I woke up to winter this morning. Mind you, it was almost 80 degrees Monday. Today, we'll be lucky if it tops 20 degrees.

As I have aged (gracefully, mind you), I have grown to hate the cold. I don't particularly like wearing sweaters, boots, coats, mittens,and the such.

Yet, I try not to hike the thermostat above 65 degrees or so. So I'm always bundled up. Yet, it still seems that my feet and hands are always freezing.

It doesn't help that my office sits over a crawl space. I fully expect to walk in one day and find icicles hanging off the ceiling.

This year, I got wise and invested in a space heater. It appears to be warming things up a bit; or, at least, that's what everyone who walks in my office tells me. The only way I can tell the difference is to walk out of the office and into another part of the house. Then come back into the office. For a brief moment, I get that "Ahhhhh ...." feeling that one gets when they are all warm and toasty. Then I go back to being frickin' freezing.

Such is my life...

After two days of keeping track of my calories consumed, I've decided to discontinue the counting until Monday since I'm going to start stuffing my face tomorrow for the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Two days of tracking my calories showed that I am indeed eating about 300 more calories than I should be. I may have to cut out the mid-morning snack and -- God forbid -- give up one of my Tazo teas!

Ummmm... maybe the saddle bags on my hips don't look so bad after all....

I have to go into my "office" job tonight for a few hours, so I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and went for a run this morning. Now I'm working on the booming side business and, well, wasting time by blogging. In an hour or so, I'm thinking a nap will be in order.

This is probably not a good week to commit to a weight-loss plan, but I'm trying to shed a few extra pounds that have attached themselves onto my hips so I've begun a food journal. My goal is to consume about 1,700 calories a day.

Lunch alone about wiped me out. I ate leftover Chinese food and by my calculations I'm at about 1,300 calories already. Dinner looks like it's going to consist of a few carrots and water if I'm lucky....

I'm fortunate in that I've never had to diet, so suddenly watching what I eat is very eye opening. I exercise so I can eat, so exercising and NOT eating is not much fun. Thus, I'm trying to tame the ever-expanding hips by eating anything I want in moderation. Yet, there are certain things I'm just not willing to budge on.

For instance, my daily shot of caffeine in the form of a Tazo lightly sweetened ice tea is 70 calories. It's that or a Pepsi at 100 calories, so I'm sticking with the ice tea once a day (twice if it's a particularly harrowing day that requires me to kick it up a few notches). And, on occasion, I'm still going to have a Pepsi. There are just certain days when the world is going to hell that I would kill for something strong and lethal, so Pepsi is the alternative.

Yes, I do have a slight problem with will power -- as witnessed by the loads of consumer debt I'm carrying.....

Gil, the grocer, delivered today.

Even though I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I partook in all the holiday deals and ended up spending $133 on $218 in food.

I bought stuff I know we'll definitely use in the coming weeks, plus a few things we'll only use if the grocery stores all close down and it's a toss up between eating over-processed chemical-laden foods or chowing down on toasted terrier and barbecued Bichon.

As long as I'm talking deals and the end of the world, I'll also share that I went to my local beauty supply store to get some shellack for my hair. That and some goo stuff that makes it look less like a football helmet and more like ... well ... a bad toupee.

The store was having a deal that if you buy two of a certain product line then you got one free. It just so happened my "beauty" products were part of the deal, so I ended up with an extra bottle of stuff to throw on the 'do.

I now have enough hair product to last me through Armageddon as well.

So I joined the ladies in the 'hood for a friendly game of bunko last night. It was the first time I played; and aside from the constant moving around, I rather enjoyed myself.

Of course, it helped that I came home with $5 more than I went with. ...

This month, I have managed to double my business income thanks to a huge project that I took on. This is a good thing since Christmas is coming. (It's also a good thing because I went a little wild last month and drained a savings account that I need to replenish.)

I also found out today that another huge project is coming my way in December, so it looks like the financial "fun" will continue.

I'm leaving next Wednesday for a chi-chi hotel with my husband and daughter. After a hellish Thanksgiving last year, we decided to blow off both sides of the family and create a new tradition that is simply ours. It won't be a cheap Thanksgiving, but then I won't end up in the mental institution or in jail for tossing a turkey at a relative.

As long as I'm babbling on about things that are not even remotely related, I'll continue....

I've been enjoying Broken Arrow's slow-cooker chronicles. Personally, I rarely use the slow cooker because I found that after a while all the meals that came out of it started tasting the same.

Which reminds me that I'm still enjoying the

Quick-Fix Meals cookbook that I checked out from the library. I did buy a copy for $5 on Amazon that was marked as "nearly new." It was pristine, so I decided to give it to my sister for Christmas. However, I'm still going to buy my own copy at a later date.

Last nights' meal out of the book was a chicken enchilada dish that was yummy.

Tonight I've been invited to play Bunko with some neighborhood moms. I've never played Bunko, but rumor has it money could exchange hands so I figured it was worth an evening out on the town.

If I should "strike it rich," I'll let you all know in the morning.

I just have to get this off my chest:

In between volunteering all day at my daughter's school and working countless hours on job No. 2, I got called in to work today by job No. 1 because one of my coworkers called in because she was "just too busy to come to work."

