@MusicCandy @SadMe70 A place to communicate

Well my friend. if I had brie, I would eat it for breakfast too, or maybe bake one of those fancy hor'doevres with the poastry wrapped around and pecan and syrup on top. Is that goat brie? I drool over your cheeses. I hope all your family time and meals were warm and happy.

As we left for the Yurt in Gordonsville, I was sick with a bad cold. And I was sick the whole week. That sucked, because i'm never sick. We basically rested, walked some and got BBQ instead of the family dinner at the Lodge. We didn't pick up my Mom either bc I didn't want her to get sick. Plus I felt lousy.But they had a nice traditional dinner for them at the home, so that ws good. She had no complaints. So I guess if you have to be sick, at least it was in a lovely place and I didn't have to do anything. Yea.

Back at work the week-end, and now my coworker has it - so I'm working Sunday night too for him. And My ex, who keeps Rachael week-ends called- furnace on the blink so I took him 2 space heaters. And Daughter with the BF craziness has a sick dog, and that dog is like her child. She wanted to take the dog to ER VET- who has that kind of money?( not her) I told her to wrap the doggie in a blanket and try to wait it out. But on a bright note, her and BF are talking and she says they want to work it out if they can.

I haven't had much appetite with the cold, but I still ate BBQ and dessert. We can't win all the battles. God Bless Us.

Hello, I hope you had a good week. Won't be long before the kids get "Christmas" crazy. I am finally getting over the cold, but still coughing. I am working my last night for the week tonight. The switch with my coworker turned out to be a good thing. This week and next I'm making lunches for the homeless at my church- and that is a big job. Being off tomorrow night will make it easier to get that done. I have been at church 4-5 hours every day this week - but now its all organized, i just have to make the sandwiches the night before.

I still don't have much of an appetite from the cold, and I did lose 2 lbs. I was trying so hard, but being sick wasn't a plan of action. I got back some of the tests I sent out and the gene analysis was pretty interesting. It showed values for a particular set of genes and the results came with the diet and exercise that is best for me based on that. It came back that I should be on a low carb diet 40/30/30 protein/non processed carbs/fat. Exercise - "endurance" which for me would be something like a HITT routine. I like the strength/stretching ones at the gym, and I do need that for bones, but it said that isn't likely to result in weight loss. I am glad I spent the mony on that one.

I haven't gone on a strict eating plan as rcommended, but i find that just seeing it in print has helped me make choices based on the recommendations- I will choose a hearty soup for dinner and oatmeal for berakfast instead of sweets. The wine is about th same, and I don't have plans to change that for now.

Emotionally, the family is somewhat better. Daughter DID take her dog to the ER VET, 4 AM ( of course she did) and 400 dollar xrays showed she has cancer, ( so sorry). I paid that bill for her and at least she is resigned to no drastic measures and just keep her as comfortable as possible and hopefully she will die peacefully at home, She and BF seem to be getting along at least, I think the episode will smooth over. Maybe the ring will be presented at Christmas, or soon after. He needs to seal the deal or take a walk, i think.

I may not get back to you this week and i won't be at work which is when I usually write- but let me know how you are doing. I'll get back when I can. Good night.

I was so sorry to see that you were sick for your trip! That sucks a lot! I am glad you did not take your mom so that you could at least rest. I'm sorry that you are not feeling better yet. I hope you will soon! At least you lost two pounds from it! Your gene analysis results sound interesting! I have done HIIT workouts from youtube that I really enjoyed. I haven't done any in quite a while though. I seem to spend what little time I have at home to exercise doing PT and yoga to keep my various pains at bay. Are you going to try some interval workouts? I am glad it's helping you make good diet choices too. The soup and oatmeal are definitely good ones! I made chili last weekend and my husband didn't eat much, so I've had it for dinner every single night this week plus one lunch. I am doing better with my diet since Thanksgiving week, but I was really bad that week! I had birthday celebrations right before and right after and consumed a good bit of cake and pie.

My brie is goat brie. Here's a picture of that last batch while it was aging. I would love to wrap some in pastry with pecans and syrup! That sounds amazing.

