Dec 21 - Dec 27

GaGasheesh

SW: 156
LW: 132.8
TW: 132.2

I was feeling rather discouraged this morning when I weighed, so I decided to post my starting weight to remind myself what I’ve accomplished. I’ve had a pretty good week of getting activity done so far. Over the next few days that will be more of a challenge.

Sarah, I did start taking Lipitor, and haven’t noticed any side effects. I put it off as long as I dared, lol. As long as your LDL is low, I don’t see why you would have to start taking statins. But, I’m no doctor. They do tend to scare us into taking medication it seems. I hope you got your Fitbit to sync with no toggle. I actually think the app worked better anyway, so you might want to go that route.

It’s really fantastic that Shawn’s ex is open and cooperative with you, Kelly. It’s so much better for kids. I hope Shawn’s foot is better, and that you and yours have a great holiday. And stay warm. My weather app says it’s - 2 F there today. 28 degrees here, but that’s still too cold for a wimp like me to go out to walk. I guess it’s another TM day. BTW, I think you said you have an Apple Watch? The new workouts can stream to your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. They’re pretty fun. . . Latin dancing especially.

Lois, I hope your hip is healing, and that you’ve got Christmas figured out. Lucky you getting to see Rhea! Enjoy, and stay safe.

SarahMaxx

LW: 134.6
TW: 133.4

Wonders never cease. I was prepared to see an increase today because of the unexpected amount of sodium that was in the food I had yesterday. Yakitora chicken and fried rice is very high in sodium to my surprise, and so is a boca burger. So I was way over with salt and over a bit for sugar (neighbor brought us cookies!), and although my rings are usually pretty loose, when I got undressed last night, I could hardly get them off. So I was ready for a 2 pound increase. Maybe all the water I drank and the fact that I had to almost run on the treadmill to get my 10K steps in before midnight made a difference.

Hubby and I first said we are not going to buy each other Christmas presents since neither of us can think of anything affordable we want or need. Thought we'd shop for him a new phone and me a few things after the Christmas rush. But I started feeling badly about that and suggested we go out last night to find some small something to wrap up. Long story short, the parking lots at one shopping center were so insane that we wouldn't even stop. There were people lined up to get into the stores. People were driving crazy. I honestly fear parking lots more than highways. So we went to the mall, which is all but dead, and went into the only anchor store left--Macy's. The men's department was chaos. It was not that crowded but the merchandise was a mess. So we said, nope. We'll shop for ourselves after Christmas and just enjoy some peace.

I am still struggling to get access to the inboxes I need and get the ones that are just clogging my system removed. Because there are so many people taking holiday leave, it's hard to impossible to get anything done. So I expect that I won't really be working until next week. ((Sigh))

Sheesh, I am so sorry to hear that your sister and BIL are still struggling so much with their health issues. Frankly, my sister is not making any progress that I can see. She has not been able to stand or walk for a few months now, and that is making her weaker and weaker. They are all in my prayers.

Lois, I hope that you're taking care of the hip and taking some time to do some things you enjoy. I can just see you now, racing around trying to do dozens of things for dozens of people! As you've reminded me, we need to just take some time and breathe.

Kelly, I'm looking forward to hearing more about your new job. A new job, a new pup, new things going on in the house--you've got a lot going on! We renovated our half-basement about three years ago, and I remember that in between time when everything was torn up. It was not a lot of fun when it was in progress, but we're really enjoying it now. It's mostly space for hubby's hobbies and my TM, but it was much needed and it's pretty cozy.

Well, I hope everyone is well and not too stressed and that you have a lovely holiday. This is only the second Christmas in my lifetime that I'm not in NC for Christmas, so it's a little melancholy. But I have a good book that was written by one of hubby's friends, and I'm looking forward to sitting down with that and a cup of ginger tea. And we bought nice steaks for Christmas dinner and we're looking forward to a few days where we're not running out for something all the time and I'm not trying to deal with IT issues! So all is good. Because I'm here, I'll probably be back to the board a few times to chat. Hope someone else can drop in, too.

Lastchancelj

LW 232.7
TW 232.3

REDUCTION!! I will take it!!! Walking and watching what I eat and moderation. That is all I’ve done differently

So Christmas is back on at my sons in-laws. Everyone was tested and everyone is negative (son and in laws). So off to flagstaff tomorrow. Our Christmas Eve tradition had been luminaries with beef stew in sourdough bread bowls. Since his in laws don’t have a tradition for Christmas Eve they’ve asked me to make the beef stew. So of course I said yes and it’s cooking now (smelling quite tasty already). We will take it up tomorrow and reheat it in a crock again. That and green bean casserole are what they’ve requested.

