back from stake choir again.  i walked in the door and was ravenous.  i hadn't eaten anything since 2:30 when i broke my fast.  what to eat...what to eat... on my second scan of the lonely fridge contents my gaze fell upon it--the hummus.  of course!  i had forgotten about it and there it sat unopened and inviting.  i had a plan.  i grabbed the last three slices of  of asiago jalapeno bread and buttered one side of each.  fired up the ol' cast iron fry pan and toasted my breads and bob's yer uncle, in less than 5 minutes and was rolling my eyes with pleasure as i dipped my toasts into the garlicky hummus.  yumm!  why does everything taste so good when you are starving?

fasting makes me hungry but more than hunger is the thirst. when i break a fast the first thing i do, after a prayer, is take big deep greedy gulps of water.  water is so so good.

stake choir was good today.  it's always good.  i think i love practices more than performances.  well i know i do.  when you're practicing you're relaxed and you're trying to perfect and bring out different nuances and follow what your conductor wants. you get lost in the music and the craft of the music. on the day of, you're just hoping you get it all right and you just are not as relaxed (well i'm not).  and it's over so fast.

today when we sang i know my redeemer lives we made sister ashton cry. she was speechless.  she kept looking at the organist, who was off to the side, and shrugging as if to say, you know? amazing right?

apparently it takes 2 or more hours for your voices to warm up in the morning.  so we're supposed to talk all morning.  that'll be weiwd for the cats.  i'll sing instead just to spare them.

today i got home from church and fed the furs, then went straight to my bed and lay down, and took up the world wide web and began to surf.  soon the kitties joined me.  archie settled into a ball in the space between my arm and my body.  izzy took up her sphinx pose on my thighs.  we were so cozy that way that i hated to ever move but eventually i moved and the spell was broken.

it's time to take down my christmas stuff.  it's time to start anew with a freshness on the new year.  one of my resolutions is to go to bed earlier on work nights.  i find that so much depends on sleep.  if i stay up too late, i sleep as much as possible in the morning and get ready very fast, neglecting prayers and scripture study and no option of exercise!  i can have a case of the grumps at work and am prone to eating badly to fight the tiredness and then i get home and have a nap and the whole cycle starts again.  good sleeps mean i can get up early and have that time to devote to the nourishing of my spiritual self, which makes me a better person all day, more cheerful, with more reserves of energy and patience, a better perspective etc, and i eat better (hopefully) and i feel better.  so sleep.  it's on the top of the list.

another thing i'm doing is putting a stop to the sugar insanity.  last week i did pretty good.  after lunch and in the afternoon are my worst craving times.  i have cinnamon gum after lunch and one afternoon i ate chips instead of the oreos i found.  ha! not a perfect solution, but hey.

guess what i did.  i made a book!  i took the last year of my blog and made it into a book.  it was fun to do and the book, at least the computer, looks beautiful.  i hope it is in person too.  i get it on the 21st.  now i want to do all the years but i have to pace myself because, like i have, like no money.  none.  zero.  zilch.  in fact i need a way to make some extra cashola.  any ideas that don't involve me slaving my life away editing photos?  i know i'm just too slow on that.