Ready

Well, I'm about as ready for Christmas as I'll ever be. Today I thought of a couple of things I could have added to P's stocking but he'll live without them. I need to make the potato buns and coleslaw (much to P's chagrin) and then get the strata in the fridge so it's ready to go in the morning. On one hand I'm happy to be on our own for the holiday, and on the other hand it makes me a little sad. It will be much more fun when Gray gets a little older, I guess. Thank goodness we are not trying to get to Chicago since it sounds like they are getting hammered with snow and I would hate the stress of "will we or won't we make it?"

It sounds like we are going to order Thai tonight and then tomorrow have my family's traditional ham/beans/coleslaw/potato buns. P grumbled that we should be merging our traditions (ie, he doesn't like ham all that much, and coleslaw not at all) but when I asked what he wanted this is what he said: "....um... homemade pasta?" Try again, pal. Not gonna happen. I feel like I totally cheated on dinner. I stood in line yesterday for a Honeybaked ham (TOTALLY WORTH IT) and bought the beans from a local barbeque place that we like (also worth it, so screw the guilt!). I guess I am making buns from scratch (eee! this frightens me!) so that should count for something.

I always like the week between Christmas and New Year's- it's slow at work and I always feel like I can catch up on things. I am hoping to get caught up and do some e-learning stuff, as well as do some little things around the house. (Like: put up the CO2 detector, clean the laundry room floor, paint the living room molding, etc)

I have been a total superstar on the working out front lately. Two weeks ago I decided that if I was going to do the 1/2 marathon in April, I better get my rear in gear. So I made myself yet another "shame sheet" and posted it on the fridge. I am happy and PROUD to say that I have worked out seven times over the last two weeks (so far!) and that is probably more than I've worked out in the last 3 months. I am confident that I can keep this going, too. I am aiming for working out five times per week- three runs and two weight days. I have been doing "The Firm" tapes for my weight days and although I hate those tapes, it's helping mix things up a bit. I figured that I had a good couple of weeks to establish this habit before my work schedule gets crazy again. Hopefully by that time I will be in such a habit (rut?) that I will feel bad skipping any workouts. As always, the secret of success for me is getting up early and doing it before I barely know I'm awake. It really feels good though.

Gray has learned a bunch of things lately. He knows to raise his arms up for "so big" (he also vocalizes while inhaling for the "soooo" part), he knows the difference between Archie and Charlie (we can say "Where's Archie?" and he'll look at the right dog) and if I say "do you want to jump?" he'll bounce up and down. He is SO CUTE. I had no idea that I would be capable of producing such a cute child! His blonde hair is starting to get curlier and he has two bottom teeth and half of a top tooth. He's cutting the other top tooth right now and we are both mortified to see that there is this HUGE gap between his two top teeth. He's going to look strange!

I'd better go start those potato buns. Fingers crossed that I don't end up making two batches!!!