The Season is over! All Hail the new year...

Christmas came and went with it's usual vengeance. A niece and nephew in the nativity play at Christmas Mass:

Then off to grandmother's house for some photos and grub. Lots of excited kids, exhausted parents, and trunks full of presents to be dropped off for the Christmas morning carnage. I managed to get the kids to watch for Santa on the NORAD site:
Some of the older ones were aware that the "live footage" of Santa crossing the Great Wall of China looked suspiciously similar to last year's live footage. Uh oh.

Here are some shots of the Christmas morning craziness:

Hmmm, cookbooks, MP3 players, cameras, cell phones and video games. Whatever happened to Mr Potato Head and Lite Brite?

Previously blogged about cranky baby from Christmas photo card shoot earlier this month was in much better spirits, so I got some great shots of her:

And then, after presents, dinner, playtime, drinks, and dessert, I think this last photo sums up the holiday feeling quite sufficiently:

SF Nutcracker with some nieces!

On the 17th, I took two of my nieces to the SF Nutcracker. Some points to keep in mind:

A. It was 43 degrees out - that's damn cold for SF!

B. The tickets cost $60 a piece

We drove to SF, found parking in the Plaza garage and set off for the 2pm performance. The block and a half walk in the 43 degrees weather almost took our lives. Well, we were cold, anyway. The War Memorial opera house was besieged by little girls in fancy dresses, hanging out with moms and aunties and grandmas holding bags and snacks and cameras. I took advantage of the time in line to take a picture of the girls in all their finery by the Nutcracker poster:

Once inside, the ushers handed all the kids these little bags with stuffed mice and Nutcracker ornaments. Nice! We dropped off some Toys for Tots toys and headed for:

A. Restrooms - I am no fool

B. Snacks - we were hungry!

C. Ballet store - the inevitable

We thought a cookie and some sparkling cider sounded nice. Three cookies and two ciders later - $21.00! I had to return a cider as they only took cash and I had already spent $20 on two programs in the lobby!! Off to the Ballet store, where I told the girls to find something SMALL that would remind them of their day at the NUTCRACKER BALLET. Well, after they roamed around for twenty minutes staring at little dancing Claras, Nutcrackers of all sizes and colors and books with glorious photos of the show...both girls settled for...stuffed pigs. Oh well. I spied a lovely looking egg ornament with swirls of paint and glitter that I thought was nice for a remembrance. Until I saw the FORTY TWO DOLLAR price on it! Yeah, I'll blow an egg at home and paint it myself thank you!

So we head to our seats, which were not quite nosebleed, but high enough to induce a feeling of Vertigo when looking over the balcony railing. I gave a quick overview of unacceptable theater behavior:

A. No talking

B. No standing

C. No belching

D. No kicking seats in front of you

Then I got a photo of the girls awaiting the show to start, with pigs in arms:

The show was great, and both girls were entranced by:

The magic the Toymaker did in the party scene

The tree and room growing while Clara shrinks

The Mouse King's death scene

The Snow Ballet

I had seen the Nutcracker before, so when one of the Ballerinas fell during the Snow Ballet, I did not ask, as my niece did, if that was part of the show. NO. The girls were amazed at how fast she got up and got back in line! We were unfortunate enough to be sitting in front of a 4 year old who had not been told ANY theater rules and continually asked questions like...

Why is she doing that?

Where did he go?

Why are they dancing again?

What's on her dress?

...and so on. My niece kept shooting me "Help me!" looks and after both of us starting turning around and staring at the father during her questions, he finally took the hint and 3/4 of the way through the show, she finally shut up. DO NOT BRING YOUR CHILDREN TO THE THEATER IF YOU CANNOT TEACH THEM THE PROPER BEHAVIOR!

