Awoke to find that the 1-2" of snow they had predicted for my area had turned into 5-6". Actually, I knew that last night, but I was hoping that the predicted roaring winds would blow some of it away.

I look out the window, and see that the tree branches don't seem to be moving much. Maybe it's because they're weighted down with So Much Unpredicted Snow.

I know what I'll be doing this morning. Shovel, here I come. After coffee and hot cereal.

In other news, awoke to find Mickey licking his leg. He has a strange little growth just under his left rear hock that consists of pad tissue. Well, for some reason, he decided to lick that raw. It's now bandaged. At least it's not his foot this time, but still.

Today is my last day of vacation. I want so much to take the rest of the week off, but after distributing days around Ninc Conference, Wiscon, and Worldcon, I found that I didn't have all that many left. So I need to nurse them, drat it. It was nice to be home. Got a few repair things done--installed a light under one of the kitchen cabinets, and a couple of door stops behind a couple of doors. Stripped wallpaper and hung up decorative molds (cooking vessels, not, like, *mold*). Made things look a little better around here. Still haven't attacked the filing/paper shoveling, but I did buy a nice file folder for 2008 stuff.

I also spent altogether too much time shoveling snow. The weatherguy on last night's news said that after this cold snap, we may be in for a warming trend for the rest of the winter, with less precip in the form of snow. Live in hope.

Must make coffee.

We had a light snow a couple of days ago, and I grabbed the camera when I took King for his walk because I wanted some updated pics for the website.

( Behind the cut, as a mercy to those uninterested) <!-- Posted pictures --> <lj-raw> <table> <tr> <td><a href= )

Folks are posting theirs.

What are mine?

To keep up with running, while taking care not to injure myself...so I can keep up with running. I ran my first 12-minute mile the other day. I know that sounds pathetic after two years of this. But I was never consistent. I stopped for weeks at a time when working on the book, and when Mom was sick. And I've worked through knee issues and foot issues that also led to stoppages. I can see the improvement in my conditioning, though, even with this scattershot approach. I used to have to jog at 4 mph because I when I tried to walk at that pace, my legs couldn't take the pounding. They can now--I can walk at 4 mph, and run at 5 mph. I've lost weight, my legs are stronger and more muscular, and my butt has elevated about three inches. All good. If I can manage a couple of miles, 3x a week, I'll be doing very, very well. I don't want to run in races. I don't want to be one of those runners who is always checking their times. I just want to be fit.

To gradually declutter. To dump, and organize. I did a lousy job with my files this year, and I want to do better in 2008.

To avoid time crunches where Gideon is concerned. To write regularly, and consistently. Like kateelliott, I'm going to have to reduce my time online. That's going to be hard, but I really don't have a choice.

To make time for fun.

To always have fresh flowers in the house.

To plant tomatoes. I don't have time for a full-blown garden, but I would like to try one of those single-plant pots that I can keep on the deck.