Happy New Year

It’s been a while since I posted and I’m not sure why. Have I run out of things to write about? Has my life become so boring that I don’t bother? Maybe my weight loss has come to a complete stand still and my weight loss was the original purpose of writing in this blog. I’m not sure why but I lost interest and got lazy.

Today is the first Monday of the New Year. Today is the day for listing my resolutions and hopes. Today is hopefully the new beginning I need to kick start my lazy butt back into gear.

On December 11th and 12th we had a terrible ice storm here in the northeast. We were very fortunate in that we only lost power for 24 hours and all the trees that fell did not hit and structures or the pool in our yard, others were no so fortunate. Several homes in our area were without power for up to 13 days. Many schools have been closed since December 11th and the students are going back today for the first time since then. A lot of them had a 2 hour delay this morning because of ice and sleet that happened early this morning. We are expecting more ice on Tuesday night this week. Everyone is nervous and on edge as we wait to see what will happen next.

I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s with my family and friends. My two grandchildren were so much fun on Christmas morning. I loved seeing the excitement of the little ones. Madison couldn’t believe all the presents under her tree and she is still wondering how Santa got all that on his sleigh. Zachary is just 16 months old and he was happy just to play with the boxes and bows.

We had a family party at our house the weekend after Christmas with all of my family. My two brothers and their families and my sister and her daughter, and my closest friend and her family that we consider a part of our family all came for the afternoon. My parents are living in Florida for the winter so they were not able to join us and they were missed a lot.

New Years eve my husband and I spent a quiet evening at home. We watched a couple of movies and went to bed well before midnight. We must be getting old. On New Year’s Day we took a ride down to the casino in CT and had a very good time. We spent about 5 hours there and actually came home with a little more money than we went with. I was so happy. I tried to talk my husband out of going to the casino because I really wanted to buy a new recliner for our den. We had the money for the recliner but if we took it to the casino we would no longer be able to buy the recliner. We ended up being able to do both. I LOVE my new recliner and we had a nice afternoon of entertainment at Foxwoods.

We all managed to get through the holidays without getting sick or getting laid off. My son is still struggling with trying to find employment and not having enough money. I expect he will be moving home soon. He can’t afford to be out on his own and I am done financing his car and apartment.

My youngest daughter is doing the college search thing and enjoying her senior year at high school. This is an exciting time for her and its fun to watch her enjoying this time in her life. She is very involved in sports so there is always something fun to go and watch her do.

My husband and I took our youngest daughter and my niece to a UCONN men’s basketball game this weekend and had a good time. UCONN won so that even made it better. We have some connections to UCONN and my daughter has applied to go there in the fall. I don’t know that she will get accepted but we are hoping.

My brother has lost his job due to this lousy economy. I wondered how long it would take before it affected our family. It didn’t take long. I will say that after spending the day at Foxwoods casino on Friday you would never know that there was a bad economy. The place was packed and finding a parking place and a slot machine was close to impossible. We stopped on the way home for a few things at home depot and again the lines were long and people are still buying stuff. I’m sure that it is going to get worse before it gets better. I only hope that we can keep our jobs and keep paying our bills.

The news of the weekend has me worried about President elect Obama and all that he will face once he takes office. Hamas and Israel keep bombing each other, the economy is sucking pond water, our service men and woman in Iraq need to come home, and I’m sure there are numerous things that none of us even know about yet. I do not envy him the job that he faces at the end of this month. Why would anyone want that job?

I also read that John Travolta’s son died this weekend while on vacation. How awful. I have lost a child of my own and I know that pain that goes along with that. I pray that he and his family will find the strength to move forward and find peace. What a terrible way to begin the New Year.

I arrived at work this morning to chaos. This is what always happens after a long weekend. Everything is piled up and it’s stressful. I managed to get through the morning and now I am going to take my lunch break and go get my hair cut. Tonight My husband and I are signing mortgage papers to consolidate tow mortgage loans into one and get a lower interest rate. We will end up saving about $200 a month on payments and every little bit helps.

My weight has remained the same for months now. No surprise to me. I have been eating junk and way to much sugar. Starting today I am back on the weight loss wagon. I walked at the mall this morning on my way to work. I brought my lunch and I will not eat junk today. One day at a time.

I am going to Florida at the end of the month to visit my parents and I want to lose 10 pounds before I go. Wish me luck.