I’ve got the crazy body syndrome again.  WI on Saturday was good.  I lost 2.4 pounds.  Sunday, I felt would be the test.  Sunday, I weighed myself at home – a loss of 1 pound.  Whoohoo.  Monday morning, I weighed – a gain of 1 pound.  Sigh.  This morning, again step on the scale – up another pound.   It looks as if this week I will be bouncing around these three pounds.  I wish there was this magic pill out there that would give me a normal metabolism.  Is that too much to ask? 

Sunday was hubby’s birthday.  We went and played golf.  I walked nine holes!  This translates to walking about 2 ½ miles, up and downs hills, pushing a cart that has about 40 pounds of golf clubs.  So, my son calls hubby to wish him a happy birthday and to thank hubby for getting him cable.  Did my hubby’s son call?  Yes, he did.  But he called to say there was something wrong with the blower motor on his car and did he think he could fix it.  My husband asked him if he was going to wish him a happy birthday and his son told him he forgot.  I could have so rubbed it in his face, but I didn’t.   Hubby looked up the car/blower issue online and it going to be an inexpensive fix.  The part costs $20, but there is hubby’s time to consider.  I think they are going to work on it this weekend.    Wait…did I say “they?”  Nope, hubby will work on it and his son will go to his old room and watch TV until it’s done.

It’s been nuts at work.  My boss is freaking out because I’m here through the end of the week – then that’s it!  She made the announcement (finally) today and now everyone has something to be done – including Xeroxing and binding 11 books (I don’t think I’ll get to this one in the next few days – too bad, so sad).  These people haven’t said more than 5 words to me in two years and now they are all my best friends – who need something done. 

My boss is going to be interviewing candidates that are from a pool of workers that have been laid off from our company.  I work for a LARGE company.  I saw two of the resumes and they are way more than qualified for this job.  They are trying to get back in the door and won’t stay here long.  The salaries they are asking for are almost $10K more than I’m making now!  Jeez LaWeeze. 

So, I am going to a taste test tonight.  I will get paid $30 to sample appetizers and give them my opinion.  Shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes.  Thank goodness they don’t give you a whole plate of them.  They give you a half or a quarter – sometimes a whole piece.  It will be a light dinner tonight, even though I doubt that there will be a lot of points associated with the entire taste test. 

Can you tell that nothing has been happening in my life this week.  This has been nice.

Yeah…it’s Friday!  I hope you have good things going on this weekend. 

I weighed this morning and was down 3 pounds.  I have been playing with these three pounds for almost two weeks.  I’m not ready to declare victory just yet.  If the three pounds are still off by Sunday, it will be a victory.  Tomorrow is WI and I’m glad to get that out of the way. 

Last night we went to the race book and had their seafood/prime rib buffet.  Normally, this is $21.95 per person for all you can eat, but we had a buy one-get one coupon.  We got there at 5pm and it was packed.  We had to wait for table.  Hubby gorged himself on everything.  Crab legs, all types of shrimp, prime rib, catfish, oysters, chicken wings, and sides.  The first thing I did was head over to the small little table that had the salad bar.  Ok.  Lettuce, cheese, croutons, and three dressings – Italian, raspberry something (very sweet), and blue cheese.  That was it!  I filled my dinner plate with lettuce and couldn’t find a dish to put my dressing in, so sparingly put on Italian, thinking it would be the best choice of the three.  I grabbed another plate, skipped the side dishes and put six pieces of pretty large shrimp on my plate.  I also got a piece of baked catfish.  Ok, I’m a southern girl and you can’t eat fish without ketchup.  It took forever to get a bottle of ketchup because they were so busy. 

My shrimp was good, but the catfish was a bit cold and I only ate a couple of bites.  Hubby gave me a couple bites of his prime rib, it was ok.  I saw someone coming out with a piece of cheesecake (I would kill for cheesecake) and my hubby said that if I went and got a piece, I could take one bite and then he would finish it off.  Sounded like a fair trade.  So, off I bounced to the dessert table.  They must have put out a new cheesecake because this one wasn’t touched yet.  It had this horrible looking red stuff (strawberries? Cherries?) all over it.  I didn’t get any.  The cakes and bars all looked like they had been made in someone’s kitchen – they just didn’t look that good.   I found the smallest rice crispy square and brought that to the table and ate half of it.  I was full and feeling pretty pleased with myself for being so “good” at the buffet. 

