Whap!

First of all, thank you everyone for the well-wishes for my knees and whatever else ails me. It's frustrating, but this too shall pass in some form or fashion, even if it ends up just being me having to get used to a different way of living and developing a new definition of "active."

Secondly, Tycho? See subject line. Ahem.

But seriously, it seems like the whole "turning 40" thing has hit. I was fine a month ago. Just FINE. I could walk, run, move around, all with little to no incident. Okay, other than my amazing ability to trip over carpet lint it was "little to no incident". And the lack of depth perception, which has me walking into doorways I know darned good and well are there. Er... okay. Shutting up.

Ultimately though, I'm used to those things. This whole new weird thing with my knees is aggravating, and to top it all off they decided over the weekend to bring pain into the equation. I think maybe slogging through the Florida State Fair for a few hours on Saturday wasn't my best move.

On the plus side, without going to the fair I wouldn't have discovered there's such a thing as Harp Therapy. Yep, and for a mere $15 a CD, you too can get yourself some therapy. As played on a harp.

By a woman who apparently feels that wearing a white velour choir robe is a good marketing gimick.

I swear, you can't make this up.

So anyway, since I haven't heard about my rheumatologist's appointment yet (I don't expect to hear anything until Wednesday when I'm to call back if I haven't heard), I've been once again consulting Dr. Google.

You know, because the last time was so very successful.

Eyeroll.

Well, this time Dr. Google has very kindly suggested I might have Vitamin D deficiency! I came across this little gem while googling "swollen joints", because the other search terms ("edemic femur" and so forth) weren't garnering much in the way of hits. I'd do the happy dance that I'm a textbook case for this (little to no exposure to sunlight, lactose intolerant, perimenopausal) except that I was also textbook symptomatically for the ACL injury.

Humph. But I'm going to grab some Vitamin D and start taking it anyway. As Choreboy said, "It wouldn't hurt either of us to consider supplements at this stage of life." And he's probably right.

Except, just what stage is he talking about with this "us" anyway? He's 48. I'm .... *glancing at the sidebar* not. Not even the same decade, dude.

That said, I move like I'm eighty. So I guess it all comes out in the wash.

Nonplussed

So.

I don't have any ACL issues. I went to my doctor to go over the MRI results and the report said, "The ACL, PCL, fibular collateral and medial collateral ligament structures are intact without evidence for tear or sprain. The menisci are normal in morphology and signal characteristic without evidence for injury. Articular cartilaginous surfaces appear intact..." and went on from there (I'll spare you the rest).

Huh.

On the one hand this is good news. Yay, no ACL surgery!!!

On the other hand, then what's wrong with my knees? What's causing the sensation that my body is about to rebel and throw me to the floor?

No clue.

"The findings do not have typical appearance for AVN (avascular necrosis). The findings are nonspecific and may possibly be seen with RDS (huh?) or atypical inflammatory/ infectious process..."

Which sounds to me like radiologist-speak for "Well, would you have a look at that?"

My doctor agrees, so she's referring me to a rheumatologist (due to the "inflammatory" bit). I should know when my appointment is in about a week, so we'll start the countdown to the next specialist then.

In the meantime I did get the okay to walk on my treadmill, so hooray! She did tell me she wouldn't okay jogging or running due to the whole inflammatory possibility since the higher impact wouldn't be good for that, but walking is fine. And my treadmill has handrails and a safety key, so even if I stumble chances are I won't fall and even if I do, it will shut off.

I just don't see the cane being a good idea on that machine, yanno?

So anyway, like the post title says, I'm a bit nonplussed. I thought I'd have a definitive answer for what's going on and instead I just have more questions.

And a cane.

And I turn forty in less than two months.

*blink*

But I can walk. I'm not going to discount that.

And My Status Is...

With all the medical appointments, MRI scheduling, and regular hoopla, I figure my mindset at this point is best reflected by my recent Facebook status messages:

Amanda Justice Note: to everyone who calls a place of business, please STATE YOUR DAMN NAME. Kthanksbai!

