Happy Tuesday everyone!

I did my promised evening walk--2.5 miles in 42 minutes. I'll try for the same tonight although after work activities might make that difficult.

Michele~great news on the mortgage and I hope the problems with your eyes resolve without too much intervention. I'm in the middle of refinancing our house and I'm afraid that our appraisal didn't come in high enough so I'm not sure if it'll go through. If it is okay, we'll save over $600 a month in mortgage payments. Guess it's time to get on the phone and check.

Can I just say how SICK I am of SNOW?

We haven't had electricity since Saturday morning at 5:00am, and we have a well so that means no water. No showers, no flushing toilets. No cooking. Oh, and no heat. We have a propane fireplace, thank God, but it's still pretty darn cold in here! We went out and bought a generator (which we REALLY can't afford right now, after our $1500 plumbing bill last week and considering we're living on one teacher's salary right now) but we don't have the right plug for our well pump or for our stove. They're saying our electricity will be back on by 5:00pm but I've heard that before!

Ugh! And I haven't run or exercised at all in about two weeks.

But here's the good news: I lost a pound this week somehow anyway.

I'll come back and catch up on the thread when I get a chance. Just had to come and vent a little -- angry venting warms me up a little. Maybe if I do it enough, I'll thaw out my frozen feet!!

Lisa-- that is terrible! I am praying you get power back quickly. Your issues make my horrible cold (lost my voice now) and my eyesight seem relatively minor. You have a baby, correct?

Hi all! I read the thread yesterday but totally didn't post...

Lisa - wow! Sorry you are having such a hard time! I remember we used to lose power and well when I was a kid, but I've been in the big city my entire adult life so I forget that it happens like that.

Allison - good job on the extra walking! I hope it helps. And that DS enjoys the new class.

Michele - glad you got the mortgage thing sorted out. Sorry about your car being on the recall list! Hope it doesn't come to eye surgery.

Dagmar - sorry about the drama with DH. It is hard in that kind of situation, both to live with it and to think about leaving it. It might be time to take care of you, though. It is hard to 'fix' another person, particularly if they don't want to be fixed.

Jessica - working from home is always fun! I actually get better signal at home, so really enjoy it. I hope you get your workouts sorted out.

Megan - household fixes can seem very romantic sometimes. Weird to think, isn't it.

Meg - I would never think about shoveling working the abs, but makes sense!

I had a decent weekend. I ate some junk food at the party for my mom, then ran 13.34 miles on Sunday and we very much stripped down the Superbowl nachos so it didn't even feel like a terrible meal. Woo hoo!

I'm having a tough week so far at work. Employee issues making me a little crazy. Have to keep them from running me to the snacking.

Good day everyone! to anyone I missed!

michele -- Yes, he's a toddler now, though -- 18 months. He's staying warm by the fire, though he likes to wander off to the cold parts of the house all the time. Chasing him around keeps me warm. I know he's tired of eating crackers, though.

Shannon -- I never thought I'd want to live in a city, but I'm starting to miss the suburbs at least! I grew up in the boonies and now I'm in the boonies again. I used to like that, but with a child the inconvenience is much worse. And it's lonely out here as a SAHM! I'm jealous that you ran 13 miles, because I used to be able to run that distance and now I'm pretty much starting all over again. I'll get back there, though! I've been reading Marathon by Hal Higdon to remind myself of my former goals (before I had my son, when I was in shape!) I was reading that book then because I planned to run a marathon the following year. I will by the time I'm 40, I swear!!!

Oh my goodness, as I was typing this message my electricity just came back on! Praise the Lord! Now let me hold my breath through the sleet that's supposed to come tonight and pray that it won't go off again!

No, really . Mudpie has such cabin fever that I'm about to skin her and put her in a pot for supper. She keeps stalking me and jumping at me and meowing and clawing and generally behaving like a little furry monster. I put her out and she's behind the back door in one minute roaring her head off. Interesting that the kitty we got 11 years ago with the tiny discreet meow has now developed the pipes of an opera singer!

Considering that's probably my worst problem for the next few days I'm doing quite well.

Hope everyone who's lost power gets it back, who's got 2 feet of snow doesn't get any more, and whoever is sick or about to get sick feel better and just don't.

Have a good night all!

Dagmar ( cat!)

Glad to hear you finally saw the light, Lisa! I can't imagine not having electricity for that long. Horrible!

I had an interesting lunch today. We were meeting with our CPA over some issues with this job we're doing in Washington state. (So glad this is the ONLY job up there!!!!!!) Anyway, he likes to go to Burgers and Beer and nothing really sounded all that good (burgers, sandwiches, Mexican stuff, salads full of calories) so I opted for tortilla soup. Interesting how they served it. First a pile (about 1/4 cup) of shredded chicken, a few chunks of avocado, some cheese (tablespoon maybe) some tortilla strips and a small dollop of sour cream. Then in a little pitcher like you'd get syrup in, and it was full of beef broth. Just pour it on and eat. It was really quite good, and I'm sure not horrible calorie-wise.

