one a sparkly Monday morning...

 Fresh snow covered the mud and brown, just enough to brighten up the world as I drove to the pool this fine morning.  Being in the water is always worth the mental battle to actually pack the backpack and go out the door, never regret going.  I am super thankful we have such a place less than ten minutes from here.  

Yesterday we had lunch at my brother's house, with lots of our friends. 

That's my sister in blue, and my brother is sixth from the back on the left, his wife next to me, in the pink. Paul is all the way down the table on the right, with the dark hat on.  We had good food and good fun, and the hours flew by, but not without more plans being hatched to get together again soon.  We have a weekend reserved for a place on one of the Finger Lakes, just the girls.  :)

I brought chocolate chip cookies, and lemon cookies.  If you're ever in a pinch and want to make cookies fast, if you have cake mix, you're in luck.  I've made lemon poppyseed cookies with plain yellow cake mix before and they were really good, just add two eggs, half cup of oil, lemon extract, and the poppyseeds.  Yesterday I used lemon cake mix, added lemon extract, the two eggs and half cup of oil, 350 for eight minutes, sprinkle with powdered sugar when hot, and I think they were good.  I didn't have one.  I have to stay away from cookies.  That doesn't mean I never eat anything "bad", because I had some chocolate yesterday.  I also devoured the coconut almonds from Trader Joe's, that Emily got me for Christmas, they are too good.  I'm just so stuck in a rut with weight loss, I can't start eating cookies again!

Anyway.  I made a big batch of meatballs yesterday morning, roasted them in the oven until they were brown and crunchy on the outside, then added them to a crockpot of crushed tomatoes, sauce, and diced tomatoes, with basil and Italian seasoning.  That feeling that dinner is taken care of, can't beat it.

This afternoon, I have to go pick Miss Charlotte Claire up from school for an appointment, then we're stopping at the grocery store.  We're having a couple of people over for dinner, Jonathan invited them.  We're thinking to have taco salad, which we just had the other day, but it's a good meal for large groups, and it's always good.  

I've been in some interesting battles lately.  The silliest one is the cat:  Orange Guy has been waking me up MEOWING, every SINGLE morning.  This morning, it was 6:05, which is not a huge-0 deal, I get up at 6:30-ish anyway, but still.  Sometimes it's 3:30 or four a.m., and I cannot get back to sleep.  The easy fix is:  last one up, put him outside.  But sometimes it's just too cold, and too mean.  It just grates on me, that after all these years of being tired, getting up with kids and babies, I'm losing sleep over a cat.  

The more interesting trials though, are thoughts.  I start down the poor me train, not even over anything specific, but once you start, it's clear, no one really likes me.  Then the guilt, others have it so much worse, I have NOTHING to complain about, stop it.  It's true, I don't have anything to complain about.  But feelings are complicated, and they're real, and we each get to decide what thoughts we let take up permanent residence in our heads.  If we wallow, and give in, then there's a good chance we'll get bitter, offended, and build walls in our hearts.  

Sometimes it's good to just talk to people and clear things up, or take a walk or a drive with no distractions, and think about things.  Peace comes, for me, when I decide to be thankful to God for the people around me, and let things go. 

Anyway.  Time to get ready...have a good day!