My surrogate daughter (inherited through taekwondo when she and my daughter were in high school and now almost 40!). Anyway. Her sister and her parents have tested positive so she’s no longer able to go to their house. We’ve invited her to join us in flagstaff (again she tested negative last week as well). Waiting to hear if she’s coming or not. She’ll share a bed with MIL - they are both fine with that. It is not uncommon for Audrey to join our family for any holiday or birthday. The in laws have welcomed her as well.

Our company holiday gathering didn’t quite work out how the owners had hoped. They had chef prepared dishes sent to each one of our homes. We were to hear, plate and eat and then zoom. Dinners were to be delivered between 4&5pm ours arrived at 545 and it was more to cook not just heat. So it was 715 when our dinner was ready and we were late to the zoom call. Several employees still had not received their meals and found a few never did receive their food. 40 people on zoom was a bit challenging but it was fun to scroll through and see most of them. Dinner was delicious with leftovers for us. But kinda bummed some of my colleagues had to run out for food after the zoom call or cook frozen pizza. We had to make Rhea’s dinner much earlier as well. I had the dinner sent to my sons house as I stayed there overnight and then took Rhea to our house Tuesday to allow the kids to finish shopping wrapping and rest. My DIL had to do some of the shopping for her mom and grandma as her mom while negative doe covid did have a respiratory infection and needed rest. When I brought Rhea home we toured the community around my sons house for holiday lights. They really go all out in this one area and so festive.

And yes I’ve been taking care of my hip. Stretching. Heating pad and not bending too much.

Sarah and Sheesh - I have your sisters in my prayers to ease their pain and discomfort. Zoom and FaceTime seem to be the norm for this year. I do realize how truly blessed I am to be able to be with our family and my heart goes out to all of you.

And my sons mil was able to get us a casita at her timeshare. She will check us in and everything so we don’t have to deal with anyone there - just get the key from her and were staying both nights at one place. It had its own door outside.

I hope all of your have a very Merry Christmas! I will check in while we’re up north (packed some long sleeves and a coat!). No snow yet but it’s going to be cold for us.

wiredkell

Just a quick message to say Merry Christmas! ❤️
I will be back on the boards to catch up once Christmas is over.
Thinking of you all

Lastchancelj

Merry Christmas Ladies!!

SarahMaxx

Merry Christmas. Hope everyone has had an enjoyable and relaxing day. I will also be back to chat very soon. Looking forward to getting you guys to prod me along in the New Year! I forget to confess that I did not do well with my weights and stretching again last week. So that going to be on my "resolution" list for the New Year. Hopefully by Jan 1, I will finally be up and running in my new job and not spending hours a day on forms and IT crap! LOL

GaGasheesh

Hope you had a great Christmas. Ours was really delightful. Our main dinner was Christmas Even dinner with daughter and fiancé here. Daughter and I made Christmas cookies, I did two online playdates, then we had dinner. Christmas Day, I put out my usual spread for brunch even though it was just hubby and me. We had a few gifts here for each other . . books, socks, tops. And then we opened our gifts sent from the kids. I was absolutely shocked to open a MacBook Air from my son! Wow!!! I later made it clear to him that this is Christmas, Mothers Day, Birthday for the next several years! In the afternoon, we had a family Zoom party. Everyone had prepared a "talent" to share. It was so great! Piano numbers, acting out a scene from "Die Hard", songs sung, Dad jokes told, and I ended it with a poem I wrote:

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house,
the hand sanitizer was ready to douse,
any hands or packages not thoroughly cleaned,
while the lights on the tree and the children's eyes gleamed . .
waiting for Santa from warm, cozy beds,
and hoping he visits despite Covid dreads.
And Mama, her kerchief up over her mouth,
said "Don't worry children . . I heard he's down south!"

Then suddenly up on the roof was a clatter,
and the unmistakable sound of Santa laughter.
"HO, HO, HO!" he said, "I wouldn't just phone ya!
I'm not skipping Christmas because of Coronya!"
And then in a blink down the chimney he fell,
with a bundle of toys . . too many to tell.
He sanitized all with a Clorox wipe and
when he was finished he lit ump his pipe
And looked o'er his work, ate the cookies we left . .
and went up the chimney with grace and deft.

He sprang to his sleigh, and I heard him exclaim,
"This Christmas will be the one of Corona Fame!
Merry Christmas to all!" . . then he flew out of sight.
"What a year to remember! And to all a good night!"

Enjoy your weekend. I plan to get back to it Monday.

