Holiday Eating Tips - For The Sane I hate aspects of this time of year. Not for its crass commercialism and forced frivolity, but because it's the season when the food police come out with their wagging fingers and annual tips on how to get through the holidays without gaining 10 pounds. 1. About those carrot sticks. Avoid them. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls. 2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnogaholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas! 3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat. 4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission. 5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello? Remember college? 6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog. 7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. You can't leave them behind. You're not going to see them again. 8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day? 9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, after all, have some standards. 10. And one final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips. Start over. But hurry! Cookieless January is just around the corner.

JDez- making good progress. Two steps forward, one step back it seems- doesn't it? But, still forward:-) Yesterday afternoon, the gate bell rang and the city inspector handed me our official CO. We have a kerfluffle about the pool- it works just fine but the pool inspectors need to look under the hood, so to speak- which will necessitate tearing stuff up. Oh joy:/ GC is blaming the pool guy who installs pools all over the country just fine. I blame the GC, who should have smelled trouble but repeatedly told us everything was fine from afar. All of that could have been checked up to a few weeks ago when the coping and equipment went in. Oh well, it beats some of the teardown stories I've seen here. I am working on glass and mirrors right now. My pocket office gets 1/2 inch glass which I am finding to be fairly reasonable in the bids. Really want to set my desktop and printer up again SOON! But, I do like the lack of clutter in the space right now. One of the glass tops goes on the breakfast nook tabletop which is walnut- I broke out the sewing machine and made some temporary cushions for the space, which I think turned out okay. This post was edited by musicgal on Fri, Sep 12, 14 at 8:35

I agree, you might want to talk to a lawyer just to see what could happen. They might just threaten you with action but not do anything. I'm never sure how far these companies are willing to go when it comes to one person (well, a whole bunch of people, if everyone illegally downloads). For now the bigger issue seems to be his computer usage. I would definitely move that thing out his room until he understands it is YOUR butt that something happens to if he does something illegal. The stuff you've been warned about could be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of illegal material, i.e. explicit images, etc. What you need is the help of a computer specialist that can teach you how to put the basic security measures on your computer. And tell them that your son is a whiz at figuring stuff out. If it doesn't completely stop him, it will at least be a deterrent and you can take some action in the meantime. While he's at school, go in there and look at everything he's been looking at. Then have it completely erased and move the computer to a central location where you can monitor access. My sister (who does know a thing about computers, fortunately for her) went through this same thing with her similarly aged son. It was no picnic but basically she played his game...very well...and it scared the crap out of him. :) Needless to say, he is much more respectful of her and I don't think she has that problem any more.

I hope to get them in the mail on Saturday, but it may be Monday. Tomorrow I'm taking a class with Bonnie Hunter of Quiltsville.com - it's a scrappy class, of course! I'm so excited!!! She's the program presenter tonight at our guild meeting. This will mean 3 trips this week to Greensboro for my quilting - yikes! So much for trying to save gas. But I've been staying at home for weeks, so I guess I'm allowed the trips this week?