**CLOSED** Skinny Chics & A Rooster **CLOSED**

Happy Tuesday!

ReNae - Sounds like you had a grand old time! I love the fact that you are planning ahead! Way to go!

Staci - Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family!

Steph - I am soo glad that a stressful day turned into such a wonderful evening! You are a fantastic whistler and wow that is a lot of poundage!

Becky - What a good plan! I wouldn't worry about the house too much because if your mom is anything like the people I work with if they can find something to complain about that makes them happy. I had gotten to a point that I actually misspell a word on purpose so that they would focus on that and they were pleased as punch with themselves while I laughed in private.

Lexie - Nice find with the sweaters! You should feel beautiful because you are! About the croobies, JJ had sent me a website awhile back for knitted knockers instructions, but since I don't knit, I found crochet instructions. So I have foobies, foam prothestics (foam+boobies=foobies), and soobies (silcone+boobies=soobies), but I make and donate croobies (crochet+boobies=croobies). As for the rest, I went through a divorce when my kids were little and it was bad for me, but in my case I was isolated since my family lived a couple hundred miles away and I was a stay at home mom. I understand what you are going through.

As for me, went to the gym after work and went home and colored my hair. It is "Chocolate Caramel" which translates to dark reddish brown. Closer to my natural color. Other than that not much going on. Trying to make it through the short work week without pulling out the hair that is finally growing out.

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Stac- Glad you are back to yourself. I know what you mean about the baking etc. We will be dipping chocolates all day Friday. My mom and my sister and I spend an entire day each year and make a dozen different types of sweets. From fudge to date balls to choc dipped maples. My only weakness will be the peanut butter balls. I'll need to give those away first so the temptations will be gone.

Steph - 1105lbs?!! That's huge! We are amazing aren't we?!! I think most of us have been at it for a year of less also. Maybe we should start a new goal of reaching 2000lbs by a 2013 or something?

Eileen - "Chocolate Caramel" sounds sexy! I am going for a cut tonight and it just kills me because today is a good hairday and someone actually said to me this morning "I love your new haircut". LOL

Lexie - awesome deal on the sweaters. I still have a shopping phobia.. I am either wearing clothes I had in the 80's or wearing the same 3 tops over and over. I'm pathetic. I just want to buy a 'smart' wardrobe - one that is entirely different from what I was wearing at 280lbs. Nothing big and frumpy or shapeless, and I'm having a hard time committing to the new me. I want to really love the clothes I end up with because I'm not a big shopper and once I do it I'll probably wear them until they are hanging off me again.

Becky- Your Thanksgiving plan is incredible. I haven't really put a plan into place (except for my plan to eat pie!), but I will give it some forethought. Less starch / more veggies. I'm going to enjoy my day but not overdue it. We eat just that one meal mid-day so as long as I keep it to a reasonable amount I should be good. And there will be wine (but also walking). Life is all about the compromises for me. Don't worry about cleaning your house for family. They're there to see you. Just go for 'the illusion of clean' and sanitize the bathroom. Everything else doesn't matter! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Keep it skinny chics!

I am still plugging along, but am totally overwhelmed with the shop at the moment. Its a big shopping weekend and we are hoping to be hopping busy all weekend, so lots of preparation involved in that. Added to that all the people that wait until now to cast on for a sweater for everyone on their christmas list and expect me to work miracles and help them get it done, the spouses that come in to get something for their knitaholic wife or husband but did not pay attention to what they said they wanted, and all the people that keep coming in wanting a donation for this or that worthy cause and its INSANE! Then all the appliances in the house has decided to fall apart the dryer is eating clothing, the microwave is making a funny sound and the ice in the door of the freezer no longer works. So my one partial day off was spent waiting for the appliance repair dude to show up between noon and 4pm (he got here at 3:55pm).