After dinner, we headed up to the simulcast room.  My tummy was not happy.  Again, that sensitive balance thing.  I come from a long line of heavers, so throwing up is really no big deal to me.  For almost an hour, I sat there sick to my stomach, just waiting for the moment of no return.  I’ve done this enough times in my life where I’ve got the timing down.  In the bathroom I went and got rid of my entire dinner.  A new thing this time though, my nose started bleeding.  I’ve got sinus issues and take a daily steroidal spray.  So nose bleeds are nothing new either.  Just it was a pain to have both at the same time.   I didn’t feel that good for the rest of the evening or this morning.  I’m feeling fine now.   Well almost.  Seems that maybe something didn’t really agree with me, because I’ve been to the bathroom three times this morning.  Hopefully, that’s out of my system now.   My hubby is so used to my stomach issues; he wasn’t concerned about the length of time I took in the bathroom or me being sick.  When I came back, he told me my horse won and asked how I was going to count the points now.   We did horrible at the race book.  Only won on the quarter horses.  I really do not like the tracks hubby picked this time.

Another reason to wonder about the validity of my three-pound loss.   Water weight?  Missing dinner?  We will give it till Sunday. 

I hate Halloween.  My husband loves Halloween.  Hubby is in charge of the candy giving.  I don’t want my hands on it.  I love candy.  Halloween upsets the cat.  The cat sits by the door and growls at the trick or treaters.  Well, he growls at anyone who comes to the door.   Of course, I have to get the candy on my Saturday morning Target run – and not the cheap stuff either.  My husband likes to give out the good candy.  So, the candy will stay in the garage until it’s time to give it out. 

I’m getting my nails done this weekend.  Yeah.  Hubby wants to play golf on Sunday.  Sounds like a good weekend ahead. 

Rotten day so far and it’s only 10am.

I was up 1.5 pounds this morning.  Why?  I have no idea.  I was totally on plan yesterday.  I’ve been taking the stairs, trying to be more active.  It was just the prelude to my day.

My husband and I are having a humongous fight.  We rarely ever argue, but when we do, they are doozies.  I’m thinking this might be it.  I’ve started looking for somewhere to move.  I thought we had a great marriage, but it seems all it was to him was a dual income.  Ok, we are in our 50s, empty nesters, and money has never been an issue for us.  If I want something, I buy it (within reason).  Hubby handles all of the money and pays all of the bills.  He is extremely conscientious about paying the bills so I never have to worry about something not being paid.  He also is very frugal, so I don’t have to worry about him going out and spending money we don’t have.   I happily hand over a generous portion of my paycheck to him for the bills, but keep at least $150 for savings.   I also make more money than he does.  Not by much, but I do.  We have a very comfortable life.

Now the problem.  His ex-wife is hounding us for money.  Her $1000 a month child support ended last June.  She has a drug problem, smokes cigarettes, and spends every dime she has as soon as she gets it.  She turned the oldest two sons against my husband and they will have nothing to do with him or his family.  The youngest son is 19 years old and takes classes at the community college.  Now this kid was in the top 2% SAT scorers in the NATION.  He could have had scholarships anywhere, but he was too lazy to fill out the applications.  So, now we are paying half of his college expenses.  His mother wants us to pay for his health insurance, car insurance and other expenses. 

I think his son should get a part-time job and help his mother with these expenses.  I also feel that if we contribute to more than college expenses, then my son (who is 20, works full time) should also get some sort of financial relief.  My son cannot afford cable, so he does not have TV.  I think if we start paying some of his son’s expenses, then we should pay for my son to have cable.  We gave his son a car.  When that car broke down, we bought him another car.  When that car needed repairs and maintenance, we paid for that.  When he needed money for school, we gave him that.  When he needed money for  bartending school (which he never went to), we gave him that.  We haven’t given my son one dime for anything other than Christmas or his birthday.  I don’t think this is fair.  My husband said it was my son’s choice not to go to college (a choice I wasn’t happy with) and is not entitled for any financial benefits from us.  I don’t agree.  If his son had some initiative and applied for scholarships, this would be a mute point.  The only time we see his son is when he needs money.  I told my husband that if he wanted to leave my son out of the checkbook, and just give his son money for his education, that would be fine.  But he seems to think he should still be giving money to ex-wife and I’m not going for it.  I was there for years while the $1400 a month went down to $1000 month.  My paycheck contributed to that.  It’s over now and I’m not going to do it anymore.  If his son gets more $$ for living expenses, then my son should too. 

