I may have gone to the extreme on not caring. I was overwhelmed (caring "too much") about aspects of my life. The budget is ok, but not in great shape as I keep spending too much on going out to eat. I don't care if I make all Ds, if I ever finish the house (in this crappy market, who does care?!), if I lose my 20 more pounds (I gained 4 and lost 2 this week), haven't worn skirts, heels, makeup, or hose in the past two weeks (who can look good swaddled in six layers of sweaters, boots, socks, long pants)... Langour of late winter. Or something else. Ordered some St. John's wort. I have been having crushing depression once a month for about three or four days. I really didn't want to take something 100% of the time when I only need it 20% of the time. And then further thought, Huh, why not? Maybe I'll kill two birds with one stone. I have been sleeping better since I decided not to push so hard on everything. Anxiety or antihistimines, whichever it was. The yoga mat is still trying to get me loose. I am getting new glasses, sunglasses, and contacts next week. Got my eyes checked and ordered them all online. Did the $39 route; I'm really curious to see if it's as great as Ed made it out to be. My big brother has been on his way over to look at moving the electrical box for two weeks now, but has yet to make it. I hired a handyman to come redo the entire back window and he'll contact me next week. Seems strange hiring someone and paying them when I know Ed could, but won't, do it. Silly. But I gotta do what I gotta do. As I walked to class on Tuesday, I was wrapped head to toe in fur, and every inch covered so that the icy wind couldn't cut into me. Still did on my legs, but other than that... and I was thinking, by the end of the semester, I'll be sweating! Only two days later (yesterday) I already make it to a pants and long sleeve shirt only? Not even the end of the semester. Shesh! Yes, our schools were closed on Friday due to the cold weather, but that's because we are not equipped to handle it. Truly. We can't stand at bus stops in frigid weather. But then we didn't shut down for a heatwave last summer like the northeast did. Turnabout. Turnabout.

Sue - as promised ~ and late ~ your package is on its way! Conformation #0307 0020 0000 4013 5339, hope you have it for the weekend :) Mellisa ~ Megin loved her surprise! She recieved shower gel, lotion, lip gloss and a foot scrubby. As for feeling bad about what you sent??? NO, don't even think that - everything is WONDERFUL! In fact, Megin is doing her best to take me into starting a new quilt with her this coming weekend out of the Mickey fabric... I keep telling her that we need to finish her cousins Easter one first. Her thinking is: cousin Jenni and cousin Kayla are both having babies this summer and we need to start on the baby quilts so that they have them when they are born in case the weather gets cold. LOL If that fails she wants a new robe from the pattern you sent - when I said that I didn't have a piece of fleece big enough she comes back with - it can be like Josephs coat of many colors, only a robe! Kids... gotta love'm! Stay warm everyone! Marie