So a grand afternoon, and a shot of the girls in the lobby, on the way out:

Then some posing outside just for kicks:
On the walk back to the car, the girls asked to see the inside of City Hall. I tried the "they don't let people like us in there" excuse...only to be told that they were told at school that anyone can go in there for courts. DAMN, kids are getting too smart. So we made it through some metal detectors and got some pretty interesting shots of the girls hanging around City Hall:

Then it was time for dinner (Outback - these girls had high ideas!) some Christmas shoe shopping and the lovely time I like to call..."Drop off at Home"!

I think this image sums up the whole holiday experience quite well:

That's me, it's the 1970's and I am not enjoying the whole "Santa" experience. Believe me, if he were real, I would now be lined up at 5am at the mall...kicking kids out of the way...and handing him my very long and detailed wish list!

Winter Musings

Here it is, a couple of weeks before Christmas descends upon me with the emotional weight of an anvil, and today is the first day I am FINALLY able to breathe and feel a bit better. I missed out on my niece's 7th birthday, but word got back to me that the Gap Reindeer sweater was a hit. So tonight I helped my sister out with photographing her three kids for a Christmas card. NO FUN. I love those kids, but it was hell. Take one cranky 5 month old baby, two hyper kids, one clingy dog and mix that with one Auntie still stuffed up and medicated and the results spoke for themselves.

Sixty Eight photos and two hours later, my poor sister had only two, maybe three shots that were passable! I felt bad, then I remembered...it's a Christmas Card, not a Renior Painting. The kids are cute, so the card will be fine. This is one of the BETTER photos!

I came home tonight, cleared my nose AGAIN, and am now sitting in the glow of lights from my $40 Lowe's tree. I am not particularly fond of the "wading through piles of trussed up trees and other people pushing you away" process...but my pocketbook this year does not allow for the "casual wandering through spacious and expensive tree lots looking at pretty trees" method. Oh well, I have come to realize, after years of thoughtful and precise tree selection, that the damn trees all tend to look the same once the lights and ornaments are thrown on! This year's photo of the tree looks exactly like last years. And the year before last year's!

I tend to use birds a lot in my tree trimming, though I don't know why or when I started this. I think they look nice and kinda natural on the branches. Much more natural than some Darth Vader or Nascar driver ornament. I have some fantastic glass blown birds, and my friend bought me these beautiful Polish ones from a shop in the Castro in SF a few years ago. I took a photo of one for my blog:

So the countdown to the final gift purchases begins this coming week. I tried to avoid this by purchasing early, but the sinus infection kinda threw those intentions out the window. I cannot wait to get out there and fight for parking, carts, aisle positions and gifts! But it will all be worth it, for moments like this:

Sick at home...and sick of it!

Earlier this fall, I submitted to the new and barbaric practice of allowing someone to jab me with a needle in order to be "protected" from the flu for the winter season. I had been working a Health Fair for my company, and was watching other colleagues submit to this treatment all day. The nurse appeared joyful as she jabbed the needle full on into the victim’s... I mean volunteer’s arm. Towards the end of the day, I decided to bite the bullet and get the flu shot myself. It wasn’t too bad. I didn’t cry.

So why am I home from work AGAIN, second time in a month, sick? Oh, it’s not the flu I have, grant you...but it’s a sore throat and nasty cold. Do cold germs become stronger in the absence of their main winter competitor, old man flu? Do they see the chance to invade my system, unchallenged, and go for it? I tried to brave it out at work, but the combination of the headache and throat pain, coupled with watching friends of mine getting laid off from their jobs 3 weeks before Christmas was too much.

I went home at 3pm and the cold germs began their full out assault. The constant throat tickle with sneezing and coughing drama made sleep impossible. Now here it is two days later, Friday evening, and I've watched way too many episodes of Judge Judy, Judge Alex, Judge Cristina, Judge Hatchett, Judge Joe Brown and some of those World's Dumbest video compilation shows.

I think I'll pop in some classic Christmas movies tonight to mix things up a bit. Some Cary Grant in "The Bishop's Wife" and Jimmy Stewart in "The Shop Around the Corner" ought to do it.