My husband refuses to discuss our personal problems while at work.  He is now refusing to discuss them through e-mail.  I told him I wanted to separate our finances and I would be responsible for half of our bills and he could do whatever he wanted with his money and that’s when he cut off communication.  He told me that I could move out if I wanted too.  So, that’s where I am.  He refuses to talk to me and suggested that I leave. 

He did say, however, that tonight’s dinner is out and we will be going straight home.  Punishment for sticking up for my son.  I guess I’m done with this. 

The only positive is that I’m not hitting the candy dish.  So much for thinking that I was married to the most wonderful husband in the world.  I guess there is no such thing.

It’s Wednesday.  I weighed myself this morning and dropped a pound!  Yeah!  I was super good yesterday so that makes me really happy. 

I’m more active.  Well, I’m just beginning.  Every time I need to go to the bathroom at work, I climb the stairs to the next floor up and walk to the furthest bathroom.  I figure I usually go about five times a day, so that will be five times up the stairs.  I still can’t bring myself to walk down the stairs, so I take the elevator – one flight down.  Maybe one day.

I’m hoping that I can fit some walks in over my lunch hour soon.  I really don’t want to bring tennis shoes to work because I’m trying to clean out my desk.   I have so many excuses.  Maybe I need new tennis shoes.  Hmmm…..

I put a frozen Peanut Butter Bliss bar in my lunch bag this morning.  At lunch time, I cut it into six pieces and savored each piece.  Of course I wanted more, but - HAH!  I didn’t have any.  Victory of those delicious, but evil bars.  I have been so good today as well.  I am so back on track.  Hubby has gone golfing with his friends and it will be a “fend for yourself” night.   A Canadian bacon omelet is sounding pretty good.  I’ve definitely got the points, so I’m going for it.  I might even have piece of toast with some of that spray butter on it. 

Ok, speaking of sprays.  Has anyone tried the spray ranch dressing?  Zero points, but it is lacking some serious flavor.  I had to spray a lot more than I wanted too and I still barely tasted it.  It had the ranch flavor, but it was pretty weak.  I will still finish off the bottle, but I also bought some balsamic vinegar spray so I’ll some variety. 

Biggest Loser – did yall watch it?  Granted, it is motivating, but I never watched until just recently because I really feel that the show exploits obesity and humiliates the contestants as well.  Our WW leader always talks about it, so I watch it so that I know what she is talking about.   This show is telling/showing  America that losing 3 pounds, 4 pounds, and last night 9 pounds a week isn’t good enough.   That if you lose 100 pounds in seven weeks, you are a hero.  I hate to see the look of disappointment on the contestant’s faces when they have had a smaller loss than they expected.  I know that these contestants are medically supervised, but does the average viewer?  Does the average skinny viewer understand why myself or some other overweight person can’t lose 10+ a week?  What is this show telling our young people?  I have so many different emotions when it comes to this show. 

Hubby was supposed to call his mom on his way to golf (2 hour drive) and tell her that he doesn’t care if she talks to his ex wife, but he and I are off limits and she is not to discuss us or our activities in the future.  He wasn’t happy about it either.

I finished handicapping all the race cards, so we are good to go for tomorrow night. 

My boss still hasn’t moved on getting a replacement for me and hasn’t given me the go ahead to say anything to anyone.  My new boss and I met today.  He wanted me to put all the paperwork in place to have everything ready (computers, phones, other equipment) ready to go on November 9th.    This means end of day on November 6th, everything I use now will be turned off.   It takes about two weeks to get everything in motion and she needs to get on the ball or she will have some problems.  Oh well.  She pays me NOT to think.  She hates it when I take initiative or have independent thoughts.  So I will keep my mouth shut. 

