Tuesday

AlPacina

@labro - I guess I learned my lesson, haha! You're so lucky to have somewhere to send his presents to. I shipped his present to my co-worker's house last year, so she just brought it to work with her the next day, but I figured this box would be a little large and annoying. Maybe if she drove an SUV instead of a Prius, lol.

GoldenPenguin

Popping in to let my SS know that her present is at the post office in her town!! I hope they deliver it to you today!! When is the AW post again?

Peaseblossom55

labro said:

Peaseblossom55 said:

@labro an annual family baking day??? That sounds like so much fun!  I really want to do some baking and cookie making but I'd be the only one eating them....

You should just fly down to Georgia then.

We'll be making -
Sugar Cookies
Snickerdoodles
These peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses stuck in the middle
Toffee
Spiced Pecans
Buckeyes
Chocolate covered pretzels
Peppermint bark

ETA:
Chocolate covered peanut clusters

Basically everyone should come to my house for Christmas.

I want all of these cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They all sound so good.  I'm leaving work in a few expect me tomorrow ;-)

Peaseblossom55

CocoBellaF said:

Peaseblossom55 said:

@labro an annual family baking day??? That sounds like so much fun!  I really want to do some baking and cookie making but I'd be the only one eating them....

Nothing wrong with that!!  

True but I'm on a low carb diet (low sugar diet) while TTC and baby> than cookies right now. :-)

Peaseblossom55

@swazzle your cookie list sounds amazing.  I love all cookies but I love oatmeal cookies especially with chocolate chips.

bethsmiles

I hate knotting from my phone, I keep trying to respond to everyone and it keeps thinking I'm pressing other links while I'm scrolling so I give up.

I actually slept really well last night so I don't feel totally exhausted for the first time in like a week. I'm at a clients house all day today, I hate these 8 hours shifts there's just not much to do so it gets pretty boring. Tonight FI is staying over and we are going to order Save the Dates!

Last night my mom texted me about favors. I honestly wasn't planning on doing favors at all but she seemed pretty excited about it so we're going to do little bags of M&Ms in our wedding colors.

Yesterday was the last day of teaching my college class. I'm so glad that class is over. Teaching an 8 am class was miserable and I had a lot of issues with attendance. Next semester I'm teaching in the afternoon and I think it will be so much better so I'm really excited. I still have my concurrent enrollment classes at the high school till next week and they kids are getting a little snotty. They seem to think they are entitled to a study guide for the final and their attitude really is making me lean toward not giving them one at all.

helloliv

I'm writing first and then I'll go back and respond. 

I've been MIA for a bit. I haven't had a lot of positive things to say. But I miss it here so I'm jumping in again.

Yesterday was SO LONG. I had a meeting out in central Mass that went until 9:30. Since I've been battling the worst insomnia ever, I was bleary-eyed by the time I had to get on the road and I was very relieved when I finally pulled into my driveway at 11. Today I'm WFH, thank goodness. I'm doing work from my bed. So much nicer than schlepping into the city, especially when I'm this exhausted and feeling like hell. 

Hopefully tonight I will have enough energy to go for a run. I have a 5k coming up in a few weeks and I'd like to come in faster than my last one.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to get a Christmas tree. I'm not feeling very festive this year and the whole thing is sort of just depressing.

In positive news, as of this morning I'm 44 lbs. down, and I'm officially in the "normal" BMI category. 

eilis1228

@bethsmiles We did a candy and popcorn bar as our favors, and I still get compliments on it. The popcorn moreso than the candy, but overall it was really well received.

@Swazzle @minskat30 The heated mattress pad has been WONDERFUL the past 2 nights. Our bedroom is really poorly insulated, so when it's cold outside, it's freezing in the bedroom. No amount of blankets can help, so the mattress pad was at the top of our list for the registry fulfillment event. Of course, the highs lately have been in the 70s, so we haven't really needed the mattress pad... but I've just kept it on a low setting, and it's the coziest thing ever.

@AlPacina LOL that has happened to me a few times too with gifts. Luckily I get home before H, so I check the mail first. He usually has gifts sent to a friend's house so that I don't find them when I get home. Also, "Broomakaka" sounds like a really weird porn hahahaha.

@labro I still recommend focusing on the fitness aspect of WW rather than weight loss. Focusing on the weight loss aspect can end up being really soul crushing because weight naturally fluctuates and plateaus, especially as more muscle develops. It can be really discouraging to not see any progress on the scale when in actuality you've made TONS of progress with your overall health and fitness. You could also consider tracking your inches lost instead of focusing heavily on the number on the scale. 