Hellloooo Healthy Peeps! My exercise routine went to hell in the proverbial handbasket. DH and I bought a business in NH (we live in MA) and agreed to work at another location up there, as well as our jobs that we have here during the week. Add a concussed teenager who needs PT two times a week and the holidays..it has been ugly over here. The good news is that my weekend gig is busy and I haven't time to over eat. I do miss Crossfit a lot. In my new job I make Waffles and burned my hand pretty badly on some caramelized sugar. I was afraid that it would keep me from the gym, but it isn't as tight as I thought it would be, so I totally could have gone there this morning. I'm just so freaking TIRED! So I decided to just be kind to myself and take it slow. BIL told me that some people were asking for me which is nice. Someone on FB posted this post from Michael Moore, who I dont' always agree with, but it has stuck with me this week and I thought I'd throw it out there for you all..... I am now in Week 42 of my walks. Each day, 30 minutes, that's it. Thousands of you have joined me since that Sunday night on March 18 when, as a joke, I said I was going for a walk. I had read that morning in the paper that there were now more people in the U.S. on anti\-depressants than those who go to the movies. I tweeted out that maybe that's the problem \-\- perhaps if people got out and went to the movies more they might feel better. This unleashed a lively conversation about mood\-aletering drugs, the lousy movies these days in theaters, the rip\-off prices for 3D films, etc. Finally, someone wrote: "Sometimes I think what I need is just a brisk walk." I tweeted, "Hey, there's an idea! I'm putting my shoes on right now." I went out and came back home after 30 minutes \-\- and a few hundred of you had amazingly joined me where you live. So I went walking the next night, probably out of some sort of obligation because so many had written to say "please let's do it again tonight!" So I did. And the night after that. By the end of the week it was hard to determine how many thousands were now going out with me on these "virtual walks" in hundreds of cities and towns, but it had taken off like a rocket and so we all went walking every night from that point on. Now it's 250 days later. What a simple, great idea that person had! Some have asked, "Why are we walking?" "What's the cause?" There is no cause other than to go for a walk. We do it just because it feels good. We do it because we can. We do it because it's free and it takes no time. All you need to know is how to put one foot in front of the other (or, for the disabled who've joined in, by any means necessary). It's the perfect slacker/schlub activity. I am often asked "How much weight have you lost from all this walking?" For a while I didn't understand the question. I mean, why would I want to lose anything? I have enough trouble finding my keys! Then I got it \-\- skinny people (1/3 of the country) want us, the majority, to be like them. That's so nice of them. But the truth is, exercise does not work, diets do not work, feeling crummy does not work. Nothing works. My advice: Quit trying to be something you're not, be happy with the life you've been given, and just go for a pleasant walk outside. With me. Wherever you are. Get off the treadmill, stop drinking diet Coke, throw out all the rules. It's all a scam and it conspires to keep you miserable. If it says "low\-fat" or "sugar\-free" or "just 100 calories!" throw it out. Remember, one of the main tenets of capitalism is to have the consumer filled with fear, insecurity, envy and unhappiness so that we can spend, spend, spend our way out of it and, dammit, just feel better for a little while. But we don't, do we? The path to happiness \- and deep down, we all know this \-\- is created by love, and being kind to oneself, sharing a sense of community with others, becoming a participant instead of a spectator, and being in motion. Moving. Moving around all day. Lifting things, even if it's yourself. Going for a walk every day will change your thinking and have a ripple effect. You'll find yourself only eating when you're truly hungry. And if you're not hungry, go clean your room, or have sex, or call a friend on the phone. Without knowing it, you'll starting eating like the French (there is no French word for "fast\-food") \-\- and you will feel better. You do not feel better admonishing yourself or beating yourself up or setting up a bunch of unrealistic rules and goals with all the do's and dont's that are just begging to be broken. You wanna know something? I eat ice cream every friggin' day. I drink a regular Coke every single day. I put butter on things. But I also walk every day. Some days now, I walk twice. And now I've started to do some push\-ups and lifting stuff. It's building muscle, and in doing so, has created an extra furnace to burn stuff and create energy. Weird! That, in turn, makes me sleep 7\-8 hours a night which is another game\-changer. And all the walking and lifting makes me thirsty, so that makes me drink more water \-\- another huge plus! So, you can see from the photo of me up in the box that something has changed. I have no idea how much weight I've lost and I don't care. I don't care about that or diets or home gym equipment or rules about what I can or cannot eat or anything other than making sure I go on my walk today. That's it. That's the big secret. It costs nothing. I feel great. I can see my feet! There they are! Hello, feet! Wanna go for a walk? The feet say YES! Ask yours right now. And if you want, join me. But do NOT go on that walk with me if you are doing so to "get fit", "be healthy", or "lose weight". You are fine just the way you are. Only walk outside with me right now because you know it might just feel good, because it's a beautiful day, or someone is joining in with you, the fresh air is invigorating, you have to drive down to the drug store but you realize you can walk there, or simply because it's just nice to be alive for one more day. Walk to walk and nothing else \-\- and the other stuff will take care of itself. I'm heading outside in an hour. Join me. And let me know how it went! 18,068 Anyway, I'm going for a walk on the beach tomorrow. Even though I haven't set my business up in Quickbooks, even though I have a billion things to do. I'm aiming to get 8 hours sleep a night this week (without the "monkey brain" at 3 AM worrying about the proofing of a waffle or whether we have an employee or not) Beth P.

UPDATE on swap seeds. I spent the night watching SB and updating my tomato seeds. someone took the whole bags of A-B tomato seeds. Which is fine. I hope they can grow out or spend the love of tomatoes. still holding quite a few . The ground hog and FA have me felling anxious. this is farmers almanac notes. FA says March avg. temp 43. 1 to the 17 th light flurries to rain. 25th to the 31st rain then snow showers April -ave temp. 53. - 1-6 sunny and cool 10 to 12 rainy warm 22nd to 31 few showers mild My avg temp 67 few thunderstorms warm