Ok, I thought I didn’t have a lot to say today, but I guess I did. 

Not a lot today.  The evil one is back and making everyone miserable.  Nothing changes.  She still hasn’t announced that I am leaving.  So, I cannot say a word and in essence, she has taken all of the excitement of getting a new job and turned it in to nothing.  Oh well.

When I weighed this morning, I was the same as yesterday.  I don’t deserve to stay the same and I am thankful that I did.  It was really icky outside yesterday when we got home, so no walk.  But I did get up from my desk today and did about 20 minutes walking.  Our series of buildings are a quarter of a mile from one end to the other, so I did half a mile.  Not bad for my first time and the first time since double knee surgery.  I’ve been babying my knees and using them as an excuse too long.  Hmm….I’m still scared to walk down steps, I’m still afraid of falling, but I should be able to walk, right?

We are going to the seafood/prime rib buffet on Thursday night at the race book.  Of course hubby went overboard and bought three cards.  Since one is entirely quarter horses, it took about two hours to handicap.  I have marked the other ones and will finish up either this afternoon or tomorrow.  They will be done in plenty of time for Thursday night. 

MIL told my hubby’s ex wife that I got a new job and big raise.  So, hubby gets an e-mail yesterday from the ex asking him to pay for his son’s car insurance.  I swear that woman.  She makes almost as much as my husband and I do together.  The son has come to us for money for college books, which we happily gave him.  The son asked for a car, we got him one.  He asked for tuition money, we gave it to him.  When his car needed repairs, we took care of that too.   I knew when MIL told my husband that she was having problems, we would be hearing from her.  The woman has never been able to handle money.  When she was married to my husband, she was addicted to shopping and put them heavily into debt.  When they divorced, my husband scrimped on everything and paid his half of the debt off.  She re-financed her house until she was at the 110% of the value, blowing the money on trips, shopping, new car, etc.  We are very careful with every dime.  We budget for everything.  And my husband is a financial whiz.  Oh…I give up.

That’s it for Tuesday. 

Well, I’ve had some issues. 

WI this past Saturday revealed a .4 gain.  This was expected.    My body has a very sensitive balance and traveling to Phoenix totally upset it.  I didn’t have a bowel movement for almost a week, I’m sure I was dehydrated – even though I drank tons of water, and my sinuses were giving me total hell.  I know  -excuses, but reality as well.  I told myself I wasn’t going to be upset if there was a gain and I wasn’t. 

What threw me over the edge were these Peanut Butter Bliss bars from Weight Watchers.  I can’t stop eating them – they are so wonderfully good.  I bought two boxes on Saturday and finished a box of 12 yesterday (less than two days).  Of course the scale showed a gain of a pound this morning.  That depressed me.  Then I come to work and the one co-worker who talks to me brought in a HUGE mixed bag of candy.  Not the junk candy, but Reeses, Snickers, Almond Joys, Nestle Crunch, KitKat Bars, M&Ms (both plain and peanut), Milky Ways, and regular Hersey Bars.  Ok….this was cruel.  I have a major sweet tooth.  I would rather eat candy than anything else.  Still upset over my one pound gain, I hit the candy dish.  I didn’t do as badly as I could have – only six pieces.  But still six pieces. 

I wasn’t even going to blog today, I’m so ashamed of myself.

Just a little while ago, the candy dish is calling my name.  I thought, oh…what the hell, I’ve already blew it.  But of course, you can’t eat candy without a coke zero (which I had in my lunch bag).  So, off to the break room I go to get a cup of ice.  At the vending machine was a lady a little bigger than me, with a regular pepsi in one hand and a bag of chili cheese fritos in the other, buying a butterfinger.    The really sad part is that she could barely breathe.  She was gasping for breath as she sat down in front of the vending machine to push the buttons. 

My angels are with me.  I was meant to go to the break room and get a reality check.  Just because the dishwasher broke a dish, doesn’t mean you throw out the whole load, right?  I’m not perfect nor do I want to be.  I got off track, but I’m back on now.  I came back to my desk with a glass of ice and pulled out my rice cake and I’m happily eating that.    Hubby and I will take a walk this afternoon and maybe burn off a few calories.   The candy dish no longer calls me.  My plan for the Peanut Butter Bliss bars – I will put them in the freezer when I get home.  Then if I want one, I will have to wait for it to thaw out.  I’m not patient, so this plan should work just fine.  I will never ever buy another box of them ever again.  They are evil!