Amanda Justice Those of you who work at front desks (this includes me) -- do your damn job. Don't pull this "I'm just one person" garbage. If anyone needs to hear that it's your boss, not your clients or patients. Tell the clients that you'll get it taken care of... then DO IT.

Amanda Justice When your office makes a mistake, it behooves your office to fix said error in as swift a manner as possible. It is NOT a good idea to treat your client/ patient like a burden for an error on your part. Just sayin'.

Amanda Justice People don't listen. Me, 3 minutes ago: "Good morning, Random Initials Architects!" Caller: "Yes, is this Citywide Painting?" *headdesk*

Amanda Justice A helpful hint: at the conclusion of a telephone call, please say "goodbye" before hanging up the phone. Did your mother raise you in a barn? No? Couldn't prove it by me!

Where have common courtesy and customer service gone? The way of the dodo? Holy cow, some days I feel old.

Seriously, not doing too badly... life gets frustrating and at the moment I'm in the middle of one of those frustrating bits. In some way or other it will pass, though. I've got an appointment tomorrow for MRIs on both knees, so shortly after that we should at the minimum have a better idea of what's going on. Hooray!

Oh, and on the really good news front, today the joint instability has been much better which gives me hope that I can at least start walking on my treadmill again. That would be awesome, because I am sick and tired of having to watch every little stupid calorie I consume. UGH.

I never thought I'd be excited to exercise, but one thing I'm learning through this injury, whatever it is, is to never take my body's functionality for granted.

And I will run a 5K. It will have to wait awhile, but I will do it.

MRI Incoming!!!

So I went to my actual, real-live "has a medical degree and license and everything" doctor, and after bending my knees six ways to Sunday she confirmed my self-diagnosis, which had admittedly been aided and abetted by consultations with Choreboy and Dr. Google (two arguable medical references, to be sure).

My ACL is injured in both my right knee and my left. In proper medical terms, this is known as "hosed" (*koff*).

From everything I've read, ACL injuries don't necessarily need surgery unless a) you're in a high contact sport, or b) you are experiencing joint instability.

Guess which one of those describes me? In both knees?

So anyway, I'm going to have an MRI on this upcoming Wednesday. My doctor will follow up with me when she gets the results, and expects to be referring me out to an orthopedist and we'll let that actual real doctor with a medical license and everything make the surgery call.

I'm thinking 2010 is more of a casual walking, biking, and yoga kind of year. The 5K is going to have to wait until 2011.

And I swear I'm going to use this cane to trip the next person who looks at me weird. It's a cane, people! Lots of folks use them. We live in the retirement capital of the nation. Good grief.

Just FYI...

People look at you really weird when you're visually young-ish, yet toddling about with a cane.

This sucks.

We Are Not Amused

It's Monday, and while a good portion of the nation is off work, I'm sitting at my work computer sucking down my bowl of soup for lunch as I type this.

I'm a bit bummed because my knees are still all out of whack. I decided to forgo any more running until the group run on Tuesday, but the way my right knee keeps trying to collapse or whatever it is it's doing, I think I'm going to have to bail on that, too.

So I've sucked it up and called my doctor. Going in on Wednesday afternoon. I have a feeling this is the first visit in a long line if something in my knee is totally hosed. Or my knees.

Here's hoping she just tells me to wear a brace or something. I hope this is that easily fixable. It doesn't hurt which to me is a positive, but Choreboy had a friend whose ACL was on its way out and it started similarly.

Ick.

T.G.I. Saturday!!

I know T.G.I.F. is the standard, but obviously I missed Friday. In fact, the whole week has been insane! Boredom, please. I'll take boredom.

First off, thank you Jenn for the lovely blog award!!

And also thank you for your lovely comments about my profile picture. I happen to be rather fond of it myself (and I still think the DMV ought to let me use it for my next drivers license photo).

