Howdy doo and Happy New Year to you!

I did not post over the weekend or yesterday. I have had THE worst insomnia over here and was literally brain dead until about a few minutes ago when an espresso entered my body and awakened that big, mushball in my head otherwise known as a brain!

There is little to report except that I did my first successful day of South Beach Diet (SBD) yesterday - replete with 40 minutes of walking and a somewhat fair-to-Midland night's sleep. Usually the first night or two of SBD is spent tossing and turning and peeing until my bladder just falls out! I did puh-LENTY of peeing through the night, but did manage to get some sleeps in there, too. My poor husband, however, did NOT have a successful night of sleep - he's on his third night of no sleep.

Part of it, I think, is that we just had the new moon and the tides are quite extreme right now. I've mentioned it before on this here blog, but there is a collective sleeping problem I've noted when there is a new moon or full moon. If you ask around, many will complain of sleeping problems right around those times of the extreme tides. A very unscientific study, mind you, but just something I've noticed time and again over here in MA...

So, how was your New Year's Eve and all? We had the VERY worst dinner in years at this new place that opened in Salem in the newly-renovated Old Salem Jail. I will not link to it or go on to bash its name, but let me just say that $11 for a salad and then an $15 appetizer of barely-recognizable, overly-breaded, fried eggplant wrapped around a dreary, goopy ricotta mixture, drenched with flavor-less, watery marinara does NOT make for a satisfying meal. AT ALL! You'd think they'd taste these things before serving them, but it was obvious that whoever made it and/or tasted it was not in a good way. I would have been embarrassed to serve that!

That was less than delicious, I'll just say. We ended up at the neighborhood watering hole until midnight and then came home and crashed! It was a fun night, but I have to say I'm glad it's all over and I can get back to eating healthily and not drinking ANYthing with alcohol until our upcoming vacation. I've just had ENOUGH!

We had our last meal before the SBD at a restaurant in Marblehead with my husband's family. I ended up eating a roll, a baked potato (yumm), some haddock and a salad. Not a terribly delectable meal, but the roll and baked potato were the things I was most interested in! It's a funny thing when you know certain things will not be crossing your lips for at least a month - those, of course, are the things you will TOTALLY crave! I can go without candy, alcohol, sweets, even fruit - no prob. But no potatoes? No pasta? No BREAD? THOSE things are the killer, my friends!

In other world news, there really isn't! It's just coasting time until our trip. Will try to get some painting done in our upstairs bath is the big goal. Also finally got down all the Christmas decorations yesterday. I like when the house gets back to being the regular house. The living room seems enormous without the tree! And, much as I do love the sparkle lights and prettiness of the holidays, I'm glad to be back to the "norm" whatever that may be!

Well, I have a million errands to do today including a consult with a client (yay!), so I will bid you adieu. Sorry for the lack of pictures or any earth-shattering news!

I will leave you with a summer pretty to contemplate:
Ok...Discuss...!!