So Megan has a bonfire on the beach, Allison is golfing both days of the weekend, and I'm wearing a down vest as I type. Thank goodness I've trained myself to say that I love the New England seasons too much to move to Florida or Southern California, LOL.
Got to practice for holiday eating on Sunday; I faced two (not one but two) celebration cakes where it would have been polite to take a piece. I found a way to look busy so that I missed the servings yet joined the celebrations - a good start for the coming month of too much gratuitousness celebratory food.
Bill on avoiding the cake! And I'm with you on the down vest - except I'm in rain gear. The "cold November rain" (I think that's Guns 'n Roses) is continuing into Dec. I suppose it's better that this comes down as rain, rather than snow, but I'm itching to try out my new snow tires (I drive up and down hills all day).
I'm right on my red line (ahh that weekend eating) this morning. I sometimes wonder why we all weigh in on Mondays, given that most of us transgress a bit on the weekends? I guess it's a prod to get us back "on the wagon".
Lots of water today. And I'm going to try having a G2 Gatorade as a restorative this afternoon, rather than a diet cola. The Gatorade has way more calories (it's supposed to be really low cal until you look at the serving size and how many servings are in the bottle) but not from sugar.
And I'm taking a new tack with DH (which will mean more work for me, as always). I am going to drive him to the boardwalk this evening and nap in the car while he walks. This takes away his two major excuses for not walking - having to drive first and wrecking his knee walking on pavement. I will have to manage this 2 times per week for the next 3 weeks and by then I hope he will start to have a desire to move his body again. And it takes me away from the kitchen and the TV. Maybe if I really get a nap in I can do something productive for the last hour of the day before bed. if not a nap then at least I will be resting and away from food.
I'm back from a busy weekend at my former and future home, and in Manhattan. I drove down on Friday after work, getting in at nearly midnight, and left yesterday afternoon.
I brought along a friend whom I've known since 7th grade. Years ago, we used to take those grueling one-day "shopping" bus trips together so we could go to museums and walk around Manhattan. So it was fun to head downstate together as autonomous adults with our own car and motel reservations and a bit more money to spend than we used to have.
Driving down on Friday evening made me nervous at first, but then I settled into it, after the windshield defogged and the rain let up. After all my driving experience in the dark here proved deceptive. Though the NYS Thruway passes through the countryside, it is not like night-time driving on back country roads. There are plenty of towns or city edges by the wayside, and more important, many other cars with headlights on. There are all those reassuring rest stations where potent coffee is readily available. Also, my friend was a steadying presence, and talking with her helped the hours pass.
On Saturday, what a relief to walk through my neighborhood and to my train station and enact the familiar ritual of boarding the commuter train. We spent nearly all day long in the Museum of Natural History, then went down to the West Village to see a very insightful, lovely, observant French film about childhood & gender called "Tomboy" at the Film Forum. We got coffee at my beloved Porto Rico Importing Company and had a decent dinner at a fun but mediocre trattoria. (I know we could have done better, but my friend is used to Olive Garden, so she was happy.)
On Sunday, I did something else that made me nervous, another driving-related challenge: I drove down to West 28th Street and picked up that iron campaign bed that I'd agreed to buy a few weeks ago. The worst part was negotiating 28th Street and parallel parking in a really, really tight space, such as one finds only in New York. Here my friend was invaluable, standing on the curb & directing me when to cut the wheel. I didn't even tap anyone's bumper, even though we were fractions of inches apart.
The next annoying part was getting to the Lincoln Tunnel entrance around Christmas shopping traffic and street fairs, and regretting not having recently plugged-in and updated my Garmin, which would have guided me around construction spots.
What a relief to put the pedal down on the highway in New Jersey and Pennsylvania on a gorgeous unseasonably sunny and warm day. In December.
Dear God, I believe we will pay for this temperate weather with some heavy lake effect snowfall in just a few weeks. The Great Lakes aren't freezing over yet. So when that cold air comes down from Canada, it's going to pick up moisture from those lakes and really WHOMP this area. Like it did early last December when there was 48 inches of snow over a little less than four days.
In the meantime, I'm basking briefly in the accomplishment of having done what I planned. Among other things, Operation Window Grate is completed, with the refinished iron plaques now resting within my locked storage bin at the apartment complex, with my mother none the wiser about their ever having existed.
Also I feel better after having seen my stripped apartment. It's skeletal inside, with just the studs showing. I can see clear through it to the outer windows on my neighbor's adjacent apartment.
I am drinking my third cup of coffee. I'm off to the gym shortly. I'm glad I also took Monday off from work.