I am doing a Turkey Trot, my first 5k ever and have not been out running since October. Ack! We are going to my aunt's for Thanksgiving dinner, which is good in that I don't have to cook and bad in that I have no control over the food. But you know what? I am not going to stress over it. It is what it is, one meal is not going to hurt me, I know how to make good choices, and if I make a couple of bad ones....so what?

Still no movement on the weight, but not exactly shocking as I have not been exercising much, and have switched to maintenance mode for my calories. I am going to get back on track after Thanksgiving weekend. I have promised myself this. But right now, I really needed this mental break.

Happy Wednesday!

Staci - Holiday Baking....sounds yummy! I used to bake mini breads to give to the neighbors and by the time I got done baking I didn't want to eat any of it (except for the cinnamon swirl bread of course).

ReNae - I have yet to decide if I like it. It is a little redder than what I am used to being but I will grow to like it I am sure. Did you get layers? If that is the new haircut in the pic, I like it. (I am bad at noticing these things usually.) It frames your face very nicely.

JJ - Just don't lose time for yourself with all that busy work! Have been missing your down to home posts and hope you have a wonderful break!

Julie - A midnight shopper? My husband does it but I don't. i must have gotten the defective shopping gene because I will go but it is not my favorite thing to do. As for Onederland, I am positive that it is just around the corner for you!

As for me, not much going on. Went last night and got pop for my brother's Thanksgiving get together. Found out that my hubbie's brother will get here tonight and I am hoping that we are not asked to go over there tongiht for supper. Tomorrow will be an interesting day and hopeful not too awful!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Eileen – thank you for sharing about your divorce. I do have one question, how did you get through it? Since I started going to church this past month, I have also started praying for the first time in a long time. Recently I have been praying every day just to make it through the end of the day. It has been so hard, and I don’t see an end anywhere in my future. And we would love to see a picture of that newly colored hair!

Staci – have a great time at your sisters! I DREAM of having a nice kitchen. It also sounds like you have a great plan for the candy. But I am with you, the fudge would be very tempting to me too! Hope you have a wonderful weekend

Renae – can you buy a couple of things at a time? I am sure that you will look great in everything! So buy yourself some clothes. You will be amazed how great you feel in the morning when you put on clothes that actually fit correctly and make you look sexy! Enjoy your thanksgiving, it sounds like a lot of fun, and I love your attitude :bigsmile:

JJ – wow! Your shops sounds super busy and why is that things all break at the same time and that repairmen come so late!?! I think that you are doing great right now, being able to maintain during this hectic time is proof that you can do this for the long haul! Enjoy the Turkey trot, is anyone going with you? And you have a great attitude for thanksgiving. You are right, it is only one day, and I am sure that you will not go over board. Have a great day!!

Julie – I can’t believe you are almost in onederland!!!! That is so amazing!! It sounds like you are ready for thanksgiving, and you are right, that onderland is a great motivation. Thank you for your kind words. It is definetly hard, and my emotions change almost everyday atleast once or twice. Right now, I am doing good. I have on one of my new sweaters, and a pair of size 16 jeans! They may be a little snug, but I can button them, breathe, and I feel sexy in them. I hope that you have a great weekend, and do some shopping for me! I love Black Friday, and I can’t go this year again :frown: But, it is probably better because I need to save all the money I can for Disney world!

Well, today is a good day. The past couple of days have been rough, but I made it through them. Thats all that I can ask and pray for. Make it through each day. I have decided to continue this HCG diet until the end of the month. Mainly because I don’t have to buy much groceries, and it is still working. I am sure I will be on here more this weekend, running my mouth :laugh:, I’m going to try and have a good weekend, but it is harder on me when I don’t have much to do. Hope you have a great day, and I will talk to you all again soon!

Hi All,
Not much to say. Feeling a bit in a rut lately so hopefully the challenge of this week will help that. The upside is that despite being snacky, I lost 1.8lbs this week. The only problem is that despite knowing its not going for me, in my head I say well i ate it before and lost....and lets face it, thats a great way to put weight on! I'm looking forward to do nothing on this upcoming weekend while you are enjoying turkey. Have a good one, send me some pumpkin pie!!!

