Good morning and here's a cup of Keurig coffee with some SF Irish Cream syrup for sweetener. I need sweetening this icy and early morning. The door onto the deck and yard is frozen shut. It's a good thing the dogs can use the sliding door in the studio. This is not a good start to the day! (I'd resign but the pension is lousy.) Once I'm coffeed up, I'll tackle the problem with my trusty hair dryer.

Donna and I are supposed to go to the gym this morning but it will depend on the driving. The school buses aren't canceled ... yet. If we don't go, I'll definitely do some treadmill time.

Now for a spinach smoothie, another coffee and tackle the door problem.

Somehow the Hump today seems a bit higher than usual.

Wow, Ruth...the doors are iced shut?! ICK. Good thing the doggage had another way out! (I can't believe the slider isn't iced shut!!).

I'm in the dark, the house is just a stirrin', DH will leave in a few minutes for work. The coffee just beeped, which is the most important thing!! I have a shorter day of work, then the oven man is coming to fix it. I have some doubts he diagnosed it properly, but we'll see. I'll be annoyed if I have to keep paying him to come back (oh - and this is my 2 1/2 year old oven that wasn't cheap!!). DS has martial arts tonight....I might swim while he's at the Y, and I might not. We'll see!

Had a great day eating yesterday, we'll see how today goes...

Problem fixed - gotta love my hair dryer. Twynn, the stuck door is in an unheated room but the studio is heated and opens onto the deck from another angle so seldom gets iced shut. Hope the oven gets fixed to your high standards. We need our ovens in winter.

Now for the gym. My biggest decision today will be whether to have clam chowder for lunch (already made), veal stew leftover from last night or a ww roll with chicken and salad. Too many choices and they are all prepped! I need two friends to drop in for lunch!

Happy Hump Day! I'm off to the gym for sure as Donna just called to confirm that she is driving.

Hi Ruth and Twynn,
Ruth, I'm so sorry about the ice and frankly I find January and February to be the most discouraging months of the winter, where it feels it will never end. Just keep meditating on the fact that spring will come. Sometimes I find it helps to look at the sunrise/sunset calendars available online to keep me going.

We had a very strange moth like bug in the bathroom yesterday, with a bright red body and translucent wings. My husband got it out of the house but it was wierd. Now there is a fruit fly flying around but we've had no fruit out. The place is in disarray because I'm painting the foyer (finishing that job this weekend) so maybe that's why. Doing the painting will involve moving my husband's enormous computer armoire, and the cats always seem very interested in what is going on underneath that, so I wonder if there's a mouse hole behind it! We will see.

I had a terribly off plan weekend and was slow to refocus back because of Monday's holiday, but this weekend the food should be totally in my control (save for a church dinner on Sunday night, but I'll manage that somehow). Things were complicated by TOM and retaining water too along with the inevitable cravings.

Hope everyone has a great day! Work for me, and then tonight I MUST do some filing and begin to get our tax stuff together. Hope everyone has a great one...

Happy Hump Day, and I'm glad you got over your roadbump this morning, Ruth. Hooray for the mighty blowdryer!
Twynne, I hope the repairman is competent enough to solve the oven problem! Is the warranty still good on it?
Matilda, I share the same struggles getting through Jan. & Feb. and was just rejoicing yesterday that we're halfway through this month. We get an occasional mouse but can never figure out where they are coming in.

It looks like it's going to be sunny day today, and it's my "short" day. Woohoo!

Good morning I'm actually going out for a brief errand run around town this morning so just a quick stop-in for now.

Ruth - Lots of ice here but not a much as you have. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to clean my car this morning

Twynn - Hope the oven is fixed and you don't need the repair man back anytime soon

Matilda - Sounds like an interesting bug. We had one flying around our living room light last night. I guess it was warm enough for them yesterday, though it wasn't that warm. With all that wildlife you could live here

Cottage - Enjoy your short day on your countdown to the weekend. How is everyone settling in at home? Hope it doesn't seem too small yet.

Things are moving along pretty well around here. DW is getting around by herself and needs help for less things so I'm able to get some of my work done too. We are decreasing her oxygen slowly and hoping to get her off it by the weekend. I would love to get all that stuff out of here. It scares me. I wanted to light a candle the other day but decided it was just too scary.

I'm counting down to an end of hump day glass of wine. It will be the first one in awhile so I'm really looking forward to it

Good morning, Beachers!

Ruth - I'm drinking my daily decaf green tea. Glad you got the door open easily. My yoga class was not crowded at all yesterday and I suspect the sudden cold snap kept people home.

Twynn - I just saw a website (mentioned in a magazine) that will diagnose the most common appliance issues. I wonder if I can find that!

Matilda - I'm with you. Seems once we pass New Year's Eve, winter should be over! Oh - hmm - I wonder if that was why I was craving cereal like nobody's business yesterday!

Linda - Enjoy your day!

Cyndi - Sounds optimistic. I meant DW but I guess that could refer to the wine too

I am getting my hair cut and colored today. And I have this feeling I'm going to forget to go! This week I am struggling even more than most to keep track of what day it is! I wake up and lay in bed and put on my thinking cap every morning before I step foot on the floor. I just checked the name of the thread to confirm I had the right day! Really.

