Well…running a little late this morning and I just can’t get started…stayed up a little late last night and didn’t sleep well so today is going to be a bit of a chore…at least this morning is so I’m going to ease into it…again…that seems to be happening a lot lately and I’m wondering if I have a bug of some sort…have been coughing a lot and feeling slow so maybe that’s it…who knows? I did get a nice bike ride in yesterday and got my top down run in for December when it got to over 50 yesterday could have gone out in shorts if I had waited until later in the day but I wanted to get it done and not get too cold…only have 10 more miles to do on the bike to get to the goal so that will happen today…after I get out to do the grocery run this morning…need to get some stuff to make on Wed and don’t want to be in the stores tomorrow…way too damn busy and I don’t need the crowds…I sure do like not having to go out and buy any presents anymore or do anything to celebrate….not much to do today…after finishing up the dining area yesterday, I need to start on the last room by emptying it out and putting the stuff up in the attic….more later….

Well…it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood….yep, that one just popped into my head after seeing a picture of Mister Rogers in the paper….I remember watching his show with my kids when they were little and still marvel at his gentleness…hmmmm….I had an okay day yesterday and got a few things done and I’m hoping that I can keep that up today but don’t want to take on any big jobs…want to take a day off and just watch soccer and clean but I do have the cold air register to paint to complete the dining area and I think I’ll get to that this morning…and I want to wash the car after it warms up some…it’s supposed to be over 40 again today but I think I’ll wait until the afternoon to do that…probably after a bike ride…I miscalculated how many miles I need to do to get to 4500 so I still need about 30 miles and that will take me until Tuesday but I will get there outside and that is cool…I am seriously thinking about getting a new bike if I can’t get the sprockets off and turning the current one into an inside bike permanently on the trainer…..and I am going to make sure that the sprockets on any new one are replaceable…no more Sun Tour crap on a new one….more later….

Well….just a little burned out on politics right now so I’m not going to talk about that…maybe later, but not now…it’s been a pretty productive day today even though I didn’t plan it….when I was sitting here with my morning coffee about 8:30 this morning, I suddenly got the urge to get the rest of the painting done in the dining area…having to go over a bunch of parts where the pink bled through even after two coats…just couldn’t sit here with something to be done to finish it up…so, I painted it and just finished up putting the trim back on it so now the dining area is finished…except for the window that overlooks the street but that frame needs to be stripped and sanded before I can paint it and the strip really stinks the place up so I may wait until I can open the windows in the spring…I did get a bike ride in today but there was so much snow on the trail that it took quite a bit of work and paying way too much attention…and I only got it out of 5th a couple of times…but, I did get it done and I hope that the snow melts some today so I can really ride tomorrow…only have about 13 left to go to get to my 4,500 mile goal so that will happen tomorrow or Monday…so, after all that, I think I’ll take the rest of the day off and just find some sports to watch…

Well….to start, happy winter solstice….from today on, the daylight starts to increase and that will be welcome to those of us that need the light to keep depression at bay…but it also means that it will be starting to get dark around 4 and that is depressing…slept okay last night but feel a little slow this morning with having cocktails last night and I wonder why I did that…I mean it’s not much fun anymore and I prefer to just feel old in the morning…I did get a few things done yesterday but it was a rest day after doing the painting thursday…I did get the trim for the dining area sanded and painted and I needn to paint the pink that soaked through before I can re-install them…and I think I’ll do that this morning…but, after coffee and soccer…I am hoping to get out on the trails today for a full ride but I think they will still be covered in snow and ice…went out yesterday but only got to the old dump before turning around since there was no clear parts of the trail…so I rode 5 miles on the streets and that is just way too scary with the narrow streets around here…way too many close calls, snow and ice to make it fun….not much to do today….just going to watch soccer and veg this morning and the ride after lunch but that is about it…more later….

Well…as I get settled in here, I have started to look through the cupboards and storage that I haven’t really thought about before…and today, after getting a short ride in with the trail being covered with ice and snow still, I got back here and thought I’d look through the high cupboards above the fridge just to see if there was anything there…and I found some stuff that might be interesting…my son left behind an all in one bread maker that I remember him getting back in ’99 and I plugged it in and it appears to still work so I will be trying that at some time over the winter…and half of that cupboard has all kinds of booze in it, but weird stuff and cheap tequila…so I’m going to ignore that…but what I did find was a Bodum french coffee press that I also remember him using all the time when he was still living at home…and I always wanted to try one…so I cleaned it up, put some coffee in it, added water and made coffee….and I will say this, the coffee is much better than what comes out of my Mr. Coffee drip maker…it actually tastes like something and now I’m torn about using it instead of my coffee maker…but, it is too small to replace it so I think it may be for those times when I want just a couple of cups…I used the same coffee as I normally do and it appears the grind is okay for the press…and now, I’m all caffeined up in the middle of the afternoon and that is not going to be a good thing for later in the day…oh, well…

Well…I’m just sitting here shaking my head at how much just doing little things hurt as I get older…I mean just painting the small dining area yesterday has left me sore everywhere and that is a little amusing to me…yeah, pain makes me smile but you know I’m a little weird…I did sleep okay last night and feel pretty good today and part of that is I’m going to take the day off from working around here other than getting the trim ready to put back in the dining area…I am going to get a bike ride in this afternoon as it warms up some…and it looks like I’ll be able to ride every day til New Years with the little warm up that is starting today…it is going to be in the 40’s almost every day til then so I will get to my goal…will have to be careful today, though since I don’t think the ice will have melted off the trail….I’m going to make the first of the venison steaks for dinner today and I can’t wait to saute it in butter and garlic…I think I can eat out of the freezer for the rest of the year but I may get one more ham for my holiday dinner so I’ll have another ham bone to make ham soup….we’ll see….not much to do today…going to just ease into the day with coffee and some news and then get to work after a while….more later….

