Penpal match? Just turned 50, want to lose 75!

[Suji]

Well, looks like we got more snow than anticipated! Beautiful this morning--the sun is out and highlighting all the whiteness. Temps were 12 degrees this morning--I think it may get to the 30's today.

Garden club met but there were only 6 of us since most people didn't want to drive! We exchanged presents--I got a rose geranium in a cool square pot that looks like it is made of brick! One of the ladies there, unbeknownst to me lives on the street above me! She was going to come by yesterday afternoon and work on her arrangements (she is a master arranger who enters competitions, so I could learn something), but the weather prevailed. Perhaps today. I don't trust the roads to the farm so I'm going to wait until the weekend.

I have been having problems with leg cramps at night anywhere from above the knee on down to the foot. This took quite a while to show up. My current "remedy" which I'm not sure is the correct one, is to take calcium/magnesium, E and C. I hate getting these at night since it is hard to go back to sleep after paying so much wakeful attention.

I made swedish meatballs yesterday--been a long time since I've had those!

Mary, I guess you and my Mom must share that intolerance for cold temps. I don't mind as long as I can wear something warm and cover my ears. I often wonder why some people can't handle the cold as well. My grandmother who lived in a drafty 1840's farm house, used to get by inside with just a light sweater over her house dress/apron in the upstate NY winters. Her daughter, my Mom, is complaining about the cold and all wrapped up in multiple sweaters, coats, etc even in SC. Must be diabetes related, I don't know.

Leslie, how are you measuring portion sizes for yourself with the method you are following?

Have a good one everyone!
Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Sue: Lucky you. I wish we would get snow. It's always such an adventure out here. And yes, Mary and Sue, I prefer the cooler temperatures. I love living in the Northwest because the climate rarely falls to extremes on either end, hot or cold and you have to have rain gear. I love sweatshirts, sweaters and hot tea and coffee. Sitting by the window when its pouring down rain with a good book and a nice cup of tea with my kitty on my lap. And coats, I have so many. I don't know what my attraction to coats is, but I love them.

Wow, lucky you to have the lady from your garden club live so close. I would love to learn to make arrangements. Like I said, I'm very unartistic in that department.

Mary, I haven't done much shopping either. We have kind of got ideas, but haven't really followed through. I did pick up a digital picture frame for my mom at the day after thanksgiving sale. I'm waiting for relatives to send me digital pics so I can load it up. So far the response hasn't been that great so she may just get pics that I have. As for computers, my DH got me a laptop last year. And, because its mine, no one has spoiled it yet with all their crazy downloads and clutter. We have had several computers that the kids and DH have plugged up with their games and communicating devices, etc. only to have them die and we would have to get a new one.

Sue: I bought a book that gives me gram calculations for protein. For my height and weight I'm to have 34 grams per meal. I sometimes fall short. That's a high amount to hit. I really estimate when it comes to the size of an item. You know the deck of cards equals 4 oz, etc. According to the plan, I'm supposed to stay at 30 carbs. I've been slightly above, but its because of the SF LC hot cocoa at 4 carbs, the SF peaches at 6 carbs and the SF LC yogert at 3 carbs that I consume daily. The 30 carbs Protein Power counts are actually net carbs, so I may be in the ball park. I couldn't figure out at first why they always added fruit to each meal which I wasn't doing and then I read they were counting net carbs. I think the key is keep the proteins up high and it off sets the carbs consumed by fruit. Oh and don't forget the fats! The veggie standards are about the same as atkins.

The weight hasn't been coming off lately like it did when I first started the plan. Like I said, my carbs have crept up a bit, so I need to go back to my food diaries when I first started the plan to review what I was doing so as to kick start the losses again. It was in October that I started so I will post a day or two for you to look at when I can dig up the food journals for that time.

Have a great day.

[Pcola Girl]

Just saying hi to you today. Not much going on with me today, just resting up after a day of shopping yesterday. My old knees don't hold up like they use to do.
We had cooler weather here to, its only in the 60's here today, to cool for me.
I am warm weather person.

Take care and be good.........

[sleepysue07]

Hello everyone,
I am not dieting at the moment. My marriage is very strained right now , and I'm not sure how much longer we are going to make it together. I am furiously trying to find a full time evening job to go with the part-time job I already have. If I end up having to support myself, I want to be able to do so. I am secretly looking at apartments in the city as well.