Back to Blogging once I'm done with the clogging..nose that is!

Ridiculous Christmas Crafts

So I am thumbing through the Martha Stewart Holiday mag, as well as the December Martha Stewart Living mag, and I have come to the conclusion that this woman has way too much time on her hands.

The first annoying thing that I see: Her recipe for spiced cardamon cookies (scented with allspice and cloves, mind you) was annoying enough. I mean, how much damn flavor do you need in one cookie? But then, she just HAD to take it a step further, into what I like to call..."WTF Land". Once these cookies are done cooling...I am expected to "faux bois" them. Oh, sorry, you don’t know what this means either? Well, you press a wood grain design into the cookie to simulate wood grain on the cookie. Yes, you read that right...Your cookie should resemble a piece of wood when completed. Yum.

I continue perusing and find this: Jasperware ornaments. This article wasn’t initially annoying. It was a nice read about vintage clay pottery with raised "springerle" designs. It crossed into the annoying spectrum when I turned the page to read that if I couldn’t find enough of these things in antique stores to decorate my tree, Martha expected me to make them! The photos show a 4 step process that really is at least 24 steps. Find clay, color clay, find a German springerle cookie molds (no problem, right?), mold clay into design, let dry, trim clay mold, paint raised design, maybe gild some of them.....oh the hell with it! At this point I am going to Target to find some $2 ornaments. Seriously, though...what would possess someone to spend this much time on ornaments for a damn tree?

Disgusted further by reading a recipe to MAKE Bath salts for a gift (does Martha realize items like this can be bought anywhere?), I decide to move on to her very special, once a year publication known simply as "Holiday".

I remembered whose magazine this was when I saw this: Do you like birds? On your Christmas tree? Well, forget going to some store and buying, say, bird shaped ornaments. NO. You must make birds out of applesauce, cinnamon and glue. No, these birds aren’t for eating, they are for smelling good and remaining "cookie like" on your tree. Don’t forget! It’s not enough to cut out the shape from the cinnaglusauce. You must cover these with glitter and beads and hang them with MATCHING ribbons from your tree. Then you get to spend the rest of the holiday keeping small animals and children from eating the cinnaglusauce cookies.

I moved on quickly, only to find this: Make a Honey Walnut and Dried Fruit topping for your friends. Do I even need to say anything here? Disgusting.

Then I find this: Make crap out of your old sweaters - oh sorry, the article was really titled - Handmade Gifts. I think this was Martha’s way of saying, hey, I know we are in a recession and everyone is broke. This is her way of trying to be "frugal". Well, you need cashmere and wool sweaters. You need to "felt them". I, of course, immediately thought...why not just buy felt? But I digress. Once you’ve "prepared" your old ass sweater, you can then turn it into a small stuffed animal (incredibly detailed templates included), or some mittens (try to avoid using the underarm area of your old ass sweater for this one), or my personal favorite...a water bottle cover. Yes, I believe I saw a water bottle cover on, say, NO ONE’S list this year.

There’s no need to discuss the pine cone petal projects, as I recall making these when I was about TEN and can’t believe Martha is trying to resurrect this art form. No need to discuss the page devoted to making your own peppermint striped soap either. Seriously Martha, get out of the craft room and go to a mall. BUY THE DAMN SOAP and move on.

So, out of the two magazines hundreds of pages and dozens of ridiculous crafts, I found two that were mildly interesting. Button Snowmen on cards, and Beaded initials on wire. These look like thy may only take a day or so out of my life, no money, and little to no expertise.

I didn’t say I had time to do them!

Wintering in California

I grew up here in the San Francisco area, so I should be used to this warm November weather, but some deep instinctual human part of me yearns for the snap of winter air around this time. We generally get that kind of air in July, through days and nights of chilly, sight line reducing fog. But its November now, Thanksgiving is a few days away and I am still wondering when I should put the short sleeve shirts away.