I had a great weekend.  I bought some adorable shoes and a purse for winter on Saturday.  Saturday night we took my MIL to dinner.  I don’t think she was really happy with the place, but it didn’t bother my husband.  My MIL story will have to wait for another day when I have about 34 hours to write it.  On Sunday, we did go to the race book.  Hubby gave me three racing forms on Friday and I handicapped all of those between Friday night and Saturday.  I’m a pretty good handicapper.  My picks usually come in, not always in the exact order I picked, but somewhere in the top three.  My hubby, even though he knows how to read a racing form, is lazy and will look at what I picked and then the track analysts and make his decision.  On Sunday morning, he said that Turf Paradise had quarter horse racing (one of my favorite to handicap) so we bought that racing form.  Took it with us and I handicapped it there at the race book.  Now, I’m not a big gambler.  I bet my $2 win bets and that’s about it.  When I’m up or down a few dollars, I’m ready to go home.  The thrill for me is handicapping and seeing how well I did.  My hubby also is not a big gambler, but does dabble a bit with the exotic wagering.  After five hours, I was up 40 cents.  If I would have used my picks and picked exacta bets, I would have been up probably around $600.  But I didn’t and oh well…no big deal.  Hubby was up $46.  I brought a lunch bag with me, packed with a point friendly sandwich and other healthy snacks.  My husband hates when I bring food with me, but the race book’s food is not healthy and it’s expensive.  $8 for an order of onion rings?  Come on…$12 for a salad?  Jeez.  I told him if I were questioned, I would tell them I was on a special diet that they couldn’t accommodate.  They didn’t even ask and I didn’t think they would.

I gave the guy sitting next to me a horse tip; he won and split it with me.  It wasn’t much, just a few dollars, but that was really nice.  My hubby and I have a special fund set aside for gambling.  When we win, all the money goes into the fund.  So, I just gave hubby the money to put in the fund.  At the end of the day, I just give him all of my tickets and he cashes them in.   A week ago Saturday, before our trip, we went to use our free $5 bets that the race book sends us.  I bet my free bet on a horse from England at Santa Anita.  The odds were 18-1.  Hubby bet on the favorite, not trusting my pick.  My horse won.  I turned my free $5 bet into $95.  That was sweet.  We don’t win all the time, but when we do, it is nice.

While we were there, we were given a bogo coupon for their seafood/prime rib buffet on Thursday.  The buffet is $22 a person, but we will get one for free.  I’m pretty sure we are going.  They have TVs at the tables with remote betting machines.  You don’t even have to leave the table to bet.   Hubby is looking at what tracks will be simulcasting on Thursday evening.  Evangeline Downs has nine quarter horse races.  I’m pretty sure that will be one of the cards he buys.  I don’t want to stay there all night, so I’m hoping he doesn’t go crazy.   I’m sure I can make good food decisions at a seafood buffet.   I’m weird and really do not care for prime rib – hubby loves it.

So that’s it for today. 

Wow, it’s been a few days and what a few days it’s been!  I have been on the emotional roller coaster for three days now and I’m finally getting off. 

First – my weight.  I think my body is adjusting to a lot of things.  I went from a cold/wet to a hot/dry to a cold/wet in seven days.  The delicate balance in my sinus cavity was upset, my digestive system was upset, and I have been walking a tight rope of emotions this week.  My weight has fluctuated since last Sunday.  Up a pound, down a half, up a half, down a pound…it’s been its on roller coaster.  I have remained true on the WW program so I will have to be patient for everything to settle down.  It will be interesting tomorrow at WI.  No matter what the result, I will have to accept it and move on with my journey.  At this point, I don’t even know if I will show a half pound loss to earn my next five-pound sticker.   I will instead focus on the fact that my pants are getting baggy!  I think I’ve lost it all in my butt.