I'm very sorry to hear about your daughter's dog. I know how very sad that is, and how hard it is when they are terminally ill. I lost my last 3 dogs that way, one to cancer and two to kidney failure. We had to make the decision to put them all to sleep and that is very hard. I know she's in for some sad times with a hard decision at the end. I'm glad she has you there for her, especially since she's having such a rough patch with her bf.

I had to cover a K classroom yesterday unexpectedly, but it was my home base class so I'm very familiar with the procedures in there and the kids. It was exhausting, but honestly a nice break from my regular lessons. I have some difficult groups in some of my other classes and I did not mind not seeing them yesterday!

It is so great that you are making lunches for the homeless. You do a lot of nice things for others! I feel like I hardly keep up with taking care of myself and my animals. I don't even do as much for my husband as I should. A lot of hungry people will benefit from your kindness!

I almost forgot to tell you about the nice visit last weekend with my son and his wife. They spent Thanksgiving night and Friday night with us. On Friday they went shopping while I went walking at the park. I entered the VA state parks Opt Outside photo contest. I like when they have those because I love taking pictures at the parks anyway, and it's fun to post a few where others will see them.

On Saturday, my son was helping my husband take mattresses to the dump. My boys' bedroom is bunk beds which had crappy matresses, and that is where my son and his wife have to sleep because we have no other room. We just bought better ones and new sheets, in an effort to make her more comfortable, and I think she really appreciated that. After the dump, they were going on to Fredbg to get stuff at Lowe's for some repairs my son was going to do for us. I invited her to stay with me and go on my errands, never expecting her to say yes, but she did!

We went to the post office and feed store. Then we went to a bead store where I had gotten some bracelets made as gifts for her family. I wanted to go back and see how hard it was to make them, because the lady said it was easy, and I need gifts for 8 people at work. The lady offered to show us both if I bought the materials, so we had a little mini-class and both had fun, and have bracelets we made ourselves. They are just simple ones with beads/stones strung onto something very like dental floss but stretchy. Then you tie a knot and slip the knot inside the hole on a bead that has a bigger hole than the others. I ended up buying stuff to make 8 bracelets. They are easy to make but not sturdy. Of the 8, I broke the string on 3 of them trying to get the knot inside the bead. I have to go back and restring those, but then will send you a picture!

Next we went and had a very nice lunch together. The place I wanted to try was closed for the holiday, as were 2 other places, but we finally found someplace open. She helped me pack up the various gifts we are sending to her family when they go later this month.

It was our first "bonding" time and I was very glad to do it. I want to get along with her and have her be happy as well.

I'm glad to hear you had a pretty gppd week. So nice to hear that the riff with DIL seems to be patched up. If you had a cordial time with the beads and shoppng, I'd say that's good. I have only done a little bit of jewelry making.Then the bead I put in my closet just sat there. We were making beaded lanyards for your badges, then the style changed. i finally gace away all my stuff-- but it was fun to make something and it didn't take forever. The brie looks amazing. No wonder you had some for breakfast. It has to be good when you make it fresh yourself.

I got through the week with thr church work, but it was exhausting. I saw so many littlke things thst needed to be done while I was fixing the lunches- i did that too.Probably about 5 hours of work every day - but we are done with our week now and they moved on.

I am sticking to my better food choices mostly. I believe i lost another puund, but I hesitate to say until it stays off a week. We will see, The test that told me the most helpful personalized info is Pathway Genomics. Th telomere deal - not too much. They give the same handout advice to everyone. Holidays are here, so we both have to be careful to not splurge too much.

I am back at wor, overtime actually this morning. i'm plenty tired - it was a busy night. Now its snowing. But it is not supposed to accumulate here as much as further south. I just don't like to drive in it at all. I have another hour before the next tech comeds in - i'll see what it looks like then. I hope you have a fun and restful week-end. Daughter is distraught over the dog being put to sleep, but i can't take away her pain, jusy be there for her. You know how that is.

You can tell I'm tired, so many typos!

Good job on sticking to the good food choices and hurray for the lost pound! Even if it goes back on, you are on the downward trend and it will probably come back off more quickly than before. I have been doing well eating very little of the school junk, but I made a pan of brownies last night and my husband and I split the entire thing. I needed some comfort food at the time.

