Hi Everybody! I changed my mind about going to church in person this week. Each week, usually on Sunday evening, I decide that I want to attend church in person the following week. After listening to the news during the week, I change my mind and decide it isn't safe yet, especially this Sunday and Christmas Eve when attendance is typically high. Maybe the Sunday after Christmas-that is often lower in attendance than the Sundays leading up to Christmas. The covid rates remain high around here.
My eating was pretty good throughout the day and I had yoga this afternoon. Tomorrow is my weigh in day for WW. I'm not expecting progress -just hoping that I'm not up more...
I have a busy week coming up including an appointment for my annual mammogram on Tuesday. On Thursday I will meet my sister halfway to exchange gifts and have lunch and then my daughter and her husband are coming over that evening to exchange gifts even though they will be here on Christmas for a meal. Shari, I also look forwards to hearing about the pudding! Paula, congrats on the great eating choices! Diane, I hope you are doing well!
I have to confess that I am not much of a gift wrapper either. I get paper on the package as best I can and then put on a self-sticking gift tag and a self sticking bow. For the gifts going to Alaska, I don't even put clothing in gift boxes because it takes up more space and adds weight to the container.
My grandsons are already out of school for the holidays and had a zoom visit with Santa this afternoon-what a great idea!!
Everyone have a great week!!

I don’t remember if I mentioned we have no internet at our house since we came back to MN?? So I have not be on here as often until we are back home in AZ. Our next door neighbor has allowed us to sign into his internet account while we are home. Long distance, through walls of two homes….it is spotty at best and only available in my DHs office area…when it does connect. Short story is we are allowed by our cable provider ONE vacation suspension per 12 months. So if we turn it back on now we cannot suspend it again for 12 months. So while gone to AZ 8 months of the year we would pay $80 each of those months we are not using it. Decided we could be spotty internet for 3 weeks we are here. Our only internet companies are limited to one DSL phone line from off brand (which we tried and is terrible) or this one cable company….a monopoly for each for sure!

🎄Glad everyone is busy and seeing family friends over holidays. Hope everyone stays healthy!!🤞 My IF is going well but my choices in my eating window time could be better…too many treats around everywhere we go! SIL arrived with ginger cookies, peanut clusters and peanut brittle…all homemade, sigh! 😋. They are staying at our home until 12/27 same day of our memorial service for grandkids dad. The next morning we fly to AZ. The schedule this week is overwhelming so I am doing one day or half day, or event at a time!

We are invited for Christmas church service for tomorrow night, 22nd….this mega church does 10 services over Christmas spread over days and evenings. With Covid surge here in MN, I am leery about attending. My gut says don’t go. Our daughter and granddaughter want us to go with them??? Emotional tug of war for me.😳

Just in case…I don’t get back on the internet connection…I will wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!❤️

Happy Birthday to Jim! Hope both of you enjoyed the dinner out Shari. Nowadays, a day off from cooking means a lot to me.

DW, Ah, a trip to Florida in January....what a delight! Where in PA did your friends live? Sounds like you have a good plan for following C1 on days without special plans and then being able to enjoy special days a little more.

Today was another good day for me, so that's 2 days in a row. I expect tomorrow will be easy for me to stay strong, but then comes Christmas eve with our traditional Eastern European "Holy Supper" followed by Christmas dinner. I am going to enjoy the weekend while trying to not go overboard and while still tracking the food on WW. I will be surprised if I practice IF on those days, but maybe I will. I had another successful and productive day. Tomorrow I get my nails done, definitely wearing my N95 mask, even though there usually is just one other client in the salon when I am there. I just ordered another pack of N95 masks and have given them to some friends who now prefer wearing them in place of standard cloth masks.

Hello Everyone! Just jumping on to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas!! We have a quiet holiday planned with just my daughter and SIL coming for Christmas lunch and then he works at 2:00pm. I plan to do facebook church tonight and hope to Skype with our Alaska family tomorrow. Again, Merry Christmas!!

DW, I hear you on the weight gain! Hope things work out with your washing machine. Such a pain to be without something so necessary! I will keep our tree up for sometime yet. I usually keep it up till at least January 7. It is an artificial tree and certainly brightens up the living room with its white lights.

Shari, Enjoy your week off! Heaven knows you deserve it.

Diane, I hope you are managing ok in the cold winter weather. We are expecting relatively warm temps over the weekend and then old man winter will return here next week. Brrrrr!

I hope everyone has had a safe and blessed holiday! John and enjoyed the daily church services online Dec 24 through the 28th as well as a fabulous church virtual Christmas concert on the 26th with about 17 church choirs participating. So glad it is on YouTube and we can go back and watch it again anytime we want to. I made a turkey breast for Christmas and an amazing prime rib roast on Monday. We so seldom eat red meat that this was quite change for us. It was good, but I am now ok if we skip red meat for a while again.

I haven't stepped on a scale in the past few days. I am expecting to drop a few pounds of holiday gain by my next weigh in. I have had more than my fill of sweets, with many treats remaining, but the good news is I have little interest in eating any sweet treats, other than a small taste of a small portion the past few days. I have frozen quite a bit of baked goods and am not tempted to stray with them at all.

