Brief holiday recap

I won't post tomorrow - we are heading to the coast (Wilmington) to see our son's boat, but I was online today and thought I'd do a quick check-in.

This holiday has been super nice, although certainly not perfect.  Too many houseguests for too long creates a lot of anxiety, and we have suffered from that.  Otherwise it has been awesome.

I haven't done half the things I thought I'd do and I am perfectly fine with that! 

I will write more about my goals for 2014 another day, but just wanted to drop by and wish you all a happy and healthy 2014.

love,
me

Happy Holiday hiatus

Good morning!

I hope you are enjoying some time off and doing important stuff like spending time with loved ones and re-creating your grandmother's ice box fruit cake (well, my mom did that last one actually!  And ice box fruit cake is good!).

I didn't plan to take this much time off from the blog, but it happens.  It's been enjoyable so far.  We are heading back home on Saturday. 

It has been quite cold and I haven't been getting outside as much as I would like - I've become a wimp after 2.5 years in south Florida!  But we've been doing a lot of running around, so I've kept active.  And I cooked my butt off a couple of days (Christmas day and then cooked stuff to send home with my son).  I think that with the total lack of Thanksgiving dinner I went a little overboard on Christmas and cooked a dish or 2 too many.  But we had a crowd and everyone enjoyed everything.  I made the best turkey I've ever made, I have to say.  It was sooo moist and tender. 

Yesterday I got together with my best friend.  We went out for lunch and I had a big, fresh salad, which was excellent.  Then we walked around an antique mall just looking around.  I spend $3.84 on a couple of little things (neither for me).

It's been great sleeping in my own bed (our queen bed is now at my mom's since the guest room had a twin bed) and cuddling with my dogs.  Jordan isn't a lap dog - she's far too independent for that.  But we've done a lot of playing and hugging.  I can tell she's missed me as much as I have missed her.

It's been a great visit and it's going to be very tough to go back to Ft. L, away from family & friends.  But you do what you have to do sometimes.  Ah, the joys of adulthood. :-)

Take care and I will get back to regular posting next week!

T-2 hours!

Yep, car is mostly packed, bags are mostly packed, and we are heading out in just a couple of hours!

We are glad the trip will be broken up, rather than having to do it all tomorrow.  Plus, we get to our dogs sooner!

I never would have imagined 2 adults with an actual human child could miss their dogs so much, but we do!  (For the record, we miss the human child and the rest of our family as well.)

I probably won't post this weekend.  Enjoy and I hope you won't make yourself crazy trying to do too many things last minute!

Be good to yourself. :-)

Like an Ember in my Heart

The past couple of days I've been feeling stressed.  I just go with it these days.  It culminated in a meltdown Tuesday night when my in-laws expected one more completely inconsiderate and unreasonable thing (for my husband to spend several hours on the road Christmas eve day so neither my BIL nor any of his adult children would have to).

After my meltdown hub and I both agreed that 1) the request was unreasonable and 2) that MIL going up to Maryland with none of her things and no car was a recipe for disaster (did I ever write about the Christmas BIL & fam threw her out in the middle of a blizzard (well, she did have a car) and she made a terrifying 2 hour drive back to her house and then my mom and husband drove 15 hours to get her butt so she wouldn't be alone for Christmas?).

ANYWAY.  Stressed and emotional, table for one.

But this morning, I had a dream.  It was the last dream before I woke up for good around 5-ish.  (Then I laid in bed for about an hour just dozing & thinking about it).  It wasn't anything fancy or exotic, just me & my mom over at my grandparent's house helping them do some work around the house.  Everybody was just acting like themselves - my grandparents were being sweet & funny and we were all having a good time.

The thing is that Papa has been dead for nearly 12 years, and Monie for nearly 3.  But that's irrelevant, because I felt their love for me as vividly as if they had been in the room with me.  Which I believe they were.  Because I believe 2 things based upon experience: I believe that angels visit us, as well as the dead.  It's been years since either of my grandparents visited me - I'm sure they have plenty to do, but they obviously felt I needed a reminder that 1) I am loved and 2) I will be okay.  And I carry that reminder, like an ember in my heart.

