~~~

QUESTION: How many quarters does it take to play the new Lord of the Rings pinball game?

ANSWER: None. It only takes Tolkiens.

Hee. :)

~~~

It seems as if an eternity has passed since I last wrote. It hasn�t, of course, but I only said it seemed that way.

First of all, my appetite is back.

I found out over the weekend that I have not lost a single pound, despite the inordinate number of miles I have been walking four times a week and the fact that I have been good as gold when it comes to what I�ve been putting in my body (in the way of food that is. Har.). Of course, I already knew I hadn�t lost any weight � I can tell by the way my clothes fit me. I think the appetite came back the minute I stepped off the scale, though � I was pissed.

Sometimes I eat out of spite. One time, about ten years ago, I was trying to talk to the moron who was my doctor about an ankle problem I was having. He wouldn�t even look at the ankle and told me I needed to lose weight (I was a lot heavier at the time). Instead of recognizing that the doctor was an ass who should have looked at my ankle regardless of how much I weighed, I started eating a lot.

Don�t look for logic in these pages, people.

I really wish I could just relax and not worry about my weight. I�m trying, but we�re talking about reversing 37 years of conditioning here, folks. Easier said than done.

I went to my new OB GYN this morning. She had no helpful information to share about how I could lose more weight � at least nothing that I don�t already know and am not already practicing.

So what do I do? I am joining a gym later this week, to see if that, in addition to all of the walking, will help (plus, I know after the 3 Day is over I won�t walk anywhere near as much; especially because this is the last year I�ll be participating). But really, I am out of ideas as to what else I can do, so I think the best course of action is to work on my body image from the inside. Apparently, I am just always going to be about 15 lbs overweight, so I may as well get used to it.

Maybe this isn�t really �over weight� for me, ya know? This is always where I end up, so maybe that�s where I�m supposed to be.

Anyway, John didn�t come down this weekend after all. I wasn�t happy about it, either, and I finally kind of let him have it over the phone Saturday. Well��Let him have it� is rather strongly-worded, actually, but I did finally voice my concerns about him buying a motorcycle while he still has a truck payment, also. I mean, we�ve been talking about going away for Christmas � if he can�t afford to come to my house for the weekend, how can we afford Santa Fe or anything else? He swears he is just still recovering from his unpaid week off and our trip to Mendocino and that by this weekend he�ll be back on track.

I guess we�ll see now, won�t we?

The problem is that John wants what he wants when he wants it. There is no planning or budgeting involved. He�s always been this way and probably always will be.

It makes life challenging, I assure you.

Saturday morning I went on a 12 mile training walk. It was actually supposed to be 14, but one of the gals who came with us was totally unprepared for even 12 and was very slow. I stayed back with her while D cruised up ahead with almost everyone else. I didn�t mind, of course, except that I felt very bad for this gal. She had only ever walked 6 miles max. before and has not been training with any regularity whatsoever. She was hurting after about 7 miles. I suggested many times that she stop where we were and I�d come back and pick her up (of course, I also suggested she turn around and head back to her car at the point which would have made her walk 7 miles, but she wouldn�t do it). She almost relented, but in the end finished the entire 12 miles. She was limping by the end and walking maybe 2.5 mph, but she did it.

I felt wonderful afterward and felt like I could have walked 20 miles that day. Of course, walking that slowly probably helped. This coming weekend I�m pushing Saturday�s walk up to 15 miles.

Oh and NO SHIN PAIN!!!! :) That means I walked with no pain all week last week. Knock wood for me, will ya?

Saturday afternoon I went food shopping and spent LOTS of moolah. Having a large family kind of sucks when it�s your turn to make the main course for the family get-together. Anyway, I marinated oodles of chicken in a strange but yummy concoction of orange, pineapple, lemon and tomato and I also cut up LOTS of fruit for a fruit salad � which of course was later covered with homemade whipped cream.

Everything tastes better covered in whipped cream.

Sunday was fun. Rushed, but fun. Mark was MIA as he was moving in to a new pad, but I think everyone else was there. Alissa even came down from San Francisco.

I stopped at the Spa on the way to my folks� to buy gift certificates for Amy, Carla, Barbara and Linda. Looks like we�re aiming for Sept. 17 to be our Spa Day. I am already anxious to go. I have a dilemma, though, in that I covet every treatment they offer.

We celebrated Carla�s 30th birthday (which is the 20th) and Sarah�s 24th (which is the 19th). Sondra and Lou were there. I barely spoke to Lou, but Sondra was fine�at least with me. She was being a big bitch to Lou when they first got there (over nothing, of course � something about him not opening up the chips they brought to go with his guacamole and something about cutting the bread that went with his Bruscetta. Whatever. I opened the chips and cut the fucking bread�but of course, I was wrong a few months ago, when I implied that she often gets mad over nothing).

After the day at the folks�, I went bowling with Carla and her John, Amy and her boyfriend Mikey, Katie and Alissa. Those kids are so funny. They had me giggling all night.

We went to Lucky Strike Lanes at the Block of Orange. I had never been there before; it was a very cool place. It was kind of expensive, though (Katie warned me ahead of time). We bowled two games - that and my shoes was $16.00. Now, I haven�t been bowling for a while,. But that seemed pricey to me. They do have great cocktail service, but my one glass of Schmirnov (sp?) Vodka was $8.50!!!! Luckily, it was the size of a double - otherwise, I would have been pissed. I mean, I ordered the cheap stuff on purpose. Cool looking place, though - and clean, which is always a nice attribute in a bowling alley. And they played good music while we bowled. I didn�t bowl very well, though. The first game I didn't even break 100!!!! I think my second game was only 112.

What the...?

I have a patch on my back that I am worried about. The problem is, I accidentally scratched it; so although I was at the doctor�s office this morning, it's hard now to tell what it usually looks like. Anyway, if it doesn't go away after the scratch is gone, I am definitely going to have it checked out. I have to go to my regular doctor, though, to get a referral to a Dermatologist. I'm not overly scared yet, because I have had a couple little patches of dry skin on my arms lately, that I�ve gotten rid of courtesy of this fabulous Skin Smoothing Body Lotion made by Neutrogena. I'm hoping that's all this is. I just remember how dark my back used to get when I would lay out in the sun all the time (as a teenager). My back never burned, so I never worried about putting sunscreen on it when I was a kid (I couldn't reach it anyway, of course).

Guess that�s it for now. Hasta, kids!

~~~

Word of the Day for Tuesday August 17, 2004

foofaraw FOO-fuh-raw, noun:

1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration.

2. A fuss over a matter of little importance.

last / next



~~~~~~~~~~~peace, love and smooches~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Don't know why you'd wanna, but on the off-chance you may feel tempted to steal any of my words and claim them as your own, please be advised: All material
Copyright 2002-2005, Howl-at-the-Moon Words



***DISCLAIMER: These are my thoughts and my thoughts alone. If you know me in my "real life" off the net and have come across this page purely by accident, please keep in mind that you were not invited here and I would suggest you leave this page now. However, should you choose not to do so, please be warned that reading my thoughts here is not an invitation to discuss them off-line. You may discover things you do not know about me and may not like very much. Such is life. Again, this is MY space and I will use it as I see fit. If you are offended by anything here, well that's pretty much your own fault at this point. I say all of this with love, of course, but there it is.