One Week Down

Monday:

Okay well technically, it's only January 5th and therefore we're only 5 days into 2015.  But since my "new year" of healthier eating and what not started last Monday, I'm already a week into the new and improved me.

Awww that's cute.

The new and improved me has already lost a couple of pounds (3 lbs, to be exact, according to my scale this morning) and I've already started ordering prints of photos to be (eventually) organized into albums.

1,314 prints, to be exact.  And I have LOTS more to go.

Somebody else's pictures.

I plan on ordering prints and photo books and canvases as they go on sale.  This past weekend Walgreen's had their prints on sale for 9 cents each (up to 1000) and Snapfish had "penny prints" (up to 300) going on, so that's where I ordered from.  I hear that Shutterfly gives away free prints all the time, so I plan to take advantage of that, as well as trying out a phone app called GrooveBook, which costs $2.99/month for prints that are mailed to you in a tear-out book.

Tuesday:

I miss Christmas already.  Not necessarily the madness and craziness and business of the season......I was glad when that was officially over this past Sunday (after Lucy's second birthday party bash).  But I miss the feeling of it.  Even if you put up your Christmas tree the day after Halloween, the Christmas feeling doesn't really set in until the day after Thanksgiving.  And rightfully so, as Thanksgiving deserves its own personal glory in the spotlight without Hobby Lobby trying to drown it out with their Christmas decor.

Who is that guy in the background???

So I miss the Christmas feeling.  It just seems like we don't get very long to have it.  Three weeks, maybe?  And this Christmas, I even had a full-on Christmas FAIL.  Everything went right on as planned except for one thing.......a thing I consider very important every Christmas.....and no, it didn't have anything to do with my own children.  It had everything to do with the Angel Tree at Hamilton Place Mall.  Every year, I pick out one or two angels from the tree to buy gifts for.  And I buy them EVERYTHING on their list, from clothes to toys.  Because to me, that's important.  And I want to teach my kids that it's important.  That it's something we do every year.  Just like sponsoring an animal adoption at the Humane Society is something we do every year.  And that when they're old enough, helping to feed the animals at the Humane Society and clean out their cages on holidays when staffing is low is something we do every year.  I want that to be the "norm" for my kids.  Not a dreaded job, but an honor in the name of Christmas spirit.  So what happened this year?  I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO CHOOSE AN ANGEL TREE RECIPIENT.  I remember thinking about it, planning to do it, then the next thing I knew, it was Christmas.  So I forgot.  And that's awful.  And I can't blame it on anything specific.  I wasn't consumed with shopping for the kids (that was already done before Thanksgiving), I wasn't consumed with shopping for the hubs (we don't shop for each other, at least not right now), I wasn't consumed with shopping for the family (we did the whole Chinese Christmas gift exchange thing this year), so I simply forgot.

These guys didn't forget

Wednesday:

I obviously WIN at blogging.  If I didn't make my posts so long, maybe I'd actually get them out on the day I started them. 

In other news, I have a half marathon coming up this Saturday!  It's a free one being put on by Run Chattanooga called FREEze Your Half Off.  And that is SERIOUSLY what's going to happen.  The low Friday night is 19.  NINETEEN.  Which means it will be right around 20 degrees when we start running.

HOLY BRRRRRRRRRR.

Since it's a free event, it's also a potluck.  Most races (with entry fees) have food and sometimes even booze at the finish line.  For this one, the runners are in charge of bringing something to share for after the race snack-wise.  My thoughts are that I'll bring bagels and peanut butter.  But I need to look and see what other people have said they're bringing.  We may have an abundance of bagels!

Did I mention that I am NOT prepared for this race?  Not in the least bit.  Well, maybe a tiny bit.  I'm 5k prepared.  Just not 13.1 miles prepared.  Ah well.  My next race is at the end of February.  I plan to be prepared for that one!