Here in SF…

…Thanksgiving can be a picnic, outside, on the beach… if you so choose! No reason to remain shut inside with the smell of burnt rolls and singed marshmallows making you ill. No need for a kids table either. Just give them a roll, a drumstick and some olives for the fingers and push them into the backyard. In the pool. Don’t forget sunscreen.

…It’s not biting cold and freezing ice you have to worry about at the post Thanksgiving Friday shopping rush. No, it’s more about finding a parking spot in a shaded area so you can utilize the steering wheel on the way home without burning your hands. It's also hard to cram in craploads of presents around craploads of beach and biking gear in the trunk.

…Christmas tree lots are built up with tents to keep the sunshine from fading the green trees and wilting the poinsettias. A snow covered tree is not something you can see from your back window. It’s that flocked pine my dad always wants to talk my Mom into getting one year. Maybe a nice flocking of blue? And by the way, anyone walking around the tree lots in hats, gloves and scarves are doing so for a family Christmas card photo. And they are sweating. Badly.

…Native Californians dream not of a White Christmas, instead they dream of the week between Christmas and New Years being spent in snowy Lake Tahoe. That is, if we have gotten enough snow to cover the ground at that point. As a kid, one year I challenged God to prove his existence by making it snow on Christmas. Yeah, I have a feeling I am STILL paying penalties for that one.

…The Christmas trees in our houses are fire hazards by mid December, despite the sad icicle effect of tinsel draped on the branches. Adults don’t dare smoke by them, and children keep their distance, lest two branches rub together and set off sparks.

But here I am on a Tuesday before Thanksgiving, wearing a turtleneck, by god! Desperate for a little seasonal spirit, I bought these little tiny fake trees at Long’s. Little pine trees with tiny pine needles dusted with tiny flecks of some kind of no doubt flammable fake snow substance. I carried them back to work carefully, setting them atop my cubicle wall, on display for all to see.

It’s the first sign of winter for us!

Of Sickness, Leaves and Thanksgiving

Home sick for a few days, so it was nice to get outside today for a little leaf sweeping after all that couch time.

Sunny and warm for the am, cold and foggy by 3pm. Typical coast weather. I am sure the neighbors get a good chuckle out of watching the crazy lady sweep the leaves YET AGAIN, knowing full well they will pile up by the next afternoon. Well, I use the sweeping as an excuse to get out and get moving, thus keeping my Weight Watchers activity points up and my weight down. Laugh that off! (34 pounds and going...)

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so I went out today to get some "traditional" supplies:

Stove Top Stuffing - this gift from God is not to be scoffed at. It’s the perfect combination of bread crumbs, dried stuff and seasoning. No chance of something like walnuts or oysters showing up in it, either. Use a little chicken broth in place of water and suddenly, it’s HOMEMADE! BONUS - 20 minutes preparing...instead of 6 hours!

Turkey Gravy - jarred and ready to drop into the saucepan. I suppose if I cared, I would make gravy. But I don’t care.

Yams - One look at a real Yam and the canned, ready to serve version and I’ll let you guess which one I chose. Put some marshmallows on top, some brown sugar and guess what? HOMEMADE!

Olives - Nothing says Thanksgiving like seeing a kid with Black Olives stuffed on each finger. I always get 6-8 cans, cause most tend to be eaten BEFORE the meal actually starts. Extra large, PITTED. Yeah, I made that mistake one year.

Cranberry Sauce - If it doesn’t have the ridges of the can embedded in it’s jellied form...it ain’t cranberry sauce. Now, in all honesty, I also bought a bag of real cranberries so I could try making the REAL version. Just for a few laughs.

Jell-O instant pudding - Butterscotch flavor. Mix this up with some cool whip, spread into graham cracker crusts, and freeze overnight. A fall dessert my niece and nephews loved last year, so I’ll make it again. And yes, I consider this one...HOMEMADE!

