Merry Christmas / Frohe Weihnachten!

Another year nearly gone. Funny how it doesn't seem so long ago that we were having a similar Christmas here. We didn't stick to the Chinese food tradition this year. We bought some Trader Joe's pizzas and had those for dinner. (We also had smoothies and some Einstein bagels for breakfast - yum).

Food. Yeah, it's always about the food. I now have two years worth of nearly-daily weights recorded on here, and the general trend is up. There were a couple of times my weight went up and didn't recover, though it's hard to tell on the graph exactly when those times were. Oh well. As I look in near-horror at the unpleasant Christmas morning pics (worsened by the greasy bedhead and baggy PJs), I can only attempt to accept what currently is, and move on. There is no point in getting emotional about it. It hasn't helped much in the past. In five days, we will be flying into warmer locales, and as much as I hate my swimsuit and the fact that I have not lost weight for this vacation, I refuse to let it spoil what may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip (though who knows - if we really like it, perhaps we'll go back someday).

Shortly before Christmas, I finally bought a camera. (I've been obsessing over this for quite some time, and I'm not done yet). I first bought a Canon Powershot A720 from a guy on eBay, and it had a couple of problems - very scratched bottom surface, and defective video. So I went back to the drawing board, wondering (again) which camera was the best choice - and I finally succumbed to buying a waterproof Pentax W60. It should be fun for the trip. Now I'm debating if I want to buy an SLR or not. It's tempting...but I'm not sure how often I'd use it, since it's so much larger, heavier, and more delicate. There are also a couple of medium-sized/bridge cameras with big zoom lenses that are tempting. If money were no object, I think I'd have several cameras. LOL Anyway, the W60 was sort of a present for both Chris and me. This is because (I thought) we were going to keep our gift spending for each other down this year. But no...

Chris bought me a netbook (a mini-laptop). It's an Asus Eee 901, which has to have one of the smallest keyboards I've ever used (but they actually have smaller ones). I guess this size is a compromise between an even tinier keyboard (or just a touch keyboard, like the iPhone/iPod Touch) - and a larger netbook. The 10" one with a bigger keyboard is really appealing, but I suppose it wouldn't fit in my bag as well. I don't know. It's a cute little machine though, and I'd been very recently thinking about something like this...so I guess the man figured it out before I got loud about it. ;) If you don't understand the point of a geek toy like this...well, it's so I can get online in places that have free wireless Internet (which are becoming more and more plentiful). The netbook fits in my bag, so I can take it wherever and whenever I want. It also has some other software installed - I haven't had the chance to look at everything yet. Woot!

Thanks to everyone for the Christmas loot! :)

This and that.

I have a friend who posts little witty/amusing things that her kids say. (Her blog is in the blog list - napjunkiemom). I've been letting these slide past recently, without writing them down, with the exception of one:

Me: You're such a gigglebox!
Marcus: I'm not a box! I'm Marcus! With feet. And bodies.

On the lung front: mine are fine. No asthma. I had a cold (with a little wheezing) that started right before I had the methacholine test, which lasted about a week or so - and then a couple of days after that one was over, I caught another one. So there's something fishy about my immune system, and therein lies a big goal for this winter: to avoid being sick all the time. We're increasing the smoothies again (lots of dark berries!) and might attempt to make a few other dietary changes. I'm also trying to exercise more (which I was doing before the whole bronchitis/wheezing saga started). I went to yoga yesterday, which was nice. I'd like to do that more often. I suspect that the YMCA is the only place in town with yoga (*sigh*), and it only meets 2x a week - Tuesday night and Thursday morning. I'm tempted to get some yoga DVDs. So if anyone wants to research them and buy me one (or more) good ones for Christmas, that would be a good plan. Some sites to check out:
Someone's top 10 list
Interesting site (that Yoga kids ages 3-6 years looks cute!)

Christmas. Yeah. I'm seriously lacking enthusiasm this year. It's now the 12th and we haven't gotten a tree yet. If Chris were the only one in charge, I don't think we'd ever get one. I feel sort of obligated though, if only for Marcus. He should enjoy Christmas. We have some shopping to do this afternoon, and I think we will get a tree then.

Freya (the kitten) seems to be adjusting fine. (Thanks to Dad for the name suggestion, but I couldn't quite see her as a Memphis - and this name fits in with the name of our other cat). She had an "accident" in the beginning, but now she seems to be going where she is supposed to go. Loki still doesn't like her much, but the hissing has lessened significantly. LOL They often eat out of each others' food bowls now. Phantom, who has been undergoing many weeks of chemotherapy, has his last treatment next week. He's done very well - hopefully he'll live a few more years with no recurrence.