Anything that can go wrong...

It's been an interesting week. Both good and bad...

On the 23rd, as I was gearing up to have my dad's side of the family over for Christmas, I saw that I had gotten a phone call on my work cell phone. From a number I knew was our communications center... so I called the on-call person, and found out that we had had a derailment in North Dakota.

Packed myself up, left my hubby with instructions on what to do for the evening (my parents were going to come help...) and hit the road. The road conditions were terrible. I had a discussion with my parents, and we decided to cancel Christmas.

Has anyone really had to cancel Christmas? Yep. That was me.

But on the upside - the cleanup went really quickly, and I was able to get to my parent's house by 4pm on Christmas Eve (after 6 hours of driving - stopping only once to pee, and once to get gas) to enjoy time with my mom's side of the family. Eric and I had reserved a hotel room for the evening, so when we got there we invited the kids that were there to swim in the pool to expend some of their energy before the evening's festivities. There were 22 people there in all. It was a nice evening, if a bit chaotic.

My husband got me a gift that I really liked: a trainer for my bicycle. So now I can bike inside during the winter!

Christmas day, we were at my mother-in-law's house. Both of his sisters were there, along with aunts and cousins, and my stepchildren. Again, a nice time, but I headed out shortly after dinner, since I hadn't been home in a while. They tried to make me feel guilty for leaving, but since I still had my work vehicle, Eric stayed to be social for a while longer.

The roads on the way home were not fun, but I did get home safely.

Yesterday, my stepdaughter and husband had spent the night, so instead of getting up early to brave the shopping, we had a nice relaxing morning. I really like my son-in-law. He has a good head on his shoulders, and really appreciates my stepdaughter. Unlike her last "husband". Yep. She's 24, and is on her second marriage. I think this one is a keeper!

This morning, still on vacation, I got out of the house at about 7:45 to move my work truck because of the snow emergency. Of course the *^#%* thing would not start. And we are one of the streets that pretty much gets plowed at 8am. So, I called the maintenance service, and got the truck towed away to get it repaired. But not before the snow plow plowed it in. Woo hoo. So good person that I am, I shoveled the snow ridge from the street. Then I came in, and stepped in cat barf. Lovely, but there were 4 different spots this morning. Evidently, he has an upset stomach. And he hasn't even been eating all of the decadent Christmas treats!

And on the scedule for the afternoon, getting the house ready for people to come over for dinner tonight. And laundry.

Just pray that we don't have a derailment.
~a

Banana bread or Biscotti?

It's that time of the year. I have people asking me if it's going to happen again...

Around the Christmas holidays for the past four years, I have been making small loaves of banana bread, and biscotti, and giving them out to the people in my office the day before the Christmas holidays begin. Well, since tomorrow is my last day before I am on vacation until January (WOO HOO), I am bringing in the treats tomorrow. I have 11 loaves of bread, and 14 packages of biscotti all packaged up in holiday treat bags, and ready to grab as I am out the door.

I love Christmas. I love the lights, and the festive spirit, and getting together with friends and family.

Tonight I met up with my running group to do a "Christmas lights" run down Summit Avenue. Not a lot of lights up, but it was a great night, and I was more than happy that I kept up with the people I was running with, with no problem at all. I always feel like I am the slow person in the group. But not tonight. I was right there with everyone.

I don't know what it is, but when I am running on a regular basis, all seems right with my world. Even if I weigh more than I think I should. It's all good. I am strong, healthy, and in shape, and that's all that really matters.

~a

I choose

This has become my new mantra.

I choose. I choose to eat or not eat things. I choose to exercise. I choose to sleep in. I feel so much more in control of things, and much more at peace with things.

Two more days of work until I am off until the end of the year. I am so looking forward to it!

Running has been going pretty well lately. Last week, I met with my running group to run at the Dome on Thursday and to run Calhoun on Saturday. It was about 2 degrees on Saturday morning, but it was still great. I will have to say I am a much happier person when I go running. I suppose this makes me a runner. Scary.

Anyway, just doing stuff around the house getting ready for Christmas. Baking, cleaning, decorating, finishing christmas presents... we are doing the lower budget christmas this year: I am using hotel points for gift certificates for some, and making presents (scarves, mittens, hats, crocheted washcloths...) for others. Plus I got a lot of gifts before Thanksgiving.

The other major thing on the agenda this week is getting out the Christmas cards.

I feel boring, but things are actually going pretty well. I feel at peace, and I had a review with my boss on Friday that made me happy. We'll just have to see what the new year brings!

~a

Yikes

I don't want to have to buy pants. I sat in a meeting last Thursday, hating the fact that a pair of pants that had always been kind of loose on me were feeling pretty snug around my ass and my thighs.

But what am I doing about it? Not much. I did go running on Thursday at the Metrodome - a local running association has it set up so you can run in circles there, for the bargain price of $1, with free parking. My running group is planning on doing that on every Thursday it is open - let's hope I can continue, because I think it's awesome.

I spent the weekend at my sister's house, baking cookies with her and my nieces. I think we ended up with about 20 dozen - Biscotti, Oatmeal cookies, Sugar cookie cutouts, and gingerbread people. I ate a few. And drank some wine.

My husband asked me what my favorite part of the weekend was - I told him what it wasn't: The 87 or so temper tantrums my youngest niece threw. I guess she is doing better, but she is still kind of cranky about her dad being hurt. It's not his fault, but try reasoning with an 8-year old.

I'm in Milwaukee for a couple of days for work. Glamourous! Hopefully I will be able to hop on the treadmill here at the hotel. I packed food, and stopped at Trader Joe's for some healthy snacks. I just have to remember not to eat them all! On the drive down, I stopped at a Target to use their restroom, and I tried on a couple of pairs of pants, to see if I should get an inexpensive larger pair to get me through my pants woes. They didn't fit. And I need to get down to the underlying problem - my expanding waistline and rear end.

I never thought I would be one of those people who lost weight, then gained it back. But when I look down at the scale, I am seeing a scarier and scarier number on the scale. I should go back to WW, but I am making excuses - too much $, it does not fit into my schedule, blah, blah, blah. Obviously, what I am doing is not appearing to work. At one point this year, I was down to 175. I want to get back there. I had thought about trying to get there by Christmas, but that is just not going to happen. And it is nobody's fault but my own.

I know, eat less, move more. If only it were that simple.

Anyway, I need to get ready for my meetings.
~a