Good morning from New Mexico! DH and I are visiting DD for ten days. We thought we'd be able to escape snow and cold weather for a few days, but we seem to have brought it with us. I'm now convinced that I'll never be warm again.

DD is having a baby in June so we've been having lots of fun running around and shopping for baby things and some clothes for mom-to-be. We were joking that it's now three generations of girls shopping, since she knows she's having a little girl. It's important to cultivate those shopping skills early.

Today DH and I are heading north, to a little resort in the mountains. Of course it's snowing and we have a little rental car -- hopefully the roads won't be too bad. The place we're going doesn't even have TV, so I'm looking forward to a relaxed few days. Then we'll come back to DD's for her baby shower this weekend.

We've been eating out a lot and I'm trying to make good choices, but we all know that restaurant food is twice as fattening as anything we make at home. But as soon as I get home, I'm joining Megan in her hard core week.

DD has a treadmill here, so I'm going to drink another mug of coffee, then hop on.

How was your weekend? Any exciting happening this week?

Sounds like a great time, Meg!

I am having a rough time adjusting to DST. I might have to go back to bed once the kids are on the bus.

Re "Any exciting happening this week?"

Why yes, yes there is. I have a basement to protect from flooding - presumably all week and, as it looks at the moment, for 40 days and 40 nights. The deluge has arrived on the US East Coast big time.

Morning all,

The worst complaint I have in life is that I do not like the daylight savings switch, so, I think I'm doing well. I had a good, mostly low-key weekend. Friday night BF & I had date night and went to see a local performance by Nashville songwriters, an annual event that is always an entertaining show. Saturday & Sunday I ran some errands, mostly sat at home and learned some of my lines and songs for Oklahoma (which I really, really needed to do), prepped food, hung out w/ BF etc. Sunday was a needed rest day, but I ate totally OP all weekend! My final bits and bobs of grain-containing foods are gone so I'm starting my grain-free experiment today. Thank goodness for mug eggs! This week is the normal routine of work, gym, rehearsal, sleep, repeat.

Meg, have a wonderful trip with your DH and visit with your DD (and GD!). I'll be saving a place for you on the squat rack next to mine when you get back.

Ward, ugh, drink more

Have a great week everyone!

Thanks for the support and advice on last week's thread everyone. DH did motivate himself to go run this morning. Now I get the other problem of him exercising -- he takes FOREVER to get up in the morning (he usually gets up an hour before me, and I'm still ready to go before him), and since he ran, and we carpool, we didn't leave the house until 30 minutes later than usual. I hate being late! But I'd rather be late than have him skip his workout. I will talk to him about maybe going to the gym a couple days a week after work, for a brief workout. I just feel like since I can do my workout at lunchtime, he ought to be able to also, since I don't really want to be out that late but he insists that we never take two cars to work. Sigh.

Meg, have fun in NM! Sorry about the snow!

Ward, I know how you feel. The sun wasn't up until 8am today! Ugh!

Bill, good luck with that basement. DH partially dug a new garden bed the other day and it has turned into a swimming pool.

Megan, yay for an OP weekend! What are "mug eggs"? I'm thinking about how when I want to make a homemade "mcmuffin" I microwave an egg in a mug to make it the right shape to fit on an english muffin!

Food this weekend wasn't OP, but I sure got plenty of exercise. I had a run-in with a cookie and cake buffet setup after a gardening lecture we went too. Unfortunately I was absolutely starving and could not resist the junk.

Yup, that's what they are! It's sooo much easier, faster, and less messy to microwave eggs in a mug, rather than cook them in a frying pan, when you're trying to get out the door to work in the morning. If you couldn't microwave eggs in a mug I would never eat them for breakfast on a weekday morning. You can also add veggies, cheese, ham, etc to your mug eggs!

I had a great weekend! Walked Chico on Saturday and golfed on Sunday. The weather is finally back to normal. We've had so much rain and cooler than normal temperatures this year, but with El Nino we expected that.

I have to agree that I HATE the time change! I've already had 3 cups of coffee but I feel the need for a nap right now!

And I'm about to chuck my computer out the window...the fan is acting up (again) and it is so loud and obnoxious. It hasn't made noise for months and suddenly it won't stop....ugh!

