I have made two batches of brownies this morning. I volunteered to be a Brownie Baker for an event at my church,fortunately I am only one among many others who also volunteered. I used a Betty Crocker mix, they are not that great. I tried one and didn't like it, that is probably a good thing.

Morning all,

Guitar night last night was fun. I can now change from "G" chord to "E" chord fairly seamlessly, but have forgotten a lot of my individual notes over the last 2 months. It was preceded by 40 minutes of stairmaster and 30 minutes of jogging the dog around the neighborhood, then a mad dash to get to my friend's. I brought the dog since BF is out of town and other than a quick lunchtime walk around the block, she'd been cooped up all day. She was very excited at first and ate someone's pizza crust sitting at coffee table level but after a few minutes calmed down. Maybe I can bring her every other time or so. I don't want to be "that annoying dog person" but feel bad leaving her home alone when I've already been gone all day.

Plans for the weekend include going to an art showing by a neighbor tonight, a downtown fresh market tomorrow where I hope to get a little holiday shopping down, and my yoga instructor is having a yoga dvd release party tomorrow night. Depending on the pricing I might get a copy for my dad as he's been doing yoga at home for several years and has asked for some yoga accessories for Christmas. The house is also very overdue for cleaning, and I need to get some more Christmas shopping done. I'm sort of hoping I can make due online and don't need to make a trip to the city on Sunday.

Bargoo, brownies are one of those things that I always think will be great and they don't often live up to that expectation. My palate really has changed and I just don't care for sweets like I used to. Not that I'm a saint. Cheese, on the other hand...let's not go there. It's nice of you to volunteer.

What are everybody's plans for the weekend?

Andrea, I hope you find a healthy equilibrium again soon. The out-of-control feeling is the one that drives me into truly strange territory. Feel free to write all the novellas you need/want; we're not going anywhere! We just finished a complete gut and rebuild of our main hall bathroom (yay!). Now we're under way on the major one - replacement of two big doorwalls, the front entry door, a sunroom door, two entry doors to the garage, replacement of the last original aluminum window plus creating a new window in our master bath, getting the porch and steps re-decked with composite lumber, covering/replacing our very worn and tired T-111 siding with a new housewrap and fiber cement composite siding, wrapping anything else that's wood with aluminum, new gutters/downspouts, and cultured stone along the entire face of the house between the siding and the ground. Phew! Doors and windows phase is done; siding is likely to start next week. I am not sure about the completion date, but if the weather holds, two weeks is the forecast. We're sort of hoping that this will be the end of outdoor repair, and a huge reduction in maintenance, til we die. Merry Christmas to me ... until that 50% final payment invoice arrives! Sympathies and pats to Loki!

Megan, I have never understood why I avoid exercise when it feels so good, for so long after doing it. It has its own built-in positive reinforcement - kids listen to that message just fine; why do I block it out?

michele, count me among the alarm clock victims! I have one of the artificial sunrise clocks and dearly love it ... but it seems to have suddenly developed an issue with the power supply. I've had it for 15 years so there's no downside for taking it apart and seeing if I can figure out how to fix it. Not crazy about my iPad replacement, hopefully temporary.

Allison, belated congrats to DD! It is definitely an awesome achievement.

bargoo, DH bought a cookbook called "The all-butter, cream-filled, sugar-packed baking book" and it's got the only recipe for brownies that I will knock things over to get to. Fortunately, they're kind of a pain in the butt to make and as I've mentioned many times, I'm pretty lazy.

This weekend begins the concert chaos. Saturday will be a 5K JingleJog (peer pressure), hunting down and slaying a Christmas tree, hemming choir vestments to precise lengths, and shuttling DS13 to Novi for December concert 1 of 7. Also going to revamp the bunny cage flooring, since I had exactly enough laminate floor tiles left over from the bathroom reno to replace their vinyl remnant. Perfect! Hopefully the laminate won't be quite as appetizing as the vinyl; they have nibbled their own scalloped edging around the sides. And since it's going to be freakishly warm ... I am determined to vacuum out my car. It looks, not unexpectedly, like I spend hours a day in it.

