Amazed myself by staying awake until (after!) midnight on New Year's Eve (for a second night in a row!!!) eating and working on a (second) jigsaw puzzle – our annual tradition.  Of course it helped that Tom "forced" me <g> to eat some chocolate truffles throughout the evening.  And then with a little help (“better living through chemistry”) I was able to fall asleep.  I even slept in on New Year's morning... at least until Tyga woke me up a little before 9:00 (!) crawling under the covers with me.

  Unfortunately I was a little late heading off to the gym - which was sorely needed after all the food I’ve been inhaling over the holidays <G>  and I was quite sore as a result of Sunday's Boot Camp (more pedaling standing up on the spin cycle, which does a real job on my legs).  But though I had been sorely (no pun intended!) tempted to cancel I still dragged myself in.

Tom and I continued working on the puzzle throughout the day, and got somewhat close to finishing it during the evening.  I left Tom working on it when I headed to bed at 10:00, and thought he might complete it without me - but this is what was still waiting for me when I got up this morning.

It turned out to be more difficult than either of us had predicted.

Other "activities" yesterday included a morning soak in the hot tub.  Once Alex and Aja got up in the afternoon (Instagram showed them still partying at 7:00 am) they also took a soak, though Alex complains that the water is much too hot for him.  Not really that surprising, since he runs around in the cold in a t-shirt, and I'm all bundled up once temps plummet below 70.

Called Mom yesterday to wish her a HNY, but our connection was bad even after I hung up and tried again.  Thinking maybe I wasn't the only one trying to use the phone "lines" yesterday?

The Hot Springs up in Colorado got dumped on with snow for the new year, quite a bit even for them.  The OLT site called it 13", though Terry's photo and e-mail called it several inches less when she was digging out her car.

I certainly enjoyed looking at the pix that OLT posted - 

but they do not even remotely tempt me to visit this time of year!

massage teepee

swimming pool

Apple Pools!

Kiddie pool

None posted of the Party Pool; 

guess no one was willing to schlep up there in the snow?

Lots of places around Arizona got their fair share of snow (there were even snow flurries in North Scottsdale!) and I've been enjoying all the posts on FB.  This pic of Sedona's snow is stunning - and reminds me of Alex's recent shot from his hike up Camelback - but looks more than a tad <g> chilly up there!

This afternoon is Benny's memorial.  Marcie and I have been planning to attend, and a few days ago I called Joy to see if she wanted to ride with us.  Despite hawking the paper for his obit and info, she missed it (Marcie mentioned that it was pretty well hidden at the bottom of the list) and thus was unaware that Hilda had scheduled it for today.  Naturally Joy was glad I informed her, and will be joining us.  A lot of the original people from the neighborhood have moved (or died) so not sure how many people will show up today, but of course hope for Hilda's sake it's well attended.

The exterminator is scheduled for this afternoon (unless Judy screwed up again?) so Tom will have to take care of that.  And Mitch is going to come by later so we can talk about my thoughts re a privacy "wall" for the hot tub.  The idea, of course, is to be able to see out but not in.  A brief search shows lots of different dimensions (and materials) from which to choose.  I have decided to leave the top open to the sky, but otherwise am thinking somewhat along these lines:

The support posts (on the outer corners of our pad) will give me a place for hooks to hang my robe and towel, and I assume Mitch will have some good ideas about constructing weather-proof shelves along the inside in which to keep my radio, some candles and a lighter, hair ties & shower cap, and other "necessities" of happy soaking!