Catastrophe!

I am very sorry to announce that I have found myself in the middle of a big, bad exercise slump. Somewhere along the line, my will for lunges & squats, crunches & bicep curls has been quietly, although very thoroughly, sucked clean away. I don't want run; I don't want to walk; I can't even find any of my usual delight in the 5000 exercise DVDs that are only a click away via the wonder of the online library card catalog. It makes me sad to think of the muscle tone that is surely slipping away even as I type, but still, I DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING. To combat my predicament, I have cut out my incredibly foolish habit of very late night snacks (well, meals, really) and I am currently in the midst of a sugar fast, which is somewhat difficult owing to the sugar cookies in the bread drawer, the copius amounts of Halloween candy in the cupboard, the pan of gingerbread on top of the refrigerator, and the carob-mint ice cream in the freezer (stop gagging, it's very tasty). I suppose I could console myself with the knowledge that I am not stuffing myself full of desserts in response to being a lazy sloth (it's happened before), but really, something has to give, and soon. The consequences of an inactive me for more than a few weeks are NOT GOOD. That being said, I am putting out an all-points-bulletin for good exercise ideas - things that you love to do, things that make you want to put on your sweatbands and leg warmers and get physical. Help me claw my way out of the dark pit that is this exercise funk! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!

Time flies

Caleb turns 1 today, of all the unbelievable things. Does anybody else remember when a year was such a long, long time? Now it seems like all it takes is the blink of an eye and our tiny, newborn nephew is a walking, climbing, babbling machine. (And handsome as all get out, too, of course.) I enjoy seeing similarities between the two boys (I heard Caleb in the background while I was talking to Danny on the phone the other day, and had flashbacks of Little D when he was younger), but also the differences. Caleb seems to be a very deliberate, serious little person right now, and we are looking forward to watching him grow and grow.


Photos by Derek, of course :)

Quote of the day

"I'm just trying to stay awake until it's proper for me to go to sleep." Jan Michael, 5:50 p.m.

An old man among us

Happy birthday, our brotha. We love you!

Batton down the hatches

This is the Japanese Maple that grows just outside our front door. It's such a riot of color that I sigh a happy sigh whenever I walk past it. But a storm is brewing, so the weather report says, and if the wind blows through as they're predicting it will, we may not have our little maple much longer. Or leaves on any others trees. Or a fence that stands upright. Or power for our house...

Harumph

Blogger will not let me post pictures, for the second day in a row. Of all the nerve.

This and that

First of all, hearty congratulations to our friends Troy & Beth (and big brother Joe!), who welcomed a bouncing baby boy into their family on Monday the 8th. Daniel George made his appearance at a healthy 9 lbs 13.5 ounces and 22 inches long, and is precious. (I caught him yawning this morning after meeting. VERY adorable.) He brings the total number of kiddos at Wednesday night meeting to FOURTEEN, can you believe it?!

Secondly, the fantasy football teams in this house are STINKING IT UP. Here is a list, in no particular order, of who is responsible, on both of our teams, for the stink: the quarterbacks, wide recievers, running backs, line backers, tight ends, punters, and probably the kickers, although we're both still waiting for those guys to play (but I'm not holding my breath about them, and besides, you can't win a game based on the production of a kicker, for Pete's sake). Our only hope for salvaging this mess of a football weekend is that the Seahawks will kick it in gear (unlike last week, when they were completely shut out) and actually win. You empathize with our extreme frustration & teeth-gnashing, I am sure.

Lovely

My mama is visiting us today, so I am happy. She has a work conference this week on the other side of the mountains, so she'll spend tonight with us and then drive the rest of the way tomorrow. A short but sweet stay.

Brrrrrr

I think maybe we've skipped right over fall and gone screaming straight into winter. I've been taking two or three baths a day for the past week and still I shiver. It's a hard life I lead, isn't it? :)