I can't stop.

I don't know what has happened to me. I've never been a big fan of shopping, but lately it's all I do. I'm sure it's just all the good sales for the holidays, right? I mean, I had to finish the holiday shopping in a hurry, because I kept buying things for myself.

Tonight we had dinner at my parents' house so that we could celebrate Christmas with the munchkins. They were so hyped up, it made me wonder why I missed them yesterday! Anyhow, they finally got to open all their gifts. After they left to go home, I was going to stop at the mall before going to the Y. Never did make it to the Y, but I did buy myself a new pair of shoes, jeans, a shirt, a belt, 2 necklaces and 3 pairs of earrings. Mind you, I spent less than $90 for these things, but it really wasn't necessary, was it? I'm not sure what has happened to me, but 2008 better be the Year of Mia Not Spending Extraneous Money.

Anyhow, I hope everyone had a very merry and wonderful Christmas. Thank goodness it's over for another year. Bring on NYE!

It's getting late...

I keep going shopping and buying things for myself and not gifts for others. I'm not sure what that says about me, but it can't be good. I was going to go shopping tonight to try and get serious about the Christmas gifts, but I didn't feel like it after I went to the Y. Maybe I will be able to fit it in this weekend. Or not. There's always next week, right?

My dad gave me his Netflix copy of the Bourne Ultimatum, which I wanted to see way back when it came out, and still have not. I started to watch it last night and fell asleep. I probably should be watching it now so I can return it and he will get the next movie on his list. Oh well. I also picked up a copy of Love Actually, one of my very favorites, at the library today. Plus the soundtrack. Woo hoo! Did you know that there is a version of The Great Gatsby, starring Paul Rudd? I love him, and I like the book, so I guess I will have to find time to watch that one soon, too.

While at the library, I also picked up 4 books, in addition to the 2 I got the other day. Also, I am reading one of the many I own that I have not yet read. Here is what I will be reading in the near future... some for book clubs, some not:

After You'd Gone
Stumbling on Happiness
The Sparrow
The God of Animals
Call Me By Your Name
The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Not to mention (even though I already mentioned it), there is all the shopping, wrapping, baking, crocheting, cross-stitching, reading, movie-watching, eating, and exercising I have to do.

Oh, and I got a super-cute new haircut. The only person to say they didn't like it was my niece, but only because she really liked to play with my long hair. She did say she likes the color, so I guess we're okay.

Also, as of today (now that I seem to have re-gained my motivation), I have lost 16.8 pounds!!! I don't want to think about how many are left to go.

Happy St. Nicholas Eve

Everyone's in bed, so I got to play St. Nicholas, and put surprises in their shoes. Too bad I won't be home when they get up in the morning.

Our mom always used to remind us to put our shoes outside our bedroom doors and we got treats when we were kids, so we have to carry on the tradition. I think my sister forgot, or she went to bed too early. Oh well. Each kid got a chocolate Santa or snowman, and a fun Christmasy pen. Plus, for all 3 -- A Christmas Story on DVD. Guess what we'll be doing tomorrow night? I also put a fun lip gloss and some chocolate in my sister's boots.

Happy now?

1. Age at next birthday: 33

I am so old. And this is what it feels like outside:



2. Place I would like to travel: London




3. My favorite place: vacation

Who cares where?



4. My favorite objects: books



5. Favorite food: Greek food

This is not what I had in mind.



6. Favorite color: Blue

I love this picture!



7. Nickname: Meesers

What in the hell?!



8. Place I was born: You must know what the D stands for...



9. Ideal date: him cooking me dinner



10. Where I want to be in five years: my own home

I can't think of a good title right now.

Not a very exciting day -- severe lack of motivation at work, which just makes me continually further behind in everything. Why I am such a procrastinator, I will never know.

I got home from work and the kids were being obnoxious terrors (only a slight exaggeration -- I was only home for a few minutes, but someone was crying hysterically and I am sure I heard a door slam. (And after we had a nice dinner out last night -- they can be so sweet and cute when they want to be.) I got out of there quickly and went to the Y for yet another trainer-assisted workout. Good times. I told him I thought we needed to work harder today. Why I open my mouth and say such things is beyond me. It wasn't too bad, mostly because I goaded him into doing everything with me. Turns out he whines more than I do!

We are having a potluck at work tomorrow (part of the department's - or maybe the universe's - desire to torment me with foods I am trying to avoid!), and I also had to make dessert to bring to the cabin this weekend. It's not easy to get anything done in the kitchen at our house, so I went over to my parents'. It was nice to visit with them for a bit before getting down to business. Instead of making the delicious and deadly fudge bars that were requested, I decided to compromise and make Cooking Light chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I know they don't sound healthier, but trust me. Plus, in my head, it makes sense. Cupcakes are self-limiting and already portioned. There are only 12 of them. Everyone gets 2 over the course of the weekend... a big pan of bars is just begging for me to go "Just one more little piece." until the whole pan is gone, and I have fallen into a sugar coma, with chocolate frosting smeared all over my face.

