I left food on my plate at the restaurant last night - which felt especially good since I've not been doing that, subjecting myself to whatever portion they deem suitable to serve.

It felt good to walk in the cold, 20 something degrees F, since we've had so little this winter - so far. I get more exercise when I have to walk fast to stay warm.

Bill Some of the portions in restaurants are immense. I find that usually the more expensive the place the less food they serve you.

It's cold here too - we have an "extreme cold" weather alert issued by Environment Canada. That sounds really until you realize that the temp is -13C and it's the beginning of March. I'm looking forward to being out in the sun all day today!

Dagmar

We really haven't had much winter in Northern California, it seems like we went directly from fall to spring. We should have a lot of rain in the winter and that didn't happen and not much snow in the Sierras, either.

We drove back from downstate through periodic snow squalls from the Catskills all the way up through the Southern Tier and right to our doorstep. We got three inches overnight. It's light, pretty, feathery snow, the kind that MGM used to manufacture for its old black-and-white films and that doesn't ever look sloppy or icy or muddy.

Still that was no consolation earlier this morning as I drove through it to spin class at 4:30 AM without a plow in sight, trying to stay in the tracks of whoever had gone before me.

I'm easing into the usual busy week. Tomorrow, there's a re-run of this past Tuesday, with me co-presenting at 11 AM and again at 10:30 PM. I learned from last week and am scheduled for a facial on Tuesday night, so I can lie there being ministered to between sessions. This sounds decadent, yes, but as I've said before, the alternative would be me hunched over a box of Girl Scout cookies, cramming them into my mouth faster than I could chew them, trying to grind out the stress through my working, working jaws.

I heard the craziest weather forecast on the radio this morning while driving to work. It's snowing at the moment, and around 30 degrees, but apparently tomorrow it's going to be 60 degrees and sunny.

Plus with all those storms that blew through Friday/Sat we lost a few shingles off our roof, so now we need to have a roof repair place come fix it. It's a little frustrating because it seems like it would be easy to fix it ourselves, but DH is afraid of heights and therefore is also afraid of ME going up a ladder to do it. Oh well. Tornadoes were all well south of here, but the wind was scary enough that I moved Carter's dog bed away from the window just in case.

I feel any problems I may have are insignificant compared to the people that have lost so much because of the tornadoes. One entire family is dead , parents and three young children , such a tragedy.

So true.

Fullerton, where DD lives, was the hot spot in the nation yesterday with 95. I think we were around 80. It made for a very warm game of golf.

I am in Florida for the winter and we have had one of the best winters here in years. I feel for you Northerners it will be 80 here today.

Bill - I have to say that I eat out a lot when we are in Florida and many time the portions are big, some restaurants though have small plates. I try to limit my lean meet intake to about 5-7 oz per day.

Bill: My hubby and I usually split an entree when we go out as the portions are huge.

It's about 48 degrees here today and lo and behold, Thursday it's going to a balmy 66 degrees! I think I may seriously have to think about some hill sprints Thursday afternoon as that's really warm for this time of year.

Here in Northern California it is 42 degrees right now with a high of 71 degrees predicted.
The weather where I live and where Allison lives can vary by many degrees.

It was 76 here on Friday, then the tornadoes rolled through. Some pretty big damage just to the west of us, but nothing our way. Freeze warning and high winds with temps down to 30 and up to low 50 for the last few days. Going to be 75 again by the end of the week. My sinuses are totally confused.

I just got through what I knew was going to be a sad phone call. My godfather, who has lived out in Calgary Alberta for over 30 years now, lost his wife yesterday. They have been married for about 50 years and now he's all alone. His son is going to be with him tonite but his daughter is also sick and can't even fly in for her mom's funeral.

I used to see all of these people socially when I was a child and young adult but I've lost track of them over the years, except for a Christmas card every year. These were friends of my parents who I could have had as friends but I didn't make overtures. Now it's too late.

I wish I could say this makes me feel like I should be closer to my dad but it doesn't.

Dagmar

Mudpie: I'm sorry for your loss. That's tough when you lose someone from your past like that. I'm sure they knew you thought of them often. Sending you good thoughts.

FWIW, my mom passed away five years ago and I was closer to her than my dad (for a lot of reasons). I always felt like I should be closer to him especially since her death and he was my only living parent. When I quit "forcing it", the closeness just kind of happened, if that makes any sense. It's still not the type of closeness that I had with my mom but nonetheless we're closer than we've ever been. Just my .02 cents.

Maybe not. I lost track of my cousins on my father's side, but when my father's terminal illness advanced, one cousin came and visited us repeatedly. He and his wife turned out to be great people with whom I discovered a connection. We met in Pittsburgh again later, and then spent a week together in Montana. We're in touch now through email and I know we'll meet again. I'd never thought this would happen -- I hadn't seen that cousin in over a decade. Who knew?

High 80's here today...shorts and t-shirts! Rain tomorrow maybe....

DAGMAR You just never know what can happen good or bad...my cousin's (son of my dad's brother) ex-wife got a hold of me on Facebook. He was only married to her for 1.5 years and that was in the 70's when we were teen-agers. They had 2 girls. She contacted me because most of that side of our family is gone except for one cousin, sister of my cousin the ex.

She said the best time she ever had as a teen was at my family's house on Thanksgiving Day one year. My uncle brought his family up the 50 miles. Something we did often growing up...meeting up as family. Anyway, since they divorced right after marriage (my cousin is an a$$) she never got to know us well. Long story short...she lives out in the desert near Allison, a few hours from me but her daughter lives 1.5 miles from me! We plan to meet up soon. Good luck.