All the things I should be doing instead...

Doesn't this dog head add a touch of class to my bedroom? This and the shark were on quick sale. What I really wanted is the flamingo in a tutu for the 'kids' room but it was not on sale

despite my diet, I might not be able to resist this paczki stuffed with cannoli cream from the Italian market. Steve does have some paczki in the refrigerator but as they have nasty Bavarian cream inside, I can leave them alone. My brother-in-law brought the rainbow cookies from Brooklyn I like so much. Harder to resist. I had a half.

The shark is in the den. Note photo of Spud, the pug, as a puppy on the adjoining wall

Thursday morning found me in shorts and short sleeves riding my bike in the mid-50s. Later, it was close to 70 both Thursday and Friday.  My daffodils thought it was spring and grew a foot out of the ground. Hope they survive.Today it snowed on me as I ran but at least it didn't stick but it does look like winter is ending. Good. I hear the trills of the red winged blackbirds as I type. I usually don't hear them until later in March. They think it's spring.

My weight continues to drop.  42.2 pounds. One benefit of it coming off so slowly (I really hoped to be done by now) is that my skin has time to shrink with it. I was afraid that I had gained so much weight, I would have all this excess skin  if I was ever able to lose the fat. I have seen what has happened when much younger women lose, though maybe they have lost more. They are left with a big flap of skin that only can be tightened by plastic surgery. Also I was afraid that the one breast, which had been cut down to size to be the same size as the cancer breast would lose fat and end up smaller than the irradiated breast which has no fat left in it. That didn't happen either so yay for that.

What I should be doing. Vacation planning. A spring trip using the 'free' ticket I get. So far we have decided on the Grand Canyon, south rim as the north rim doesn't open until May. We will fly to either Vegas or Phoenix. Need to get cracking. I almost bought tickets to Madrid for the fall (40th anniversary) as I thought I found cheap tickets. Alas, it was a teaser rate and sold out or never existed. Not sure if Madrid is where we want to go either. Maybe Eastern Europe?

Doing that family tree once and for all. I paid for a year of the international edition so I could look up all the Europeans, at least the German and British Isles ones (the Eastern European records are very sparse). I thought I would have all this time on my hands in the winter but some how, I find things to fill it up. Will work on this in the next 2 weeks.

Organizing my stuff. I did throw out all the stretched out granny underwear and replaced it with smaller, nicer stuff. I still have the fancy, lacy stuff from my thinner days. I thought I had more pants but I guess I gave a lot of way thinking I never would be thin again. I do have my skinny dresses still.

Brushing up on my languages which is somewhat contingent on where we are going for our anniversary trip. Steve does seem to be leaning towards Spain, where he hasn't been. I was there twice. I promised a friend that in 2018, we'd go to Italy together so I have a year to work on that.

Watching TV. I know that sounds silly but we have streaming with Amazon and Netflix and also pay for HBO. I figured in the winter I'd have plenty of time to catch up on shows as I couldn't spend so much time gardening and bicycling but so far, that hasn't happened.

Planning for the big unsupported bike ride in August. Where to stay, what to carry. Even for the ride in July, I have to deal with my broken tent. The last storm snapped a pole plus the shock cording is shot. Replace? It did last 25 years.

I am finally converting my squash  into smoky paprika-red lentil soup today. As soon as Steve returns with the missing onions, I will get cracking.