I also made one of my specialties, and one of VibaJiba's favorites -- fruit salsa with cinnamon chips. It's putzy, but super-easy. Also healthy and delicious. I hope no one likes it and I have leftovers!

My lovely friend from DC arrived into town tonight and we briefly toyed with the idea of getting together for a drink or something before deciding against it. For the best, since I didn't shower after my workout, and it is LATE. I'll see her on Sunday, I hope!

And now for my book review. Last night, I finished the book for the book club cabin adventure. The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula LeGuin. Science fiction, which I do not normally read. It was a really good book, and short (only 170ish pages!). I had to keep checking the date it was written, because it was kind of creepily ahead of its time (duh! sci-fi!). It was written in 1973 (I think), but it takes place in 2002. There are problems due to pollution and the greenhouse effect, plus war in the Middle East over oil. Crazy futuristic stuff! Anyhow, it is about a man who has "effective dreams", which means that he dreams things and then wakes up to find out that they are real. It's a little hard to explain, so maybe you should just read it. He goes to a doctor for help, because he is afraid to sleep -- every time he wakes up, the world is different than when he went to sleep. The doctor, of course, wants to learn how to use this effective dreaming thing for his own benefit, and bad things ensue. I am looking forward to some discussion, since I always miss things that are on a deeper level until someone clues me in. It was a good, quick read, about the dangers of excessive power, and science, and whatever.

The next book I am working on is Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut, for Books and Bars, which meets a week from Tuesday. Hopefully I will get in this time!

It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like...

Something about this time of year -- everything just gets so busy, and there is so much crap to do. I can't believe it isn't even December yet. I woke up this morning, and really did not want to get out of my nice cozy pajamas (part of the shopping extravaganza) and my nice cozy bed. I wasn't really sure why my room was so cold, until I turned on the TV and saw that the temp was 9. With a -9 windchill. That is just ridiculous. Last week, Dr. Smartypants called from Texas, laughing about how they said on the news that the "windchill" was 50 degrees. That sounds blissful compared to this!

This week, LO is coming from DC, we are going to the cabin for book club, next week, I am getting together with Vija and Karen (yay!), the week after that is the holiday dinner, the next week is the Soul Asylum concert, and that other thing -- oh yeah -- Christmas. Then New Year's and how the hell is it 2008 already? I don't know how I am going to find time or money to get all the things done I want to -- I have many books I am trying to read (as always), several crocheting & cross-stitching projects, presents to buy and wrap, cleaning to do.... argh! Oh, and now we are planning a trip to Vegas in January, which will be super-fun, but it needs to be paid for now, or very soon. (I've never been, and we had so much fun in Boston, how could I say no?! Now I need to come up with somewhere to go for my birthday -- never mind that it is 9 months away!)

And this whole working out all the time thing takes a lot of... time. Twice a week with the trainer, plus as many other days as I can on my own. Don't get me wrong, aside from the expense, I think it was a great decision (-14.8 pounds -- woo hoo!), but being all healthy and crap is time-consuming!

What in the hell?!

Yesterday I finally dragged myself out of bed after 10, then decided that I needed to go shopping AGAIN. I went to Michael's and found lots of fun stuff in the dollar section, plus a couple of balls of yarn. Then it was on to Rosedale, but I only made it to Borders. For once, I didn't buy anything for myself, just the book that Kathy asked me to pick up for her. Then of course I had to go back to Target, where I found more fun things in the dollar section, plus a frame that I think Dr. Smartypants will enjoy. I didn't really consider (until I got home) exactly how she is going to get it home in her suitcase, but I'll figure something out!

After going to the Y, I got ready to go meet some friends for dinner to celebrate one of their birthdays. We went to Giorgio's on Hennepin -- so yummy! Their special for the evening also meant that we got a free bottle of wine, as long as the table spent at least $30 -- not difficult when there were 7 of us. I had the chicken special, which was stuffed with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, crab, and some other stuff, served with vegetables. And I got to have the leftovers for lunch today. We went back to a friend's place after dinner, and somehow got started looking at pictures from college. It's weird how I can barely remember some of those things, but maybe I was drunk more of the time than I thought!

Later we went out for drinks. I didn't get to sleep until after 2. I can't believe we used to do that all the time! We are so old.

Today my excitement has revolved around the new class I took at the Y this morning (BodyFlow) which was pretty good -- a combo of stretching, yoga, pilates, tai chi and relaxation. I liked it because it was low-key, not like some of those classes I see and hear where the instructor is yelling and they use horrible dance mixes that I can't stand. I'm not sure how good of a workout the class was, but it was nice to do something different and get a little stretching in, since I was a little sore from Friday's workout.

I have the house to myself for a bit while the family is at the store. I am doing laundry (yahoo) and then going to a movie and possibly more shopping. I need to be stopped.

It's that time again?

