Holy S*#@ It's Cold.

7 degrees above 0 with a wind chill of -12. It's kinda chilly. And inside the house it is as well. We keep the house fairly cold - 65 degrees most of the time. But the windows let in so much cold air, it's probably closer to 58 in the living room. I put a blanket up to try and save my heat. We also figured out how to start the fireplace, so that's been going for awhile and is a nice little burst of heat. It's also very pretty and kinda makes it feel like Christmas. Our Christmas will be a brown Christmas, and I'm ok with that, though I can't say I'm used to it.

This was the weekend we were supposed to go to Chicago, but weather conditions on Friday prevented us from doing so. So no Christkindlmarkt for me, but we did rake leaves yesterday and took 12 bags to the drop-off center. Yeah, I would've rather been in Chicago. Today, my back screams for something stronger than Aleve, and I realize that I've become a lazy fat-ass. No 31 year-old who's in shape would be feeling this pain. So while not a New Year's resolution (I don't believe in them), I believe I will start working the free weights again...amazing how quickly you can turn to mush when you don't use your muscles and how easy it is to drop something that was rather routine...and how hard it's going to be to get into it. Who the hell wants to walk a mile or two when it's -12 outside, other than Jill up in Alaska?

Tonight we are having dinner with some friends. I made my mom's peanut blossoms - you may know them as something different. They're the peanut butter cookies with chocolate stars on top (or Hershey's kisses because those stars can be really hard to find). Sometimes my chocolate stars roll off, but they're still tasty. Being a baker is a curse. No - being a baker without willpower is a curse. Hence the lazy fat-ass comment above. Sometimes I wish I could have someone else's tongue, one who had nothing but the bitter taste buds covering the whole thing. I think I read somewhere that the less sweets you have, the less you want them (so maybe I just need to eat bitter-tasting stuff and get myself used to it). Can anyone confirm this?