Second – I didn’t get the job I really wanted.  I did, however, get the other job!  The job is not a true admin asst role, but the other jobs expected aren’t bad.  This position will give me the foundation to change direction and go into project management if I so choose to do so.  Next to best of all, I was hoping for a 3% increase with the new job – fully expecting nothing, due to the economy, but I got a 6% increase!  But, BEST OF ALL – I will no longer be subjected to the evil one’s daily mental abuse!  My chains are gone and I’m free!  When I told the evil one I accepted another offer, she told me I can’t tell anyone until she makes the announcement.  That’s fine.  None of my co-workers talk to me anyways because they think I will snitch to the evil one.  In my two-years in this position, I have never given them reason not to trust me, but they don’t.  I think my predecessor must have done something – who knows?.

I had another interview on Wednesday and was offered the position late yesterday.  My husband took me to dinner to celebrate.  We went to Texas Road House.   We haven’t been there before.  Their menu was a little limited in the healthy department, but I had a grilled chicken salad – low fat dressing on the side.  I had a bite of my husband’s ribs and they were good.   I also had ¼ of a roll.  Just a bite, that’s all I needed.  I ate half of my salad and will have the other half for tonight’s dinner.  It was nice just going out and celebrating such good news!

The weather is crap.  Cold with snow/rain showers.  There will be no golf for us this weekend.  Hubby said something about going to the race book.  I love going to the race book if we get there early and get a good seat.  He hasn’t sent me any PDF’s of racing forms so I don’t know if we are going or not.  I hate handicapping at the last minute. 

The evil one is traveling today and Monday.  I will have an opportunity to move files/links that I will need to a place where I can get to them when I move.  I spent the morning filing and organizing things.  I wish she would make the announcement so I can start packing.  I can’t wait to get out!

Everyone – have a super duper weekend. 

Well, this morning the scale showed a pound loss.  I still need a half pound to be even with the weight loss at WI.  I’m not obsessing about it (can you believe that?).  I need to have a pound loss to earn my next 5 pound sticker by Saturday am.  I can do that.

This morning, I heard from both of the jobs I had applied for.  The one that I really wanted, I didn’t get.  I was their second choice.  The other one, I am meeting the hiring manager at 2pm to discuss the job requirements.  I have no idea what this means.  He did say, however, after my meeting with him, I should have a discussion with the evil one and that he will be calling her on Thursday (good luck, she screens her calls).  I’m pretty sure I will have a tentative offer.  My only hurdle is that the evil one will give me a good recommendation.  Since she treats me like a stupid two year old who can’t make a move without her direction, maybe she will want to get rid of me.  Maybe she wants to see me go as badly as I want to go?  ok, I’m in fantasy land now.  Back to the real world.  Everyone out there who might read this – pray hard for me!  

I decided last night that I want to go to Texas to see my mom in April.  That will give me six months to lose 40 pounds for a total loss of 55 pounds.  I will be at the same weight my mom saw me last.  My mom’s most recent test results showed she was at a “Stage 3” of her liver disease.  The scale only goes up to 4.  When you are at a 4, you don’t have much time left.  It’s really unfair.  My mom never drank – not even a glass of wine and she has liver disease.  The doctors said her liver looks like someone who has drank a quart of whiskey every day for the last 20 years.  My mom’s doctors are trying a battery of new medications and combinations of medications to keep the disease from progressing to a stage 4, but so far, nothing is working.  Of course, there is always a liver transplant, but she won’t hear of it.  I really want to go visit and the only thing stopping me is that I don’t want to disappoint her with my weight gain.  This is on the top of my incentives list. 

I have a list of incentives that I carry everywhere I go.  When I’m tempted to get off track, out comes the list.  You would think that intense knee pain every time I stand after sitting for longer than ½ hour would be enough incentive to lose weight, but it didn’t stop me from gaining 55 pounds before deciding to lose weight!