Bargoo-- I would eat the brownies anyway. Brownies are one of my true weaknesses. I can't stop so I don't allow myself to start!

Weekend plans? Not much! We are having torrential rain which is no fun. I had to cajole Dewey to do number one (we never got number two and I gave up) by walking him out front with an umbrella. Dh is still gone so I'll have a relatively quiet weekend. Need to clean up the house.....

Beyond that-- yoga, the gym.... the mini cooper has to go in tomorrow morning so I'll bring my ipad and a book and hope it doesn't take too long. Might do Costco tonight after yoga if I'm motivated enough to bring a change of clothes and shower at the studio-- that is the one downside of yoga-- there is no way you can stop for any errands on the way home without showering first-- you are soaking wet from head to toe afterwards!

I have an author coming to school today for assemblies. I hope she's good!

I gained 10 pounds in November. But before even coming home from the airport, Karen and I bought tons of fresh fruits and veggies etc at the health food store and we are now ready for December. Membership in this wonderful maintenance club requires that I get back into my ideal range, pronto. We actually have no parties or other eating events scheduled for over ten days so this should be good.

Michelle, the brownies aren't for me and I am not attending the event just dropping off my brownies. It is true that I never met a brownie that I didn't like but these are substandard, IMO.

Ugh I'm all bloated. I wish I didn't live in the 2nd Buffalo wing capital of the world (Buffalo, NY is obv the first capital) - they are SO GOOD and so readily available.

It's hard to exercise discipline when you are a maintainer and it's the "holiday season" - I am hoping once my back is all better (it's mostly better but I'm seeing a Dr. today anyway, I'm due for a checkup if nothing else) and I'm back into lifting to capacity I will feel less like this:

-


Krampus, I find it hard to maintain discipline at any time of year.

Hahaha. I do too bargoo but it seems especially hard now. It's like I never recovered from Thanksgiving overindulgence and suddenly feel like it is cruel and unusual to pass up eating Ben & Jerry's out of the pint (my boyfriend just had a double root canal and bought it for comfort food - me, no excuse) or go to the gym.

krampus - I saw that picture on "I F****ng Love Science" and laugh every time I see it. Isn't Buffalo also the home of Dinosaur BBQ? DH went there once and just about flipped himself inside out - ate there every night the whole week he was there! He was even up for a road trip to do it again.

bargoo - ditto on the discipline. Living with a dedicated foodie has made life much tastier, but heavier. I don't refuse to eat too much - I just do my best to eat a little bit of everything that is sufficiently interesting.

It took me a minute to figure out what that picture is. My brain first went to the picture of the volume that equal weights of muscle and fat take up. I'm sure most of you have seen it - just shows that 5 lbs of fat take up way more space than 5 lbs of muscle. Maybe if I look at this before each holiday event I'll stay OP better? I'm not usually one for printing out pictures and sticking them on the fridge, mirror, etc. but desperate times and all that... December through new years definitely qualifies! I went to CVS yesterday and the holiday food display was obscene. I consider it a victory that I came out only with teeth whitening strips so that my smile will be a little brighter for holiday photos.

Bargoo-- I understand the brownies aren't for you but I can't even bake them to bring anywhere-- there would be too many "casualties" getting them out of the pan!

Chris-- we won't kick you out of the "club"! Good for you for getting back on track. I had been looking at my weight and realizing it had been slowing creeping up over the last 6-9 months which of course isn't good! Now I'm looking at my weight from a year ago-- when I first starting looking at it a week or two ago I was up 9 pounds. That was a red flag for me. Now I'm up 4 point something from a year ago. That is more manageable for me.

Gotta keep plugging away at it because the alternative sucks.

Ummmm... what is the picture of??

Michele, sometimes I just have to be tough and I promise you sweets of any kind are my favorite foods. I have said if I ever commit a crime and get sentenced to the electric chair my last meal request will be a Hot Fudge Sundae and possibly a piece (or two) of blueberry pie.

thank you! I was wondering that, too ...