Have to run DS home, then stop at a couple stores for some supplies, then back to work, then take DH home, pick up DS, take him to Karate, then back home to fix dinner. Ugh, I hate running around! And DH seems to think he's got his first kidney stone. Ick!

Just a quick run through. Went to Anchorage last night and to a movie with a GF. Stayed at her house and was up at 4:30 am to pick up DH at 5 am! Soooo nice to have him home! More tomorrow.

Lisa, I'm so glad your power is back on! We've certainly had enough winter, haven't we? Congrats on the pound! One at a time is how we do it!

Allison, that soup sounds delicious. I hope DH doesn't have a kidney stone! I've always heard that's the worst pain ever.

Good morning from snowy Pittsburgh! We're lucky compared to the East Coast and are only going to end up with 6 - 8 inches of snow this time around. For a while last night we had freezing rain, which soaked into the existing snow like a sponge, then we got new snow on top of it. So I'm anticipating a huge mess when I go out to shovel. The temperature isn't going above freezing for the next 10 days at least, so the snow is going to be with us for a while.

The roads look pretty awful so I'll work out at home and then do snow shovel cardio.

For some crazy reason, I was struck by the urge to bake chocolate chip cookies yesterday! They just seemed like the perfect food for being snowed in. I didn't, and am going to make red cabbage with apples instead -- but boy, that just came out of left field. I guess the old thought patterns are always there. Snow = bake sweets. Of course, it used to be that everything = bake (and eat) sweets.

My stuck-at-home project for the day is to finish cleaning out the basement. The cats are fascinated and come downstairs to just stare at me moving boxes around. The basement opens right into the garage so it's easy to load up my car for the Salvation Army.

to all!

First day in a long time there's a bit of snow on the ground. I think it's our second snowfall of the winter .

The dogs will be in it - always a pleasure to watch their reactions. Even the older ones (most of my guys) roll and snort and generally just have a great time in it!

I'm OP for the 6th straight day . The scale rewarded me on the Monday weigh-in with a loss of all the bloat lbs. I'm curious to see what my weight really is on Friday.

DH's birthday blowout is Saturday. He has asked me to save him from himself and agreed to these things.

Since I'm planning and executing the dessert and wine part (we're eating Indian food at a restaurant for dinner) I'm getting primo mini cakes, equal to one piece of birthday cake each. We will both have one. Ditto the wine - 1 glass for me, 2 for DH, and 1 for the pot roast on Sunday.

I also have a chocolate heart for DH for Valentine's and he's promised me flowers instead of chocolate.

And that's our last celebratory event until my cousin's birthday in August! I should be down to goal by then.

Have a great hump day all!

Dagmar

Lisa, I'm so glad you got your electricity back!

Allison, that is a really interesting way to serve the soup. I am a huge fan of tortilla soup!

Pat, glad your DH made it home safely.

Meg, I have a friend who lives in Pittsburgh and from what she says it sounds pretty awful out there right now. Apparently all the neighbors are fighting about who can park in who's space, as if clearing out a space along the road side automatically makes it "yours." Someone parked in the spaces she and her roommate had cleared out, so her roommate parked in a space someone else had cleared out, and the lady who had cleared it out got so mad that she came and packed 3 feet of snow on top of their car! (Along with an angry note.)

Dagmar, has Mudpie calmed down yet? Have fun with the birthday party and it sounds like individual cake servings are just the right thing.

After working from home yesterday I was getting a little stir-crazy, so I took Carter out for a walk. The snow has been blowing around so some areas are about six inches deep, but others are two feet deep or more. Most people didn't bother to shovel their sidewalks. So in any case, Carter and I were out trudging through the snow for about 45 minutes. It was very quiet and peaceful! I took him out to the soccer/football field behind our neighborhood and let him off the leash. It's so relaxing and great to watch him in the snow because he has such joy in such a simple thing. As soon as he was off the leash he was running top speed through the snow, diving into it, sticking his whole head under the snow to sniff, taking big mouthfuls of it, and just generally being a happy dog. There is nothing more stress-relieving than watching a dog have fun.

In any case it was a good workout too. At one point I decided to cut across from the soccer field to the trail, but I couldn't see where the trail or anything was under all the snow. Carter and I were walking along and all of a sudden he sank down up to his back! I was in it up to my thighs. I think we were actually walking across a little creek that flows back there (only like 3 inches deep), and the snow had piled up in the ditch around it.

