Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Belated Check-In
January 5, 2004
I could have written entries these last five days and thus not fallen so far behind the Holidailies crowd (the collab has gone into bonus time again this year), but instead I was enjoying a very long weekend relaxing at home. It was such luxury to have five days to do what I normally try to pack into two. We even got to the car dealer and did some test drives, which we couldn’t do on a normal weekend because well, that’s not the way it’s done around here. We’ve decided to put off buying a new car for a month or two, in part because the furnace sucked up more than the equivalent of one month’s car payment and insurance with the two repairs it needed last week, but at least now I have a pretty good idea of what I want. As long as Mr. Karen is happy slip sliding to work in the rear-wheel drive Mustang while I tool along in his truck, ready to flip to 4-wheel drive at any moment, I’m cool with the delay. While I wait, I can do my overdue goal check-in for December.
Body: So the weight thing isn’t exactly under control at the moment. Well, at this very moment it sort of is, because I’ve got my Weight Watchers planner on the desk in front of me and it reflects everything I’ve eaten today except the two half-sticks of gum (don’t want to be compulsive) and the Altoids Tangerine Sours (don’t know how many points they are and don’t feel like spending any more time trying to find the nutritional information), and filling out my planner is the only way I’ve ever been able to keep my weight at a reasonable level for any significant length of time. So the good news is I’m at least not ignoring the issue like I was last week and the week before. The other good news is that I worked out three times last week, so I met that target for the first time in a month (plus I did it without being motivated by an imminent ski trip).
Reading: I read four books. Seriously. Four. That’s twice my goal. Now, granted, these were not weighty tomes, but still I don’t think I’ve gotten through that many books in that short a time since I graduated from college. It feels good to be able to carve out time to sit down (or stretch out) and lose myself in the pages of a book. I do enjoy listening to audio books and browsing through magazines but neither quite scratches the same itch in my brain as holding a book in my hands and savoring the text.
Quilting: No problem here, either, since I finished two quilts this month. That leaves only one to do to meet my target of eight for the goal year. I started designing that one this past weekend, the girl baby quilt for the commission I’ve got, so there’s no way I’ll have to count the work I’ve done on group quilts toward this year’s goal as I did in 2002-2003.
Housekeeping: Here’s the problem area. The house is not particularly clean or organized and it certainly isn’t harmoniously decorated. It is in a lot better shape than it was before the weekend, most of which I realize was technically in January and therefore not fair game to be counted in December’s results, but hey, I make the rules around here and I’m counting it. I got to the bottom of both the box of clippings that was this month’s task and my big box o’ mail that’s been lurking on top of the normal in-box since sometime in November (or was it October?). I put my suitcase and flight bag downstairs, empty but for the things that are supposed to be in them between trips. I fit the Japan guide books into the bookcase, weeding out some old ones for France and Disney in the process. I not only got all the laundry done but put it away, too. That means no traipsing downstairs to the laundry room to find underwear in the morning. Life is good.
A year ago, I weighed less than I do now. Was I happy? Not so much. What is it with me, anyway?