I had major cravings for cereal yesterday. (Cereal is a bigggg issue for me and my husband has a stockpile of it in the house.) The good news is that I didn't eat ANY. The bad news is that my coping mechanism was to instead overeat cheese and fruit and a sweet potato and more cheese and another apple. And on and on. Sigh. DH has a new food kick too that is totally contrary to SB. Darn man.

Good Morning

Ruth, thanks for getting us started this morning! I'm sorry you had such a rough start to your day….I keep thinking Spring. As DH and I sat on the porch in the dark I mentioned that I was going to plant Sweet Peas in a certain spot this year and he gave me a look like I was nuts.

Twynn, hope you get a swim in today! Hooray for a great food day yesterday. Keeping my fingers crossed your oven is fixed very soon.

Matilda, I hope you're feeling more centered as you distance yourself from last weekend. The days are getting lighter!

Cyndi, such great news about Julie! I hope you get that glass of wine tonight!

Karen, I'm curious as to DH's new food kick. Great that you stayed out of the cereal-it's really a difficult one.

It's crazy blowing and cold here this morning. I've gotten lots done as I managed insomnia. I have to start the company books today but mom isn't feeling well so maybe I'll just have to put in an appearance. Food has been great the past two days and I'm looking forward to another "routine" day.

Have a great day everyone!

Morning chicks,

Ruth - glad you got the door de-iced. Makes me second guess wanting snow!
Twynn - let me know how the water is
Mmc - TOM messed me up this weekend too - lots of on plan foods but way too much of them and lots of late night snacking. Grrrr!
Cyndi - GREAT news about Julie. You made me lol a bit about the candle though
Karen - I too got mine cut and colored -you inspired me to be a redhead! Have fun
Debbie - I've found something for insomnia that seems to work a bit better than anything else I've taken - I found it at Target and it's called "Help! I Can't Sleep" - the active ingredient is different than anything else I've used before. I am a bit groggy waking up but it's workable.

As for me, it's really my first full week back in the office since before the Christmas holidays. There is a lot of stuff going on internally which is making me very anxious. Hence the not sleeping well. And I think I hurt my knee to boot.

Oye!

Off to finally eat breakfast and then gear up for a busy day.

Debbie - He's reading a book called The China Study, I think. From what I gather it espouses cutting out almost all animal products (including dairy and eggs) as well as processed foods. It suggests eating lots of veggies and grains including those we would avoid, like white potatoes.

Jenn - RED red? Photo!

Afternoon All!

Thought I'd pop in and say hi... I did a yoga DVD last night (beginners) and let me tell you, Bob Harper means business! It's the Biggest Loser Yoga For Weight Loss DVD, so I did the 5 min warmup and 20 minute Level 1 Yoga workout, and was drenched! I can't do some of the moves, have to use a lot of modifications, but I'm hoping that I'll become more flexible the more I exercise.

Was planning for another run tonight, but then realized today I'm working the late shift, so I won't be home until 7:45, and there's no way Chris will go out that late, so I'm going to try a Jillian Ab Workout DVD (pray for me.) I figure my abs feel ok today, and I'm sore on my inner thighs and in between my shoulder blades, so if I do an ab workout, it might give the rest of my body a break? I hope?

I bought 3 DVD's on Amazon (also Jillian's 30 Day Shred) because A) They were cheap, and B) I've been a Swag Buck nut, so I've been earning free Amazon gift cards. Anytime I feel down, I just go on amazon and buy something for myself because it's free. So far I've earned $50 in Amazon gift cards and $30 in Gap/Old Navy/Athleta/Banana Republic/Piperlime gift cards since November 30. (The $30 for Old Navy bought me a pair of compression pants!) I have some OPI Nail Polish, a new sports bra, and an iPhone case all heading my way from Amazon.

If you want to look into it, you can use this link http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/weezle80 It's free, I just use my "junk" (hotmail) email address for when they send me the Swag Bucks Rewards notifications. You earn the swag bucks randomly by using their search engine rather than google or bing, and can earn a number of other ways too (surveys, playing games, watching videos, daily polls, etc.) Once you're signed up, you also can send your referral link to whoever you think might like free stuff too. You can earn up to 1000 swag bucks per referral, which is pretty nice. Currently a $5 Amazon gift card is 450 swag bucks. They also have Starbucks, retailers, Paypal, iTunes, restaurants, all kinds of gift cards. There is also a whole world of stuff I haven't even looked into, non-gift-card-wise.

Just thought I'd throw it out there because I love it! It makes it so I can give myself special treats without having to adjust my budget. And yes, I'm one of those crazy coupon ladies. Have shaved over $100/month off my family's grocery bill! The OCPD really helps with that.

Anyway, going to get back to work. Break time is over! I hope everyone is well! Have a great day!

Lisa

Red, red. See attached Just took it in my office. Not sure if I love it - waiting on other's opinions I guess... Feel free to chime in!

I like it, Jenne! It looks great, and so natural.

Thanks Cottage!! Everyone says that it looks natural and/or that I can pull it off. I guess I've always been a fiesty redhead at heart?!?

Jenne!!! You vixen! You like amazing red!!! Very natural. LOVE it!