I hope you got home from work ok in the snow. We got so much more than what was predicted. My son was out walking his dog and said he thought it was about 7 inches at the time. I don't think we got 7 inches here but it was enough to cancel school. I am glad because I have a cold and I feel rotten.

Good job with all your church work too! That is a lot of time you are spending, and I know so many appreciate it!

I am sorry that your daughter had to put her dog down. That is definitely a really hard thing to go through. I hope she is holding up ok. I know she will be sad for a long time.

My husband was actually in Richmond yesterday afternoon and drove back around the 4-6 time frame and it was awful. He passed 40+ wrecks and it took him a very long time. The stress of waiting for him was part of why I needed the brownies. The reason he was down there is even more stress. My son and daughter-in-law applied in May for her permanent residency. In June they got a request for more documentation which they sent. More recently they have also done a whole separate set of paperwork to get her travel permission to go to Korea for their big trip. On Saturday we got a notice that they apparently left out one requested document in June. Instead of sending them any notice of that and telling them to get it in ASAP, they have instead just flat out denied her residency application and revoked her travel permission. There is a process called a "motion to reopen" her case so we spent hours on Saturday and Sunday preparing the missing document, plus the document to open the motion (which costs $675 just to file, on top of the approx $2000 they have spent on filing fees already). We have no idea if we are doing any of this right and hope to reach immigration today plus our congressman, to see if anything can be rushed (unlikely) because of the travel plans. We might also have to hire an immigration lawyer, which we cannot well afford. Otherwise their trip will be cancelled, 5 people here who will lose money on their plane tickets (my other son, my mom, and my sister were also going). Who knows how much her parents have spent on the big lavish ceremony and celebrations they have scheduled. There is a real possibility that she will have to leave the country and start the process all over again. My son has 2 finals this week to deal with and did not need this stress. So that is the next chapter in my own personal soap opera!

Oh, that is just terrible news.I can't imagine what you all are going through. Being a newlywed is stressful enough - this has got to be a strain. I will say a boatload of prayers for it to be resolved. I am not surprised that the govt did not reply in a manner that would hsave made it easier- they never do that. I had a bill to straighten out for Medicare part B - which I declined at the start when I turned 65-- they billed me 0ver $1000 anyway. I sat in the SS office Monday, and you know how that is. I thought ahead and took magazines to clip articles during my hour and a half wait. some people sat and asked me how long it usually is - an hour ? I got there early so I said - "if your're lucky, 2 hours. " After all that the agent said he would send a "message" to try to delete the bill, but he couldn't guarantee it. Thanks a lot.

Otherwise, things are ok after the snow-in. We did get 13 inches, but i didn't have to do much all week. I spent time organizing closets and cleaning out files and doing DVD exercise videos. It looks like the 3 lbs is staying off so far. I am much more motivated to resist the many holiday sweets at work since I lost a little, finally. I am loading up on vegtables, soup and oatmeal. There's a chocolate pecan pie in the break room now ( I'm at work) and I didn't touch it. I am also going to try to get back to 3 days/week off wine - starting today. It should save calories, and less alcohol overall too.

I'm glad you are doing pretty well with the treats at work too. Sometimes, I just drink a big bottle of water to stave off the urge.

I really hope the documents work out. Life can be a soap opera I know. Hang in there, and try not to get too stressed out yourself.

Hello there, well I am officially on my Christmas vacation. I have been sick for 3 weeks now and I am sooo tired! It has never been severe but I cough every night and can't sleep. I kept up exercise for a while but have not done any for over a week now and completely lost control with cookies and candy this week. I actually wore my pants unbuttoned at work today because they were so tight. Grrr! Hopefully I will get well over the break and I can start back exercising and eating better in January.

I was going to head to my mom's in PA tonight but I don't like to drive in dark and rain so I'm leaving in the morning instead. I'm coming home Monday. This will be my first year not having either kid at my mom's and having no kids at home Christmas morning :-( My older son will come over sometime Christmas day.