Anyway, one bright spot these days are my children. My youngest has made straight A's on both report cards, and was named the First Place All District Special Teams Player of the Year (I don't know if I said that right, but it is an honor, basically he is the best in our district at what he does in football.)

DS1 has finally come to his senses and has contacted the coach in Kansas who told him that their football scholarship offer is still on the table. I am so excited. He and my ex-husband are flying out tomorrow to meet with them. I know that I will be making many trips to Wichita, but I am so pleased. I guess that working two jobs just to scrape by was more appealing in theory than in practice. He is such a good student that I have been sick over the choices he has made. He confided in me that his GF was really trying to make him feel guilty, but he told her that he couldn't allow her wishes to derail his future anymore. I thought that he wasn't listening to me either, but those were my exact words to him last May. I know that I am going to desperately miss him, but I am so happy that he is turning his life around. He has a full time job now at Starbucks, and works part-time at American Eagle Outfitters, and is hoping that he will be able to work part-time at Starbucks there because he would be able to keep his health insurance. I hope that will work out for him, but I am not sure that he will have time to work off campus. As an incoming Freshman he will be living in the dorms, and may have to work on campus as well.

While I am not following any certain plan, I am cutting my portions way back, and drinking much more water. I start going to the gym tomorrow, and I am so nervous about it! I have the free gym membership that we won at the football game, so why not use it right? Besides, I think that it would really help relieve my stress.

I'm making an appointment with the doctor. I need something for the anxiety, and insomnia, it's 1:00 and I'm still awake, and I do have to work tomorrow. Does anyone know if any of the anti-anxiety drugs can contribute to weight gain?

Sue, I love the avatar, what beautiful cats you have!

Leslie, I am glad that you are alright, I thought about you when I hear of all the flooding.

Hello to Kayan, Pam, Mary, and Raz.

Carolyn

[Suji]

Oh my, Carolyn! I definitely believe in being prepared and not ignoring life's signals. It is smart to look after yourself since worse case scenario--you can walk instead of crawl forward. If things *do* work themselves out, at least you'll be looking at it from a better vantage point than before. I was so not prepared when DH#1 walked out--I was like a zombie with a 2 year old. I wasn't working a paying job, only volunteer stuff. My mind just couldn't get around the change handed to me for several months. Ultimately, I ended up reinventing myself and found a MUCH better match for me. The one most hurt in the whole thing was my son--at least your kids are much older and less dependant so that is a plus. Kiddo, I am sending you good vibes.

I've got to get our twinkle light tree down from the attic to set up in the downstairs so that I can try to get a little holiday spirit. It's just not there for me yet. We are getting some more flurries today before the warmup expected--watching lazy snow flakes does tend to put me in improved fettle.

Hi Leslie, Mary, Pam and Kayan.

Later,
Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Carolyn: Its good to hear from you. Congrats to your son. What an honor. I remember when DD2 was named to the all conference team for water polo. It is quite thrilling. And the football scholarship. Wowza.

I'm sorry things haven't been going well for your marriage. It is a difficult thing to maintain. Especially when you have to consider your sanity and happiness for the rest of your life. To be honest, I'm really scared what life will be like once DS goes off to college. My DH has developed this personality over the years that kind of mirror's Archie Bunker's. Its really hard to be around 24/7. So we'll see what life brings. I hope things work out for you, no matter which way they end up. You need to work on what's good for your health and well being.

Sue: Oh snow, I wish. We got more rain. The flood waters have gone down though and we are supposed to get a few dry days, albeit with a low of 20 degrees. I'm supposed to meet my walking partner tomorrow in that freezing weather. Yikes! We have a GIANT lake (puddle) it fills our entire driveway/easement. DH worked so hard to get it unplugged between rainstorms. Whatever he did didn't work. I'm looking forward to the solid sheet of ice. The lake is so deep we will be able to ice skate on it once it freezes. DS has this remote control submarine he takes out there and uses when its not pouring down rain. Its kind of funny actually.

This is day 3 without weighing. I am weighing tomorrow. I hope the scales are nice to me. Our office Christmas party is tonight. Its Mediterranean food, whatever that is, so I'm eating something LC before hand so as to avoid disaster.

Hi Mary. Did you get much shopping done? 60 degree weather here is considered very warm. I'll trade ya for the next couple of days, okay?

