Christmas, New Year, image

Maybe part of my lack of blogging has been my lack of photo uploading.  I can't upload directly onto my laptop, and the desktop has been very touchy lately.  I've got photos on the camera.  They're stuck there for now.


With it being winter, and the subsequent darkness and rain, I've not been so active the past six or eight weeks.  We don't have a morning walk every day.  I get up (as does Franklin) when the sun comes up, usually 8 to 9ish.  If it's sunny, I might work in the garden for an hour or two, laying paths or shifting topsoil.  Usually it's not sunny.  If it's rainy I'll tidy around the house, knit, and play with Franklin.  One of his best toys is a wooden train set;  it's great to set up the tracks and then race the little wooden trains around--even for me.

We had a nice quiet Christmas and New Year, just the three of us.  For Christmas dinner we had turkey, ham, bacon-wrapped sausages, and five different vegetables, and then homemade Christmas pudding to follow.  For breakfast we saved up our eggs to make eggs Benedict (minus the bread). It was all lovely, or in Franklin's words, "lishus!" 

Since having a child, I personally haven't been so very excited about Christmas presents for myself or Partner;  in previous years we packed in as many things for each other under the tree as would fit;  but this year, we each made each other one thing, and the rest was for Franklin.  I'm also less materialistic these days anyway, and I don't do "stuff."  I think if people want to give me something, I'd rather have something useful, like money!  Partner made me a fantastic window box to hang outside my kitchen window and I made him a pair of wool socks.  They are very similar to the socks I made Franklin and the socks I'm currently making for myself;  I hope we can tell them all apart in the laundry...

Partner played a gig on New Year's Eve as a stand-in and got crazy money for it (well, ok, not that crazy, but we bought our garage roof panels with it).  He was in a band last year but they broke up due to scheduling reasons (I think?) and has been auditioning with many other bands in the months since.  I think his main requirement for joining a band is that they gig regularly.  So far no one has met this high standard! 

I have written down a few things I want to accomplish this year.  When I make a fully coherent list, I will share.  For now, I will share a goal I set myself last year, in private:  I set myself the goal of losing two inches in both my waist and hips, and I succeeded.  In fact, I lost two inches in my waist and three in my hips.  I have set myself the goal to lose another two inches in my waist and a further one inch in my hips for this year.  In addition, I also lost about 15 pounds, attaining a weight I have not been since before marriage.  I feel great, and I keep thinking how strangely skinny my wrists look!  Don't get me wrong, I am not "fat" nor have I ever considered myself that way.  My previous weight was healthy for my height, albeit at the top of the healthy spectrum.  My current weight is also healthy--but I rather like having a slimmer waist and less of a muffin top.