It is so time to be done with the holiday eating attitude. Life is back to normal - or feels like it should be.

The Christmas tree is down; living room is put back with chairs in place. I have enjoyed reading in the living room with the tree lights on.

Our decorations stay up until the 6th - that's Epiphany, when the Three Kings arrive! I love the lights too.

Thank you Birchie - I wondered why people in our neighbourhood were still switching on their Christmas lights every night. We are not religious at all but the lights and the inside tree are two traditions that I love.

Our indoor decorations are gone but I'm leaving the outdoor lights until it's warmer. We light a string of small white bulbs year round so for now I'll merely unplug the coloured ones.

I'm dogsitting for 17 days. Holiday eating is done but I'm not going to weigh myself until I'm back home. Trying to eat as "normally" as I can this week. Next week will be crazy busy so I'm trying to create a bit of a deficit now.

Today will be a higher calorie days as it's minus 23 with the windchill.

Good first week of 2016 everyone!

Dagmar

Yes, it takes the Three Kings a while to arrive. They have to follow yonder star, 'star of wonder, star of night, star of royal beauty bright'.

That's from the carol 'We Three Kings of Orient Are', for those not familiar with it.

You may know this unauthorised version:

We three kings of Orient are,
One in a taxi, one in a car,
One on a scooter, blowing his hooter,
He didn't get very far.

ETA that Epiphany completes the 12 days of Christmas - and then we're into the Orthodox Christmas Day on the 7th for those who can't get too much of a good thing.

Everything going well weightwise here.My lights and tree stay till Ukrainian Christmas which is Jan7.My blood pressure increased over the holidays but my weight did not.I think it was from worrying bout dinner and eating salty foods.I also limited my wine intake and that was a supreme effort.My blood sugar was good so I think salty pickled fish and cheeses caused the BP to rise.A couple days of water pills settled it down and I am now back to high normal.
My New Years resolution is to drink only one bottle of wine a week instead of two.That is 5 glasses a week.I have managed to do so,but it has only been one week.

That's a great resolutions, apo. Best of luck to you on that.

Our Christmas lights are down and the decorations are put away. On NYD, we sold our china hutch to a nice couple. I didn't get much for it, but that's okay. I wasn't selling it to make $$ on it--just to get rid of it so I have room for my new dining set that I'm sending my SIL up to SLC to pick up next week. Today, I arrange his flight, the rental of the truck, and emails to everyone so they know the schedule. I can't wait! This is my parent's set--very Mid Century Modern (which is my favorite). I suppose I should have been a Mad Men fan, but never watched that show.

We showed our motorhome to someone yesterday and he said he'd discuss it with his wife and let us know. Meanwhile two others are interested in it. I'd really like to get rid of it--I'm tired of paying for storage and insurance on something we don't use. It's not a pretty bus, but it is in very good shape (the paint has oxidized and I'm not spending more to get it repainted just to get it to sell--we'll take almost any offer at this point).

Happy 2016!
Our tree and decorations are still up-- hope to get them down next weekend. Dh is getting around much better but still moving slowly and I wasn't too motivated to tackle myself.

Older dd left Saturday and is back at work. She is 25 today. I have no idea how I can have a child that old!! Younger dd is home until Saturday and then we'll be more back to normal.

I have not been feeling great-- sinus issues and ear issues. Went to urgent care yesterday and I have a double ear infection-- inner and outer and a sinus infection. Got on antibiotics but I refused the ear drops (for the outer infection) as they were $85-- I'm praying the infection clears up with the antibiotics alone.

I'm back at work and FREEZING. The heat isn't working in the library and it is a BIG SPACE-- it was 53 when I got here and it's warmed all the way up to 60. I'm chugging hot tea which will hopefully flush the sodium out of me that I consumed yesterday-- resulting in a 3 pound spike this morning. Hopefully going to go to bikram later and warm up!

Dd noticed last night that one of our kitties has a gross eye. It's somewhat better this morning but if it isn't much improved by tomorrow, he'll need to see the doctor too.

Back to the cold.... brrr.... at least it's not as cold as where Dagmar is!!

Birchie, did you ever hear this version? I think it has to do with the price-setting activities of OPEC

We three kings of Orient are
Raising the price of driving your car.

I remember the "rubber cigar" version from childhood. I think I learned it before the real carol. Anyone heard the Beach Boys version? To me it sounds like they slowed 45 rpm down to 33 rpm (or they were really really stoned). Kinda cool and really weird at the same time.

Dagmar

<sigh> High of 22F and low of 8F today (without windchill). Maybe back up to freezing by mid-week. It's funny how the cold hit on January 1.

Kids back to school today after 2 weeks. My oldest (a HS senior) claims his chemistry and calculus teachers "put hieroglyphs on the white board today." I told him it was possible he'd gotten that much stupider over winter break, but it was also conceivable that he just needed to review a little.

Allison, my new year's resolution (besides the annual one to stay at maintenance weight) is to Ebay and Craig's list at least 100 items this year, and donate 100 more. I can't stand the clutter in our house- the outdated electronics and outgrown kids' toys alone could fill a small room.

saef, Dagmar, Great We Three Kings versions! They're so time and culture specific.

Andrea, good luck with getting rid of that stuff.

Andrea-- dh has the same resolution in our house-- but he wants me to do it so it becomes my job.

Hope your ds feels smarter today. I'll never forget my freshman year in college when I *tried* to take calculus. The professor was ancient and the class was at least 500 students. There was a giant chalkboard covering the front of the room. He would face the chalkboard mumbling and writing equations/numbers all over. As he progressed, his arm would smudge/erase what he was writing. I just madly tried to copy down what he was writing, hoping foolishly I would somehow make heads or tails of it later. Needless to say, I didn't do well....

Day two of no heat in my library. I came prepared with an extra coat, a scarf and mittens. I think the repair guy is here so I'm hoping it's sorted out.

El Nino is here in full force. Rain, rain and more rain to undo 5 years of drought.

Still have 2 cars for 3 people while dd is here and she is taking one vehicle this afternoon to take teacher certification tests, so I'll be at dh's mercy with when he needs to get picked up, etc. Which means, I may or may not get any exercise in.....