Have a great day all.

[Pam in TX]

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't been posting.....

Work has gotten really crazy and there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day..... In fact, will be working all weekend.... Learned yesterday that I will be making a presentation to our superintendant and the executive cabinet on Monday morning..... so have to get things put together over the weekend.....

All is going well with my sister, nothing really new to report..... Seems to be progress, but in very small increments..... but progress is progress.....

Know that I am thinking of you and am reading your posts to stay up with your lives.... Only 2 more weeks and then I am off until the 7th of January.... can hardly wait.....

Next week I will be baking every evening to get all the holiday baking done.... DH will be out of town all week.....

Take care everyone.......

[Suji]

Hello Pam! Thanks for checking in so we know you are still here. :-)
I took the whole week off LC and this morning I'm climbing back on. I don't think I gained much of anything back during this time since my clothes still fit fine. Hopefully though, it will noodge my metabolism into the lose mode now that I am returning to Atkins. Stay tuned.

I attended the cookie party yesterday--about 7 Red Hatters came and I got to know at least one of them a little better. That's usually my goal at these things! I ended up making pumpkin cookies that had walnuts and mini chocolate chips added. They would have been just as good without the chocolate chips but I was slavishly following a recipe that made the most cookies. We played Bingo, which seems to be a favorite pastime with the older set around here and won choices among the gifts everyone had brought as tokens--mine was a mug with a Christmas berry design and some kind of "microwave cake in a mug" mix with a lemon glaze.

THe day before we went out to the farm and finished pulling out the closet in the downstairs bedroom. I poked at the ceiling outside the closet and it was giving to the touch--too cracked and had lost its keys to the lath. SO we pulled down 1/3 of the ceiling all the way to the beams. THe last portion fell with a mighty crash and just tons of dirt or compost or something fell out of the ceiling along with many old chewed hickory nuts. It made a thunderous brown mess of the whole room between the dust and dirt stuff covering everything! Yuck. I literally looked like a dusty raccoon afterwards. I have major cleanup work to do but lack the small size (liquor store) boxes to get the plaster etc. out for pickup. PLaster is too heavy for bags and rips through. Still, I would rather have that smelly stuff out of the ceiling than laying up there! Eeeeew!!!

DS2 is due home from Virginia Tech today. He's probably on the road right now since his last exam was over with before 10. I think the VT students have off until mid-January.

I have plenty to do since I haven't started decorating or gift shopping yet. :-/
Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Sue and Pam:

I finally weighed on Saturday and was disappointed to be up a lb to 179, but I'm back to 178.4 today. So I weigh with my group tomorrow and won't show any loss for the month but maybe 1 lb (one can hope). Oh well, now I really know what it takes to lose and its to keep it at 30 carbs or below, not net, some of which can be fruit if it doesn't make you go over 30. My downfall has been the LC hot cocoa and SF peaches. I've been averaging lately at around 50 or 60.

Sue, I totally think that leaving LC in moderation for a week would jumpstart the losses. So, I'm not going to worry if I accidentally eat a cookie or something over the holidays. I'm of a mind set that it still bothers me to cheat, so I won't go to extremes, but I want to be a little less strict through the holidays. Last Christmas I was so hard core on induction, that I cheated once or twice, but that's it and we really didn't have the volume of goodies in the house that we usually do. My kids have asked that we have a baking day to bring that Christmassy feeling back in because we missed it all together last year. So we are going to do that on the 21st. I'm taking that day off work.

I'm also taking the 14th off to Christmas shop. Bonuses finally came in .

So I guess I'm jumping on the wagon with the rest of the world and really buckling down after the 1st of the year back to 30 carbs or below, not net.

Whew, sounds like you had a squirrel's nest or something underneath that plaster. Its best that you found it now rather than after you get the finishing work done.

My company christmas party was friday night. I ordered all the right stuff except the lemon tart. When they brough it, it was so small, I ate it anyway. Oh so good, and yah, it was worth eating it. BUT, I also drank lots of diet coke which I think explains my gain on Saturday.

Pam: Its good to hear from you. I hope things calm down in your life. Post when you can.

Leslie

[Suji]

Hullo Leslie and all you quiet gals,

DS2 is home and he and my eldest (who has no work today) are spending time together on the computer. DS3 is at school so he hasn't really had a chance to see his older brother who came home, unloaded his car and spent the rest of the day with his GF! Typical.