There are rules and passing on things and stuff as far as the Beautiful Blogger Award is concerned, and I'll get to that early next week. Saturday is The Dead Zone as far as blogging is concerned. And I want Jenn's generosity to get more than a Saturday hit :)

Meanwhile (because whining is fun regardless of the day/week issue), Couch-to-5K is kicking my butt this time around. Or my knees, to be more precise. Primarily the right one, although the left knee has also shared its displeasure with me. I was fine last week, joint-wise. It was strictly muscle pain I was dealing with and that was pretty much gone by the time I did W1D2 on Thursday that week. But this week? Erm... no.

The run went well on Tuesday night. I'm not a huge fan of running in general, but I am very interested to see what I can make my body do (in forty years it's about damn time), plus the company of so many other people similarly huffing and puffing themselves around our trail cannot be appreciated enough. My SIL didn't make it this week because she's recovering from some nasty cold bug, but it's a really friendly group of co-sufferers/journey-ers, so I wasn't bereft.

Come Wednesday morning? Rut-roh. I got out of bed, feeling a bit stiff but not bad, and then my right knee acted like it wanted to slide out of place or something. I know, it's a hinge joint and all, but that's what it felt like.

And that continued the whole. Freaking. Day.

It wasn't that it was painful exactly. There were moments of "eeek!" but mostly it just felt... weird. It started to improve mid-afternoon and was making fewer threats of sliding out of place (again, my perception/ description of the feeling). And on Thursday it wasn't feeling weird anymore, but had developed just a slight, dull ache.

Friday all was well with no ache or weirdness, so I decided to do my W2D2 run on the treadmill. I'd opted out on Thursday due to the ache-factor. I knew I could make it, but one extra day couldn't hurt I figured.

I should have taken two extra days, I think. Because this morning, there's my right knee... threatening to slide out of place again.

The good news is it's not as extreme as it was on Wednesday. I'd done some reading on knee issues and right after my run last night I stretched well, showered, then immediately took some aspirin and started icing the knee. So maybe that helped. But I'm thinking that the actual intelligent move would be to just suck it up and show up on Tuesday for the group run without running again.

I don't know. On the one hand I don't want to "wimp out". But on the other hand I don't want to keep pushing a body part that's been historically pissy with me and end up completely hosing my chances of ever finishing this class, let alone a 5K.

If anyone is out there today (or in days to come) and has any thoughts, ideas, or knows if maybe strapping up my knee or wearing some sort of brace might work? I'm open for suggestions.

Well, time for me to get a move on. I've got grocery shopping to do (hello knee brace), and then a day of cooking to get in. I'm working on making tons of stuff in advance so I'll be sure to have food for both work and dinner during the week with no excuses for eating out. I ate out Thursday, and the results were... embarassing.

Oh what the heck. I'll take a page out of Jenn's book. Here's what I had on Thursday, with the evil calorie tally thereof:

Yeah, it's ugly. Bear in mind that the foods listed are approximate, and the calorie count could actually be worse. It was an Asian buffet for lunch, then Chuck-E-Cheese for dinner. Yikes. Poor restaurant hits, and then lousy choices when I got to each.

On the plus side, I averaged up my caloric intake for the week and even with that paean to poor dining, I was still within my "losing" calorie range. That's something I try to remember -- that one day won't do me in. A whole run of them (see Halloween - New Year) will, but one day? That can be worked with.

If anyone's interested, here's what I'm cooking today:

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
Black Bean "Hummus"
and
Creamy Spinach Zucchini Soup

Have a great weekend, everyone! Clearly I'll be trapped in the kitchen awhile... ;)

Homework is DONE!

