reasons to love Monday - in the deep freeze

I may have mentioned this yesterday but BABY... it's cold outside! In the twenties with a wind chill in the teens... which helps me get started this week on my reasons to love Mondays!

1. HOW much do I love my carport on mornings like this? No frost on the windshield... only have about five feet from my back door to my car door. Duane had this awesome insulated oven mitt looking thing with a windshield scraper attached... asked if I needed one... NOPE! Gotta love it!
2. My snuggie! I got some awesome Christmas gifts last year... a fabulous cologne that I've almost used up (hint hint)... my garmin that I use almost every day (to determine my ETA to work)... and my snuggie! LOVE IT!
3. Central heat.
4. I bought this cutiepatootie little pea coat before I went to New York (almost) five years ago. (how has that much time gone by?). For the past two winters i was too fat for it... now it fits again and i LOOOOVE it!
5. Warm and fuzzy thoughts... Next Guy and I are now facebook official so I can tell you a little more about him... His name is David... he has three daughters that are the same ages as my three sons... and then he has a son who is 10. The first two daughters are married... the third goes to school with Austin. His two younger children live with him and he's a great daddy. You know how I feel about men who are responsible... very attractive quality in a man. He's a sweetheart of a guy and I think most of you guys would approve. (except those who wanted me for yourself - you snooze, you lose!)
6. I'm feeling better today. There's still a load of crud in my chest and every now and then I get a sharp pain in my left lung (the one with the granulomas) so I know there's a little party going on in there BUT... I feel stronger and I'm breathing easier and I think this stuff is easing up. I will admit, however, that I've been asleep by 9pm for the past few nights. I wear out easy.
7. I put away almost all of the laundry yesterday... that was a chore.
8. I sorted through my clothes and found another dozen pieces that fit again. I've got a whole new wardrobe for the week ahead and that makes me giddy! I packed away more of the big stuff.
9. Not doing stuff alone. Yesterday was just a very normal day... laundry... watching football... a little lunch out at the local mexican place... a trip to Walmart... all with David. It was nice having someone to spend time with. I'm a homebody... no denying that... I couldn't date someone who wanted to always be out and about. And I'm sick... there's no way I could have been in the streets all weekend. The fact that he was perfectly content to just do my normal stuff with me made me really happy.
10. My house is still almost clean!

We're shorthanded at work this week as our Holly is in Lake Tahoe on a ski trip. I'm so jealous! That puts a little extra pressure on me to have to be at work so as not to make things harder on my co-workers... I mean, I need the money for sure... but until I get the junk out of my lungs, I'm going to struggle to get through the day.

Keep me in your prayers (or wish on a star, light a candle, pull the needle out of my voodoo doll... whatever your pleasure). I'm gonna have to dig a little deeper... hang a little tougher... work a little harder until I'm back to 100%.

I haven't got my meals for the week done... haven't done any advance cooking as I just haven't felt like eating and therefore haven't been inspired to cook. I've been living on fresh produce and Nadine's chicken salad on whole wheat crackers. I mean... ultimately... that's not bad... but I like the security of having a week of meals tucked into the fridge already.

The good news is... this kind of chest crud would have had me glued to my nest a year ago but this year... I'm functioning. When they discovered the granulomas in my lungs last year - of course, it explained a lot - why I get sick so often, for one thing. And I worried then that I would never have a "normal" life. At first... I accepted the multitude of drugs they told me I would "have" to take... the steroids, antibiotics, decongestants, etc, etc. Yet... this year... I've managed to not just survive but thrive without that stuff. I have figured out that I can get a lot further and stay a lot healthier by eating healthy, carrying less weight, staying as strong as I can so that when I do get sick, I can heal faster and remain functional even when I'm sick. That makes a huge difference.

SOOOooo... even though I'm not where I want to be... I'm so grateful that I'm not where I was.
Happy Monday, y'all!