Well…after working on the dining area for weeks to repair all of the plaster that was cracked or gone, I finally got to painting it today and that was a frickin marathon…took me three hours to put two coats on and the front wall looks like it is going to need a third coat from the window sill down…the paint just sucked into it and left it with a  pinkish tint and there are still areas that look like I didn’t paint over the pink at all in the corner.  But, I didn’t notice it until after I had disposed of the roller cover and cleaned up the brush and pan and I am not going to waste another roller cover to do such a small area…so it will wait until I get the final room prepped and ready and start painting there…the rest of it looks good so I can live with it for a couple of weeks…now I just need to sand and repaint the corner trim tomorrow and then replace it this weekend and the room will look finished…then I need to figure out how to get the sticky stuff off the floor that won’t come up with anything I’ve tried yet…think I may try WD since that is supposed to take off gunk…or, I remember a product called goo gone that really worked on sticky stuff so I may try to find some of that next week….it feels good to accomplish something finally…but I did really hurt my thumb and it is throbbing so it is going to need some ibuprofen and some rest for a few days before I use it hard again…crap…

Well…okay, I’ll admit it…I had a few cocktails last night watching the impeachment votes and, while I feel bad physically, I feel good that the criminal in chief has finally paid some small price for his criminality…but that’s a post for later today…I did sleep okay last night but woke up with a headache and my head stuffed up even with using some allergy meds last night and that is a little disappointing….and I’m coughing some, too but I think most of it is from the cocktails and the abuse that does to me….I did get the last prep work done on the dining area yesterday and was planning to paint today but that just might wait until Friday with how I feel right now…still have to prep and paint the trim pieces so that might be a little work to do today just so I don’t feel like I’m not accomplishing anything….it was too damn cold to get out on the bike yesterday and it looks like I’m going to have to wait til late in the day to get out today if I do…it is going to be in the 40’s for almost a week so I may just wait until it warms up some and the ice gets off the trail so I don’t have to think about that….not much to do today…going to just sit here and have some coffee for a while until I get some motivation to start the day…and that may take all morning….more later…

Well…that was too good to last…I really had hoped that the good sleep of Monday would be repeatable but I guess not…tossed and turned all night and finally gave up at 5:15…but I feel okay this morning so I guess there is something to this no cocktail thing…it seems to be getting easier to not have cocktails than to have them and I think that’s a good thing…so I’ll keep that up until at least Friday and only have a few over the weekend….I did get a few things done yesterday but not much on the house…got my hair cut and some new long pants to lounge around here at Meijers…they were only 9 bucks and I really like them so I think I’m going to get another pair with the grocery run today…got some new socks, too, and they are a little strange but I like them…they are calf length crew socks that were only 70 cents a pair for 10 pairs so I am set for socks now for the winter…and they work like compression socks and keep my feet warm on the bike so that is cool…I did get a bike ride in yesterday and that gets me down to about 30 miles left to 4500 and that should happen this week with a warm up coming after the bitter cold today…it is a little weird how my mindset has changed after getting my gas bill….knowing it is not going to be outrageous stops me cringing when the furnace comes on and I may even turn it up two degrees…but, probably not…I’m used to 65 degrees in here and I have lots of blankets for the couch….not much to do today….need to finish the sanding on the kitchen walls and get started on the trim pieces…then I need to look for screws to replace the bad ones I took out…will probably have to buy some but who knows? Still may be able to find them in the garage….more later….

Well….that was weird…got bored and tired watching tv last night and was falling asleep on the couch so I decided to go to bed a little after 10 instead of 11 as normal and I didn’t get up until almost 6:30…and it feels like I slept okay so I’m not sure what to think about that…and I was good last night and that will continue until Friday…I almost had a martini or two to celebrate the acceptable gas bill but I need to have some discipline and be healthier….I did get to work on prepping the kitchen for paint yesterday but it seems as I work, it just creates more work…started to mask up the floor trim pieces but they are in such need of paint that I removed them and need to sand and paint them before I can put them back… and that reveals that the floor needs to be scrubbed before I can replace them and I need to replace the screws that hold them down since most of them are rusted and the threads are gone….this tiny little room has been more work than any of the others and it looks like I won’t get to paint until next week now with all of the work that still needs to be done….not much to do today….I just realized yesterday that I haven’t had a hair cut since I moved in here and that is two months now so I am going out to get it cut this morning and look for some sweats that are on sale half off at Meijers….and then back here for more kitchen work…more later….