Wow, so it’s 2008. 2007 sure went by fast. I went to bed at 11pm last night. Should have gone sooner but was working on the VPS. Woke up around 7:30. The dogs don’t like to sleep later than that, and I really am not able to sleep past about that anymore. Though I think after I retire my schedule will go later, I’ll start staying up later again and getting up later. I do love my 9 hours of sleep a night.

Anyway, it’s 9.5 degrees outside. Going to meet a friend from flyball at the dog park at 10am. Will be fun. I love Tanner park. Then gonna work on the VPS more while the dogs sleep from being warn out at the park.

So…

Happy New Year!

So I had a really good Christmas Eve. My family gets together on Christmas Even and we exchange gifts, have a big dinner, and rice pudding. Not necessarily in that order.

I took some pictures of the new laptop skin my sister gave me! Isn’t it cool! I love it. I’m getting more girly in my old age, and I love color. I love the bright pink. It really personalizes my laptop and makes it happy and colorful.

I also got a digital picture frame, and I’ve already loaded pictures on it. I got a gift certficate to Kirkham’s, and I want to go shopping now! I got some chairs from Ikea, which I really wanted. I also got flannel sheets for my new queen bed. I put them on the bed last night and they are very comfy and snuggly!

I got some other wonderful things, too. And I think my family liked what I got them. I hope so. I got my husband a sewing machine, so he can sew up our blankets. He’s good at sewing.

All in all it was a great day. I ate too much. But now I’m doing my Weight Watchers. I really need to lose at least 10 pounds, hopefully 15, for my cruise next year!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Eve is our big day for our family. We get together, exchange presents, eat Rice Pudding and find the almond hidden inside. The finder wins a prize.

So I’m excited for us to go over to the parent’s house and celebrate Christmas. It really is my favorite time of the year, and today is my favorite day.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We don’t have many up this year. And I’m slacking on our outside Christmas lights, too. We didn’t put any on the roof. Neither of us likes getting up on the ladder anyway. But I put up the trees in the windows.

My Dad made these some years ago. They didn’t use them at their house anymore, and so they gave them to us. I love them! To see the dark picture you may have to click on it to see the full version. It’s too small to see the lights in the dark. But it gives a better idea of what the lights look like in the dark. I do love Christmas Lights, they really bring the holiday season to life for me. Even if they are not so good anymore because of using electricity to power them.

But we don’t really use many at all. And I want to start doing other things, too, to conserve and protect the environment. So I am going to start reusing my own grocery bags too. And it was so bright outside today, after the big snow we had yesterday, I had to wear my Blu Blocker Sunglasses in the car. My contacts make my eyes sensitive to bright light.

Hrm.. our Christmas tree is still loosing needles. We are trying to keep it watered, but we kinda slack off once in a while. So it is probably drying out.

We have no other Christmas decorations this year. I attribute it to the Zoloft… and my lack of emotion and thrill of the holiday season. I do love Christmas. It’s going by so fast. And I seem to have so little time. Even this coming weekend, that was going to be a slow weekend for me, is turning out to be busier than I had wanted. Ugh.

Oh well… back to life…

Don’t you just love these ‘I’m Bored’ blog posts? Some writing advice I’ve always tried to follow is, when telling your reader that the characters are bored, don’t bore the reader! You can still spice it up somehow. Though I’m not sure how to spice this up… I took a 2 hour nap today, I haven’t eaten much today except salads and fruit, which do feel really good to eat and my body is thanking me.

Now I’m trying to watch TV but there’s nothing at all on and I’ve watched my Netflix movies too. I think I’ll watch Tin Man again because it’s interesting and I do so like Glitch.

Maybe I should surf the net and finish up my Christmas shopping, maybe get a watch from Patek Philippe.. my Dad did want a watch… but really, it’s all a secret and I won’t give anything away! No one is really getting anything from me. Oh, except the husband, I need to go buy him a Sewing Machine… he wants one for Christmas. Yes, he sews, I don’t.

Oh and I also wanted to say that I closed down my Crabbie Tail blog because really I didn’t post on it. I’ve incorporated the hermit crab posts here, and will continue to post about my cute crabs.