Lastchancelj

Sheesh that’s really cute! And yay. Your very own MacBook Air. Now you can log in without waiting for hubby!! And I feel the same about covering multiple holidays. But it probably will be forgotten by them in May. Just enjoy their love. Together with my son and daughter in law we combined to buy my daughter and son in law in Okinawa an iPad for FaceTiming. It was not delivered yet but my sons mil received the same one - so we had them open an empty box and then Michelle (DIL mom). showed them hers!! They’re pretty excited and can’t wait for it to get there.

We did spend Christmas in Flagstaff and my DIL mom works at a timeshare resort and was able to procure us a place so we weren’t stuck in a small hotel room. It was a 2 bedroom 2 bath with a hot tub (we were not prepared with bathing suits - darn it). It was so nice and spacious that Michelle asked if we could eat Christmas Eve beef stew there instead of at her house. So they went and got it and had a wonderful evening. It was a standalone duplex with the front door opening to the forest. Two units per building and each having their own HVAC, front and rear porches and entries. Really nice.

It was such an awesome Christmas watching Rhea get excited for her gifts and New toys. She loves her New “baby”, diaper bag, stroller and crib and the many other gifts. This morning she was trying to climb in them. But we did notice she is quite adept at opening caps - Eeek 😧. Her diaper bag had a lotion tube and she deftly opened that tube and pretended to lotion up baby. It was so cute. My daughter and DIL woke up at 2am to participate. We really hope their gift arrives before New years eve so they can see us on a bigger screen. We came back home this morning. Because hubby also tweaked his back before we left - playing with Rhea yesterday triggered something and he woke both of us up at 4am and we couldn’t go back to sleep. Check out was at 10 so we were not able to catch up on sleep. So we are tired today. The kids did get us the cutest picture frames. They’re puzzle pieces. I’ll take a photo when we get them mounted. Super excited

So we had some sad news in our FaceTime calls yesterday. While chatting with hubbys auntie in San Diego - moms younger brother who lives with Auntie had contracted Covid. He’s in his 70s. They’ve quarantined him to his room and only his son is attending to him. And then another Auntie Lina (family friend about 80) was also diagnosed but recently has moved to Utah with one of her children. They are caring for her there. And Michelle, DIL mom her aunt was non responsive in northern Az and had to be flown to Tx for care due to no beds available in Phoenix or NM. update on her is that she is still being tested for cause - but not covid related - and is now responding. Something to do with her liver. And then as we were driving home I received an email from the owner of our company that my direct boss suffered a stroke Christmas Eve in OK while visiting family and she’s now in a hospital in TX as well. Ugh. She’s not much older than me!!

Anyhow we ate the normal holiday fare and my tummy was quite upset. Feels better now that I am home. We have a lot of “at home” chores to get completed this week while on vacation. We are meeting the other grandkids tomorrow to give them their gifts. Meeting at top golf. So we’ll hit a few balls and have some snacks. It’s open air place and Ill have my mask and sanitizer with me. I’ve missed them so much. We’ve only FaceTime one time since this crud began.

Sorry for the long post - and on my iPhone to boot!

GaGasheesh

Lois, it sounds like a very nice Christmas. I'm happy you were able to get away for a bit. I'm looking forward to something happening for us soon. . cabin fever is setting in.

So sorry to hear about illness in your family, and your boss's stroke on Christmas Eve. Life is so fragile and so unpredictable, especially with a pandemic going on.

I'm enjoying my new MacBook! And I imagine you can't wait for your family to "see" each other on their new iPads. That's such a nice gift.

I haven't worked out since Thursday and I'm feeling sluggish. My intake has been awful . . Christmas cookies, ham, potatoes, chocolates, wine. I'm really not looking forward to the treadmill or weights, but I know I'll feel better if I just do it. Also, my house is a mess and that makes me cranky, lol. I don't think we'll clean up though until after the grandkids get back to their schooling after Christmas break. They are texting me and requesting play dates a lot . . .poor kiddos are bored. Their parents try so hard to keep them busy . . parks, bikes, hover boards they got for Xmas, games, puzzles. . . but the usual going out to movies, bowling, restaurants, and playing at friends houses is off the table this year. Can't wait for the vaccine to get in more arms. Let's get rid of this virus asap!

Well, I'm off to the dreadmill for a sluggish walk, lol.

SarahMaxx

Sorry to have been MIA for longer than I intended. I'm continuing to deal with myriad issues related to my onboarding and among them are new IT problems caused by increased security measures and a move from IE and Skype to Edge and MS Teams. The latter does not like CITGO which is the platform used when you use your personal computer. I may have to relent and get a CDC laptop, but that will mean a new monitor, too. My monitor--like myself--is old but working fine.