My younger son and his wife went on their trip to Korea. They arrived there Sunday night. He will stay for a month, but she cannot come back now until the paperwork gets sorted out. We filed a motion to re-open her case, along with the missing documents. I don't know how long that will take to process, and they may deny her since she left the country, and make them start over. We will see. When I tell one of my friends about this mess, I do tell him I have another episode of my personal soap opera!

You got a lot more snow than we did, only an hour away. We got maybe 4 inches.

I am so glad to hear your 3 pounds is still staying off! Sounds like the start of a downward trend! Good for you avoiding the pie too! How are you doing with your meals? Sounds like you stocked up on good stuff. Have you started the wine plan?

What are your holiday plans? How are your daughters?

Hello, I am finally feeling better. I started improving late last week and am pretty much normal now. I did no exercise at all for 2 weeks, and only once so far this week. My eating is totally out of control. I saved on my phone a picture of the scale when I lost those 2 pounds in the fall. The picture was Oct 31. I am now EIGHT pounds more than that. The pants I took to my mom's for church (more on that below) which I got for my reunion on October are too tight, which means all my work pants will be too tights. I am going to be in trouble when I go back next week and cannot wear flannel pj pants all day!

I actually started feeling better the night before I headed to my mom's. I left Friday morning before Christmas and was there through Christmas eve. Since neither of my boys were there, it was my mom, 2 sisters, and me for most of the time, which actually was very nice. I enjoyed it being just the four of us. My sister made a nice arrangement of greens to put on dad's headstone, and we toasted him with Drambuie, one of his favorite drinks. My brother-in-law and aunt came for dinner on the Saturday night, and it was nice to see them as well.

My mom went to mass on Sunday, something I no longer do, but then she wanted to go to another church in our town for "lessons and carols." I had not heard of that before, but it's something very well known that I believe started at Cambridge. You may be familiar with it, but it's a service that alternates readings of Bible passages with music, traditionally on Christmas Eve. Mom listens to it on the radio every year. I decided I would go to that with her and I quite enjoyed it. They deviated from the more usual program apparently, and it was a lot more "homey" than what mom was expecting based on what she usually hears, but to me that made it more enjoyable. The congregation sang some of the songs, and other people performed other songs. Two of them were kids on instruments, one lady played the flute. I also saw an old teacher of mine and got to talk with her a few minutes as well. Maybe I can find that program around here somewhere next year.

My older son came Christmas morning and we spent the day playing games and eating, and that was very nice too. We chatted by video call with our younger son in the morning and evening. My older son, mom, and one sister are now in Korea. They were still adjusting to the time difference so hadn't done anything yet when we spoke to our younger son last night.

How did your holiday go? Did you survive the Masonic home? I am with you about bigger gatherings. The more people in the mix, the more chance for stress and drama. I hope for your sake that nothing went wrong and you were able to enjoy the carols and presents! I hope you also found joy at the midnight service. As always, I feel you are such a giving person, and working on Christmas Day is another example. The world is lucky that there are so many people in the medical field who are willing to give up their time to be there for people who need help.

Good for you on the fewer carbs and controlled wine, and for sticking with it through the holidays! I know how hard that is, since I've failed utterly myself. I found it especially hard since I was sick, not exercising, tired, and demoralized. You had the same problems but you stuck with it - I am very proud of you!!

I hope I can get back on track next week. Our principal told me (as she was handing out donuts) that they are going to do a weight loss challenge in January. I hope they get it started right away, and that as part of it, they stop putting out junk food. I have never done that sort of "public" weight loss thing - the Y has them sometimes but I feel like I would do badly under pressure. I think having one at school would work for me though. I think it would be way less competitive than the Y, and would feel more supportive. We will see!

Do you have any plans for New Year's? I do not go out or even stay up anymore. I hope to do a "First Day" hike at one of the state parks. I have my 2 near me that I go to a lot, but I would like to try a different one. The next closest one that is not through an urban area is Belle Isle, about 90 min away. We took the boys to a concert there about 10 or more years ago, but I've never hiked there. If the weather is ok, I might go there. I'm having some pain in my left knee and right groin still left from my Thanksgiving hike, so I probably can't do a big one, but I know it is pretty down there so I hope to get there and spend a little time outdoors!