'tis the season to...crave dairy?

i don't know what it is about this time of year, this year, but for some reason i have been craving dairy products like it's nobody's business. milk, egg nog, cheese, cottage cheese, ice cream...luckily i'm ok with lowfat on some of those things, but i'm wondering why. why dairy. is my body not getting something it needs that dairy can provide?

in other news, the running and situps have been going extremely well. although i weighed myself on the scale at the mall the other day and it said i weigh almost 180 which i know cannot be true. i do not weigh 20 pounds more than i usually weigh. that is not possible without going up a pant size. i did have on shoes, pants, a sweater, and a jacket. perhaps that stuff weighed more than i figured. in actuality i think i've been between 155-165 for the past 12 years. i may have gotten down below 150 when i was playing rugby and running all the time for 6 months or something.

what else is new. i'm in CT for the holidays which is pretty great. i'm especially happy about this high speed internet connection! it's so different than what i have back in OR (but i am grateful to have anything at all, m!) my family is doing well and i'm looking forward to seeing the extended family on christmas and beyond. and i really am hoping we'll have a white christmas. really, really hoping for that.

i also am planning to go contra dancing, 3 times this weekend! that should be great, seeing the old gang again and actually getting to dance in my hometown once! a rare yet wonderful event!

so for now i should sign off, work on my christmas letter for an hour or so, and then go for my run, do my situps, wrap some presents, and whatever else strikes my fancy! my brother and i are doing our shopping trip tonight. should include some fabulous gifts, like beano, gas-x, nighttime breathe right strips, and other things that just get the gang to laugh on christmas morning!

getting through some things

i have yet to blog about my trips to arizona, new york, connecticut, or hawaii, nor have i written anything about thanksgiving, not going back to work, my new running/exercise regimen (see sidebar), or about the massive cleaning project i'm beginning...but all in due time. just don't want people to think i've dropped off the planet. oh, and i'm also getting christmas card / letter stuff together, and collecting addresses, and...you get the idea.

dog alarm clocks

you know how some people have those clocks that have sounds on them to wake them up in the morning? you know how some people have those cds with dogs barking to the tune of "jingle bells" or some such thing? you know how some people really love their dogs so much, they leave them at home for hours at a time, and they get lonely, and then they start barking? and then the neighbors dogs start barking? and then other neighbors dogs start barking? and then the whole neighborhood which probably has like 10 dogs are all barking or howling?

yeah, that's what got me up this morning. let's say i was NOT pleased. that's why we have cats.