Sheesh, my intake is also off because of the holidays. Neighbors continue to bring us cookies and candy and we're baking cheese bread for neighbors and friends and when the house smells that good . . . I logged my food for yesterday thinking it would not be so bad since I had half a sandwich, banana, and a glass of milk for brunch and a Panera salad and baguette for dinner. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? But it took me over my 1200 calories by a good bit. I still have a small deficit with the calories burned from walking, but like you, the scale only moves if I'm able to stay in deficit without those calories. So unfair for us short people! And mentioning walking, more and more stores are closing, and I think the final closure of the mall is close at hand. So there will go my perfect indoor walking space. Makes me sad. Moving on from the past is hard for me. I have such good memories of that place when it was thriving and good memories of meeting and walking with Toni for almost 10 years, even as it declined.

Lois, I am glad that your holiday went well and I'm also sorry to hear about the illnesses in your family and your boss's stroke. Stroke is such a scary thing for me. My paternal grandmother died of a stroke at only 67. And years ago, I had coworker whom I was very fond of who had a stroke sitting a her desk. She was in her 40s! We were all working on a proposal and had our doors closed, so it was sheer stroke of luck that a coworker needed to ask her a question and was actually standing in front of her desk when it happened. I hope everyone has a good recovery. I think that helping us prevents strokes is probably one of the best outcomes of our ongoing efforts here.

Well, I have a lot of new materials to read this morning, so I'd better run. As you can imagine, there is new information released every day. I also have a meeting and a training today. And my client sent me an email this morning saying that this is going to be a exciting day, probably late in the day. Have no idea what that means, but I hope it's something good.

wiredkell

Good morning,

It sounds like everyone had a fairly good Christmas and tried to make the most of it. Ours went well too. We all went over to Jodi's (the kids' Mom) for Christmas Eve and that was a bit chaotic. On the same day that we decided to get a new puppy, Jodi also decided to get one .. so her new Lab and our 2 dogs were there. Our little one and her little one played around and were play fighting. It was entertaining for sure. We had appetizers and played What Do You Meme? card game. The next morning, Shawn and I went back to Jodi's with Cash and left Diesel at home. Again, it was chaotic with the present opening and the puppies but we managed. The kids enjoyed all of their gifts and fully admit they are spoiled. My parents and Shawn & I got them a PS5 for Christmas, so that was their major gift that they were completely shocked at. Christmas night we had a turkey supper at our house so Jodi brought over her pup (Jake). Unfortunately it ended up being WAY too chaotic and Jodi had to leave with Jake once she was done eating. Jake and Cash play WAY too aggressive with each other. Jake is a month younger than Cash and we were worried someone was going to get hurt. All in all, it was a fun Christmas.

Sheesh - I haven't looked into the Apple Watch fitness features yet. I have to admit that I'm not very smart when it comes to the watch yet. I just recently changed the front face to show my steps again, but had to download an app to do that. I hate that it's not a feature we can use with the regular apple watch faces, other than by scrolling. I like the quick glance. That's fantastic about the computer! What a gift! I know what you mean about being testy when your house is messy! I'm the same way. I took our tree down on Boxing Day but it made me feel so much better. We have had it up since the beginning of November, so it was time.

Lois - Sorry to hear about all of the illnesses with your family and boss! So cute to read about Rhea and her "baby". Adorable! Hopefully your hubby's back is feeling better!

Sarah - We also switched from IE & Skype to Edge & Teams at work. We use a program called Big IP Edge to get logged in at home. Luckily we haven't had any major issues thought. I hate Edge, so I mostly use Chrome when the website allows me. The new job is good. It's mostly the same work as I was doing at my last job but just with different people and I don't have to be a travel coordinator. I'm also in charge of 3 other workers so that part is new. It has taken a lot longer to get into the groove of things.. obviously because of COVID. We are only going into the office when absolutely necessary so I don't have many opportunities to meet people and when I do, everyone is wearing a mask so it's hard to remember who is who. I do really enjoy being home every day/night now though and the shorter work days and that's really all that matters.

Shawn's foot started getting sore on December 22nd again and is back to being swollen and tender again to the point where he limps pretty bad when walking. Ice, heat, Advil, Tylenol, Tylenol Arthritis.. nothing is working. He's actually at a doctor's appointment right now.. which is his main doctor and he also doesn't know what it is. He's waiting to receive the Xrays and bloodwork back from the last doctor he saw but thinks it's some form of tendinitis or tendinosis or something like that. He's on his way home as his doctor put him off work for the rest of the day, so we'll see what he says. I feel so bad for him and wish I could take his pain away.

Woah.. long post. I'm actually working this week, so I better get back at it. I have a few things to work on for the next few days, while mostly everyone else in my department is off on holidays.

Chat later.