Cyn- you sound just like me. My pies are done with a pre pie made last week because I found a recipe that uses cream cheese instead of shortning for the crust and I substituted low fat cream cheese. Holy cow is it good! I could just bake the crust and eat it. The potaoes are actually done and are in baking dishes (3 of them) to go into the oven and heat tomorrow. The good thing for me is that the weather has been cold enough here that we are going to put the turkey in the brine tonight in a small cooler and the rest of the food in a bigger cooler and load the car tonight. Then in the morning I just have to throw on my running cothes because my turkey trot is on the way to my sister's house. After the run we will just continue on our way there. My dad is actually going to help me cook the feast tomorrow. Which probably translates into him sitting at the kitchen counter visiting until its all done then offering to carve the bird. LOL Have fun with your run tomorrow. Think speed.

To everyone that is running tomorrow or this weekend, may your legs be swift and your feet be light.

Just about to head out to do our Turkey Trot. Stopped by to say Happy Thanksgiving to all. I am very blessed and thankful for everyone of you. I honestly believe, if it weren't for all of you, I wouldn't be where I am today. Thanks and God Bless.

Eileen - thank you. That seems to be what is helping me too, just trying to focus on my boys. Taking it one day at a time has helped, but sometimes I forget and start to drive myself crazy.

Everyone doing the Turkey trots...great job!!! Next year I will find one, because that sounds like a great way to start the day. I decided to buy a turkey breast (like Becky), mainly because it was smaller and didn't cost as much money. I have it in the crock pot, and it should be ready in another hour or two. For the boys I am making them rolls, mashed potatoes (from scratch...which I don't do very often), and corn on the cob. I am going to have turkey and some fresh aspargus, which sounds just fine for me. I did make a batch of cookies and brownies for the boys, but I have been able to stay out of them so far. I am going to a friend's house this evening, which will be nice to get out of the house.

Today I am thankful for my friends and family. Especially my friends on here. I was feeling down and lonely and like I had no where to turn. so I came on here, and saw all of you, and it made me smile. Thank you for being here and sharing this journey and your lives with me. I know that I could not have done this without all of you.

I actually broke into the 2teens today, and I am super excited about that! I am finishing up the HCG drops for the rest of the month, it is working, and it can save me some $$$.

I hope you have a great day! Love you all!!!!!

Allo Allo!
Not much going on here. Went to do some spin tonight by myself. Was rather amused to find that I had taken hubby's pajama bottoms instead of my track bottoms. Spent the whole time hoping the little flappy at the front stayed closed!!

Next week has me nervous as change from my normal routine always makes me nervous. Tuesday is parent teacher day from 8am to 6pm....its long, its tiring and well munching always ends up being a great way to get through the day (I know I know, healthy stuff but believe me after trying to convincve little suzie's parents that the sun does not shine out of her *kitten* all I want is crappy food and that's just suzie 1....after suzie #8 well....you get the picture)! Wednesday is a day of industrial action. So I will be out at the rally protesting changes to the pension scheme (after seeing trainer in the morning). In theory it should be okay as I can't imagine they will be serving, well anything, but I know my co-workers will be all PUB PUB PUB afterwards!

I hope you all had a great Turkey day...its made me look forward to Christmas feasts :happy: As well I'm so proud of all of you who have done Turkey Trots, that sounds fun. There are Santa runs here but I don't fancy running 5km dressed like a red fat man!! :laugh:

Lexie that is great I can't seem to (re) break out of the 250's! Envious!!

No Black Friday shopping for me. I roasted our turkey today....smelled so good as it was roasting. I worked outside most of the afternoon planting spring bulbs then put up a few Christmas decorations. The hot water heater died Friday and the plumber will be here Saturday to replace it. Never a dull moment for sure. I will hopefully get the rest of the spring bulbs planted before the plumber gets here.

