Dear Reader:

Oh, I am ready, ready, ready, ready, ready to get back home.  Seriously.   I love my family and, generally, my visits to them are drama-free, but my kids have been glued to my side 24/7 and I need to regain some personal space.  Seriously.  It always feels so good to come home after a vacation.  And, my kids and I need some routine and structure.   And, I need to be busy to stop living in my own head and send a majority of my energy out instead of in.   Don't get me wrong.  It was incredibly good for me to have some down time (down time is all relative these days, but I digress) and watch some movies and read some books, but when I get too long away from home, I get antsy.  I think this might mean that I am middle-aged and curmudgeonly.   But, maybe it just means that I like my house and my things and my routine.   And, I'm ready to get back to work, which will include a full week before classes of at least 5 hours of practicing the piano each day.  5 HOURS EACH DAY.   No kidding.    And, there are syllabi to get in order, and e-mails to return, and business to transact.  

I won't lie.   January has ALWAYS been a tough month for me.   It's a long one.  It's in winter.   The twinkle of the holidays is over and the reality of all that I need to do is clear.   And, I find myself feeling more and more lonely.   Lonely, lonely, lonely.    And, I usually want to eat my way out of my loneliness.    (BTW, why is it that I always feel less lonely in the spring - am I some Disney Princess who bonds with the woodland animals or something?  Obviously NOT. :))

Well, anyway, I'll do everything I can to shake it off and be my usual sunny (with a chance of clouds) self.   But meanwhile, here are my stats today:

Total calories consumed:  1727 (and, I'll tell you, I'm going to add 100 calories to that right now after I eat a piece of homemade apple spice cake).

Total calories burned:   275 (30 minutes on the elliptical)

Breakfast:

Traditional New Year's Day dinner (black-eyed pea salad, ham, sauerkraut):

Dinner:

Snacks:  string cheese, handful of nuts, glass of Merlot

And, here's a lovely quote for today, seeing as how it is the New Year and all.   I genuinely wish this for myself and for you, dear reader:

Now, I'm off to watch "This Old House" with my brother and sister-in-law.   Yes, yes.  I am actually middle-aged.   There's really no doubt here.

Thanks for reading!