Winter Projects

What do you do in the winter to keep yourself from going insane and jumping out the window?
How do you manage to hold on to the hope that spring is coming and the winter weather isn't a sign of the apocalypse?

Most people undertake a project or two to keep them occupied. Some do it with their SO's. I thought about it, what should Brian and I do together to stay sane when it's negative bazillion degrees outside and its so white that even I look like I have a tan in comparison?

Puzzles?

Scrapbooking?

Video games?

Hibernating? (I voted for this one, but Brian said no)

We are actually rebuilding a computer. Yes, that is what geeks do. And by "we" I really mean he is doing it all, I ask some questions, and then get bored and go take a nap. Or I make him pizza rolls.

So far, its been fun. I have a desktop that is pretty "old"- circa 2004- and there has always been something wrong with it. It boots up fine, but if you restart it, it doesn't want to load up Windows XP anymore. So we are on a mission to figure it out. I spent some time scouring through Microsoft's Support website (which is very helpful) while he actually tore into it and got his hands dirty (literally- it was caked in dust)

It's been worked on before, and lots of the components have already been replaced, but its still a nice little challenge for us. He really wants it to work, and I am all to happy to oblige. And who are we kidding? Pizza rolls are delicious!

Today we did a bit of xmas shopping. I had to buy some ingredients for gift jars (hot chocolate and cookies) and we needed a new power cord for the computer anyway. We went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries (omg, so good.... so soo good) and they have the best burgers I have ever had. I got the "little" burger which is a quarter pound, and Brian got the "big" burger which is nearly half a pound. We split an order of fries, and didn't even finish those!

I have no idea on the points value of that. Holy shit! no wonder it was the best burger ever, it was 17 points for the burger alone! I had maybe 10 fries since the burger was so filling. Wow. Ok.

Then we hung out with friends after shopping. Where they kindly ordered pizza, and I kindly did not devour it all. I had three small pieces, and 2 bread sticks. (for an estimated 17 points)

I have to admit I have been slacking on the tracking lately. I haven't stepped on a scale in a few days. When I went to the chiro and got on the digital scale it said 218.5 (!!) but that was with clothes on and breakfast in my tummy. Usually I weigh naked first thing every morning. Need to get back on that.

I also need to start exercising again. I really do intend to do it... it just never happens! I need to now, especially for my knee. The muscles are still tender (probably because they had all but atrophied over the 6 years) Brian said that he would help me with my exercises too. He's going to massage my knee before bed and then let me do my exercises.

Most of tomorrow will be spent doing some training for work and studying for another test we have on Monday. These tests are brutal! I am a great test taker normally- I usually ace all of the tests in school (I never did homework though, so my grades never reflected that). But here's the thing: In school, whether it was high school or college, if you flunked a test, it was no big deal. Even if you failed the class, it was no big deal. In high school you got shuffled to the next one, in college you retake it. But for this job? If you get under an 80% you get FIRED. Yeah, fired. You have two attempts to get 80% or better. And they are tricky, hard, angry questions. I don't really stress too much, but I can tell I panic the day of the test because usually I fly through a test and can score high. No, I am so paranoid, that it takes me nearly an hour and a half to answer 30 questions.

But I am still gainfully employed thus far and will study my little butt off.

If all goes well, I graduate training on Wednesday and start on the job training or "nesting" on Thursday. Soon I will be all growed up! sniff, sniff!

I can't wait. I just hope my first live phone call isn't something I can't fix, or it's not just a transfer. That would be lame.


I made gift jars for a lot of Brian's family (and some of mine) I made chocolate chip cookie mix and hot chocolate mix, and got it all ready to go. Except my kitchen is now a mess (like its ever clean) and there is flour, sugar, and bittersweet cocoa powder all over!

Hope that you all are having a safe Christmas, don't get trampled by any crazy people who forgot wrapping paper while you are out and about! Lord knows how nuts those freaks are! (Just wrap it in newspaper, fercryin'outloud!)