I am crazy for vintage ornaments

For years I have really admired the 1950s Shiny-Brite ornaments.  But they can be pricey on ebay and even pricier to buy new, so I was very happy to see on retrorenovation.com that Target is selling knock-offs, in a couple of different colorways:

The red/green combo was available online (and on sale!) but the pink & aqua above was not available online.  They had them in my local store, but not on sale.  I asked, and they price matched their web site.  Woot!  I got a box for myself and one for my mom.

I love ornaments.  I wish I could have a tree this year, but at least I have cute ornaments! :-)

Staying Positive

Yesterday the hub woke up feeling blue, and was still kinda sad when I got home.  I took him out for some hot soup.  I felt the same this morning.  I have no idea why.  We're both excited about gettign to leave on Friday.

This morning I went to the German deli and bought 2 bottles of curry ketchup (it's a German thing).  I ususally have to make it from scratch, but I braved 'old' Ft. Lauderdale and all the crazy roads and traffic.  I bought a bottle for my husband and one to put in with the boy's Christmas bag.  he's mostly getting money, but I have a few small things for him as well.

I really like Christmas music, but one of my favorite songs I on;y heard for the first time last year, (even though it's older than me!), on the holiday staion on the tv of all places!

Have you ever heard of Mitch Miller?  I hadn't either but he was big in the music business, especially in the 50s and 60s, and even had his own show "Sing Along with Mitch Miller".  Anyway, he has a christmas song "Must be Santa" that's a sort of polka singalong that always brings a smile to my face.  If you get a chance, head over to Grooveshark or one of those music sites that lets you play specific songs and give it a listen.  It will put a smile on your face! :-)

Happy Holidays

I love doing crafty things, and I love Christmas.  Lately I've seen some really cute craft ideas over on the retro renovation website.  I also saw an adorable wreath on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190761443680?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

The cool things about it is that if you are crafty, you can easily make your own version!  Which I may do with my mom over the holidays. :-)

Also, I have a credit card with Hilton rewards and so we frequently stay using our points.  I found a Hampton Inn about 5.5 hours up the road for a very reasonable point value, so I booked us in for Friday night.  So we are going to get on the road when I get off work Friday!  That will put us that much farther up the road Saturday, not to mention it will make the drive easier by breaking it up.

I am so excited to be going to my mom's for the holidays!!!

I'm not really stressed this year - at least not about the holidays.  We all agreed to put a very strict spending limit on gifts, so we are just focused on being together and enjoying each other.

So I am getting very excited!

The quiet before the holiday storm

This is my last "full" week at work, and it promises to be a quiet one.  (I'm working 2 days a week for the following 2 weeks, then back to normal.)  Many people are beginning to go out for the remainder of the year (today is my boss' last day until after the holidays), so it's a good time to go through old files and generally clean the desk in prep for a new year.

The weekend was a quiet one.  Saturday we rode to Naples to visit friends after I did the grocery shopping and hub had a dental appointment.  Yesterday we did minimal food prep (meatloaf for breakfast and hub grilled chicken for our lunch salads).  We watched a couple of holiday movies and part of a football game.

This afternoon I need to sort through my kitchen stuff.  I plan to pack some more of it up for storage - I left out far more than I am using.  It'll be nice to have it out of the way.

Anyway, it promises to be a low key week, both at work and at home, and then Saturday we head for NC.  Woot!

Have a good day!

Happy Friday

Isn't that my title every Friday??? :-)

Down about 2 pounds this week - woot!

Took a very nice walk last night around a different part of the neighborhood to check out the lights.  It was very nice.  Temps here have cooled down to the upper 70s/very low 80s and the humidity has dropped.  Now that's a Christmas gift!!!

Hope you have a nice weekend!