I made it through the first week of this new Couch-to-5K program my SIL and I signed up for, and I did it at the pace I'd planned which pretty much rocks. I'm still really amazed that picking back up close to where I left off was nowhere near as difficult as I thought it would be. I remember the first day I started walking purposefully again, way back last summer, and I was lucky to make it 20 minutes! To tell the truth I was really afraid it would be that bad last Tuesday with the running, so I'm extremely relieved my body seems to not have fallen nearly so far into slackitude as it could have.

We had the group run on Tuesday, and I did my "homework" runs on Thursday and Sunday. The lady who owns the training company that, in cooperation with our running store, runs this is also a former student of mine, and heaven knows it just Would. Not. DO. if her former teacher showed up to class without her homework done, no matter who the actual coach of the class is!

Damn I'm old.

And seriously y'all? This cold weather can leave any day now. I'm getting all dry and patchy in spite of religiously lubing myself up morning and evening. I'm turning into a lizard. Completely unacceptable.

Last but not least, never ever try to serve Zatarain's Jambalaya to a native Louisianan. It makes them giggle, especially when you use turkey sausage.

Just sayin'.

Cold

People, I can see my breath out here.

Our computer room (aka "The Dungeon" according to Choreboy -- not for any salacious reason, but rather because the room is a pit) is a converted porch. The previous owner of the house walled it in, and that was that. I'm not even sure he used any insulation. It's not hooked up to the main house's central heat and air, so although we've got a window unit installed for air conditioning, there is No. Freaking. Heat.

The high today is supposed to be in the mid 40's. I'd be hard pressed to say it got out of the low 40's, if that.

There were snow flurries in our end of town today. Snow flurries.

And where do I live?

Florida. Welcome to the sunshine state, y'all. I'm moving back to the couch to wrap up in the electric blanket.

Words Fail...

It's the "breaking news" designation that makes it art.

Couch to 5K, Take Deux!

Yep, I'm back in the saddle, folks.

I was doing well with all my exercise from June through early October, but once H1N1 hit our house I just splatted. Exercise? Huh? Moderation in eating? What?

Yeah. Ugly.

Weighing in at 168 still. I've dipped down, but clearly I've managed to spike right back up.

My one-year anniversary over at Spark People (I'm AmandaJCD there if anyone else from the blogosphere would like to friend me!) is on January 19th, so basically it's looking like I have 2 weeks to lose 8 pounds so I won't weigh MORE than I did when I started. UGH!

Okay, if some of the weight I'm holding onto is water there is a slim chance I can drop the 8, because I might as well have been eating from a literal trough the past month or so. But the likelihood is that I'll be over 160 still in a couple of weeks.

I'm annoyed.

But as I said, I'm back up with C25K, which should be entertaining. This time I'm going a bit different route. My sister-in-law and I have both signed up to do this through our local running shop, and we had our first session this past Tuesday.

Let me tell you, making my first serious physical activity in three months a run? Likely not the best move ever made. Yesterday I think I'd have been happy if I could just have amputated everything below my ribcage. I thought I'd be fine because I have a sedentary job. Well, I learned yesterday it's more of a "sedentary" job, quotation mark usage required. By "sedentary" I mean "sedentary except when I have to get up to deliver a phone message, file, hunt someone down for the phone, figure out someone left without telling me, write them a message, take it to their desk, come back to my desk, get up to make copies, deliver copies, make it almost back to my desk and then hear the dulcet tones of The Anonymous Architect bellowing my name across the suite..."

Ouch.

Sitting hurts. Standing hurts. Walking hurts. Stairs are especially high on the "yipe-o-meter". This is even an improvement over yesterday, when I was audibly whimpering. Oy.

And I'm clearly insane because I'm planning to do the second night tonight. In spite of everything I'm excited about this, in a masochistic kind of way.

The setup is that we meet once a week for the first run of a cycle (3 day cycles just like last time), and do the other two on our own. And the increments are different from the C25K I did last year as well -- for that one, the first week is run 1 minute, walk 90 seconds, repeat for 20 minutes. For this particular fitness instructor's group, we had several options the first night: walk 1, run 1; walk 3, run 1; or walk 5, run 1. My SIL and I went with the second group, figuring we didn't want to totally flake but we also knew we weren't up to alternating minutes quite yet.

Now the sheet we have for the rest of the week gives three options too, although those are a bit more tight: run 1, walk 1; run 1, walk 2; and run 1 walk 3. Day 2 it's for 20 minutes, and day 3 it's for 25.

I figure I'll again hit the middle group which means amping it up a bit to the walking 2 minutes and running 1. Eh, we'll see how it goes. I think I'll keep up the timing but slow my running if need be.

Now to tackle the food. I'm on track today so far. But that's just today. So far. I need to get a bit more consistency with this. I think Tricia at Endurance Isn't Only Physical hit the nail on the head with her blog title. And I could sure use a bit more mental and emotional endurance.

You've Gotta Laugh

Gum Zombie: May I have my chips back?

Me, as I return said bag: How'd you know I had them?

Gum Zombie, moving out of range: Because I couldn't find them anywhere else.

Choreboy: Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!

Me, plopping back on the couch: Shup.

Yep, that's been my M.O. for food of late. So... bleah.

My sister-in-law and I are starting a Couch to 5K program through our local fitness gear store on Tuesday, though. That's been in the works a couple of weeks. So I've got plans.

I just have to act on them before my jeans stop fitting.

Merry Belated Christmas!

Seven years and two days ago, this is what I found under my Christmas tree:


He (the Gum Zombie) was one week old. Hee :)

I hope everyone had a good one, whatever it is you celebrate!!

Christmas Miscellany

My favorite Christmas movie of all time, Scrooged, doesn't appear to be set for broadcast by anyone this holiday season. I was forced to go out and buy my own DVD of the thing so I can watch it... probably during the gift wrapping frenzy later on this week.

-----------------------

I have finished all my Christmas shopping except for Choreboy. And I would have him finished too, except I left his shirt sizes at home on my cell phone. And I couldn't call him from the mall to get them from him because my cell phone was at home. With his shirt sizes on it. It was a cyclical kind of mess.

-----------------------

My local cable provider has the 2009 Yule Log in its "On Demand" lineup.

Worse yet, I watched it.

-----------------------

Merry Christmas, folks!!

Marketing and PR

Disclaimer: I love Publix, and specifically I love the Publix Pharmacy. I get all my prescriptions there. It's easy, it's affordable, and it just makes good sense time-wise.

That said, it's time for another Open Letter to Publix.

Dear Publix Marketing Powers-that-Be:

I listen to the radio on my morning commute (Tampa Bay's Mix 100.7 if anyone cares), and over the past month or so there's been a new Publix Pharmacy commercial airing.

Oh. My. God. And you people paid good money for this? The mind boggles.

The first offense? It's done by one of those female voiceover artists who graduated from the the William Shatner School of Public Speaking where she was apparently taught to pause awkwardly, and then give one of those little half laughs in a semi-confessional tone to make it appear that she is Just A Regular Person, when in reality she is A Truly Dreadful Actor.

And then there is the meat of the commercial.

Kill me now.

[Note: text of the commercial is from memory because a) I don't have an audio of it close at hand, and b) even if I did... no. Just no.]

"My son ___ has always been a pretty healthy kid, but I knew the day would come when he would need a prescription."

Really? Gee, there's a shocker.

"I remember that day so well..."

Oh hogwash. None of us remembers that day because unless you've locked yourself in a sterile environment your kid has his first cold before he's 3 months old, and then you're squirting Augmentin down his unwilling little mouth, resulting in you then being stuck with the aftereffects in his diapers for days afterwards... not that I'm bitter or anything. But seriously, it happens so many times that the first blends into the tenth. It's just a part of parenting.

"After visiting his doctor we'd stopped by Publix to pick up a few things, you know, chicken soup, tissues, cough drops..."

Yep, been there done that. Countless times.

