the turkey is now a carcass dedicated for the soup pot. Kids, grandkids, laundry and luggage ( "kits, cats, sacks and wives") have departed. the house is sooo quiet!!!! Thanksgiving 2010 is tucked away. and what a holiday it was:

this is the " Norman Rockwell" pose before taking it back to the kitchen to carve it up!

three tables full ( is that anything like 3 bags full?) with the required kids table:



Attendees: Daughter Reni and husband Abe and their 5
Daughter Patience, husband Matt and their 4
son Caleb with son Max ( age 4)
Sons Zach and Seth
daughter Ashley and husband Scott
my sister Stacey
Seymour's son Marc
and Seymour and me!--that's 23.

notable food in addition to the usual players included a chipotle cream sweet potato casserole that was LOVED by all , and a corn pudding that will NOT be invited back; 7 desserts including a to-die-for chocolate cake made by Ashley. ( yes, of course we had pumpkin pie too--and pecan and two kinds of cheesecake and banana cream too!)

next post: all the other crazy activities of the week end including museums and skating and danceparties and lots of games of Nertz

Thanksgiving 2010

I am oh so very excited for Thanksgiving this year.  Ashley and Scott are coming from D.C,( arriving TOMORROW!!!!!)  Reni and Zach from Utah and Caleb and Max from Cali.-- with Pace and Seth here that makes about 21 for Dinner-- 10 of 'em grand-blessings WHOO HOO!!!!  hope to have lots of pictures to post after the dust settles!

results so far

I've been doing well on the new program.--for example, 
Friday bike ride,
Sat weights plus swimming,
Sunday 1 1/2 hour bike ride with Seymour-
took monday off,
Tuesday:  weights work out plus some leisurely swimming in a bathwater warm pool-(heaven)
Wed:  hours walk through the glorious Fall morning weather.
today: bike ride
and
Friday night contra Dancing!!!!! yeah baby!
I think I'm going to get some in line skates next to add another level of play to the activities list
the 2 guiding principles here are 1: this has to be for the rest of my days--and thus 2:  it better be fun--or I won't be able to keep it up!
The REALLY good news is the scale is down a bit--maybe 2 pounds over a couple of weeks--but my MEASUREMENTS are down as well. 2 whole inches off my hips already! according to the body fat calculators that means I have lost 8 pounds of fat and gained 6 pounds of muscle.  pretty cool.

I should probably also say that I have totally cut out grains and sugar--but I've done that before without seeing much happen--but the combination of that plus the exercise is making the difference I think.  also got a new thyroid prescription and added some herbal adrenal support--so..  the gestalt of it is working well--and I feel fantastic! yippee!!!