Wow!  As I’m writing this, my lunch came early.  I had to arrange for lunch for a business meeting of 20 people.  It is an unwritten rule that the arranger gets a lunch out of the deal as well.  I usually take home the leftovers too.  I knew I could easily pass up the zillion point sandwiches and the gazillion point chips….but there was cookies.  Bakery cookies.  Big cookies, at least 8” in diameter.  I didn’t give them a thought till I just saw them sitting there, calling my name, begging me to snap off a corner and savor the chocolately goodness.  I literally was fighting the voices in my head, telling me that one cookie wasn’t going to hurt.  Just one bite – that’s all I needed.  Well, I couldn’t very leave a cookie there with a bite gone, so I’d have to have the whole thing, right?  I thought about my mom, then the cookie, then my knees, then the cookie, then my diabetes, then the cookie, the post partum guilt, the cookie.  So many arguments in my head.  It was an epic battle between cookie and losing weight.  I know that I have the 35 optional points that would have covered that cookie – another argument to eat the cookie.  Believe me, every thought crossed my mind in about two minutes – justifying that cookie.  My list was down on my desk, but I have looked at it so many times, I know it by heart.  In the end, I turned off the lights, left the room, closed the door and let the business meeting know that their lunch was ready.  I came back to my desk and ate my peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread and had my sugar-free chocolate pudding.  I was strong this time.  But, I have to clean up the leftovers.  Another battle in my immediate future.  

I will let you know how it goes.

I’m back.  We went to Phoenix for a week.  My husband I like to go somewhere each fall that we might want to retire in approximately 15 years.  I’m sure that everyone that lives in the Phoenix area loves the desert; they would have too to stay there, right?  I just don’t see it.  The desert isn’t for us.  It’s just too brown.  Also, 100 degrees in later October is just too hot.  Sedona was absolutely breath taking, but too touristy.  So, Phoenix is off the list.  

I finished my Christmas shopping while in Sedona.  I found the most adorable purse for my mom.  She thinks I got her jewelry like I did last year when I was in Albuquerque.  HAH!  Surprise for her.  

As usual, my husband got turned around and we ended up in a seedy part of Phoenix.  We travel twice a year, and this happens at least once a trip.  So, we decided to buy one of those garmin navigational thingys we can pack and use when we go out of town.  I think that will solve the issue of getting lost.  This will be our Christmas present.  My husband and I aren’t big on giving each other gifts, so this will be perfect.  

I did my WI on Saturday morning.  We returned on Friday afternoon and I did not have access to a scale all week.  I was a bit worried because Phoenix does have two fast-food places that we don’t – Jack-in-the-Box and Whataburger.  I love those fried tacos from JitB and I think Whataburger has the best hamburgers around -IMHO.  It was hard to resist (and I didn’t) and keep within my points, but I did ok.  

I lost 2.6 pounds while on vacation according to the scale at WW.  Now, when I weighed myself before going to the meeting, I had lost only a half a pound for the week.  Other people at the meeting also said that they were surprised that they had lost more than they thought too.  So, I’m not so sure if I should be excited about the loss or not.  Sunday morning, I weighed myself again and there was a two pound loss.  Ok, I thought a half pound on Sat and now the two pounds on Sunday, there it is.  But then this morning, I gained 1.5 pounds back.  So something goofy is going on….probably my body.  I’m anxious for tomorrow morning to see what the evil scale says.  

This weekend I will be officially off limited activity from my last knee surgery.  Yeah!  I am going to try to do a mile from my Walk off the Pounds DVD and work my way up from there.  My knees still hurt, but I think it’s due to the weather change.  It’s not the same hurt as when I tore the cartilage in both knees.  I’m hoping when I get more weight off, my knees will be pain free or close to it.

Nothing has changed at work.  People still believe that I’m a magician and can make miracles happen.  The evil one (my boss) still has to clear her throat every 30 seconds (and after months of this – it’s driving me nuts).  It has been busy today and this is good.  The day goes by faster.  I never did hear anything further about those two jobs.  I left my cell number with the interviewers, clearly stating that I didn’t mind if they called while I was on vacation and nothing.  I thought surely I would see the denial e-mails when I came in and nothing.  I was told that offers would be made a week ago.    Oh well…at least I have a job, right?  My mid-year review is on Thursday.  Boy, that will be fun.  NOT.  Why can’t I win the lottery????  In the meantime, I will continue taking my Prozac so that I can come here every day and be abused.  Whine Whine Whine

So, it’s Monday.  I have my week’s menu planned and I’m mentally prepared to meet the challenges that will try to detour me from being successful.  More tomorrow.