Low-Mo

As in, zero motivation! I don't know what it is, but, I don't feel like doing ANYTHING right now! Could it be the weather? It's been cold and dreary here for several days now. When it's like this, I'd just assume it would snow. Well, turns out it might snow later on this afternoon. Mr. B said he'd heard 4-6 inches, which, for these parts, is a blizzard. This means I should get out to the store (along with everyone else). Seriously, it's that time of the week (menu planning/store run).

Because I don't feel like doing much (including coming up with an original Blog post), I'll just ramble today.

The Kid and her class (11th grade) along with a few teachers headed up to DC bright and early this morning so they can watch the inauguration tomorrow. I'm not sure why they went today and not tomorrow; maybe they figured the traffic would be lighter today. Anyway, historical moments aside and all, if it does snow tonight/tomorrow, they're all gonna be butt-ass cold.

The B's are getting serious about energy conservation/efficiency. We're in the process of replacing our light bulbs with the ones that use less energy/last a lot longer. Of course, this is an initial outlay of money since the bulbs are not cheap. Thankfully, Ace Hardware was having a sale on them this past weekend so we stocked up. Mr. B also installed programmable thermostats which should also help.

But, what to set them at? It's funny (not in a ha ha really funny way but ironic way) how I'm the one who is usually hot now and he's the one who is usually cold. It used to be the other way around. I'm still in the throes of hot flashes (the herbal remedy I'm taking has not yet kicked in; I can only pray to God that it does soon) so, for the most part, temperatures about 5 degrees lower than usual is what is now comfortable for me. Yeah, I still get chilly, but, it's easy enough to throw on a fleece jacket or sweatshirt (only to throw them off again when a hot flash hits). "They" say to always dress in layers, including at night. You'd think sleeping "au natural" would be the best thing, but, believe it or not, although I do experience multiple hot flashes during the night, when I'm not having one, I'm freezing. Be that as it may, Mr. B says he never knows where he'll find my night clothes the next morning (usually they are strewn all over the bedroom/bathroom; tee-shirt one place, socks another, etc.)

Not to digress too far away from the original ramble (setting the thermostat), I've realized that Mr. B (who runs, by nature, hot (so why is he cold all the time now?)) can immediately bring on a hot flash. Get your minds out of the gutter! What I mean is, if I'm cold at night and cuddle up next to him, within two minutes, I'm having a hot flash. You can imagine how miserable this is for both of us; and, throw in the situation of Mr. B on one side of me, Lucy on the other and the cats on my feet, well, I feel TRAPPED!

So, again, let's pray the Remifemin (or whatever the heck this stuff is) starts to work soon. The package said up to 60 days. Crap. It's only been 30!

Regarding the thermostat, we finally settled on: 65F from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm when it will go up to 68F until 10:00 pm when it will go down to 62F until 6:00 am, etc. etc. This probably seems REALLY cold to most people, but, we're also, of course, trying to conserve energy/save money like everyone else.

I think when I go to Florida in March, I'll need to find one of those combo fan/water spritzer things to hang around my neck! I don't even want to think about life this summer if these hot flashes are not yet under control.

Exercising helps, I've noticed. So, in a bit, I'll be heading up to that elliptical machine to sweat it out some.

Regarding our dinner menu for the week, I asked Mr. B if he wanted anything in particular and he replied, "meatloaf". You know, just about every time I ask him this question, he says he wants meatloaf! So, I guess I'll add meatloaf to the menu! Maybe also white chicken chili (that would probably be a good one for tonight, come to think of it), lasagna (I am starting to cook in bulk so that Mr. B has stuff to eat when I'm in FL for two weeks), and a new recipe I saw in Gourmet for rosemary scented beef.

Last night we tried an interesting recipe from Cooking Light; sweet potato and pecan "burgers" with caramelized onions and chili sauce. I have to admit, they were a hell of a lot of work and I don't think I'd make them again (for that reason) BUT, they were not half bad. Good thing; we have four of them left.

We started watching Season Two of "The Tudors" this weekend. Yey! I love that show (even if quite a bit of it is not historically accurate). Man, this period of history really is in vogue right now. I was at the bookstore the other day and ran across what I thought was a new series about the Tudors. Turns out the book was a regurgitation of a series written by a (now dead I think) author named Victoria Holt (who also wrote under Jean Plaidy and Philippa Carr). As cool as I think it is that folks are digging the Tudors, I can't quite figure it out, either. BTW, turns out the author's real name was Eleanor Burford!

I've been plodding through the book I'm reading for the book discussion group I joined, "The Zoo Keeper's Wife". Not that it is a bad book, it isn't, it is quite interesting and well written BUT, being that it is about a zoo in Warsaw, Poland that, during WWII helped to hide Jews, you can imagine that it is not always the easiest subject to read about. As I'm reading it, I sometimes want to close my eyes (like I did through about 1/2 of watching the movie "Schindler's List".)

Ok, here it is 10:10 am; time to get my butt in gear!

Mrs. B