Changes in the New Year

     Old phone
If you follow me on FB, you may have seen that my sweet husband gave me a new iPhone 6 plus for Christmas and my birthday. Very exciting, but then it looked like I wasn’t going to get it.  DH worked a deal to get rid of some of the add-ons in our phone bill that we don’t use, and it all evened out. So, for less money than we were paying before, we both got the new phones. Mine is the big one, since I have more vision issues than he does. It’s quite delightful and fits in my pocket. That was a deal breaker. I must say, all the folks at the AT & T store have been marvelous to work with.

The AT & T guy who came to the house to make the changes was very nice and knowledgeable. Chris even made friends with Charley. Not usually difficult, but Charley had a new chew stick.  He’d never had one before and was super proud of it. When Charley found us, the vet said he had some tooth issues, so we didn’t give him anything to chew on. Then he had his surgery and was on soft food for two and half weeks while we weaned him back to the dry stuff. Lately, he’s chewed two of my emery boards.

I figured I’d have to run to Pet Smart for a chew stick, but then I remembered one of the neighbors gave him some chew sticks for Christmas. He’s very protective of the chew stick. He was convinced that Chris wanted the chew stick! It took a while, but Charley finally realized that his chew stick was safe.  

Back to the iPhone. I made up a personal cover for it, using the cover of VERMONT ESCAPE. I had TRUTH BE TOLD on my old phone. Thanks to Vista Print for these. What about when my next book comes out? You’re right to ask, and yes, I’ll get the new cover or some other graphic then.

Weight update. Last week I told you I wasn’t quite ready to make a weight loss goal. After losing some, that resulted in a couple of more pounds gained.  So I’ve signed on with Nutrisystem. Figured if it worked for Marie Osmond, it should work for me. There were many times in the past, I thought of doing this, but always stopped. I mean really, I should be able to lose weight on my own. But as Dr. Phil says, “How’d that work out for you?” Not!

If I could’ve on my own, I would’ve. So as I write this post on Wednesday, all the stuff hasn’t arrived yet. I posted a pic of my cleaned out pantry on FB.  Besides just needing to do that to do that, I needed space for the supplies. Fortunately, the new refrigerator—you remember the fiasco of 3 weeks without a fridge this summer—has sufficient space in the freezer.

Maybe by next Thursday, I’ll have the food and be on the new plan. DH asked me if I expected to be on it forever. I told him no. Just until I’ve lost at least 20 lbs or when I think I’ve gotten the idea of portion control figured out. So maybe for several months or maybe until I’ve lost all 45 pounds. We’ll see. I’ll definitely keep you posted on how it works and my progress. At this point, I’m positive.

Other changes. I was in process of setting up the family trip for August, actually booked a place for one of the daughter’s family when we got news of a date conflict. So I had to go back and research places again, because DH decided it would be better since we were taking Charley not to be in the same house with one of the daughter’s, which I’d previously set up. The trip won’t be in August now, but in July. Which is super fine. Still blistering hot here in Texas then.

I know some of you are buried in snow. We’ve had temps below normal for over two weeks now, but expect to get back to normal in the 50s by this weekend. Walking Charley makes me much more sensitive to temp changes. Even bought long johns for when the wind has the temp feeling way below freezing. On the other hand, I dread summer more! Can’t even begin to fathom how I’m going to manage!  

So those are my changes here in the first couple of weeks of the new year. What’s going on with you? Lots of changes? Just a few? One big something? Or lots of little things? Staying warm? Or did you escape to warmer climates? Love to hear from you.