Pam

Hey everyone! Hope that everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a great one!! It is officially THAT time of the year when things go into SUPER BUSY OVERDRIVE. I did well on Thanksgiving, ate pretty much what I wanted... just in more limited quanities. Did 30DS twice and went for a 40 min powerwalk. I was hoping the scale would be the same Friday am that it was Weds and Thurs... but I was up close to 3 lbs. I was actually in the 230's for several days... I'm thiiiiis close now. I will get there, I know its from the bloat of the YUMMY food lol

Congrats to Julie and Cyndi for completing your Turkey Trots!! I didn't have the guts to do the Gobbler 5K....hopefully next year.

To all of you Black Friday shoppers, hope ya'll got some good deals!

I've read all of the posts and gotten caught up on everyone, so if I don't comment it's not because I don't care... I love reading everyone's posts and smiling, laughing, and sometimes crying. I am so thankful for each and every one of you!! Going to try to catch up some more at work... I'm working the weekend but for the past several weeks have been trying to prepare a LARGE chunk of our new employee training, I'm talking over a 40 hour class worth of material. Needless to say, that's exhausting...and stressful. Luckily I no longer have my trainee, so I can actually get this done... I hope.

Hope everyone has a marvelous weekend! Keep it Skinny, Chics!!

I finished the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and I was not the last person to do so! I was so happy about that! LOL! I even took a picture, I was on the last page of the posted results, but at the top of the page. It had rained constantly the entire week, but it was clear that morning which was awesome. It seemed like a really well organized thing, with them using timing chips so we were sent off in waves. Then when we crossed the finish line it had your name and time. It went by so fast I did not have time to take a picture and wish I had. I had my best time ever and was just so pleased to have done it. For anyone thinking of doing one, it was a very low key event and very family oriented with lots of parents and kids walking the course together. I also liked that there was the 10k too, so no one had to know I was towards the back of the pack, they just thought I was doing pretty good for a 10ker.

Then dinner was good, nothing great, so it was easy to eat in moderation. I went to the shop for a little while afterwards to get ready for the next day, then home to bed. Up early on Friday and at the shop by 7:30am. It was a crazy day, lots of friends and customers stopping by and shopping as well as some classes, and didn't get home until almost 9pm. Then up today for the same, but I got home at 8:30pm tonight! Its progress! The good news is we sold enough the last two days to pay the rent just from those two days, so that is awesome. One more day of crazy and then the shop is closed Monday and Tuesday, except I have school stuff for my daughter to do on Monday and a class I am taking on Tuesday, but at least it will be different!

It sounds like you are all doing really well, and had great Thanksgivings too. I didn't get a chance to say it before....but I am very thankful for all of you!

Hello All!
Its been a quiet but good weekend. Spent a long time in the gym yesterday and then went to get some new clothes as I was desperate for tops. Able to buy a size 18 which makes me happy! Also got a lovely sweater dress which I wore out to dinner last night. It is so nice to put on clothes and feel confident in them and have my husband look at me in a different way. I've always known he loved me but its a different look when your suddenly not trying to hide your body and instead are showing off your legs. Made for a great evening

Today was a bit of a struggle. My gym buddy put our meeting time off until 3 and this made it hard for me as I just wanted to munch! :grumble: Managed to do a lot of school work before meeting up though and now that I've been I feel great. I think we are going to have a standing date to do spin on a sunday. We just take over the studio and go for it.

Lexie I can believe how much you have lost this month, its incredible! You emotiions are bound to be up and down but as time passes they will stabalise.:flowerforyou:

JJ - wtg on finishing that trot! It sounds like you have been keeping super busy. Hope you are able to relax a little bit with the shop being closed for 2 days:flowerforyou:

Lane - you will get there! I am hoping to (re) enter the 240's this week! Lots of water will help shift that Thanksgiving number. And well done on getting the exercise in on that day :happy:

Julie: I'm sure for Eve it does :laugh: