First Week of the New Year

It's been a pretty low-key week, which is fine by me. Last Thursday, January 1, we slept in, and then Tomkin headed to the office while I stayed home and did some work, organizing, and tax preparation. We took Chloe for a walk, and that evening we organized our financial info on mint.com (a cool, helpful, easy-to-use site--and it's free!). It's amazing to see how much money goes to boring stuff like taxes, insurance, the mortgage, and business expenses. But it's cool to finally see where all our money is actually going.
Friday morning we had a long, leisurely breakfast. We finished up just before I headed out to have lunch with Becca and baby Leo! We met for Thai food, and she filled me in on the house they're hoping to buy. As if their lives weren't crazy enough already! But I'm sure they can use the extra space. What do they have now, 14 kids? 16? I lose track. :-) I came home and spent the afternoon writing out thank-you cards for my Christmas gifts. Tomkin and I walked Chloe to the library, and she graciously carried home our books and movies. That night we decided to go use up some gift cards at the mall--I had no idea it would be so packed! Definitely a hot spot for suburban teens. There were lots of great sales--we found some good stuff at JCPenney's, but didn't have enough time to use up our Macy's card. Guess we'll just have to go back and shop some more! When we got home, we curled up on the couch with Chloe and started watching "1900 House." Bliss!
On Saturday I cleaned and organized the kitchen. Tomkin found a test online that helps you find out what motivates your dog and, thus, helps you to train them better. (I asked if he remembers the website; he does not.) Turns out Chloe is neither especially pack-driven or prey-driven. It's lucky we're able to train her at all! I met my friend Heidi for coffee, and we did more planning for the mini high school reunion we're hosting in May. We also chatted and caught up, and we enjoyed listening to the group of old men having a jam session on their guitars in the coffee shop. The weather was pretty nasty, so I didn't feel like going for a walk. Tomkin walked Chloe, and I stayed home and did some cleaning and then worked on my reunion blog. Our friend Pete came over for dinner. He's heading to the Philippines for three weeks (mostly for work), so we won't see him again until after we get back from Spain!
My resolution for 2009 is to observe a day of rest on Sundays. It's harder than you would think! Or at least it was for the first Sunday of the year. My rules are 1) no work and 2) no cleaning. Also, for now, no plans, but I think that will change (especially if we start going to church). I spent much of the day blogging and playing on Facebook. Tomkin and I walked Chloe--it was sunny but cold. Still, nice to get out and about. That night Tomkin did some cleaning (he's in charge of the floors and does an excellent job!), and we watched more of "1900 House."
On Monday we went to W.A. Frost for lunch and met up with Frank Nelson, a local pastor who created the TalkPoints program I use for premarital counseling. He is passionate about helping couples build strong, lasting relationships, and he had some good ideas for both me and Tomkin in our businesses. We had a delicious lunch (with the same waiter we'd had on New Year's Eve!) and a really nice conversation. I spent the afternoon catching up with both editing and counseling inquiries. When it rains, it pours! After dinner I led a premarital counseling session, and Tomkin met with a couple about their wedding. Then we finished watching "1900 House." That show made me thankful for washing machines, shampoo, and not having to wear a corset!
Tomkin went into the office on Tuesday, and I did some work. I went to Weight Watchers and was surprised that I had lost 1.5 pounds this week, for a total of 15 pounds! I'm pretty much at my goal weight now--I might try to lose a couple more pounds, but I think I'm at a maintainable weight now. Though we'll see how well I maintain it in Spain.... I went shopping at Target, and then Tomkin and I walked Chloe. It was so nice out! We're letting her walk off-leash more now, and she loves to run and sniff stuff. She's good about sticking close to us and coming when we call her. We had planned to go to Dog Days at the Metrodome that night, but Chloe was pretty beat from the walk, and we were sleepy, too. In fact, we went to bed at 10:00! I don't remember the last time we went to bed so early.
Yesterday I had so much to do that I opted to stay home while Tomkin had lunch with his folks and then shopped at Trader Joe's. We got a message from someone at Vaughan Town with the e-mail addresses of all the "Anglos" on the program, so we wrote to introduce ourselves and looked everyone up on Facebook. Now that the Spain trip is just a few weeks away, it's becoming more of a reality. It's exciting, although the program schedule is a little daunting. I'm sure we'll have a great time, though. Even though it was really cold, we took Chloe for a walk before dinner. Then we took a short nap before Tomkin left for poker and I led a premarital counseling session. After Tomkin got home, our friend Dave brought his dog, George, over. He and Kris headed to Jamaica this morning; we're going to dogsit George while they're away. He's a sweet dog, but he has a LOT of energy. With Chloe being so old and mellow, I forget how young and excitable other dogs can be! They played and explored and chewed on bones and toys. It took a while to get them calmed down to go to sleep. George is really sweet, though, and he and Chloe have a lot of fun together.
Tomkin went back to the office today, and I ran errands and did some editing work. I got two new clients this week--one local and one in Chicago. Tomkin and I took Chloe and George to a nearby park and had them run, run, run through the snow. They chased each other, and George chased a ball, and they both had a great time tearing around. And I think we finally wore them out! They came home and chewed on bones for a while, but all evening they've been totally crashed. Yay! I talked to Mom tonight and did some work on Brenda's belated birthday gift. Tomkin is reading now while I'm blogging. And the dogs are both snoozing soundly....