Random

Filed under "Your heels might be too high if...".  If I overhear you in the ladies room talking on the phone, telling your friend that you have to take your shoes off to drive your car, they might be too high.  "They aren't made for driving" you say.  I say, "Aren't shoes made for wearing while you are living???"  Weird.

This is a reminder to me, especially at this time of year:  The difference between 3 and 43 is that at 43, you have the life experience and intellectual capacity to realize that foregoing short term pleasure can offer long term benefits.  Sure you can have a cookie from the breakroom, but it probably won't help you lower your cholesterol (or your pants size!).  You can opt to save money.  Just because you get a 30% off coupon in the mail from your fave store, you can, you know, NOT use it.  Your bank account will thank you.  This isn't "sacrafice" - this is being mature.  Also, skip the last minute "I haven't bought enough!  Red alert!  Buy more crap to put in the stockings!"  My child is 18 - we can skip stockings, thankyouverymuch.

My holiday cards are done - neener neener neener! :-)

Emotion Ocean, and we're talking high seas!

My emotions have been crazy the past couple of days.  I've been really down in the dumps, with no particular cause. 

Tuesday afternoon I was feeling teary and sad and decided to indulge in a little retail therapy.  Which I figured was better than eating.  I went to Goodwill to check out their holiday stuff, looking for little bits that mom and I could use to make some ornaments.  Cause I like to get my craft on from time to time.  That was a no go, but I did find a holiday fleece top with penguins for $1.25 and a pair of Chico's slacks in the style I like in a color I don't have (a kinda khaki color) for $2.  So I spent less than $4 and got a top that I can wear up in NC while we're up there and pants for work.  Not too bad.

Yesterday I went to the dentist so she could "try on" my permanent crowns and see how they look.  I was there for over 3 hours.  It was very frustrating.  She did get them adjusted so they fit, but they really don't look quite right.  It's maybe a matter of millimeters here and there, but when you have to live with your smile for the rest of your life and spent roughly $17,000, you want it to look right.  And right now it doesn't.  So the crowns went back to the lab for tweaking, and then we'll do another test fit.  I am supposed to get them "installed" Jan 7, but if they aren't right, I'll need another appointment.  Le sigh.

All in all, a teary couple of  days.

Part of it is the heat.  Please don't a) laugh or b) be jealous.  Where I am living right now the a/c isn't on, it's in the mid 80s, and the himidity is in the 90s.  It's too hot in the house to wear my "winter" clothes in to the office (although it's cold at work), and the humidity means my bangs look like Shirley Temple stuck her finger in an electric socket (frizz city!) moments after walking in the door.  This morning I resorted to using the curling iron to straighten them, and burned my forehead.  Again with the le sigh.

Again, there's loads of good stuff - looks like we'll be in NC for 2 weeks, hub has a promising lead on a job opportunity, and this Saturday we are faced with a nearly whole day (after his 9:30 dental appt) with nothing to do but go have fun somewhere.  Oh, and my Christmas cards are nearly done!  Woot!

I have a busy morning so no idea when I will get a workout in - this afternoon I hope. Worst case scenario I walk this evening and double up tomorrow - kettlebells AND Jillian Michaels.

Anyway, just needed to vent a bit.  I hate it when I feel like my emotions are driving the bus and I'm just a passenger trying to get off!!!

Have a good one!

Checking In

Exercise is going extremely well.  My plan is to try & do several small bursts, spread throughout the day.  That keeps the periods I spend just sitting from being too long (I sit at a computer all day, so I try to incorporate getting up & moving into that time) and lets me do more without it feeling too daunting. 

Yesterday I walked in the morning, did a 30 minute cardio videoa and 100 kettlebell swings at work, then took a walk in the neighborhood after dinner to see the Christmas lights.  This morning I walked before work, came in and did a workout from Jillian Michael's "Ripped in 30" and I plan to walk again this evening.  The workouts at the office are fairly high intensity - walking in the neighborhood certainly is not, but it's time I'm not asleep or sitting, so that's good.