I don't do mug eggs, but I bought a real neat microwave egg cooker. It cooks in two sections--perfect for an egg mcmuffin! I fill one with egg whites, close it, nuke for 45 seconds and it's perfect! If DH wants one, then I do both sections. I've also used ramekins for the same thing (which would be a lot more like a mug egg).

Okay, I'm off to the bank. Gotta get the work day started.

Daylight savings time always kills me... I am absolutely exhausted today. We had DSS this weekend, and he has an almost obsessive need to get up at 6 even when he is still sleepy, so we made sure that his clock wasn't going to auto set before bed so he wouldn't get up at what felt like 5... got him routed back to sleep after he got up and he actually slept until almost 8, which was really almost 9 since we hadn't changed any of our clocks yet...

Birthday party went fine this weekend. Windy and cold, but mostly sunny. A few brief spurts of rain here and there. He did get in trouble at school on Friday, so almost lost the party all together - we told him Saturday morning the only reason we were still having it was because he had a lot of people coming from a long way away and it wasn't fair to cancel for them. Told him that if he didn't behave himself he would get to open his presents and then when we got home they were taken away. He was pretty good at the party - ended up with 7 kids there. Interestingly, the ones who had RSVPed that they were coming didn't, and the ones that did show had lost the invitations so couldn't respond. It worked fine though - my mom said I did a good job, and she is pretty specific about party things so I felt good about it. Cold cold cold, though... And I don't want to even think about how much cake and junk I ate. I got a Bakugan cake from Publix - well, really just one of their standard marble cakes with the buttercream icing decorated for a Power Ranger without the Ranger and I put on Bakugan figures myself. My mom made cupcakes and a Triple Chocolate cake for DH for his birthday, which was 3/1, my absolute favorite cake in the world. Devil's food cake mix with chocolate chips, chocolate pudding, coffee, cocoa powder, sour cream, topped with powdered sugar. All of the cake and ice cream left in the house went in the trash and got taken out to the street this morning. Only things left are individual bags of baked chips. Lots of water and no junk today...

Meg - the snow followed you there! Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Ward - Nap sounds like a fantastic idea...

Bill - hope the basement doesn't flood... We have some creeks rising here in Atlanta, too, and one area that still hasn't fully recovered from the floods last year looks to be in some danger.

Megan - on the Op weekend! Good luck with the grain free this week. I'm interested to see how it goes for you.

Jessica - sorry about the difficulty working out a workout schedule with DH. My DH has been trying to get back into the exercise routine, too, and it has been hard for him to work it in. (I can't say anything, I haven't exercised since Wednesday ,myself...) Now that the party is over we are going to work on making it easier for him.

Allison - my laptop is one step away from getting chucked out the window most days... I thought I remembered you talking about replacing your computer? Maybe not.

Good day everyone! I'm hoping that I can stay awake all day, and that all of my other DST sufferers do as well.

Meg, enjoy your trip. It is good that you’ve been teaching your DGD to shop already.

Megan, way to go eating on track this weekend. You have maintenance down pretty darn well.

Jessica, perhaps DH could get up a half hour earlier??? I do love you choice to be late rather than not have him exercise. I think that’s awesome.

Allison, fans for computers are cheap and replaceable. Just remove the case top and find out what you have, then go to a place like Newegg. Cheaper than a new computer.

Shannon, great job on trashing the leftovers. The damage from the party isn’t nearly what it could be if you were a member of the clean your plate club.

And clearly I’m in the minority about the time change. I was so happy to go to be “an hour early” yesterday, it was like a mini-vacation. I’m not fond of dark morning commutes but I do love having it light outside for a long time after work.

DH and I started up the doggie walks in the morning again. When the alarm went off at 4:30, it was so dark and cold. But the stars were gorgeous. I live in a rural mountain area and as we were walking, I’d turned my head toward the side of the road and my headlamp caught about 12 pairs of eyes reflecting back at me. After my initial panic, I looked and it was a herd of deer resting on the ground. It was so cool. The elliptical after work and leftover turkey for dinner. Even though it’s Monday, it’s a great day!
Marie

I guess you're right about replacing the noisy fan. I think I'll have DH do it for me, though. And this is my work desktop computer. I was going to get a new laptop for myself, but can't get myself to actually go and buy it. I guess I should, though.

