next as a witness. Almost 18 (yes, eighteen!!!) months ago, I spotted a guy in my back garden and told him to get out because he was upsetting my dogs!!! Anyway, turns out he had been allegedly trying to burgle the house next door. I gave a statement and that was that. Except it wasn't - I had to give another, more detailed statement (to the most obnoxious member of her Majesty's force who totally appalled me with his racist/sexist/everything 'ist' overtones, BTW) and then a few months later had to do an ID line-up. I couldn't ID him - over a year had elapsed at this point and I'm not great with faces at the best of times. I hoped that was that. Not on your Nelly!!!

So here I am, close to Christmas, with plans coming out of my earholes and I've got to allow a day to tell the court that I don't know anything, I never knew anything and I have nothing to say... I've had to keep the week free as they can't tell me until the afternoon before when I'm needed...

Hey Kaz... I'll bet that if he was butt naked in your yard you would have remembered him...

Happy Friday all.

Well, Thanksgiving 2009 is now over. What a frenzy we had yesterday! It was actually a rather laid back and quiet day until about 30 minutes before the guests arrived and then all hell broke loose!

This was the first year I used the electric roaster, and I have to say that I will never go back to using the regular oven!

This was the electric roaster that when everything was sorted out, I got paid $1 to take home.

The dining room which is next to the kitchen was emptied, because the dining table was moved to the front room.

I had the roaster on a folding table in there. The turkey itself was browned for about 40 minutes in a hot oven to sear it and then plopped in the roaster.

I did have the annual thermometer disaster. For the life of me I don't know why after so many years I have not learned where to stick a meat thermometer in a turkey!

The turkey had been in the roaster for only about 1.75 when the thermometer started beeping. I knew it was impossible for a 16.5 pound turkey to cook in that short a time. The turkey came out .... probe, probe, probe, with the thermometer. Back into the roaster, ten minutes later beeping again.

Finally, 5 tries later I got the thermometer in the right place.

Ultimately, the turkey went in at 2:30 p.m. and was done at 5:30 p.m. The most remarkable thing was I never basted the turkey. Just added a little broth over it to supply liquid half way through and that was all.

There was a fair bit of experimenting, considering that this was the first year for brining and the first year for the electric roaster. It was also the first year I've every roasted a turkey unstuffed.

I think I can safely say that everyone LOVED the turkey. There have been friends who have been coming for years and thought that this was the tenderest, moistest and most flavorful.

I have to admit myself that this was the best one I've ever done. The brining added tenderness and flavor, but I think the roaster also contributed a lot, because the cooking space is small there is more vapor and steam in the cooking process.

As I said, browning is a challenge, but between searing it for the first 40 minutes and a browning concoction I painted it with, it came out looking very greeting card-esque.

On Wednesday there was a panic because we thought we might not have enough food, so I added in another dish, green beens sautéed in olive oil with garlic and lemon.

Doing this meant I had to reheat and plate all of the dishes I made in advance AND 3 dishes to finish in 30 minutes before dinner. This is the most number of dished I've had to do at the last minute.

I had to finish the mashed potatoes in ranch dressing, do the brussel sprouts in cream, garlic, basil and pecans, and also do the green beans.

Three dishes to finish at the last minute was really too much.

Prior to this everything was calm. The turkey was out of the roaster and resting. I had done the washing up from the roaster and even finished the gravy.

Then, bedlam!

Unfortunately, I never got to socialize before dinner because I was busy doing the last minute prep.

As it turns out we had more than enough food. Our upstairs neighbors were no-shows for dinner so instead of 11 we were 9. As it was we had enough food for about 14!

Next year, there will not be so many last minute dishes!

I'm so glad that I did so much videoing in advance, because during dessert, our friend Martin reminded me that I had bought a wine to go with dessert.

Kudos to our wine merchant! The wine they selected for me to pair with dessert was perfect and fantastic! I must pop in there today and complement them.

It was really a lovely evening. I think that Jackie's sister Dianne had a nice time. I was a bit concerned considering that she was the only woman among an all male dinner!

It took me until 2:00 a.m. to unwind last night and finally go to bed. I woke up today at the unheard of hour of 8:45 a.m.! The only reason I woke up was because Truman started woofing because he wanted his breakfast. I had literally passed out!

Something that also really worked out well was having the wine and cheese set out in our den prior to the guests arriving. That meant that people congregated in there, rather than in the kitchen as they usually do, crowding me in when I need to get stuff done.