Gift giving gone wrong

A quick list of Christmas gifts I will NOT be purchasing this year.

#1 - An Airplane window. Yes, you read that right. The website Uncommon Goods is offering up, for your consideration, an actual airplane panel...complete with a window, as this year’s holiday gift to give. Yours for a mere $1500. Integrate it into your house. Somehow.

#2 - Kota, the big ass animatronics Triceratops. Because Playskool feels every child should have a $250 stuffed animal that the child can actually sit on. And run in terror from when the battery short circuits and Kota starts coming after the kid.

#3 - The cashmere infant collection from Restoration Hardware for kids. WTF? CASHMERE...on a puking, drooling, not yet housebroken infant. Who puts cashmere on an infant? I’ve never even seen christening outfits dare to use such outrageous fabrics in their design. Yes, I can’t wait to watch my 5month old niece barf her formula all over a $129 cable knit cashmere one piece outfit.

#4 - Anything that has the following combination of words in the description: tickle me, laughing, singing, chicken dancing, ELMO, rocking, joking, etc. I don’t care if these dolls are cheap. This breed of toy falls into the "god I hate them, let me get their kid something like this" category.

#5 - A Lexus - No matter how many times the Big Red Bow Event commercial shows up on my Television set... it’s not going to happen. I will not be purchasing a $40,000 car for anyone I know, let alone myself.

So FYI family and friends...no airplane windows, no cashmere for baby and no Lexus.

The Charmin Bears need to go.

OK, I cannot be the only person who is tired of seeing those damn bears on the Charmin toilet paper commercials. You know the ones. Big orange colored bears running around the woods proclaiming the joys of utilizing Charmin toilet paper? Bears with "issues" regarding over usage of paper and the trauma of bits of paper being left on their backsides?

First Problem: Every time the ads appears on my screen, violating my otherwise mundane commercial space, I cannot help but harken back to the old joke..."Does a bear **** in the woods?". Did none of the advertising geniuses that devised this commercial ever think of that?

Second Problem: The depiction of the "baby bear" sitting next to the tree, reaching for toilet paper is just short of scat pornography! That image is so very wrong; why is there no door for some privacy? That tree isn't even wide enough to cover the view of the damn baby bear's backside!

Third problem: I REALLY don't want to see the bear's backside covered in tiny bits of toilet paper. Is this a problem we need to address on national television? Have we lost all sense of personal dignity? The "mama bear" chasing the "baby bear" down with broom and vacuum cleaner? At this point I am ready to stab my eyes out.

At Target the other day (I am a glutton for punishment, aren't I?) I saw the stacks of Charmin rolls bearing (no pun intended) images of orange hued, obsessive compulsive bears and had to leave the aisle before I lost control and flung them off the shelves at random aisle dwellers.

So there it is people...the pet peeve I cannot avoid if I want to watch television. Am I the only one who finds these ads repulsive?

The Bird, Daylight and me

So, this parakeet I inherited is not enjoying the whole daylight savings time thing.

He used to enjoy a few hours of "cage free" time when I returned home from work each evening. He’d strut around my floor, crapping with gay abandon while chirping to himself in ecstasy over the damn bird toy he pushes around.

Daylight savings changed all that.

I would arrive home to find this sullen bird hunched on the lower perch, shrouded in darkness and trembling with rage. Angry at the sun for abandoning him; furious with me for allowing this indignity to befall him. So I thought to myself…why not put a timer on the lamp that sits next to his cage.

Easy fix, right? WRONG.

My First Mistake: I go to Target to purchase a timer (see previous post about evils of Target shopping). I end up in the Xmas section, in the aisle commonly referred to as "that special part of hell where they keep all the fancy electrical components that make firing up all those lights, inflatable snow globes and dancing elves on people’s front lawn possible". After tossing aside numerous spotlights, 100 foot extension cords, fuses and fire extinguishers, I find a $5 timer.

