The last month in a nutshell

It has come to my attention that I have been neglecting my blog. Let me hit the highlights of the past few weeks to illustrate why this has been the case:

New Year's Eve was actually fabulous. We had friends over for a fondue dinner. Although it fizzled out around 11, I think that is to be expected without the liquor that would accompany any other New Year's Eve party. Plus, almost everyone either had young kids or was pregnant. Not necessarily the recipe for a rager. In all though, I had a great time and really enjoyed having our friends over. It will definitely become a tradition.

We made (and have already broken some) New Year's resolutions. The most drastic being living on a budget. My parents are cringing as they are reading this, but I have never done a real budget. We usually pay our bills, then spend whatever is left and occasionally more. According to Suze Orman, on Oprah's best life week (which shows how lazy I have really been this month) this is the year that will make or break us, so we figured we better get on the ball. I am doing all of my shopping with cash, which really makes you pay attention to what you spend. While it may be the responsible thing to do, it is definitely not fun. Maybe it will be funner when our budget grows...

The average temperature here in Milwaukee over the past few days has been -10. That's -45 with wind chill. Mind you, that's not based on anything scientific, just my own personal observation. Carter had his winter break over the past month, which allowed us to stay home 5 out of 7 days each week. Sure, there are indoor places to go, but you have to go outside to get there. Which at this point just isn't flying. Carter started school again on Monday, but today and tomorrow are too cold to leave the house, so we are staying home again. The high for tomorrow is -2. That's right, -2. That's about -30 with wind chill (according to the weather man, not me). The cold has sucked all of the energy and motivation right out of me. I don't want to do anything but sit on the couch bundled up drinking hot chocolate. When it comes down to it, that is the main reason why I haven't been blogging. My hands have to be uncovered to type and it's just cold! Remind me again why I live here?