Surviving. I've been trying to keep warm mostly (the office thermostat is hovering at 64F, kinda). I do have to go see my parents this afternoon to drop off paper recycling, so I'm sure that'll get my blood boiling in short order.

I came up to the mountains for some grey and snow but it is rather warm here, much like spring. bah.

Not ready for spring weather yet!

I'm not a big fan of single digit weather but I'm so happy that the holidays are over. They're fun to an extent but so much work, stress and driving that I'm always happy to get them over with. I'm pretty introverted so having a big whole straight month of parties to go to wipes me out mentally. I'm happy to hide out until Easter.

Not great mentally. Isolating, a bit depressed, upset about the flood, stressing about something work-related, eating a lot of the wrong stuff (i.e. carbs by the bucketload). It will all be okay though.

It's unusually cold here in Florida. It "snowed" yesterday. It's freezing cold but sunny and bright, thankfully. I would be more depressed if it were gray, so I feel your pain, danf.

Mentally, I am doing fine. I had a serious rough patch in December. I was feeling very depressed (negative thinking, absolutely zero interest in doing anything) and tearful. I attribute it to inactivity and too much junk food. The new year always feels good to me. I'm always happy to get the holidays over with, too. I don't know if that's wishing my life away or not. I like when the decorations are all packed up, I stop eating so many holiday treats, and get back to "normal".

I love it once the holidays are over. Peace!

I understand how the blahs set in, though. I always try to puncuate the first couple of weeks of January with little gathering and celebrations, getting together with friends who were busy over the holidays. That helps a lot.

We have a standing dinner-and-movie date with another couple, and we're scheduling that for this week. The Fella's birthday is coming up at the end of the month, and we'll have a party for that. And I'm taking advantage of the post-holiday lull to tackle some household projects. It all helps with that winter blahs.

And the truth is: a few days ago, I was feeling down and sad and panicky and hopeless, but ... paradoxically, when something crappy but inevitable happened this week, it propelled me up and out of my gloom. I have to suit up and deal with something bad, and that means I have to get it together. I would not say no to non-specific whuffles, though.

Very very blah here. Nothing to look forward to. Hated the holidays.

Non-specific whuffles for all!

Aw Specklet, that's sweet!

We got married in mid-January partly to offset the winter blahs. For our guests, just for that year (arrogantly assuming they enjoyed themselves, which most of them assure us they did), and for us so we could have a little celebration in January every year. Plus, there was very little problem hiring venues, photographers etc at such an unpopular time of year.

I still get a little bit flat after the holidays, but unless I'm actually depressed, which I'm not at present, I can pull myself out of it by making nice plans and doing more exercise.

Meh. Tired, cold, crampy. Scarfing lots of salt and sugar in one form or another. Not looking forward to my frigid 6:30am walk to the train in the morning. But it could be worse. A lot worse. Making bacon and eggs and tater tots for supper. Mostly for Jon. My tummy's a little sensitive. I will steal some of the bacon, though. Finished making up a test for the kiddies tomorrow. Got laundry to fold. Meh. Want to lie down.

Stay warm, folks.

It just occurred to me as I was sitting here sewing, and I can't decide if it's silly: it feels like part of the reason I'm getting more cheerful is not just my current decoration project, but that I'm working with bright red and soft creamy white. It just feels so bright! It's really helping me cheer the hell up.

Blah is definitely the word. I had hoped that the massive cleaning spree I went on today would help lift my spirits, but it hasn't in the least. My framing of the situation is all wrong. Instead of being happy I accomplished so much, I'm focusing on how much I left undone. And even though I did spend a lot of time working today, it doesn't look like it. Blah.

I'm doing mostly well. We are not getting the blah weather, which helps, and for various reasons I'm starting to feel like I'm getting my life and psyche on track, which also helps.

I have also discovered while I get more creative in the kitchen and try more new recipes when I'm feeling happy, the reverse is also true. So I'm finding that flipping through cookbooks and picking out new things to try makes me feel better and satisfies my "WINTER! MUST OVEREAT!" urges with mostly wholesome food. (Tonight's experiment is golumpkis. Which also gets a decent "feeling connected to my family" vibe going, as it was something my mother made.)

I've got a personal mission of trying to get going with my bicycle commuting again. I'm in a new office that gives me a commute twice as long as it used to be (15+ miles each way), so trying to keep the bike commuting going, as well as adjusting to the new job, gives me something to focus on.


Oh and....

MMMMMMM golumpkis!

I have been in a nasty, angry mood a lot lately, and I don't know why. I think it probably has a lot to do with working a lot and really needing a vacation, but I have been lacking patience and becoming easily frustrated and a little snippy sometimes (oh but god how many times was my dad going to refer to himself unironically as a "road warrior" before I just had to make a comment). It's unlike me. I'm usually pretty mellow.

I wish I would snap out of this. It's not pleasant for me to be around myself right now.

I'm holding my own, though single digit weather and double digit winds pretty much guarantee a bad mood.

Between b-vitamins and regular doses of xanax, I'm holding steady, though I wish I could be as active and cheerful as I am in summer.

I have the blahs pretty noticeably despite having a pretty nice weekend and nothing really to complain about. A purely SAD phenomenon, I do believe. I did re-up for a gym membership last week which I had let lapse, and I have been making it to yoga since the New Year. Hoping that moving around some more will help. Mostly just feeling restless and ready to get the hanging threads of life tied up.

I expected everything to be done with the kitchen last Friday, but some paint work still needs to be done.

I'm very grateful to vrakatar and feistycakes for having New Years'.

Was finally given a fob to control the elevator, which is good.

Want out of NY...a friend asked me to visit upstate, but stuff here still needs to be handled.

If the temperature will just go above 30 degrees F for a day or two that would be all I need. It's been TWO. WEEKS. since it's been that "warm" and I'm over it.

Grey cold days when it does not quite rain but it's not quite dry either.

If it makes you feel any better, that's the way it's been here too. Except for 15 minutes of weak, pre-sunset light on Friday afternoon, I haven't seen the sun in 14 days. The five-day forecast doesn't have it making an appearance any time soon. I'm tired of it.

I think other things are okay. Emotionally (and mentally, I guess), I feel like I'm in a better place now than I was before the holidays. (A New Year's Eve ritual for getting rid of last year's shit is, I think, partly responsible for that. I think I'll make it a tradition.) It is again going to be a hard year, financially, but I think there's something on the horizon that will help with that, so I'm not panicking and am actually feeling a little hopeful.

That's how I feel in general right now -- hopeful. What I need to do, though -- and what I'm not always good at doing -- is follow through on my responsibilities to make those things I'm hoping for happen, instead of just sitting idle until the universe decides to take care of it one way or another. I'm old enough to know now that it won't take care of them the way I want it to, so I need to get off my ass.

I know this. Now, doing it is another thing....

My, that was a lot of personal pronouns!

Grey cold days when it does not quite rain but it's not quite dry either.

If it makes you feel any better, that's the way it's been here too.

The only time I ever went to your town, about 30 years ago, is was that delta swamp fog all over. But then is quickly segues into 100+ temps there. . .