"When we were about to leave, he said 'Mom, what about my medicine?'"

WTH?? The kid is old enough to TALK? This is so not his first prescription. Good grief.

Anyway, more ridiculousness follows about how they didn't have a family pharmacy (with "oh how embarassing!" overtones), but then she got hit by a bolt of brilliance and realized they were loyal to PUBLIX!

So now Publix is their family pharmacy, it was a memorable experience, blah blah blah, and oh God will someone just make this commercial go away???

Newsflash, Publix Marketing Folks: people use Publix Pharmacy for their family because most parents (okay, humans in general whether parental or child-free) like to combine trips as much as humanly possible rather than making a separate run to a pharmacy. This goes quadruple if you're dealing with a sick kid. Come in, drop the scrip, grab the groceries, pick up the meds, and you're out.

Easy-peasy. Nothing "memorable" about it. And that's the beauty part.

Because if I can remember a trip to the pharmacy, that's a sign that something went terribly wrong.

Lordy.

Okay, rant over. Must finish actually working.

'Tis the Season

I've actually got a spreadsheet detailing my Christmas shopping progress. One of my friends (Tycho from the comments) informed me that spreadsheets are for calculating and analyzing data, so I'd be better served by a table in a Word document. To that I say bah, humbug... if only because the cells in the spreadsheet are already there and I don't have to come up with some notion of how many rows and columns I need for making a table. Formatting is just easier, period.

So anyway, the spreadsheet is done. Items yet to be purchased are highlighted in yellow, and holy crap there are a ton of them. Good news is, everything I've purchased from online has finally shipped.

Bad news is, the last item to ship went out today and if the Elder doesn't get his set of three micro wrestler action figures, Santa's ass is grass.

The 100% Weekend Challenge

For those of you who read Jenn over at Watch My Butt Shrink, you already know I joined her and Coley on the 100% weekend challenge. After inhaling most of a stuffed-crust pizza last Thursday (and the boneless chicken wings -- mustn't forget those!!!) I was determined to somehow get back on track since my scale reflected a weight of 168 on Friday morning, up from 149.99999999 a mere two months ago.

Again, please remember that I've been struggling to lose the last 30-40 pounds of a 70 pound overage for THREE YEARS. I've gotten as close as 15 pounds away, but that 168 is my high since I first started losing the weight since August of 2006. So it is absolutely imperative that I not put any more back on. Just give me a few months without watching my food I'll easily have 170 to lose rather than even that initial 70.

So I'm happy to report that I had a 100% Friday, Saturday, *and* Sunday. YES. It was a close thing on dinner last night because I was trapped at church for the younger son's Christmas choir doohickie-thingie, and they were feeding us. But it worked out very well because they had baked chicken (I took the skin off of mine), green beans, salad, rolls, and mashed potatoes with gravy. I ate everything with the exception of the potatoes/ gravy combo as I didn't know just what they'd made the potatoes with (i.e., skim or whole milk, butter, no butter, etc).

Anyway, hooray! Jenn was awesome with the text and email support, and I can only hope I reciprocated in some small way. She did a great job herself with severely extenuating circumstances.

For today, I'm well on track. Breakfast was an egg and a banana, and I just ate a SouthBeach Peanut Butter High Protein bar to tide me over until lunch, when I'm having mustard maple pork tenderloin, left over from Friday night, along with some broccoli and a roll of some persuasion.

I cannot begin to tell you how awesome that mustard maple pork tenderloin is. It's become a staple in our home. I nearly had to beat Choreboy off the leftovers with my cast iron skillet.

For those of you still reading, dinner tonight is buffalo chicken. I cook boneless skinless chicken breasts in a non-stick skillet. After the chicken is cooked through, I remove it from the heat and slice the chicken breasts. Then I return them to the pan and pour just enough buffalo sauce into the pan to lightly coat all the pieces. Toss on a bit of blue cheese crumbles, and we're good to go!