Got the quickie Christmas tree up downstairs--still have to get a real one to put the ornaments on--but at least it looks a bit seasonal down here now.

Day2 of the Return to LC. Man, I was so hungry yesterday! My budget won't allow me to splurge much, so I don't have much fast to fix food on hand. It's another reason why tuna is my stand by. What do you typically do for lunch, Leslie?

Usually my DH's com-pany has a swank party, but I haven't heard a thing about it this year. Of course, they just sold their company this year, so that may be one reason.
I don't tend to drink much of anything other than coffee or water on LC. A couple of times I've had what I call flavored fizzy water, but I think I heard somewhere (don't know if it is true), that carbonated stuff mixes with fat in the diet and does some not so great things. So, I tend to avoid it.

I just asked my boys to come up with Christmas ideas, puhleeze!! I end up going all over creation trying to get inspired for gifts and I'd like to start moving soon. :-)

Have a good one!
Sue

[sleepysue07]

Hi Girls,

I am doing so much better. I have interview after interview this week, so I am feeling hopeful. Also, our major financial crisis has been averted, so now I am actually looking forward to Christmas, and intend to put up our tree this weekend.

I still have a doctors appointment coming up on Thursday, and am hoping to get something to help me sleep. My sunny personality might even return if I am able to sleep again.

I too am looking forward to jumping back on the wagon after the first of the year. I think that this coming year is going to be the one for me! I am pledging to lose 80 pounds by January 1, 2009.

Well, I am going to try to go to sleep now, I have a dreadful meeting in the morning at work that I have been dreading since I heard of it two weeks ago.

I will be so happy when it's over!

Have a great day tomorrow,

Carolyn

[Dreamcometru]

Yay Sue and Carolyn: Its so good to hear from you. So are we all in for a true buckle down after January 1st? 2008 can be our year, YES!

My weigh in with my group showed a whopping 1 lb loss from last month. That, I knew to be true. But this morning I woke up to a .8 loss. Yahoo. I've been having stomach trouble in the morning. Quite painful, so I didn't drink any coffee yesterday and guess what, no stomach pain. I drank green tea and later switched to black tea. Perhaps that's the reason for the loss. Who knows. I will probably be back up tomorrow anyway.

Sue: My typical lunch, almost daily is, baby leaf lettuce (dark green to purple), fresh spinich (both together total about 1-1/2 to 2 cups, 5 cherry tomatoes, 5-6 black olives, 2 oz chicken breast (the prepared kind from the store), and salad spritzer. I also have a Dannon lc yogert and some sf peaches. I bring these because they are already prepackaged. Pretty much the same thing every day. Sometimes I vary and have tuna salad instead of chicken on my dark leafy greens. I get hungry on the way home from work so I pack some cheese sticks and beef jerkey.

I'm struggling with dinner. I've been making mock pizza on a lc tortilla. Or I cook up some chicken tenders (no breading of course) and a veggie. Or a hamberger patty or turkey patty and veggies. It's getting very boring. But I always indulge in something sweet after dinner, from SF jello and SF cool whip to SF pudding made the LC way to LC cheesecake. I just can't seem to shake that sweet tooth. I know if I quit eating these, I would lose.

Carolyn: I hope you get through your meeting and that everything goes well at the doctor.

Have a great day.

[Suji]

Hey Carolyn and Leslie,

I read that problems with sleep contribute to difficulty in losing weight. Hmpf! THAT must be my problem. Had a VERY wakeful night-uh-think the extra 3 cups of coffee had anything to do with that?! I'd better get to liking herbal tea! Good luck with your appointment there, Carolyn. What kind of jobs are you interviewing for?

Leslie, hey, I'd take .08 loss in a snap! Your lunch sounds like mine except that I buy the iceberg bagged mixes cuz the kids prefer that to the dark. I like the darker but at practically $4 a bag, it makes me ill to purchase it! I could break down and just get the heads-lazy me!

I just got back from the library where I was looking for award winning/notable female authors. You know, there aren't nearly as many woman writers as men when you look at the alphabetized fiction! Just finished Barbara Kingsolver's book: Prodigal Summer. I recommend it.

Still haven't gone shopping--I'm going to hold the kids up and demand those lists today!!!