As you know, I plan and prep my food for breakfasts and lunches on the weekends.  This week I made a tactical error, when ended in a poor choice yesterday.  For my lunches, instead of grilling chicken or adding chickpeas to my salad, I took some homemade falafel out of the freezer.  the problem was I didn't like them the first time and I looked at it yesterday and said "yuck." 

For several weeks now I've been eyeing the seafood linguine in the cafeteria every time they serve it.  Yesterday was probably the 4th time I've seen it and the falafel was the final push I needed to cave and buy it.  It wasn't as good as it looked and I didn't finish it, but still, the point is that had I brought in some yummy grilled chicken or something I probably would have opted to skip the pasta.

Dinner last night was really good - baked chicken, sweet potato "fries" (baked in the oven), and yello squash.  We both really enjoyed that and since we ate a little later than normal, there was no after dinner snacking.  It also helped I was really tired and went to bed early!

Anyway, that's what is happening around these parts.  Just looking forward to seeing my family for the holidays.

Take care.

Unseasonable weather weekend

Good morning!

I hope you had a nice weekend and it wasn't filled with an overabundance of crazy. :-)

Friday night hub got home at a reasonable time and we had a nice dinner.  Saturday we got up and did our chores: grocery shopping, food prep, laundry, drop off his car for servicing.  Poor husband!  He went to Costc0 while I started food prep.  He finally got home and all he said was "I hate people."  Saturday morning and they had the police out directing traffic at Costc0!!!  Luckily, we got the bulk items we needed and everything else cna be purchased at the regular store until after the holidays!

I think we finished mid-afternoon-ish and watched a little tv.  I made dinner (baked fist, roasted brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes).  I experimented with making my own pumpkin spice creamer and it sucked, but I'm willing to try again.

Saunday morning we got up, fixed breakfast, took a walk, and headed for Morikami Museum & Gardens.  Turns out there was a Japanese farming settlement a few miles north of Ft. Lauderdale that began in 1904-ish.  The gentleman who founded the settlement left roughly 140 acres to be set aside as a museum & japanese garden.  The garden has examples of traditional gardens from various periods of japanese history, as well as some statues and architectural features, a large bonsai display, and a lovely cafe.

All told, we were there for around 3 hours.  It is one of those things I've wanted to do since we moved here but never found time.  The loop through the gardens is maybe a mile, but we spent a lot of time looking at things & taking pictures.

And there is the upside of right now: I am not a slave to my house.  Don't get me wrong, I'm one of those wacky people who enjoy housework and keeping my house clean.  But it was too big & too difficult for just one person.  Next time I want to be more intentional about the size & how we set things up to make it easier to keep neat & tiday.  And I will contionue to downsize my possessions!

The weather here is about 11 degrees above average, just freakishly warm.  I could use with a little crisp in the air!

Take care & have a good day!

Weird week, and other observations

This has been an odd week, partly because we drove back from NC on Monday.  Also, hub had Tuesday off but has been working late the past couple of days.  Yay money but it's left me a bit adrift as far as dinner.  Last night I ate a frozen meal.  Ugh.  I am ashamed - I know that stuff is crap.

Got on the scale this morning - I've lost 0.4 pounds in the last month.  In other words, I've made it through the recent stressors without gaining - which was my personal goal.

Yesterday I did a cardio video and did 100 kb swings.  Today I did a workout from Jillian Michael's "Ripped in 30 Days" (or something like that) video.  I've been slacking on the weight training, and I need that back in my life.  I like the video and plan to do it for the next couple of weeks.  Once we go to NC, I'll need to take my kb with me - I don't have any weights at my mom's, or a place to do a workout video.  But the kb and I are very familiar with her front porch (unlike the back porch, it's dog free).