I find it interesting that us humans celebrate with food. We reward ourselves with food when something good happens. We comfort ourselves with food when something bad happens. I could so easily be 500 pounds. I love food. I love the feel of it in my mouth. The tastes and flavors can be so intense that really I do think it’s a kind of drug. And different food can make us feel, physically, different ways too.

Last night we went to the Melting Pot for our team’s Christmas Dinner. We pay for it ourselves, working for the State means we don’t get many things given to us. We are lucky to get four hours of administrative leave from the Governor. That’s about all we get. No bonus, nothing else. Anyway, I digress…

As I was eating all that yummy cheese fondue appetizer and the chocolate fondue dessert, I knew I was abusing my poor body. I also had two grasshoppers (the new bartender didn’t know how to make them, welcome to Utah) a White Russian, a Kahlua and Cream and a dessert drink called a Chocolate Martini that was to die for.

Today my body feels amazingly good. I am fortunate to have a fairly healthy body, though lately I’ve been feeling awful off and on. This morning I feel pretty good. And today I’ll be sticking with my fruit and soy smoothie and salads all day, to detox some and clean out my body. I joined Weight Watchers and it is helping a lot. But Christmas is hard because of all the celebrating with food. If I can just maintain over the holidays then drop after, I’ll be happy. I am now at 157lbs, and I want to get down to 147 again. That was a great weight for me.

Weight Watchers is nice because instead of eating mostly vegetables like on Eat To Live, I can even eat movie popcorn sometimes and as long as it’s within my daily points, I’m good!

Here is our Christmas Tree. It is not a fancy tree. It doesn’t have any glass ornaments or lights, because they might be dangerous to the dogs. But it’s a real live cut tree and it smells great in here! We are lucky in that our real estate is close to the trees.

And here are some of the ornaments on the tree. I love the smooth blue collie ornament. I think I bought it on ebay a couple of years ago. I would still like more dog safe ornaments. I think my sister got us all the pretty red flowers. I love them. They really brighten up the whole tree and bring it alive. Maybe next year we will have lights again, but maybe not. Either way is fine by me.

And wow, it’s been one year since we got HD. How cool. I just read last year’s blog post from this day. I do love my HD!

Today is Day Two. By tomorrow, I’ll feel even better than I do today. I am amazed, every month after day one rolls around again, how completely awful I feel during PMS. Man, it is so real. It is so intense. It is so awful. The Vitex Agnus Castus keeps it in control, as does the Sertraline, but still my entire body feels like it’s stretched out on a wire, every cell is full of tension and misery. When my hormones start to even themselves out again, I feel like a rush of good drugs are flowing through my system, through my bloodstream, making everything okay again.

Already I decorated my office, office furniture and all, for Christmas. Put up my Christmas tree and lights, and cleaned my whole desk. I’ve emailed people, talked to people, and relaxed. I feel normal again. Like a normal human being. I really wish ‘they’ would find a complete cure to PMS. Until they do, I manage as best I can. And I try to control the Anxiety that comes with it.

I used to be filled to overflowing with intense anger and hatred during PMS. Overwhelming feelings of hatred. And I was not pleasant to be around, for people or for dogs. And I regret that. However, I am so much better now and everyone around me knows it. I have read that the hormones/chemicals of PMS can trigger the anger and hate centers of the brain and trigger these feelings. Which is really odd, because an external source is not causing me to feel these things. It is inside my brain, an internal world. And that is why, my friends, I do believe in depression and anxiety and yes, PMS, as being treatable diseases.

I know I shouldn’t get it… but I can’t help myself, because they have such great value and such beautiful products, and I really do love to knit!

Check out these Ankle Socks at Knit Picks. I ordered enough yarn for 4 pair plus the pattern. And a set of #2 DPN, that nice colored wood I’ve been wanting. And really, it all was just over $20. Not too bad!

I really want to do some up for Christmas Presents but I doubt they will come in time, and I doubt I’ll be able to get all four pair done. But who knows, I’m getting pretty fast at knitting socks. I’m not going to say what colors I got, but two are solid and two are mutli-colored. I’m excited. I was going to get the 2 day shipping but it was $10 more and that was a little pricey, I think.

Oooo knitting! I am just working on the end of a second sock I want to give to my obedience instructor for Christmas. I should be able to finish those up in a day or two.