Beating the post office rush

I'm never a big fan of frequenting the post office but I especially like to avoid it this time of year. Considering I haven't yet mailed my Christmas cards, I was dreading just making the stop to get stamps from the machine. HOWEVER - I recently discovered one of the local gas stations now has a postal counter and there is rarely, if ever, a line.

I'm such a sap

There are certain songs that "get" to me and there's one playing right now during the Christmas season that makes me ball my eyes out each and every time I hear it on the radio. I think it's called "Christmas Shoes" and if you've heard it, you probably know which song I'm talking about. So, if you see a crazy woman driving down the street crying, you can probably guess what is playing on the radio.

How would you write the proper thank you note for this?

Hirst Donates Pickled Cow

Happy Holidays

This past Saturday, we went to Rich's company Christmas party. It's a fun evening but this year was even more meaningful to me because I have changed so much n my appearance. Last year at this time, I was praying that I had something in my closet that not only fit me, but would actually look half-way decent. This year, the only thing I had to worry about was whether my strapless bra would stay up the entire evening (which it did!)

Funny things happen though when you lose a lot of weight. People don't recognize you. Rich called me this morning to let me know that several people at the party didn't come up to us because they thought Rich was there with "another woman". While I am almost "half the woman" I used to be, I can assure them that it is still me.

Apparently bigger is NOT better

Last night, we had our Ladies' Christmas Candlelight Tea at church. I volunteered to hostess a table this year. After much thought, I went with a Gingerbread Candyland theme. As a "take-home" gift, I baked and decorated individual gingerbread men for my table guests. Of course, when you are trying to make 10 "perfect" men, you are bound to have some failures in between. Thus, I had a few with misshapen body parts or missing limbs. Still, even the leftovers are fair game for my family. Ian was extremely excited to see the gingerbread men last night when he came home from school and wanted one for his dessert. Since I was at the tea last night, I did not see him before he went to bed so this morning he informed me that the next time I make gingerbread cookies, I need to make them smaller as the current cookies were just "too big" and made his tummy ache (even though the size didn't stop him from eating the whole thing).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

at least at our house! Over the long weekend, we got out the stockings, went and chopped down a tree and today Kyra and I set up our Little People Nativity set.

I have to say, preparing for Christmas without having to think about unpacking boxes sure does change one's perspective!

Getting there!

Another six weeks has passed and I am now at then end of weight loss cycle number five. I am now within 3 pounds of the "high end" of my ideal body weight for my fram size though I want to get to the lower end of that scale. Thus, today I am starting on cycle number six. Not the easiest thing to do the week of Thanksgiving, but you can't stop progress.

Oh, and sorry about the x-ray vision on the flash. I swear in regular lighting this shirt is not see-through! (but then again, you can all see my "uplift" from Nordstroms!