I'm starting on a personal project today. I downloaded a program for my MacBook called Paprika that allows me to enter my recipes and categorize them. I've been a recipe hoarder for the past few years and have never tried to organize it at all. Basically I have a 4-inch stack of paper recipes (some duplicates), many pages of the LA Times food section and an old binder with recipes I once typed up and never organized. Oh, and a few hand written recipes from my Mom, which, once entered will not be thrown away. I'm taking a stack a day to work in hopes of entering at least 10 recipes a day until I'm done. I think it'll take months to accomplish, but it will help me pass the slow times at work without relying on solitaire.
This weekend, we ended up skipping golf on Saturday due to the strong winds. I was actually grateful for this because it allowed me to get more errands done. I'm done with all my Christmas shopping and wrapping except for items for the kids' stockings. I'll be sending off the packages today from work. I'm considering baking cookies this year, only because I have time (except that we're planning golf both days next weekend and there are a lot of movies coming out that we want to see).
Allison, you are a pro at organization . You have your Christmas Shopping done and I don't even know what I am going to get for gifts for famly. I am going shopping today hoping I will get some inspiration, but I am not counting on it.
I might be insane. I decided to take a part in another community theatre production. Despite feeling like I've got just enough time to work, work out, walk the dog, keep up with the house and cooking etc, and declaring I wouldn't be in any shows in this year... but when I watched the last production from the concessions stand, I sort of missed being on stage. And this play is really funny ("Murder at the Howard Johnson" for those interested). I spent the weekend defending the decision to myself. I'm anticipating stress (I'm good at that) but I'm also excited. Next time I complain about being stressed/busy, you have full permission to remind me I do it to myself.
Rehearsals are not on Wednesdays except for this week, so I can still go to yoga.
Sorry, Bill, not trying to rub in the nice weather. I do miss the seasons that I grew up with. I miss snow, actually, but probably in the pretty just-fallen with nowhere to go sense, not in the mushy, brown-sandy and salty when you've got to drive in it sense. If that makes sense. I really miss the fall colors.
Saef, great job navigating to and around the city and getting your tasks completed. It must be nice to see progress being made on your apt, as well as to spend time with your childhood friend.
Allison, I'm so impressed that you're done your Christmas shopping already. How do you do that?
Dagmar, when I used to weigh only weekly my weigh-in day was Tuesday just for that reason. I can "start" on Mondays, but gave the weekend excesses a day to flush out.
Speaking of re-starting Mondays, here I am! I've decided 1) I always forget to bring a fresh food journal in Mondays to work, and then I get behind on tracking... genius that I am, I finally brought a bunch of extras to keep in my desk. 2) On the weekdays lunchtime gym workouts fit my schedule better this time of year, so I'm going to embrace it instead of fight it. Most weeks of winter I should be able to do this 3-4 days, then will have time & daylight left to walk the dog straight after work.
Allison, I'm so impressed that you're done your Christmas shopping already. How do you do that?
1) I don't have many to buy (2 kids, inlaws, Dad, 4 nieces and 4 kids of friends, one friend, I only buy for DH if he's buying for me and he isn't this year!)
2) I get gift cards for the nieces and friends' kids
3) The internet! I ordered most of the kids' things on the internet, I'll order my Dad's this week and I sent my friend's present via internet.
Allison-- I am duly impressed and jealous! I've bought a lot but I have a lot more to go. I have friends and kids of friends that I have no idea where to begin. I've got everything to wrap and then mail-- some overseas-- so I need to get busy!
Saef-- sounds like a great and productive weekend. I also hate driving when I'm uncomfortable so I feel your pain. I drove dh to the airport on Saturday and it was my first time driving to the San Francisco airport (I've driven to San Jose and Oakland) and we've lived here 6 years. Usually dh takes BART or a service but he had a lot of suitcases so I sucked it up. It wasn't bad at all except we were still experiencing those horrific winds so I was a little paranoid.
Hi Megan and Bill! Good job Bill on the cake distraction techniques and Megan-- you know what you're getting into. Good luck Dagmar with dh. Has he heard any more about the job with promise?
Dh is in Seattle with dd today to take her for a follow up to a specialist and to meet the woman from the service dog organization. He returns late tomorrow night, and then Saturday he and I are going to Napa for a night. Can't wait! Already have a couples massage lined up and a dinner reservation at a seafood spot. It will be the first time leaving dd alone in the house but she'll have the dogs and cats to keep her busy and out of trouble. She was sick all weekend but is slowly recovering.
Better get to work so I can cyber shop later on for all of those gifts!
I'm almost done with my shopping as well - I have my dad left, then a few small items for DSS, some of DH's coworkers. I need to start wrapping - no vacation time at Christmas this year, and that is when I did all my wrapping last year.
