Overdue! (No, not that!)

I have discovered that ever since I started to blog, I do it in my brain and try to keep tabs on what I want to blog about.  But the list keeps getting longer and longer, so I have to get it down before I forget and I probably forgot something already.  So here goes...

Jason's Revelation - My dear husband is very lean, ever since I have know him, he has been.  Of course it isn't because he eats "clean" or perfect, in fact it is quite the opposite.  He is a beer drinker, loves places like Lucky Wishbone and now El Guero Canero, and doesn't do a bit of exercise (unless you count the 8-11 hours of manual labor every day at work!).  I try and slip in veggies when I cook so he gets some greens, but he won't do that on his own.  Anyway, after my 30th birthday party pictures he noticed he was gaining a bit of weight (20 lbs all told he said).  Now I couldn't tell you where, because he still looks good to me (love you hunny!) but he can and apparently his buddies can.  So he has decided (without me saying anything) that come January 1 he wants to eat healthier, and lose 10 lbs of fat and gain 20 lbs of muscle.  Talk about being blown away! 

Now it has probably been my resolution for the past 22 years of my life (yes, since I was 8) to lose weight in the New Year.  Some years it works, and some it doesn't.  But it is definitely nice to have him on the same page so no more chips in the house, cookies, candies, etc!  I had already decided (long before he said anything) that our eating habits needed a clean up, for our waistlines, but also with the hope that that would help our baby making process.  So I came up with some small things, in addition to heading back to WW, and to hopefully reduce our food bill a bit and eat cleaner by nature.  I'm talking heading to the Farmers Market instead of the grocery store for fruits and veggies and regulating our tortilla chip intake.  Tortilla chips are a staple in our house!  I can get buy without potato chips pretty easily, but tortilla chips are my love!  So regulating us to one bag a month or two, is a big deal. Also regulating how often we eat out is a big deal and concentrating on sticking to it.  So not to say that we are going hog-wild for the holidays eating-wise, but we are enjoying ourselves. 

Mind you, my husband is one of those guys who doesn't eat for a day and drops 5 lbs!  At one point, just for shits and giggles, he stopped drinking beer for a week and dropped 13 lbs!  Now he isn't an alcoholic by far, maybe has 1 or 2 a night and 2-3 on the weekends!  He just has this incredible metabolism!  However, that is slowing down, as is his consumption of spicy foods as his tummy doesn't like them as much as his 25-year-old stomach did.  So all has had an effect on him.  His dad has always told him this would happen about 31-32 and J turns 32 in January.  So now he believes his Dad and he wants to take action.  He told me at dinner tonight (Chili's while eating Skillet Queso - hey we had a gift card!) that he wanted to work on his abs and get his "guns" back.  Good motivation for me then!  He has never told me I was heavy and even in my hey-day at WW, he told me to stop losing weight for fear I would lose my curves that he loves.  Will be nice to have us both eating healthy though again!

Cookie baking drama - So a couple days ago I decided that I needed to bake some cookies.  Some for me and some for friends, but specifically Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.  Basically, they are a peanut butter cookie, that when it comes out of the oven, you shove a mini-peanut butter cup into it and it melts all together!  Talk about divine.  Finished work about 4 yesterday and decided to make them last night because today would be busy.  One batch.  Quick and easy.  Maybe took 30 minutes, including oven time of 8 mins each tray.  After looking at the 36 (supposed to be 40, don't know where the 4 went) I had made and adding more people in my brain about who I would give them to, I decided another batch was in store.  So figuring I had just done it, it wouldn't be difficult, I started batch #2.  Holy cow!  What drama with baking like never before!

The first batch I had done exactly like the recipe said - dry first and separate, then liquids in the mixer, then mix.  Well the 2nd batch, I was doing dry and liquids separately at the same time and my brain must have over loaded because I could not for the life of me remember what ingredients I had added to the wet.  And it didn't look right so I would add more vanilla, then more sugar, then more egg, then more milk and pretty soon I think I had re-added all the ingredients!  But it still looked too moist.  So figured I would add the flour and baking soda and salt and hope it thickened up.  No such luck!  So more flour, and mixing, and more flour and mixing and more flour and mixing.  And testing to see if it sticks to my fingers when I ball it up because the first batch hadn't.  So then more flour and mixing and testing and more flour and mixing and testing.  It went on for what seemed like forever! 

