Judge for yourselves

It was a wonderful time.  

My family, all 17 of us, were able to be together this Thanksgiving at a rented house on Kentucky's Lake Cumberland.  All nine grandsons (That's right.  NINE grandsons, ZERO granddaughters) played together well.  This is no small feat as five of them are aged 3 and under.  

My brother-in-law, the amazing Mike, made all of the Thanksgiving dinner and dessert with the exception of my sister-in-law Vivien's delicious cheesecake.  Love those guys who do the culinary school thing!  He was even incredibly successful making tur-duck-en despite the fact of not having any butcher's string to hold it all together.  I'd never had tur-duck-en before.  Chicken wrapped in duck wrapped in turkey with stuffing in there all over the place.  FABULOUS!  Highly recommended.


Friday morning Vivien, assisted by Clinton and Mike, made a huge breakfast.  Viv also made spaghetti for Wednesday night and a wonderful chicken casserole on Friday night, using up the leftovers.  Somehow all three of us McClelland kids managed to find spouses who enjoy cooking.  We're still trying to find the down side to that one...   Lorie, Bill and I are definitely loving it.  Mom and I have gladly volunteered for permanent clean-up detail.


And, yes, I have the results of my Fit By Forty challenge to myself.  Vivien, a former model, assisted me in my "pose" while photographer Clinton added a few "Work it, baby, work it"s in his best LA accent.  


So, thanks to Joline and Weight Watchers, I came to Thanksgiving in my khakis.  The khakis even stayed on my body for the entire evening.  Mission Accomplished!  Whoo-hoo!  Jumping Jacks for Joy!



On Monday I'm officially back on the treadmill.  3 great cooks x 3 full days x a plethora of amazing food = the need to burn some major calories before they take up permanent residence again. 


Weight Watchers was incredibly helpful in meal planning, and having a milestone birthday as a deadline was a major motivation, but the most important factor in my success has been the accountability my friend Joline.  I would probably have skipped several (okay, many) workouts had I not loathed the thought of emailing her my failure report.  I hope our mutual accountability society continues.  You up for it, Jo? 


Now if I can continue with these changes, I may be able to stay in my khakis for the foreseeable future.  And who knows, I may get to wear them to our next Thanksgiving celebration.    :)