It is 61 degrees outside here... I'm also afraid that the warm weather now is setting us up for serious cold weather later. We had tornado warnings even in the last few weeks. Tornado warnings in November. Scary.
Jealous of those of you who are already approaching the end of your holiday shopping; I have yet to begin mine (except for 2 things bought over the summer that I've been hoarding for my mom and one of my sons, and the skis/boots that DH and I bought for each other on clearance last month). I love to shop but it's a bear to find the time when my kids want all of the little I have after I get home from work.
Our weather is also more down vest than golfing-friendly here in MI. At least the snow from last week has actually melted from all the rain :>
My oldest DH got an absolutely miserable case of hives from using a new shampoo (ironically, one of mine, that is sulfate-free and claims to be extra gentle for color-treated hair). Poor kid, he was so itchy that he couldn't even sleep last night despite 2 Benadryl, an Allegra and a thorough slathering in hydrocortisone cream. I excused him from gym today (something he often asks for but I never ever do, because he is overweight and needs the exercise) so he wouldn't get overheated and sweaty. He's only a little better today, and may need a shot of steroid from his pediatrician. I can't believe one shampooing did it all.
In other news, I went back to work today, seemingly none the worse for wear (er, surgery), and did some upper-body strength training yesterday. Yay.
I still retain the habit of getting all of my Christmas stuff (except the decorations) done in October. I dog sat through the holidays for 14 years and learned to do everything early to avoid total melt-down at holiday time.
Did I mention I love the internet (even though Canadians are now barred from buying a lot of stuff at American sites)? Point and click, rather than hours spent at overheated malls, searching for stuff. The immense time saving offsets any shipping/return postage costs.
I even ordered a rotisserie turkey (great price for ordering early!) from a restaurant that specializes in them.
So, for the first time ever in our history together DH and I will enjoy a quiet Christmas day at home. Gifts, a relatively healthy dinner, some chocolate dessert, a little wine, and probably a lot of "Twilight Zone" epis as DH asked for the boxed set for his gift.
The coffee icons are good, but we need like a morning-zilla monster icon. Well it's not quite that bad this AM, but it would be funny. BF went to a friend's to watch football last night, which I had no problem w, but he came home late and is seemingly incapable of being quiet and sneaking into bed such that he doesn't wake me up. You all know I get stressed out about my sleep so I'm already thinking how I'm 1.5 hours behind and it's only Tuesday, will I be able to work out this week, etc. etc. Not worth worrying about right now, I will try to get to bed ASAP tonight and not worry about the rest (no pun intended), it will be what it is and I will try my best.
In workout-related news my rear end is really, really sore from my workouts yesterday. Owww.
My BIL is proving to be especially tricky to buy for this year. He is kind of geeky (he's a physicist/mathematician who works for NASA). I spent an hour paging through websites last night looking for something I thought he'd like, only to send links to my sis and have her reject the ideas. I might end up w a gift cert to a book site for his e-reader. Kinda unoriginal, but I know he will use it.
Andrea, glad you got a good workout in and all seems to be well post-recovery. I know it feels good! I hope DS's hives go away... one product really can do it all, I have a similar reaction if I put on a piece of clothing washed in Purex laundry detergent.
Michele, your weekend getaway sounds lovely!
Yeah Shannon, I'm about to head outside in my t-shirt. What's up with this weather? Cold, hot, cold, hot.
It's cold here! Currently only 39 degrees! Sunny, yes, but cold! Crops are suffering due to the cold spell.
I only have one want for Christmas--Christmas cactus plants. I hope I get at least two or three. I have several in my house, and they always start blooming right after Thanksgiving and continue through March, although the most blooms are in January. Anyway, my new kitty, Louie, has annihilated most of my plants. He likes to break off portions of them so he has a toy to bat around. He also likes to sit in the pots. He's been a bit better lately, but my oldest plant was HUGE and now is a skeleton of what it used to be. Last year it was about 4 feet in diameter and very nicely shaped with branches in all directions. I wish I had a photo of it. Today it has branches going in only direction and just looks pitiful. All of the pots need new life.
Maintainers weekly chat December 5 - December 11
Good morning!
on avoiding the cake! And I'm with you on the down vest - except I'm in rain gear. The "cold November rain" (I think that's Guns 'n Roses) is continuing into Dec. I suppose it's better that this comes down as rain, rather than snow, but I'm itching to try out my new snow tires (I drive up and down hills all day). 
that weekend eating) this morning. I sometimes wonder why we all weigh in on Mondays, given that most of us transgress a bit on the weekends? 
I guess it's a prod to get us back "on the wagon".
I'm anticipating stress (I'm good at that) but I'm also excited. 
Next time I complain about being stressed/busy, you have full permission to remind me I do it to myself. 