Finally got it to a consistency that I thought would be best and I was getting tired of all the flour, mixing and testing.  So tablespoon size balls went into the mini-muffin pan, and into the oven.  And I figured I would have way more than the 36 from the previous batch, possibly the 40 I was supposed to have!  The first batch came out fine and tasted fine, so whatever I did seems to have worked.  But how many do you think I ended up with?!  36!  What-the?!  I can't figure out where all the extra ingredients went, but only 36 cookies came out and I scraped that bowl clean!  OY VEY!

Wrong ornament - Every year since I was probably 16, I have made ornaments for the people in my life that mean the most to me.  I write on them with paint pens (used to be toothpicks and paint and that sucked) about the things that has happened in their lives over the past year and things we have experienced together.  Every year I say I will stop, and every year instead I add a couple more people to the mix.  This year was no different, with a whopping 28 done (just finished tonight)!  I have figured that I need to hand deliver them because they are breakable, but there are about 3 that absolutely must be sent out and packaging them is a feat in and of itself.  Anyway, went to lunch with one of the recipients today and brought her ornament along with her other present.  She gets all excited and starts to open it and as she starts to read it, I see the word "Colleen".  Now I put who that person has dated or is friends with, and this person had no real relation to Colleen with the exception of meeting her at my birthday party as the girlfriend of a friend of mine she dated shortly during the early part of the year!  It took about 3 seconds to realize I had given her the wrong ornament, and not only that, but the guy she had dated earlier this year!!  YOWZA!  Talk about being a moron!  Anyway, she thought it was funny and was glad to see his and see that yes, her name was on his.  And now she can anticipate hers, but oy vey!  How embarrassing is that?!  Thankfully she is a good friend and understood!

Week and Weekend wrap-up - Time for a quick wrap up of the week then off to bed to start a new book.  Had worked out with my trainer on Wed (something I do once a month) and he changed my routine up again to keep it fresh.  Thursday I was a bit sore, not dying like last month, but tender mostly in the hamstring and tricep area.  Friday, worked out again with the new routine but no trainer and after I was done I was more sore.  So figured out since I was working at home that day, I would fly home and jump in the spa while I had breakfast and coffee.  The whole way home I was so excited to ease my muscles and have a nice relaxing coffee and breakfast in the spa.  Come home, start the coffee maker and head outside to pop the top, only to see the temp gauge says 77 degrees!  77!  HOLY COW!  I won't swim rapidly in that cold of water in the summer!  I played with the buttons to see if I could get it to fix itself, but upon putting my hand in, it really was 77!  So much for the hot-tub!  Hot shower it was.  Probably okay though because my day got real busy real quick and I worked pretty much straight thru!  Finished work, made cookies (see above), made friend's ornament that I was seeing today for lunch (see above), and watched Polar Express in 3D that Jason had bought me for my birthday.  It wasn't that great.  The movie was, but the 3D, not-so much and wearing the glasses didn't help.  Anyway, off to bed we went.

Today, J had to work so he was gone by 8 and I couldn't go back to sleep.  So I finished my book and then got up to do a whirlwind cleaning of the house for the holidays, wrapped friend's ornament (or what I thought was), showered and dressed.  And was still late.  But made it to Eegee's to give her the wrong one, and then across the street for mani-pedis!  How I love those.  Currently my fingers have red tips with glitter overlay french-style and my toes are red as well with snowflakes on them!  Nice to sit and be pampered and another resolution is to do this every month instead of just once every 10 months!  Plus it was free today because friends had given me a gift certificate for my birthday!  NICE!  Left there in the hunt for dog beds for the puppies for Christmas, and then home to finish the rest of the 28 ornaments and wrap the rest of the presents that had taken my dining room table hostage. 

J came home in the middle of ornament finishing, so in the middle we went to Chili's for very tasty, albeit unhealthy, dinner.  Then home to watch White Christmas, (thought of you dear Kate during "Blessings") which is a holiday tradition and thankfully on DVD this year instead of dragging out the VCR that we really keep for only this reason and our wedding video!  And finished wrapping everything!  We are officially ready for Christmas!  And this week is short, so I not only get Friday off but I took Thursday off as well to cook and prep and have lunch with Ms. T, my dear friend and her kiddies!  The only thing that I am pretty sure is coming this week that I really could do without, is AF!  On Friday, of course!  Oh well, at least that means the champagne I take to the in-laws won't go bad because it will be in my belly!  (I did tell J we could have a "Christmas miracle" but I really doubt it at this point.  But you never know!  Just not setting my heart on it!)

So if I don't find time to write this week, please forgive but have a very happy Holiday, whatever you celebrate and will update you soon.  Love you all and Merry Christmas!