Getting through the winter months...

There are several things that I have been doing lately, some of which I occupy my time with to avoid the reality of this cold, disgusting winter that won't end! And as I write this, I am looking out the window at the snow coming down hard. We were just beginning to see the grass again this week. Darn.

Some of the things I spend time doing are more worthwhile than others. Here's a list in no particular order:

1. Obsessing about my diet, which includes: blogging about it, planning meals, cooking, counting calories/points, exercising, weighing myself, etc. This has helped me kick some of the winter depression I have felt of late. This is definitely a good obsession to have! I am slowly making progress. I still need to lose about 20 lbs to reach my goal.

2. Jewelry making! I have tried hard to work in my studio a couple days a week making new stuff. I'm currently focusing on stained glass pendants, as my supply was pretty low. I haven't run my kiln in a while, though. I made so much fused glass jewelry before Christmas, and not very much has sold. But I intend on trying some new fusing techniques soon. The ideas are currently swimming around in my head.

3. Website maintenance and networking. I don't think I can go more than a few hours during the day without checking my e-mail, updating my three main websites, catching up on facebook, twitter, blogs, etc. The internet is a time sucker! I really need to cut back. Besides, no amount of time spent working on my jewelry and websites seems to be making any difference: I haven't sold a thing in weeks. It's kind of discouraging, but I'll work through it and hopefully things will pick up soon.

4. I don't watch much TV. In fact, until we bought our flat screen last month, we didn't think we received any channels through our cable jack. We plugged it in one day just to see, and voila! We get all the basic network channels and PBS. This is a life saver for me, as my kids LOVE PBS kids shows. For me, there are only two shows that I absolutely must see: Lost, and American Idol. Everything else I can do without. Lost just rocks this season, and if I miss an episode on Wednesday nights, I can always watch it anytime on the ABC website. American Idol is just plain entertaining.

5. At night, I love turning on my electric blanket and reading in my bed after the kids are asleep. It is such a nice quiet time. I just finished the first two Harry Potter books which Joanna so graciously mailed to me to let me borrow. Now I am waiting anxiously to borrow the others from anyone else willing to lend them to me. In the meantime, I am re-reading Twilight...again. This book never gets old.

6. Other stuff occupying my mind... There are a few things that I find myself thinking about a lot during the day, but as of yet have not done anything. I have been dying to get out some paper, a mechanical pencil and a drafting scale to start laying down some ideas for our future house. I don't know when we'll have the chance to build our dream home, but I figure it will take me a few years to come up with a design that I am happy with. So I'd better start now. Also, I have been wanting to get out my guitar and play around. I miss music extremely. And, I have a scarf I started knitting last fall that is still not finished. I even bought more yarn for other scarves, which I'm not allowed to start until I finish the first one. Dustin predicted that I wouldn't finish, so I have to prove him wrong!

Well, that's everything that's been keeping me busy lately. That doesn't include my normal daily routine of taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, etc. I'll always have those things as well. I just find it interesting that I have acquired somewhat of an obsessive personality as I have gotten older. I never used to be that way, as far as I can remember. Someone tell me if I'm wrong...