Boy, I am glad we don't have snow here. While I'm sure my dogs would enjoy it like Carter (they saw and played in snow once when we took them to Tahoe), I wouldn't like it one bit!

Allison-- I also LOVE tortilla soup so I would love to try the one you mentioned.

Dagmar-- sounds like successful birthday/ Vday plans.

I am officially sick as a dog. I never take a sick day but I'm going to today. I have zero voice, I can't stop coughing and I was up all night. I guess the library will just be closed today. I hope a day of rest will help more than me forcing myself to go in sick. I slept on the couch after I stayed up coughing for hours. Dh said I didn't wake him but I don't see how that is possible.Dh has his work colleague/ friend in from Belgium and we were planning on dinner tonight (I've never met him). I'll see how I feel but I may have to cancel that too.

Hi all,

Count me in the sick bunch, but I'm on the mend. Monday night I started feeling feverish and hacking along with my other more minor cold-like symptoms, so I stayed home yesterday and rested. I think I slept 11 hours straight. It was glorious. Last night I slept 10 hours and felt much better, so I came into work today. Not sure if I'll be up for the gym today, I'm not going to push it, but I'm so glad I had a stockpile of plenty of nutritious vitamin-C rich fruits on hand to carry me through.

I did call the trainer at the gym at 6:20 AM yesterday to tell him I wouldn't be meeting him for benchpress training at 6:30. I'm not even sure I really spoke English and I think I sounded like a frog... can't wait to hear what he says about that one.

Michele, stay home and sleep! Take some nyquil and just sleep the day away, cancel all commitments... it makes everything better.

Jessica, sounds like you got a good workout! I was paging through a catalog last night and saw those things you pull over your shoes for traction (like this) and thought I remembered you getting some last year - am I remembering right? Have you been using them? I'd definitely buy some if I ever move back to a place that gets ice in the winter!

Dagmar, way to be OP! Sounds like you're right about needing to be pro-active and put your foot down to DH, for your own happiness & your relationship. Stay strong!

Lisa, I'm so glad the heat is back on! Brings back memories of when I was a kid in Connecticut, when the power went out we'd all get our sleeping bags and sleep in front of the pot-bellied wood stove we (luckily) had. Seemed fun then, I didn't realize how serious it could have been.

Allison, the tortilla soup sounds pretty good!

Iris, I can't wait to hear about your new relationship. I take it things worked out with that guy you went on a date with before Christmas?

Off to get some work done. Have a good Wednesday all!

Michele, get well soon!

Megan, glad you're starting to feel better. I haven't been using the traction thingies because we've had more snow than ice this year. The snow isn't as slippery. But you can bet if it gets icy I will pull them out!

Good morning! Woke up this morning to snow falling, but none of it going to stick so I'm not too worried. It was pretty for the drive in, though. That is the kind of snow I like - pretty outside the window but doesn't stick around long. Not this stuff some of you guys are getting with all the shoveling and no power and parking place stealing!

I knew by mid-afternoon yesterday that I had eaten too much trail mix, made it okay the rest of the day until I stumbled onto Cracker Jacks at midnight. Kept it at 2034 calories, and weighed all the trail mix I ate, but I feel a little tired and headachey from the junk food. Even with the extra protein I got yesterday. Today is off to a better start - bu this time yesterday I was already two trail mixes in. None today - I added a low carb tortilla with peanut butter & a banana to my breakfast this morning to try to fill myself up. The protein powder in almond breeze the last two days wasn't helping to keep me full. So far, the tortilla seems to be doing the trick.

Lisa - glad your power came back on! I bet it is lonely as a SAHM where you are, I have friends who are SAHMs here and they talk about the loneliness in the city surrounded by things. You are a strong person! And, you will totally make your marathon by 40. I'm hoping for a half this year, maybe a full next year.

Dagmar - had your kitty settled down yet? Sound like you & DH have a great plan in place for surviving birthday and Valentine's Day!

Allison - I've been to one place that serves their tortilla soup the same way, though it was chicken broth I believe. It was yummy that way. Hope that DH doesn't have a kidney stone - my DH's terrible pain turned out to be a muscle spasm that they initially thought was a kidney stone, and I know actual stones are a lot more painful than his spasm. Not fun.

Pat - glad DH is back in town!

Meg - when I have snow I always think about making snow ice cream and homemade donuts. It is funny how we roll back to comfort food. The cabbage & apples sound like a much better choice!

Jessica - sounds like a great walk. Be careful out there, though - that creek thing could have been scary.

Michele - I was afraid that the sick was going to catch up with you, after the cold & rain you got stuck in at Disney. Get some rest, hope you feel better soon.

Megan - sleep is good. Glad you are on the upswing.

Iris - I want to hear about the new guy, too! Glad it is going well!

Good day everyone!