I have a pair of Earth Spirit brand sandals from W-M that I wear around the house ALL the time.  I don't like wearing sneakers constantly (although I wear them if I will be standing a lot - like food prep).  I like to be able to take my shoes off when I sit down, so sandals are nice.  But I have very high arches so I need something with a sneaker-like base.  These are those shoes - very supportive and comfortable.  I've been wearing them for years.  I generally go through 2 pair per year and I've worn them for 7 or 8 years I guess.  My husband calls them my "Pocahontas shoes".  Here's a pic:

Mine are a slightly different style, but they are dark brown.  So what's the point of this story?  I forgot to change into my work shoes before I left the house this morning!  A blue, white, & black print shirt, black capris, and brown sandals.  Oops!  TGIF casual Friday.  Or in my case, casual & mismatched Friday!

Have a good weekend!

Just thinking

I'm listening to Christmas music and thinking about snow and winter and how so much of the world goes into hibernation. (Except here.  Here is where all your birds, of both the winged and 2 legged "snow" varieties, come to get away from the cold & snow.)

Except a lot is really going on during that hibernation -there's a lot happening within the sleeping earth to prepare for spring and the tremendous burst of visible growth.

I guess my life is like that right now.  There's a lot of preparation for the next big stage going on in what appears on the surface to be a lull in the action.

It's been a long time since I made such a radical change.  I've forgotten what it's like.

Overall, having got a large chunk of the hard work behind me, I am feeling more positive.

Moving On

Things I've done/decisions I've made:

The past few weeks, every time I made soup in the crockpot I froze some in disposable containers.  I now have a well stocked freezer full of nutritious soups to eat for meals.  I've also decided to focus meals around the meat & 2 veg model - easy stuff I can toss onto a cookie sheet and put in the oven for a little bit: fish or pork chops or a piece of chicken with roasted veg and something like a sweet potato or squash on the side.  Did you know you can roast frozen vegetables?  Yup! 

Last night hub had to work late - I had a cup of vegetable/ground turkey soup with a slice of rye bread cheesy toast.  Tonight is lentil soup with a cornbread muffin.  Easy stuff that keeps us from eating out.

There are a lot of up sides to our choices, which is why we made the decision we did.  Right now there is a health-impacting upside: I have a much smaller space to clean since a lot of our stuff is in storage.  This leaves us more time to do things like walk & go places.  The plan for the weekend is Everglades National Park, or Key Largo, or both!  But with minimal shopping and food prep to do and practically no cleaning, I have time!  And both the time and inclination (due to the mild weather) to walk in the afternoons. :-)

So while this wasn't an easy choice, I am trying to embrace the plusses.

Let's just forget that happened

What a weekend.

Picked up the truck Wednesday morning, packed for 2 days.  Yes, we packed a moving truck on Thanksgiving (it was also my mom's birthday).  We grilled out hot dogs.  No overeating at my house.

The guys (hub & boy) took the truck for a test drive and discovered one of the brake calipers was bad, called rental place.  They sent out a wrecker, but he couldn't do anything besides tow it away.

Mom and I left at 8 am Friday, while the guys waited to get a new truck and have the contents moved.  They got on the road at 8 pm.  They drove until 4 am, got about 4 hours of sleep, and arrived Saturday at dinner time.

Sunday am we met friends to unload, spent the day unloading.  The truck had to be turned in by 5 pm.  Hub was about a mile and a half from the return center when a 16 year old kid made an illegal turn in front of him and there was no way he could stop.  The kid was wearing his ipod, but not his seatbelt.  Luckily hub was driving slowly cause he was driving a 26 foot truck pulling a 16 foot trailer.  The kid hit his head on the windshield but was conscious when he went to the hospital.

The next day we got up and got on the road around 8 am - we got back here about 10 pm.

We are just ragged worn out.

Things turned out okay.  The dogs are in NC - we can't have them where we are staying.  They are fine at my mom's - they have a huge yard, but we miss them terribly.

This is temporary and we are saving money, but it is still hard.

Home

The past week has been INSANE - crazy busy, some frustrations and stressors, and definitely NOT a traditional Thanksgiving by any stretch.

However, we all got together and we are all safe.  That is what I am thankful for today.