This works out especially well for us because the Gum Zombie prefers the chicken without the sauce, so I remove his before the saucing, and the Elder thinks blue cheese is disgusting, so we just sprinkle accurately measured amounts of blue cheese over individual servings rather than into the skillet.

In other news, the choir event yesterday was lovely. Gum Zombie was a marvelous little chorister and didn't need me to fling the Look of Doom at him even once. The Elder suffered through the concert beautifully. He did, however, proceed to tell the Gum Zombie that he really should join chess club next year... a chess club which conveniently conflicts with choir, which would thus save the Elder from EVER having to attend one of these gigs again.

Boy's resourceful... gotta hand it to him.

Un!Ac!Ceptable!!!!

Oh.

My.

God.

I just got on the scale at my mother's house this morning, and holy crap, the news was bad.

168.

I've gained nearly 20 pounds in about two months. THIS is how I got to weighing 200 pounds back in 2006, y'all. The whole "eating as if famine is approaching" thing.

Now granted I know that if I eat well over the weekend and weigh myself on Monday that I could drop up to five of those pounds as I ate pizza last night (major water retention) plus I woke up late this morning and was totally off schedule with everything, so when I weighed myself it was with all my heavy clothing and shoes on...

But seriously? 168???????

Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

You know, sometimes I feel a bit weird prattling on about my weight when I'm in what so many folks term as "one-derland" and in fact barely broke over that even at my highest, but the truth of the matter is that if the Elder son (then seven) hadn't announced to the entire grocery store "Mommy, you weigh two hundred!!!" in August of 2006, I might still be eating like I was.

Wait. I am.

But I could have done it without a break for the past three years, and well... do the math. I am fully capable of gaining 10 pounds per month. The rate of weight gain would eventually slow, but I could easily be much closer to 300 rather than 200. All it would take would be for me to ignore the scale for about six months.

I have to get this in gear. I have to get my eating straight. I have to get my butt back on that treadmill and work on Couch-to-5K because the only way for me to beat this is to make sure my lifestyle is utterly changed, and parking my ever-widening ass on the couch or in the computer chair clearly isn't effective.

And what kills me is that I can say all this, and yet there's a huge part of me that's still thinking "Maybe tomorrow's good..."

*headdesk*

No, today is good. I've got an adequate lunch. I've got more oatmeal than I can shake a stick at. I've not screwed up my eating yet today, and in fact even if I had that's no excuse for me to continue to eat as if all the food on the planet is about to disappear.

I have a treadmill and I know how to use it. Ditto the weights and balance ball.

I totally know what Susan means about the Crazy Woman who inhabits her head, because I've got one of my own and, damn, girlfriend's loud. She's also the one who's been telling me not to read all your blogs, because she KNEW that if I did that I'd be forced to get on the scale...

Well, I beat her yesterday. And I read over at Jenn's blog about her one day challenge, which got my mind going again.

I'm so tired of watching what I eat. I'm so tired of exercising. I've been doing the food-watching for over three years now, some months more intently than others obviously, and the exercising this round kept going for three months. There's part of me that wishes and hopes that I could eventually stop doing either one of those activities.

But I can't. So... one day. I pledge to eat well today. And I just "signed up" over in the comments of Jenn's latest entry to make it a 100% good choices weekend too.

I think I'll take a "before" pic tonight. If I don't manage to make it 100% this weekend, I'll post that sucker on Monday. If I do make it through, the latest I'll post the "before" pic is when I have an "after" pic I like.

The bottom line is that I can't keep hopping up and down like this with my weight. My health can't take it, and my wardrobe seams can't stand the strain.

Just a quote

I've got a good rant boiling at Publix's advertising folks, but it's not quite ripe. In the meantime, here's a quote:

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." (Herm Albright)

Heh. I like.

Not that *I* have a new post...

... but Choreboy does.

Read it. Almost-live-and-in-action, folks.

Snerk.