Yes, January 1st is always the classic date to get down and dirty on diets, isn't it? Do you realize this group is coming up on our 1 year anniversary this month? I think we've done darn good to keep on posting all this time even through our ups and downs with LC. Good on all of you.

Gotta go make my tuna salad!

Sue

[Pcola Girl]

Sue the tuna salad sounds good. I make it alot to.
I still have my shopping to do yet for Christmas, just slow this year getting to it because of my bad knees, it hurts to walk to much.
We have been eating out alot and I am finding myself eating wrong, how can I stay true to low carb when I eat out when there is so much food around me? What do you all do?
I want so badly to lose my weight but it seems like I am fighting within myself all the time being tempted by this and that...Why can't i just stick to plan?

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Sue and Mary:

Mary, I go through spurts of not wanting to do this any more. Wishing I could eat a sandwich, have a piece of real bread, etc. All I can say is being part of the research group has been the brick on my head which I desparately needed. I hate going to meetings with a gain. Albeit it hasn't happened to often, but it has happened. So a suggestion might be if the knee problems are weight related, maybe your dr. could prescribe a weight loss group in the category of wellness or preventative medicine, and then your health insurance would pay for it? Just a thought. Otherwise, posting daily sure helps.

Sue: I'm taking tomorrow off from work to do Christmas shopping. I will be up at the same time though because DS has to be in class at 6:45 am and I have to run him there. So I will have coffee (well, green tea) and computer time until the stores open, then look out. No not really. I don't have a clue what I'm going to look for. That's sad. Oh, do you have Trader Joes where you live? That's where I buy my lettuce. It's only 1.98 a bag.

I think we have a lot to celebrate sticking together. Go back to our earlier postings and it's interesting to see where we were a year ago. I can't believe its been a year. Great job ladies.

Have a great day.

[Pcola Girl]

Dreamcome true, I will ask my doctor about it, I never thought of that.
The arthritis I have all over my body is inherited, my mom had it and so did my grand mother and heavens knows how far back from there it goes. I know the obesity I have had most my life has not helped the knees any and losing the weight would help I know that to.

[Suji]

Oops.
I didn't post yesterday, did I? Aw well, not every day is worthy of a post. We had sleety to rain weather yesterday which wasn't a great draw to getting anything done. I did fix some Christmas lights in the kitchen and put up a banister swag. In the process I have filled 2 large contractor bags with mutiple strings of icicle and other lights which would not work! Unbelievable. Would *you* painstakingly search through 300 icicle lights per string to find which ones were blown? DH did that last time and it took FOREVER!!! I guess they will get tossed.

Today's weather is the calm before the storm. We won't get smacked the way NE is (Kayan--how's the weather up in Maine???) but we will get socked with a wintry mix of some sort this weekend. I will have to take advantage of the day to get started on some real shopping. My sister wants to get together to do some tomorrow, but as she lives an hour's drive south, I don't know what it will be like on the return drive home...

I messed up last night. I had made dinner for the fam and of course my DS2 shows up with GF and has purchased food that his is going to grill for the 2 of them. Just before things are ready, DS1 announces he is on his way out the door to meet with a friend so none for him, thanks. So, I have all this food I have made with just DH and DS3 there to eat it and I think $&Y^#!!! And I serve myself--it has macaroni in it. THen I figure, I'm *&@*(#U anyway, so why not have some corn bread. OK. Well, how about those cookies I got from the swap--never tried any of those. (Scarf scarf scarf). Awww, #$*#%!!!
So, oh joy, I just undid my last 3 days of LC. FOOEY.

Well--I hope you all have a better handle on "annoyed eating" than I did!

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Oh Sue: Annoyed eating. Many times I've cooked dinner only to have everyone have other plans. How frustrating. Sorry it was a rough eating day. That's the way I feel, when I blow it, its like throwing previous few days of LC'ing out the window. Dang, this is hard sometimes.

I weighed the same this morning. Darn, after losing .8 of a lb I thought I might be on a roll. NOT! Oh well I'm going to keep plugging away.

I'm off work today. Going to shop til I drop. I kind of kept the fact that I was off from DH so he wouldn't make me a list of things to do. I'm meeting a friend for dinner tonight, so that kind of cuts things a little short.

