Starting the day with happy thoughts!

So yesterday was a downer - an all around bad day. I'd like to turn my mood around and am determined to do it with happy thoughts. I sure can't do it by what the scale said this morning. Man I'm thankful I've been dieting, the scale surely reflected that. NOT.

puppies & waterfalls & rainbows & ponies... good thoughts.

Ok, back on track with good thoughts -- I am completely done with my Christmas cards now. I think its still a little early to actually mail them though. We'll be sending out about 75 this year. Not a ton, not a few, just enough. I surely don't think we receive 75 cards each year but that's ok.

I have finished up my canned goodies that Anisa and I canned in October. 10 hours from start to finish and we canned up dozens of apple butters & apple preserves for family, friends, the mail lady, the paper man, & the kids' teachers, this Christmas. Mine are now labeled (Marissa's Momufactured Marmalades!), decoratively topped and ready to roll. I attached a Chicobag onto each one for that added "treehugger" touch.

Chicobags are vibrantly colored reusable grocery bags that fold up into their own little pouch (think izod jackets in the 80's - you know you had one). Toss 1 or 2 in your purse, glove box or diaper bag and you're all set! Save the earth - when you're asked paper or plastic, hand them your Chicobags!!!!! :)

I feel pretty ahead of the game in terms of Christmas - its such a hard time of the year for me. I love love love Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and all of the christian meaning behind them but the rest of the commercial bs & "gimmes" & expectations & all the guilt associated with it, ugh, I despise it. I'm even nixing the idea of Christmas cookies this year. Oh how I'd love to eat my weight in buckeyes (chocolate covered peanut butter balls) but no, my heart is just not in it this year so rather than fake it and go through the motions, I'm just nixing the idea altogether. I actually felt better once I came to that decision. Less is more. Less IS more.

The kids are all well - I should breath a sigh of relief for at this very moment, no one is sick. That's the thing with having a large family; someone is ALWAYS sick. Viruses run through this house like the plague each winter and once we get everyone well, someone has brought something new home to us from one of their three different schools. Right now we're dealing with cranky teething but no one is sick, something to be thankful for.

I start working out with a personal trainer once a week starting next Tuesday. She seems really nice and says she's confident she can help me shed my extra baggage, no problem. Whew, well thats a relief that someone believes in me because I sure am having a hard time with it!

I'm boring today. I'm cuttin' out... maybe I'll add more on later if I come up with something interesting or witty to say. Don't hold your breath. ;)