Late nights

The last few nights have been really late nights!  One for reading and then last night for Christmas prep.  I got ALL of the wrapping done and everything moved to be put out tonight.  I'm seriously considering moving my cats to the garage for the night, though, to leave things alone.  I hate to do it, but at the same time they sure haven't made life easy on me the last couple of weeks.  They have basically destroyed my tree (I re-did the whole tree yesterday piece by piece), stolen my kids crafts off of the tree, made a mess, and flat out annoyed the snot out of me!  They kept stealing ornaments and jumping in it and the branches got bent all funky.  That was FUN to fix.  :/  Anyways, I got it back together yesterday and sprayed with repellent, but now I am worried what they will do with all of the boxes out.  So, I mentioned it to my Mom and she said if it were her, she would put a box out in the garage, food, water, their bedding, some toys and the space heater for the night and then not have to worry about it.  She actually said to keep them in the kennel for the night, but I hate to do that... I'd much rather just let them have the whole garage.  And they would need that electric heater because it is sorta cold in there.  Yes, I know they are animals and have fur, but they are use to being indoors.  And this heater has that auto shut off and a thermostat.  Works darn well.  Anyways, I am considering it because I don't want to wake up to a mess and upset kids.  And I don't want to NOT do what we want to do for them (one of which is this Lego set-up) because of the cats.  It's looking more and more appealing.....

So, I checked my weight last night and it was 179.5.  I was like OY until I checked the calendar and realized I should start my cycle.  And I did -- in the middle of gift wrapping.  I know -- what a pain, right?  But I don't mind.  I'm still just happy to get a cycle after the issues I had before!  It's a reminder that I'm getting healthier.  :)  Ok, that's what I tell myself anyways!  I have been indulging... and enjoying it.  I'd say I'm eating right at or a smidge over maintenance.  I don't expect to come out unscathed, but I'm good with it.  Especially this French Vanilla hot cocoa that I've been making with coffee... OM NOM.  So stinkin' good!  But once it's gone, not sure that I will buy any.  You see, it was a gift!  And boy must my friend know me well.  :)  I also got some that is peppermint flavored.  I also mix it with coffee!  And it tastes VERY close to Starbuck's peppermint mocha at half the calories!  I think 90 for my cup which is about 12 to 16oz.  110 for the French Vanilla.  That has been my indulgence.  Tomorrow the indulgence will be chocolate gravy.  Sweet heavens.  Love that stuff!  And it's easy to make.  I lost my original recipe so I was super stoked to have found the recipe on Pinterest that was almost identical to mine.  :)  The only difference I could see was the amount of sugar -- theirs had less.  And funny enough, I remember noting on my last batch to lower the sugar.  :)  So, I'm super happy to adopt this recipe as my own.  Back on point, my weight is up a bit, but nothing crazy.  I'm not going to worry or panic.  Like I said, I know I'm going over, but nothing crazy.  Although that cheese dip last night was GOOD!  I rarely eat it, so I enjoyed every bite.  ;)

Other than that, just trying to relax today and not stress.  Since the Christmas stuff is done, my plan today is to dust shortly, maybe run the vacuum (I'll do that after the dogs are put up tonight so the floor is ready for the morning!) and some baking.  Along with that, I'm knocking out laundry because... not much else to do.  I only have cookies and some pies to bake.  The pies are all chocolate.  Hmmm... maybe no chocolate gravy since we're having chocolate pies...  maybe I'll do the sausage balls instead.  Decisions decisions...  Ok, well, think I am going to get rolling.  Think I may go ahead and knock out the pies and the dusting.  The kiddos and I will make cookies later, too.  So, I'm busy but nothing crazy.  :)  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, friends!