A Brand New Year . . . a Brand New Start!

[Guest guest]

Happy New Year everyone! Art and I celebrated our 8th anniversary

yesterday, and today, I spent the day cooking a southern New Year's Day

feast for a dinner party tonight. Our guests just left, the dishwasher is

running the first load of dishes. Another load awaits, and the copper pots

and pans are in the sink soaking in hot, sudsy water until I can get to

them. We had a great time, and of course, I cooked way too much food.

Amazingly enough, one of the low carb side dishes was one of the most

popular . . . my mashed cauliflower casserole! Even though I did make a

coconut cream pie, I made it with Splenda instead of sugar. The only full

out, high carb concession to the meal was homemade biscuits. But, I only

had half of one. Other dishes I made were green bean casserole (we're

Baptists. All you other Baptists will know that it's impossible for

Baptists to have a meal together unless there is a green bean casserole

involved!), mustard greens, black eyed peas (southern tradition, you know),

country ham, devilled eggs, pickled beets, and olives.

It's good to see so many of you checking in with your plans for renewing

induction commitments tomorrow. Speaking for those of my Troopers who have

had a week's head start, I know they'll appreciate having your company and

we'll all cheer one another along to fabulous successes.

Welcome to all the new joiners. I expect we'll see a sudden growth spurt of

list members as those who have vowed to lose weight this year find us and

join in our adventure. Thanks to everyone who contributed a tip for our new

members. I know they'll find them an invaluable source of inspiration and

help.

And Happy Birthday to Sherry!

Good to hear from you, Marloe, and your tales of African life are always a

breath of fresh air. With you and Robin leading the charge for an all out

attempt to drop 60 pounds each, I know that traffic on our list will be

spiced with your experiences along the way. Robin has such an interesting

life. . . so many unique things happen to her! Between the two of you,

we'll be thoroughly entertained while we're getting thin.

For those who are interested, I'm building a web page. Art and I have had a

domain name registered for several years, but I've been too

lazy/busy/uninspired to actually sit down and make myself learn how to put

up a page. But, finally, I have managed to sit down and absorb the basics

of working with Front Page 2000. As soon as it's up, I'll post the URL.

You'll be able to see scenes from our life together, our friends and family,

our home renovation efforts, etc. Art has converted one of the computers in

our home office to a web server, so what you'll see is coming to you live

and direct from the Ross household. We are getting a digital video cameral,

and I hope to be putting some video clips on the site as well.

Isn't it a great time to be alive? . . . the emerging technology that has

enabled us to get to know so many friends scattered across the globe just

astounds me.

Oh, the promise of a brand new year . . . . what is around the corner for

each of us? Are you all just tingling with anticipation of finding out what

joys are ahead for you this year? I know I am!

Terry