OK, now, it says to plug this timer into the wall directly, with the light plugged directly into the front of the timer.

ISSUE ONE: The lamp is currently plugged into an extension cord that is plugged into an electrical outlet. The electrical outlet sits behind these massive bookshelves.

ISSUE TWO: The timer bears a three prong wall receptor…every single one of my 8 different extension cords will only marry a two prong receptor. Bigots.

My Second Mistake: So I move the massive bookshelves forward, knocking over some crap I don’t know why I still have, loosening the precariously stapled on back panel of the case, and hurting my spleen, I think.

I plug the timer into the wall. I plug the two prong extension cord to the front of the timer. I run the extension cord to the lamp cord and plug in the lamp. I heave a sigh of relief and begin to push the bookshelves back into place.

ISSUE THREE: The bookshelves now stop a good 8 inches from the wall. Why, you ask? The timer connected to the outlet is 3 inches thick. The extension cord prong hanging off the front of the timer is about 3 inches long now. Interesting. Did anyone QA this design before releasing it to the public? I think not.

My Third Mistake: I pull the bookshelves out again, re-damaging the precariously stapled back of the unit. I tear the timer out of the wall. I struggle to push the bookshelves back into place against the wall. I hear something pop in my body, and I am not sure where or what it was.

ISSUE FOUR: The only other outlet is across the floor, halfway up the wall (don’t ask).
So now, every morning, the last thing I do before I exit the house is plug in this 10 foot extension cord from the lamp cord to the opposite side of the room, connected to the timer in an outlet halfway up the wall.

I swear I hear the bird laugh every time I do this.

My issues with Target

Issue #1 - I innocently show up, list in hand, to get my Q-Tips and Dr Pepper. An hour later and down $250 bucks, I slink out, clutching overstuffed bags filled with scented candles, kitchen towels, melamine scroll plates that were a mere $2 a plate (8 plates of course), a shower curtain, Dr Pepper, some new shoes, a swell looking new filing cabinet, the new South Park DVD collection, 3 sets of Legos and no Q-tips!

Issue #2 - Apparently, Nebraska isn’t the only place people are abandoning their out of control children. Target is not a park! Those clothes racks are not jungle gyms, and the toy should be purchased BEFORE a child is allowed to fling it at his sister’s head. No, I don’t think your one year old is cute running around with a cat litter box on his head. I don’t think it’s amusing when your kid throws a ball into a light fixture, either. I did enjoy watching your kid fall flat on her face though. No, that wasn’t my cart that hit her, I swear.

Issue #3 - How did Target get away with designing aisles that fit no more than one cart at a time? I spend more time looking for a clear aisle I can maneuver into in order to get to the back section to go about 3 aisles North in order to go down the toothpaste aisle so I can get back into the Ziploc bag aisle going in the opposite direction and then maybe I will end up in the Q-Tip aisle in the right direction!

Issue #4 - I don’t need to start thinking about Christmas in August while purchasing school supplies. Easter is not on my mind in December when I am searching for candy canes and run into stacks of Peeps. And another thing, get rid of the Christmas CD Kiosk NOW...it’s a magnet for the abandoned children (mentioned above) who think it’s fun to continually switch the CD speaker from Alvin and the Chipmunks to Deck the Halls with Eminem.

Issue #5 - You have 26 checkout stands, right? ACTIVATE THEM.

Issue #6 - I forgot one more thing about the aisle design...what is with the need for that big column that takes up half the space in every other aisle?

Issue #7 - Who are these people who think it’s perfectly acceptable to simply stop walking, cart and all, in the middle of a main aisle? If you are that lost and simply want out of the whole Target experience, pull your cart over to the side of the aisle and cry there. Let the stronger ones pass! We have to get to the Q-Tip aisle, come hell or high water.