Re: frozen bananas. Dude, frozen bananas are amazing. I love them so much, especially when dipped in chocolate. I can't keep these in the house anymore because I will eat the whole box in one sitting:


They're with the frozen fruit at the grocery store. YOU'RE WELCOME!

bethsmiles

@eilis1228 - we can't do a candy bar because we can only bring in our own candy if its wrapped up as an individual favor. We thought about doing a popcorn bar but its $3 a person and I think that's a ridiculous amount to pay for popcorn. We are leaning toward doing a s'mores bar though.

eilis1228

bethsmiles said:

@eilis1228 - we can't do a candy bar because we can only bring in our own candy if its wrapped up as an individual favor. We thought about doing a popcorn bar but its $3 a person and I think that's a ridiculous amount to pay for popcorn. We are leaning toward doing a s'mores bar though.

I'm totally crashing your wedding.

AlPacina

eilis1228 said:

@AlPacina LOL that has happened to me a few times too with gifts. Luckily I get home before H, so I check the mail first. He usually has gifts sent to a friend's house so that I don't find them when I get home. Also, "Broomakaka" sounds like a really weird porn hahahaha.

@eilish1228 - I love ALL of your last post. But especially the bolded.

I might not tell that to my grandma though, haha!

helloliv

@swazzle and @labro - Good luck with WW! Dieting is hard freaking work. Just for the record, I would kill to look like either of you. 

@wink0erin - Good luck with the inspection! 

@minskat30 - All the vibes to Raj! Poor pupper. Let us know how it goes.

@cocobellaf - I'm sorry you're feeling pukey all the time.  

@eilis1228 - I want a heated mattress pad!

@bethsmiles - S'mores bar sounds amaaaaazing. Mmmmmm.

Swazzle

@AlPacina - I think I'm still carrying around some of my post-smoking weight so I definitely feel you on that! I so want to know what these magical cookies are! Thank you for complimenting my other husband too  

@AlPacina & @labro - I have everything shipped home and I ordered H a mechanic's tool set this year on ebay (brand new). So I get home from work one day and there's a huge box and it's a wireless boombox. I was so perplexed and then I discovered the guy just shipped it in that. So H totally thinks he's getting a wireless boombox for Christmas instead of a mechanic's tool set. 

@Peaseblossom55 - They're H's favorite too! I told my mom she has to keep her oatmeal raisin ones away from what I'm bringing home because H will have a meltdown if he bites into one expecting chocolate chips and gets raisins instead LOL I feel like this meme is him: 



@bethsmiles - YAY for STDs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (heh)

@helloliv - Way to go on the weight loss! 

@eilis1228 & @labro - While I get what you're saying, I just wanted to chime in to give my perspective on this because the purpose of WeightWatchers is to lose weight which IS a goal for some of us and that's ok. Yes, my ultimate goal is to be healthy and fit but in order to do that, I need to get to a healthy weight and that's not going to happen just by going to the gym. 

ETA: I think weight loss (and more importantly feeling good in your own skin) is immensely personal and what works for me, might not work for the next person. There's no one right way. 

eilis1228

@Swazzle I totally get that. I lost almost 30 pounds a few years ago, and when I started I was considered overweight on the BMI scale. My personal experience with weight loss was that while it was rewarding to see progress and get healthy, I ended up obsessing over the number on the scale. I would weigh myself daily, and anytime I didn't see progress, my day was basically ruined. I also developed a really bad case of body dysmorphia, and I still struggle with that. Obviously you may not have those issues, but for me personally, I've found that focusing more on my inches than my weight has helped with the insecurities I developed while losing weight. I guess I'm saying that I think weight loss can end up being a slippery slope with overall confidence and body image. It's easy to fall into a trap of, "I'm still not good enough. I need to weigh X amount to look good/be happy/be healthy/etc." because you can end up only focusing on problem areas and overlooking progress. So, just remind yourself that you're already beautiful no matter what, and while weight loss is a key part of overall fitness, it's by no means the end-all be-all. 

labro

@Swazzle LOL! I can just picture your H walking down the street with a great big boombox on his shoulder....oh wait...I forgot it's not the 90s anymore. That packaging is seriously perfect!

@eilis1228 I really get what you're trying to get across here, I do. But the reality is when you're as overweight as I am, it's not just about the inches or focusing on the fitness...it IS about getting down to a healthy weight for my height and frame, not just about building muscle or working out more frequently. And part of that means watching my diet, watching my portion sizes, etc. WW has worked for me in the past and I'm hoping to get there again. I want to be healthy for myself and I look at this as a long term life change, not a short term solution.

@helloliv You are so sweet! You are seriously my inspiration!

@TwoDimes HOLY SHIT your deck is amazing!!!!!!!! Indy is going to be one happy pup!

Peaseblossom55

@twodimes I love it!

@swazzle I love oatmeal raisin cookies too, but chocolate is always preferred over raisins.  Definitely could cause some trust issues.

Swazzle

labro said:

@Swazzle LOL! I can just picture your H walking down the street with a great big boombox on his shoulder....oh wait...I forgot it's not the 90s anymore. That packaging is seriously perfect!

Funny enough, he would totally do that. 

Also, since H is "in a band" I'm totally picturing this now with his boombox: 

jenna8984

@twodimes that is amazing, you guys will love it!!