Fortunately, I was not home to answer the phone and my boss had to leave a message, so I blew it off. I'm hoping she'll say something to me about it, so I can tell her not to ever call me in because someone else is "too busy" to work!

I doubt this is what the brains behind the "How I...." contest had in mind when they came up with the idea, but play along with me here....

I started my Christmas shopping back in June when I spied something I knew my husband would just love. Without going into too much detail (since I know he keeps abreast of developments on the homefront by reading this blog), I promptly bought the item in question and told Mini Me not to spill the beans. That I know of, it still remains a secret.

Then, about two months ago, my sister called to say the Discovery store was going out of business, so I rushed right over and bought the three pesky teen-age nephews who we rarely see and barely know a gift. Yes, ONE gift for all three of them. It's a game that they can all play together and I got it for $20, which was 75 percent off the original price. They need to do something as a family that doesn't involve spending time in family court or vegging in front of the TV.

As for the other nephew (half brother to the above-mentioned hooligans who also happens to be someone we rarely see and thus barely know), next week is the school book fair so I plan on getting him something there. (Perhaps a book on how to survive a bad upbringing????)

I'm also relying on another school fund-raiser for gifts. I bought a bunch of $9 ornaments with Mini Me's artwork plastered all over them for the various aunts and uncles. And, for the grandparents, I spent $19 on two calendars with inserts for more of Mini Me's artwork. The school gets a percentage of all the sales and I get quick-and-easy Christmas gifts. Can't beat that....

Because she did give birth to me, I decided to splurge on my mother this year. She mentioned that she wanted a new deep-fat fryer. This threw me for a loop since my mother needs a deep-fat fryer like she needs a heart attack. But, as my sister points out, it's better just to get her what she wants because she will just go out and buy one herself if I don't. After the hellish half-day of school last week, I stopped at Williams-Sonoma and bought a high-end fryer that's sure to clog even the best of arteries. It was not cheap, but the poor woman was in labor with me for days so I guess she's worth it.

As for Mini Me, I told her Santa could use some help this year so she should circle items she was interested in from the various catalogs we had lying around. After I ruled out the $1,000 ride-on Jeep, the Christmas-blooming bulb planter and the lacy bra-and-panty set from Victoria's Secret that she circled, I headed over to Target this morning. My first stop was the Starbucks counter because I needed my caffeine and something to toss on anyone who got in my way.

Surprisingly, nobody was there to get in my way, though. I don't know where all the other mommies were hanging out, but I had the store to myself. I was able to get everything on my list and even used coupons and a gift card to bring the price down considerably.

Tomorrow, I plan on getting my sister's gift at a kitchen store next to my mechanic, where I'll be taking my car for an oil change. I also have arranged to "draw" my sister-in-law's name since I've already picked out a gift for her as well.

So, the bulk of my Christmas shopping is done. I did not break a sweat doing it -- or break the bank (or even a nail, for that matter).

For those of you following

the comedy known as my married life, I just want you to know that my husband was just spotted emptying the trash cans throughout the house -- for the first time in a good six months!

And, wait, I think I hear him opening the dishwasher and inserting dishes into it!!!!

Now if I can just get the dogs to stop pooping on the floor....

Almost as serious as my debting with money problem is my debting with time. I overbook myself regularly to the point of exhaustion -- and rarely on insignificant things. I'm either working, volunteering, taking care of my family or, well, working. Sitting down to veg in front of the TV or going out with friends just to hang out are things I rarely have time for.

Yesterday, however, it all caught up with me because on top of everything else I'm just tired of taking care of everyone else's crap. Mini Me stayed up late the night before eating candy while I worked at the office job and her dad snoozed on the couch. Yesterday morning she had an hourlong meltdown as a result of too little sleep and too much sugar -- a meltdown over a shirt, nonetheless.

My husband left his dirty breakfast dishes on the counter and stepped over the screaming wild child on his way off to work while I was left to clean up the mess and haul Mini Me to school, where I was scheduled to volunteer all morning. Then I had to entertain Mini Me all afternoon since it was a half day of school. This, while trying to get some work done for my other job, which requires a certain amount of concentration, quiet and solitude.

Oh, and in the middle of this, one of the dogs used the dining room floor to relieve him or herself.

Needless to say, I was not happy and I let everyone know about it.

Mini Me is now in detox -- no sugar and in bed by 8:30. My husband has been put on notice about his messy ways and being considerate of my time and work issues. And, I even had a talk with the dogs about what would happen if I found anymore "packages" left behind by either of them.

I then went to work last night in my home office -- and after everyone went to bed I even snuck in a three-episode Grey's Anatomy marathon via the 'net so I'm now caught up on the one and only show I sometimes watch.

This morning I slept in until 8 a.m., which never happens. And I let my husband deal with Mini Me all morning.

So far it appears to be working.

Mini Me had a smile on her face when she went off this morning for vision therapy, swimming lessons and the dreaded flu shot.

My husband managed to clean up the kitchen after breakfast -- and even threw away the nasty coffee grinds, which always make me want to puke when I have to deal with them.

As for the dogs, well, let's just say Doggie Diapers are in both their futures....