I don't even like to shop. Not really. I mean, sometimes, if I am in the mood, it's ok, but generally, I do not enjoy it. At all. Target, grocery stores, bookstores, Ulta -- I love those places. But shopping for gifts and/or clothes? No, thank you. It's probably mostly that I don't like to spend money, and I really don't like trying on clothes. But what can you do? It's the biggest shopping day of the year. All you hear about are how places are opening at midnight, 1 am, 4 am. Doorbuster this, doorbuster that. (I don't even know what that means.) I worked today and then kept thinking I wished I was shopping. Where in the hell did that come from? Subliminal messages from my radio?

After working out, I met Michelle in Woodbury, and we started our shopping adventure at Target. (I stopped at Jo-Ann to use the 50% off coupon in between work and the Y.) Who knew they sold movies for less than $5?! You can't pass that up, and I never even usually buy movies. But they were mostly for gifts, so I guess it's all right, right? We hardly made it past the media department, and boom -- 40 bucks gone.

We also went to Old Navy and Penney's -- lots of the other stores closed at 9. It seems to me, if the stores are going to open in the middle of the night, they should have the decency to stay open later for us night owls.

Trying on clothes at those stores, I remembered why I don't like shopping (also probably why I spend all my money on shower gel and books, not clothes!). It's so frustrating to feel like you are working really hard to exercise and eat right (I could have eaten a LOT more yesterday!!!) and nothing seems to fit right. I tried on some cute holiday dresses, but nothing worked.

I am choosing to think of it as motivation -- maybe when I go shopping after Christmas, I'll have better luck.

Also, I am so glad I don't work at any of those stores. Old Navy looked like a bunch of 2-year-olds hopped up on sugar ran through the store and threw everything on the ground. I can't imagine having to stand there and re-fold everything, just to have the same thing happen again tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I woke up this morning to someone yelling about something, followed by "QUIET! MIA IS STILL SLEEPING!" Seriously, why do they even bother? At least it wasn't 6:00 am.

My parents came to pick us all up for dinner at a family friend's home. My mom brought matching black velvet dresses for the girls, which looked adorable on them. I even managed to get one nice picture of the three kids not making obnoxious faces at the camera. Yay, me!

There was a bit of a rocky start to the holiday, but everything calmed down, and we had a delicious meal -- I wished I could have eaten more! Afterwards, the kids played a game of Uno and watched tv, while the adults played a game of Phase 10. Good times.

I realized yet again that the thing that sucks most about moving far away from your extended family is not getting to share holidays with them. I know lots of people wish they could escape their extended family, but I enjoy spending the holidays with lots of people, since we hardly ever get to do that.

Driving home, listening to the kids chatter on, looking at the Christmas lights, it was hard to believe Thanksgiving was already over.

Mostly, it made me thankful that 2007 is almost done -- I sure hope 2008 is a better year!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Yahoo!!!

So I get home from work today, and the Explorer is gone, as well as the family. Which means that my sister got the OK from the doctor today to drive, and return to at least some normal activity. Very good news! Hopefully, things around here will continue to move in a positive direction.

Also, another sign that I am old (not that this is exactly news...): Instead of going out tonight (the night before Thanksgiving being the best night to go out...), I am going to continue to learn how to crochet. Don't get me wrong, it will be fun to hang with the girls and have some wine, but it's a far cry from my younger days of drinking heavily on this special day! (It's really just that I want to see Ike at First Ave., but it will be really late, and I don't want to go alone. They did put on a great show at ACL, and hopefully I will get to see them again soon!

Things I am most thankful for: my family (even when they drive me crazy) and my friends (especially for listening to me complain about my family).

I have nothing to say.

This is a picture of me in my zombie costume from Halloween. It worked really well to scare lots of children in the neighborhood. Apparently, I am super-creepy. Who knew? One of the kids in the neighborhood later talked to my friend's mom (the house we "haunt" for Halloween) and asked her if the lady shuffling around in her pajamas was her daughter. She said no, but that she was one of her daughter's friends. The kid: "Oh. She was really creepy." Mission Accomplished.

I'm thinking of using that picture for my profile on match.com or one of those dating sites.

In other news, according to the scale at the Y tonight, I have lost 11.2 pounds! Yay!

Seriously?

I am innocently checking my email, and there is on ad on the right side of the screen that says "Feeling Fat? Lose 25 pounds by Thanksgiving!" I am pretty sure that it would not be a good idea (and also impossible) to lose 25 pounds in 5 days, but then what do I know? It has only taken me a month to lose 8 pounds while working my butt off and not eating any treats! I hate those stupid ads.

I have to go to the Y now.

Why do I need a blog?

Answer: I don't. No one does. Not really. I may very well be too old to get into all this crazy stuff on the internets. I do understand logically that I am not really that old, it just feels like it sometimes. Which may explain why I am home doing nothing on a Friday night. And the fact that I am home doing nothing on a Friday night might explain why this blog is so lame!