This morning I ache. I've taken ibuprofen. I could hardly walk when I got out of bed! When I fed the dogs, I couldn't even bend over to put their bowls down. I had to very gently lean against the wall and slowly squat down.

We have no plans for today. No shopping. No nothing. Maybe a little walk later after we move the dining table and chairs back into the dining room.

Next year I'll also have to create a plan to put all of minions to work!

Yeah... I was gonna ask.. you SURE you want all of us next year???

Today was the dredded weigh in after turkey day.....Ut Oh. I got on the scale, a closed my eyes, took a deep breath and peeked at the number.....I WENT DOWN TWO POUNDS AND HIT MY 50 POUNDS LOST TO DATE....the day after turkey day. OMG I'm ecstatic. I can't believe it. I know I tried to do good yesterday but I didn't know I did that good. WOW!!! When I plugged in my new weight on the WW site I got a little blue star jumping up and down with the number 50 in it and I'm just so damn happy I could fly.

Holly and Michelle....it sounds like you both had a good day yesterday too. I'm so proud of all of us. We are all rocking this weight issue thingy....we're kicking some butt and taking names.

I need to especially thank our fearless leader who keeps us informed and motivated. Ian, I wouldn't be here without all of your help. You are a constant good in my life and I'm fortunate to call you my friend. Even as I was going down the buffet line yesterday filling my plate....I got to the veggies and said, I'm eating my peas for Ian. What a legacy...haha.

I did better yesterday then today... but I will go back to being careful very soon...

& Deb... (I'd put 50 of these out... but they don't let you...)

I'm so glad that it turned out to be such a success. But I'm sorry for your aches and pains. It's a lot of work, so with that said....next year this minion will be happily reporting to duty as needed. Good Job Ian. I'm looking forward to enjoying time shared with you all next year.

Yup... Deb, me and Mom will be outside opening the extra cans of green beans needed for the cassarole...

Here's the link to where we are having lunch with Deborah on Sunday. And yes, there will be bubbly involved. All four ladies are happy members of the champagne girls and John is just happy he can drink without having to pour.

http://www.jerseycity.hyatt.com/hya...p;jsessionid=QZEVC0NT0PGRCCTEAGDSFEYKMQAYQIV0

Note to self... print out directions...

 

[katypop]

They have a rollerblading rink too, and that's my favorite thing to do there, but Tyler struggles and we only manage to spend 5 minutes there. I told him if he keeps trying for a few minutes every time, he'll have it figured out soon. He's not convinced. So that's what I want to try to do if I manage to go on the days he's not with me---rollerblade like the wind!

I hope you get your wish Holly! It would be fun if Tyler can overcome his fear of rollerblading, but if not, I hope you will still go and enjoy! Funny, I have been ziplining but am afraid of rollerblading

 

[Tink rules]

Let's hope the weather holds and that you have a safe trip down. I can't wait to see you and the QM again. We'll have such a good time. I'm getting excited now because that's the next outing on the itinerary. YEAH!!!!!!!!

We leave sometime tomorrow... an overnight at the Royal Slum of my brother and then we will meet you at the Hyatt... City of Jersey...

Nan, I'm so happy for you about the job. It's great to have choices. But missing the TA is aweful. What a sacrifice. I understand you gotta do what you gotta do and family comes first. Just remember when one door closes another one opens. You never know what will happen in the future. Don't let that deter your decision. Something else great will happen instead. Follow your gut and you'll make the right choice.

(she told me that back in Sept too... )

YEAHHHHHHH.....I feel like I have arrived. This is the most weight that I have lost doing any kind of diet. I'm certain that I can do this for the rest of my life and get healthy and stay that way. I'm hoping that eventually I can be back in a dance class again. One never knows. It is my passion in life and I'm headed in that direction....so why not dream and hope to be able to live the dream.

Thanks for being there every step of the way for me. Thanks to Shannon and Marilyn for all your kind wishes too.

I am very happy today. I have no leftover food in my house for temptation and I'll be getting on my exercise bike and riding with a renewed hope for success. The next goal is another 25 pounds....and here we go....it starts today!

Honey.. you need to get some good music to listen to while excercising... do they have diamond encrusted ipods?

Oh Michelle, you have the most precious package to bring....the QM.

Air kisses and hugs, can't wait to see you two. Remember the ressie is in John's name. We'll get there a little early so look for us.

We should be there around the same time...

You know... they charge 18% gratuity for groups of 6 or more... think Planky counts?