Issue #8 - This applies to Target stores that are connected to an opening into the main mall: Your "James Bond " method of keeping the Target carts in the Target stores and not in the mall seems cool. Until my Target cart locks up in the makeup section because of some invisible line I’ve crossed. And I’m not talking about the "I can wear that color eye shadow still, right?" line, either.

Issue #9 - Is it really necessary to have all the sample televisions on different channels? At top stereo sound? This is just wrong, and couple that with the fact that you have the video game kiosks set up next to them is just madness.

Issue #10 - Checkout clerks, please refrain from asking me "did you find everything you needed?". This question will undoubtedly cause me to remember the Q-Tips and I will then be forced to re-enter the madness and start all over again.

Weight Watchers and me

So back in July I decided to join the Weight Watchers group here at work. I had been watching and seen the incredible shrinking people emerge from the meeting room each week, and finally decided that I, too, would join in on the "fun".

First Rule of WW Club: Everyone knows you are in the club! I signed in that first day, daring to glance about me as others filed in. There were people there I knew, and others I had passed in the hallway many times before. Damn, no hiding.

Second Rule of WW Club: Flex plan good, Core plan bad! I read the guide thoroughly, and Flex plan had words like "any foods" and "point system" and "Dr Pepper OK" and "happy people" and "eating is good". The Core plan had words like "not on Core" and "NO" and "put that Dr Pepper back, it's not CORE". I'll let you guess which plan I chose.

Third Rule of WW Club: Meetings are not just for the leader to attend! Every Monday, like lemmings, we showed up to weigh in and commiserate with our semester buddies about things like Monday weigh-ins being sick and wrong, how Burger Joints unfairly release food fumes into the air for us to smell, and how a trip to the store has become an exercise in extreme discipline. It's really the best part of the week.

Fourth Rule of WW Club: What you wear to weigh in counts, literally! I learned very quickly that jeans are bad, and those lightweight capris of mine are the best to have on hand. Every Monday. Clean or dirty. Also, taking off your sweater before stepping on the scale is OK. Taking off your belt is OK. Taking off all jewelry and removing wallet is OK. Taking off makeup does not help, however.

Fifth Rule of WW Club: Journal, Journal, Journal! From the moment I started with WW, I wrote down every single thing that I dared eat. It sounds anal and wrong, but let me tell you, there is no crying in the WW club when you gain (or don't lose) and can look back at your week and see things like "15 tootsie rolls" and "7 Dr Peppers" and "I don't remember, but it was sugary and good" on your journal!

Sixth Rule of WW Club: You want results? You must earn them! There is no magic potion, and simply showing up and weighing in does not make the pounds disappear. It's weeks of eating proper foods and portions (One Dr Pepper - 3 points. Turkey Sandwich on Wheat with Swiss - 7 points. Bakes Lays - 3 points). It's nights staring at the TV and wondering why you want that snack when you aren't even hungry. It's going out to dinner and forcing yourself to leave half of it on the plate...ignoring the "there are starving people in the world" voice in your head. It's WORK.

BUT...if you hang in there, and obey the rules of the WW Club, and show up, and weigh in, and share your fears and hopes with the group that you now consider your "peeps", you can make it.

I am living proof - 32 pounds lighter and showing it!

Welcome and Introductions

So welcome to my little blog...

I am a writer at heart

A comedienne by mental necessity

A fan of old school Popeye cartoons

An analyst by trade and a need to live and pay bills

A rabid fan of Silent and Pre-code movies by a need as yet unknown

An aunt of 10 by my family's ability to breed

A Californian by birthright

A fan of musical theatre by simple birthday introduction years ago

A lover of antique furniture by some need to have history surrounding me

A Dr Pepper drinker and defender

A beachcomber in search of more little plastic white elephants

A collector of vintage photography left to rot in antique stores

A collector of cameras responsible for the aforementioned photographs

A Luddite who finally went digital last year

That's about all I can think of for now...hopefully the introduction does not scare you off. If so, you shouldn't read anymore anyway then.