Marie~a couple of years ago, when I was doing my early morning walk/jog with the dog, my headlight caught a pair of eyes. Then the creature snorted. It scared the beejeebers out of me until I determined that it was our neighbor's boxer (who is friendly). But what really peeved me was that the neighbor was standing on the porch and saw the whole thing and never once called the dog (who had crossed the street to get to me and my dog and then started following us a little). I even said to him that the dog had scared me and he didn't say a word to me.

Shannon~oh, all that cake! It sure sounds delish!!!

Good morning, uh, afternoon, really! It's supposed to be lovely here today so I hope to get out in the garden a bit. Have to pick up my taxes first, though. I started off the morning with 45 minutes on the elliptical, then some coffee, followed by an hour with my trainer who gave me jelly legs big time. I'm surprised I was able to make it to the car and drive home.

So I had a drs. appt. on Friday, and I'm now gluten-free with the hopes that will help with the calcium absorption and the dang osteoporosis. At home it's not too tough, but being gluten free and vegetarian is going to make it a challenge, especially in Hawaii next week. Turns out I have a protein deficiency, too. Luckily, I will be meeting with a nutritionist in a few weeks so hopefully I can get myself on some kind of plan to meet my nutritional needs. Anyone else following a gluten-free lifestyle?

Meg, hope you don't run into too much bad weather on your trip to the resort. Buying baby stuff--fun! My late DGD was my first (and only) grandchild so I bought her lots and lots of stuff. Grandkids are for spoiling!

Ward, hope a nap helps. I personally love DST.

Bill, bummer on the weather. Hope your basement stays dry.

Megan, yeah for staying OP! The mug eggs remind me of something my Dad used to eat--I'm trying not to gag. I'm sure they're fine, but they bring up not-so-great images in my mind.

Allison, your neighbor sounds like a real turkey. Hopefully he moved.

Shannon, people and RSVPing (or not RSVPing) are a pet peeve of mine. It's so rude, IMHO. Glad the party went well, and I'm sure you'll jump right back into great eating.

Marie, I like DST, too, but not 4:30 am DST! We're right on the edge of a time zone so in June, it stays light until around 10:00 am. Great for gardening!

Happy Monday, everyone! Wish me a big tax refund!

Sheila, my sister went gluten-free for a while to try to resolve some abdominal pain issues (which turned out to be ovarian cysts and not diet-related at all, but anyway). If you live near a Whole Foods or natural foods store you should be able to find a lot of gluten-free breads, flours, etc. I would guess you can add to your protein levels with lots of beans?

Shannon, I'm glad the party went well, even if DSS didn't behave at school.

Daylight savings is bugging me today too! I'm so sleepy, even though I went to bed on time. Personally I much prefer the sun to come up earlier and go down at a reasonable hour. Since we're all the way at the west end of our time zone, we end up in the middle of summer with the sun coming up at 6 and setting at 10pm. I would much rather have it come up at 5 and set at 9! Oh well, politics made us go onto Eastern time instead of Central time. You'd think Indiana is so much closer to Chicago than NYC that we'd go Central, but apparently not.

I'm trying to figure out if I feel crappy today because of daylight savings, because of something I ate (or didn't eat), or because there are a lot of annoyances at work today. I don't suppose any of the techie folks among you can tell me why turning off all antialiasing on XP, Vista, and Windows 7 results in images that look the same on XP and Vista but different on Win7? Antialiasing is the bane of my existence right now.

Sheila~a source for a lot of gluten free items is Bob's Red Mill (Google it). They have all sorts of stuff. And did you know that PF Chang's has a gluten free section on their menu? I think more and more restaurants are doing this, so perhaps Hawaii won't be as difficult as you think. And have a wonderful time in Hawaii!!!

So I'm freaking out here at my desk. I just totaled up my calories for Saturday and Sunday and my conservative estimate puts me at 2975 for Saturday and 2000 for Sunday. With a typical maintenance range of 1850-1950. Half marathon is Sunday, and I'm beginning to freak out on how to get there, where to park, starting at 7am, going to be dark, etc. Wonder if I should just skip it and run 13 miles at the park that morning instead.... And, having staffing difficulties at work on top of it.

And the sun went away and it is windy outside. Blah.

Shannon, take a deep breath! Don't worry about the calories. What's done is done. You will do great at the half marathon! Contact the organizers to find out about parking. Sorry about the work problems.