My head is spinning with all of the Covid information in the news. Our county has the 3rd highest rate of cases in our state (of 67 counties). I feel like we are worse than when the pandemic initially emerged. We are hearing of deaths of healthy folks who were fully vaccinated, including a teacher age 47 with no other medical issues. I remain resolved to stay home with as little contact with outsiders as possible. Craig was here yesterday. He is doing ok and has been tested for Covid 3 times, with all 3 results negative. Even so, we don't get too close to him!

Thinking of all of you and looking forward to reading how you all are doing.

Hello to all! I had started this and somehow “lost” it, lol. We are back in AZ and I am happy to not be surrounded by snow and to have working internet. An extremely busy and stressful 3 weeks in MN.

I was quite off IF schedule (some days) but tried my best to keep on track whenever possible. I ate too many sweet treats over the whole holiday but guess it could have had worse results. I am recommitting to being on track again now that we are home. One day at a time.

Reading the posts, it sounds like everyone had a nice Christmas and getting their homes back to normal…decorations down etc. Shari, so sorry Covid put a damper on your son coming home! Hope he and his girlfriend are better now! I am sure any weight gains will be short lived (I was up 4 lbs from not taking my diuretic for two days and flying etc). Now two days home…eating on track and taking my meds, I am losing that so I am only 1 lb up as of this morning. Take care and Happy New Year to all. 🎊 ❤️🎉

•
Happy New Year All! This is our year to do it!!

Shari, Good news that Kyle is fully recovered, and how nice and considerate of him to be cautious about potentially passing Covid on to others. But I am sure it was disappointing that you didn’t get to see him for Christmas.

DW, So cool that you are able to Skype with your family in Alaska. I often think how amazed my parents would have been if such technology existed when they were alive. Despite all the problems we face daily, there are so many blessings around us too.

Diane, I continue to track my food now on WW. Some recent days my points were just plain outrageous, but it is good reality therapy for me to see how chock full of points some foods are. When I reached my fill of sweets and I reverted to some healthier habits, my points improved quite a bit, but still much room for improvement.

I have had another few good days in terms of relaxing and enjoying the holiday. I had quite a few phone calls from loved ones who live out of the area. A dear cousin on mine in FL called yesterday. It was the highlight of my day to hear from him. My eating has been better but still not where I want it to be. Today I made our traditional pork and sauerkraut (and potatoes) for New Year’s Day. This is a well-established tradition in our area. There is no Pennsylvania Dutch in my heritage, but I grew up knowing that the PA Dutch believe eating pork on New Year’s Day brings good luck. Our local newspaper explained that this is because pigs root around with their snouts in a forward motion and we always want to move forward, not backward in life. Our local newspaper also pointed out today that sauerkraut is made with cabbage, which is considered lucky because it’s green just like money. Just thought I’d share this bit of trivia!!

Paula…wishing you well as you remember lost loved ones! Sending a hug.
Sorry it’s so cold where you are Shari! Hope it moderates soon!
DW…Thanks for your good wishes in the coming year. Let’s hope it’s the year Covid ends.🙏🏻

We are enjoying 50 degree weather…and it’s nice not to see snow. MN is having a -15 below cold snap. Brrr. Must be the reason we moved to AZ! I am on track with my IF and my weight was pre Christmas this morning so I am feeling motivated to stay on track with the IF plan. Take care all😍

Shari, I appreciate your kind words for me regarding January 3. I cannot imagine having to venture out in your exceedingly cold temperatures! So glad you can work from home. How does Moe do in such cold weather?? I was not able to access the MFP challenge. I am wondering if it is available to only “paying” members. DW, were you able to access the MFP new year challenge???

Diane, Congrats on getting back to your pre-Christmas weight! You are an inspiration!! I seem to have lost my motivation the past 2 days but am working to bounce back. Thanks for the hugs and support.

MJ, How nice that you are now here with us!!! So good to see your post. I am currently following WW online and Intermittent Fasting (IF) as best as I can. This was working well for me till the holidays hit. Our holiday celebrations (mostly customs related to church celebrations) will be over after this weekend. While I have had a few good days of compliance between Christmas and now, I expect it will be not until Jan. 8 or so till I am back to my healthier practices on a consistent basis.

We had the most amazing sunset here yesterday, the most beautiful I have ever seen in my 26 years living in this house. There were 3 incredibly beautiful layered rows of color as I peered out my kitchen window facing southwest. The bottom level was truly Caribbean blue, the bluest sky I have ever seen in this area and quite similar to what I remember from my visits to tropical areas in the summer. The next level was a striking orangey pink, a color sometimes seen here is autumn sunsets, but not in winter, and the top layer was a mix of blue sky (but not Caribbean blue) and some white fluffy clouds, again somewhat unusual for this time of year. I found this beautiful sunset most comforting and (forgive me if you think I am crazy) a sign from my departed loved ones whom I mentioned in my last post.

We are expecting icy weather tomorrow and a snow storm on Friday. No word yet on how much or how little snow will come on Friday. The Covid situation here is still a cause of great concern for me….so much so that I even cancelled my one and only regular outing, going to the nail salon for my every-two-week manicure. It just isn’t worth the risk for me, even though I am vaccinated and boosted and not many people are in the salon when I am there. Many businesses here are short staffed because of the virus, including my beloved ShopRite and the laundry service that I use as well.