So Sue: The reports on this side of the states says you guys are about to get slammed. Sometimes that's fun, but for the most part is annoying. I hope you all survive the snow.

Mary: I really wish I lived where you did right about now. Our weather is blah. A little rain, a few flakes, some sun, lots of fog. Oh well. When we get snow its such a huge event around here. All we've seen so far are a few flakes. The blah weather will hang with us for another two months or so which is truly the time I would like to travel south.

My DD1 inherited arthritis. It's really hard on her sometimes. She had to quit her music major and switch to education because all the fingering from practicing her bassoon and working on becoming a fluent piano player was too hard on her and too painful. I dont know if weight loss would help arthritis. Its a good thing you live where you do. Probably a better climate for it. DD1 suffers less in the summer time.

Take care ladies. I hope I have good things to report from shopping today. I've mapped out where I want to go and the path I'm going to take. This takes planning you know.

[sleepysue07]

I'm so glad to see the weekend! I thought it would never come. My meeting turned out to be fine. I am just a bundle of nerves these days and it doesn't take much to stress me out.

The doctors visit revealed that I have a bladder infection, strange because I didn't have any symptoms except for fatigue. He gave me something to help me fall asleep, which as you can see, is not working yet. It's also supposed to help with anxiety, and the joint pain. It is helping the joints. If that's all it does, it's still worth it because for the first time in a very long time I don't ache.

We discussed my weight ad nauseaum, which is now 221! I had the lab work done this morning to check my thyroid and cholesterol. He said he will most likely prescribe a cholesterol lowering drug. But get this...even with high cholesterol he wants me to go on a low carb diet. I told him that the other doctor told me that it was an unhealthy way of eating. He said, "Carolyn, carrying 221 pounds around that little frame is what's unhealthy." He wants me to lose 50 in 6 mos. I am going to be weighing in at the nurses station every other week, and they are going to record my progress.

I'm so proud of my husband! Our 18th anniversary is Sunday, and for the first time he finally sees the need for a budget, and is seeing the error of his financial ways. We are formulating a plan to get out of debt, and I am really excited about that.

Sue, I was just thinking yesterday that our little group is now a year old. I am still where I was when we started. But this next year I will do it, because I really want it now.

I'm missing you Kayan, are you lurking?

Well, it's 1:12 a.m. now, I'd better try again to go to bed.

Have a good day tomorrow ladies.

Carolyn

[Suji]

Carolyn,
That approach sounds great--it will help you to stay on track the way Leslie's group has helped her.
Believe me, I understand about the whole budget thing. MY DH has struggled with this ever since I've known him. Part of the problem is that he tends to be an optimistic spender--"it'll all work out" thinking.

I just started my shopping Leslie. This is going to be a run around week and I prolly won't get to the farm. Still trying to figure out what to get for people--what a challenge.

So, my posting is going to be sporadic this week--sorry! Doesn't leave me much time for doing anything else to talk about. (roll eyes)

I have not gone back onto LC. WIth my son home, that means his GF is here too and I'm running out of food quicker. All my backup LC stuff is gone so I've been having whatever I can come up with for the crew. I notice that I can feel that neuroma-like thingy on my left foot as soon as I go off LC--got to be a connection!

TTFN!
Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Ladies: Its such a busy time.

Carolyn: That's just what it will take. Those bi-weekly weigh ins will really help. I hope the doctor continues to support you. I know you can drop 50 in 6 months. Thats a very reasonable goal. Let's see what this next year brings in the way of weight loss.

I had a lady approach me the other day at church and she asked how I had lost the weight. I know people are dying to find out and have been talking behind my back. It's so much fun to keep them in suspense. I said no, its not sickness, no I didn't have gastric bypass surgery and no, I'm not on any special drugs. It's just plain ole LC. The eyes widen, etc. etc. I told her like I told others, its the only thing that has ever worked for me.

Sue: Shop shop shop. I'm still not done. Ugh, this is getting ridiculous. I hope to be done soon. Ive pretty much got my kids done, but I need to get family gifts done. I have ideas, I just need to go get the stuff.

DS is having his "annual" christmas party at our house tomorrow night. I'm told to expect up to 25 kids because the reputation of being a fun party has gotten out. I hope we can handle that many. We'll see.

Have you noticed that the three of us all have cat avitars?

Have a great day. Check in when you can everyone.