Lazy days at home

The weather is cold. Seriously. The picture on the forecast just has a picture of a thermometer, and it's an icy bluish-white. It snowed this weekend-- not much-- and the hotel across the way has some ice sculptures out front.
The sky looks like pea-soup fog. But since we're miles from any ocean and it's dry as a bone here, we know it's not fog. It's smoke, smog, pollution, and horrible crap. Lately, my days have consisted of staying inside with the air filters on high. I feel pretty good, and my lungs thank me.
When we do open the door to go outside, the cold air rushes in and literally takes my breath away. If I'm talking when it opens, I choke mid-word and can't finish for several moments. When we come inside, there are double doors, and the cold air blows open the second set of doors. Penny likes to rush in and hold the doors while they're still open. The doormen usually work with her and don't close the first door until she's holding the second one. During December, it had a sticker decal with Santa and his sleigh. Penny always liked to point out Rudolph.
We basically live in a hotel, so there are doormen, front lobby receptionists, breakfast attendants, chefs, custodians, and clubhouse staff. I don't know any of their names, except for a few whose English names I've learned. They don't know my name either. But they all know my kids. So when any of the hotel staff needs to talk to me, they call me "Penny Mama." Hey, it works.
Most days we just stay inside. We have a lovely playroom in the clubhouse. Unfortunately, they're remodeling the room right next-door, and the paint fumes are pretty powerful-- even when we're used to pollution here! So we haven't gone down to play very often lately. We just stay home and play. Most days go something like this:
I wake up and dance along with one of my Zumba workout DVDs. I think I look amazing, with Latin hips and enthusiastic movements. The reality isn't as glamorous. The girls eat their breakfasts (lately Cheerios and yogurt) while watching me dance. Sometimes Penny joins in. Naomi usually wants me to hold her. I don't have as much spring in my step when I'm holding a 20-pound child. For some weird reason.
After my shower, we all get dressed and go eat breakfast downstairs. Or we stay upstairs. I'm realizing that one of the reasons I didn't lose any weight last year is because I'd load up breakfast for 3 people, bring it back to the table, and eat most of it myself. I hate wasting food, and a buffet every morning wasn't helping my waistline. So I'm trying to be smarter about it now. I basically just get food for the girls and eat some of their leftovers. I've lost a couple pounds already, and it's not like I'm going hungry.
I've been doing a lot of sewing lately. The girls have a ton of toys in my sewing room, and they will pretend to make food with their kitchen toys, play with their Fisher Price Little People, or play with my fabric while I try to sew. They also read stories, play on the iPad, put coins in the piggy bank, and watch movies at "home." They don't say living room, family room, or dining room. They just call it "home." Wherever we're living, the place where the family hangs out is "home."
I think that's a good sign for our Foreign Service girls.