@swazzle yup- big giant F U to raisin cookies.

minskat30

Update again: Raj is out of surgery!!!  Took longer than they apparently  expected (was supposed to be 45 minutes...ended up being about two hours) but according to the surgeon Raj did great.  The surgeon said the tear was advanced and he confirmed that TPLO was our only option when he was in there.  Raj apparently has very steep tibial slopes and he had to correct it about 20 degrees.  The good news (in addition to Raj doing well with surgery) is that because we did the surgery early, Raj only has a little arthritis in his left leg, which will speed up recovery for him hopefully.  The bad news is that the genetic steep slope in Raj's left knee means we will almost certainly have to do surgery for his right knee eventually.  For now, I'll take the good news and breath a ginormous sigh of relief that my baby is ok.  I'll be calling them tonight to check in on Raj and hopefully I can take him home tomorrow evening if he is recovering ok.  I'm crying but happy crying.  Whatever the recovery takes, H and I can tackle it together but I felt so helpless with the surgery component knowing there wasn't anything I could do. I'm just so happy he is going to wake up and be ok!  

Swazzle

@minskat30 - YAY! I'm so glad he's out of surgery and doing well! 

labro

@minskat30 I'm so so glad Raj is out of surgery and doing alright!!! It definitely sounds like you scheduled it at the absolute best time possible for him! When are you thinking surgery on his other knee?

untouchablets

@minskat30 that is great news! Did you ever try to get in touch with the breeder about this? Since its genetic it they would probably appreciate the info and apply it to future breeding pairs. I don't know a lot about great pyrs and their predispositions to things like this but if it's out of the ordinary for the breed or can be tested for when planning breedings, your experience is probably really valuable.

Peaseblossom55

@minskat30 Glad Raj is doing ok and the surgery went well.

KeptInStitches

@swazzle, I'm hopping back on the bandwagon, too.

@wink0erin, good luck with the home inspection!

@minskat30, healing vibes for Raj.

@untouchablets, good luck with your class!

@alpacina, are you looking for "krumkake"? Krumkake's awesome - the kitter chewed through three ziploc bags on top of the dryer (where he never went) to get to it.

---
Weekend update since I wasn't around yesterday: Friday night was gaming. Saturday was gaming. Sunday was football. I knitted. H installed our new TiVo and Xbox One.

Yesterday I was home sick with the worst migraine I've had in three years. It laughed at the meds I can take (most migraine meds contain caffeine, which is one of my triggers). Blech. I'm still fighting the residual effects today.

Tonight H and I are going out to eat (a portion of the proceeds at a restaurant in town benefits charity), then we're going bell-ringing for an hour. I'm not sure what else will get accomplished.

minskat30

labro said:

@minskat30 I'm so so glad Raj is out of surgery and doing alright!!! It definitely sounds like you scheduled it at the absolute best time possible for him! When are you thinking surgery on his other knee?

Surgeon said it will hold for now thankfully and we can't do anything for 3 or so months until his left knee is fully healed but I think as soon as he starts to limp on the right, we'll get it done too assuming he recovers on the left as planned. I'd rather do the surgery when he is young(ish) and healthy rather than down the road at age 8-10. Much more risks down the road in doing it obviously.

AlPacina

@minskat30 - I am so happy Raj is out of surgery and it seems like almost entirely good news! I hope you can get some sleep tonight. He'll be home soon!

@KeptInStitches - I am so sorry you had a migraine! Those just ruin your whole freaking day..... Krumkake seems to be the closest word I can find to what she names hers, but they don't look the same. Maybe she uses a similar recipe, but we always got them as long thick bar-shaped cookies. It was like she'd make a sheet of cookie and then slice it into rows. They are firm, but not crispy.

I am just now realizing that since my grandma moved into a nursing home this year we might not be getting cookies!! I don't think she has an oven in her apartment.

ETA: Has anyone else been noticing throughout the day we just slowly but surely bump everyone out on the leaderboards? haha

labro

@KeptInStitches What is bell ringing? Are you going to go play ding-dong-ditch on all your neighbors?

labro

@AlPacina I mean....I make it my goal on a weekly basis to make sure that NEY takes over the leaderboard. Screw those other bitches!

minskat30

untouchablets said:

@minskat30 that is great news! Did you ever try to get in touch with the breeder about this? Since its genetic it they would probably appreciate the info and apply it to future breeding pairs. I don't know a lot about great pyrs and their predispositions to things like this but if it's out of the ordinary for the breed or can be tested for when planning breedings, your experience is probably really valuable.

I guess I should be clear, the exact cause of slants is unknown but Pyrs, like a lot of giant breeds, are prone to these issues and hip dysplasia unfortunately. Genetics play a role...weight and a variety of other factors do too (we keep Raj lean and healthy for this reason). I will let his breeder know though...Rajah's parents are no longer breeding but one of his siblings may still be used in the line.

Swazzle

NEYers on the leaderboard be like: