LA-Bits and pieces

Hi Everybody! I'm back:)

I have been back from LA for a few days now but I am still finding it difficult to get back to my old life. I can't stop thinking about all the fun we had and how much time we spent laughing. I don't think I have ever laughed so much in my life. There are so many highlights to this trip that the whole week was a highlight. There were no lowlights but a few things stand out in my mind. I will tell you about one of them today.

Vennie, Claudia, Beth and Laura with the Starline Tour bus

Laura, Beth, Vennie and I decided to take The Starline Tour of the "Stars Homes". Of course the first thing that I asked for was for our Driver, George, to take us to Paul McCartney's house. George told me that Paul lived in Malibu and we were not going in that direction. Bummer, Major disappointment. One of the other passengers pipped up and said that he was friend's with Paul's girlfriend's ex and was invited to the wedding. I responded with "what wedding?" It turns out that Paul is planning to marry Nancy Shevall next year. Am I jealous? You bet!! Am I happy? You bet!! I just want Paul to be happy and he looks like he is. I AM still waiting for my phone to ring. After all, we all know that Paul would be much happier with me. :)

Paul and Nancy

Anyway, we took a 2 hour bus tour of the starts homes. The bus itself was an open air bus so the passengers were taking in the gorgeous LA weather and we really could see. We saw Ringo's home, Tom and Katie's old home, Jennifer Aniston's home, The Playboy Mansion, Lucille Ball's home, Merv Griffen's home. Just about everyone's home you could think of, both old hollywood and new hollywood, was included on this tour.

Laura sunbathing after climbing stairs

We were taken up into the mountains in order to get a really good look at the Hollywood sign and the LA skyline. The bus dropped us off almost all the way up but we had to climb up lots of steep stairs to get all the way up to the top. The view was really gorgeous and well worth the climb. I had been in a stair climbing mood all week(Richard's influence on me) so I was happy to take the stairs any chance that I got. Believe me, I had many opportunities.

Bethy at the top of the world

We (Vennie, Laura, Beth and me) made a special request to stop by Richard Simmons' home. George didn't know where it was but we did. He turned the bus on to a street up there in the hills and there it was. Richard's home!! We wanted to get out and ring the bell. One of the passangers on the bus even offered us $50 to do it. We would have done it for free anyway. Mean ole George wouldn't let us out of the bus. Tour rules you know. LOL

At one point, we pulled up in front of Michael Jackson's home and a limo pulled up right behind us. The gates opened and the guards just stood there waiting. We assumed that the limo behind us was carrying the Gloved One. All of a sudden the Limo pulled around us and sped down the block and the gates closed. I guess Michael didn't want to make an appearance with the tour bus sitting there. He's lucky he made this decision because if I had my chance I would have called him names and been really mean to him. After all, he stole The Beatles catalog of music from Paul years ago and any Paul McCartney fan worth his or her salt hates Michael Jackson.

Laura pointing at a celebrity home

We were driving around and the bus stopped in front of Patrick Dempsey's house. We sat there for a while looking around trying to see him. We could see that he had children's toys in the front yard but no Dr McDreamy. George decided to pull the bus away and all of a sudden from the other direction came a red Porche. It was Patrick Dempsey!!!! Right on my side of the bus!!!He waved to us. I was in heaven. Dr McDreamy!! OMG!! He really is gorgeous especially in person. He had shaved off some of that McDreamy stubble and you could really see his face.

Me, Vennie, Laura and Beth with LA behind us

OK, I've seen Paul in person 10 times, met Richard Simmons so many times that I can't count and now I've seen Patrick Dempsey in person. I'm a very happy girl.

Next installment to follow....

My To Do List

It's getting close. I leave in one week and I am starting to get nervous. It is the usual travel anxiety that I feel once a planned trip gets to be about a week away. I know it's close because Pat mentioned it this morning. He tends to ignore things that he doesn't like until the dying end.

So much to do....so little time.

1. Go bra shopping. This is a must. I can't travel with floppy boobs.

2. Work on my taxes. I want to get it out in the mail to my accountant before I leave.

3. Cook food for Pat. This is something that I do to make life easier for him while I am gone.

4. Go to the podiatrist. I have an appt on the monday before I leave.

5. Go through my closet and see what I have.

6. Wash the things I find in my closet.

7. Take Rigby to the groomer. He's getting long again.

8. Color my hair.

9. Get my eyebrows waxed.

That's my starter list. Now If I can just get at least one or two of these things done every day I'll be ready to go a week from today.

Hang on Fabbies. I a comin.....

My time with the kid

What a glorious few days they were. From the moment Kerry hit town life was fun again. She started talking as soon as she got home and didn't stop until she pulled out of the driveway with her dad this morning. Well, I guess that's not completely true. She stopped while she was sleeping:)

We shopped and shopped and shopped some more. We watched Sex and The City reruns and the movie too. We read Vogue together, had lunch together and laughed our asses off at all the cosmetic surgery we saw at the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton.

The kid, my heart and soul

She brings out the best in me. She is my heart and soul. She is my happiness and my future. She is my joy and my very best friend in the world. I watch in awe of her as he travels all over in the pursuit of becoming a doctor and helping the world.

Today she went to Washington DC for a conference. In the summer she will be going to Athens, Ga for another medical convention and then it's off to Gambia. Yep, Gambia as in Africa. She is raising money for mosquito nets to bring to the people there. They can't afford them and apparently the mosquitoes are a source of many different nasty diseases. She also hopes to learn some things to help her in her career.

So....here I am, alone and feeling lonely. I go through this every time Kerry comes home for any period of time. It usually takes a few days to get back to myself. At least I go on vacation in 2 weeks. I'm feeling like I need one.

Going For A Test Run

I gave my orthodics a test run at the track this morning and it went very well. Dr Tanner told me that he wanted me to start out slow and do one mile the first day. I had been away from the track for so long that I couldn't just stop after one mile so I did two miles. It felt good. No pain...yet. Now I'm off to yoga class and then later I have to work. That will be quite the test. Hopefully I won't be feeling any pain by the end of the night.

On another note, Kerry is coming in from Gainesville tomorrow for a few days. I can't wait to see her. It's been two months since I laid eyes on my girl and that's too long for this Mom. I am giving up free yoga day on Saturday to go shopping. I am so looking forward to shopping and talking and laughing with the kid. It's gonna be great. I'll only have until Wednesday though. She will be taking off to Washington DC for an AMSA convention and then back to Gainesville. I gonna try to take Monday night off so that we can spend that night together and the Kerry can come with me to Curves on Tuesday night. I'm going to be making the most of the time that we have together.

My New Orthodics

I picked up the custom inserts for my shoes yesterday. That'll be $400 not covered by insurance thank you very much. My podiatrist told me to wear them for one hour yesterday and one and a half today and just work up to wearing them all the time. Of course, I wore them to work last night and I forgot to bring my other inserts to switch out after an hour so I had to wear them all night. They feel really weird but I am going to keep wearing them. My foot has been feeling pretty good but I really haven't put it to the test. I spoke with Dr Tanner about going back to the track and he wants me to gradually work back up to my usual 3 to 4 mile walk. You know, one mile the first day, one and a half the next day. If I ever want to lose that pesky 10 pounds I have to start going for my daily powerwalk again. It's the only exercise that really works for me. I'm waiting for our weather to warm up so that I can go. I know that some of you may think that 50 degrees is like summer but to me it's cold. I don't go to the track when the temps turn cold like that and it's been cold for quite a while. Not the usual weather for us here in South Florida. I'm hoping that the temps go back up to the 60's or 70's soon. I want to try out my new orthodics.

Now I Have No Choice

I'm feeling much better since my doctor took me off the statin drugs. I know he is going to want me to go back on them but I really don't want to. I need to find a better way to keep my cholesterol under control.

After looking around on the internet for information on this subject I found that once again it all comes down to the same old same old. Diet and exercise. Hear that Richard? Diet and exercise. Is it ever anything else? No. It never is.

Now I have a really important reason to stay on track and exercise every day. Not that wanting to lose weight isn't a good reason but now I have a real health reason that is staring me in the face. I have to lower my cholesterol. My test reading was 256 with LDL of 182. These are high numbers for someone who is a vegetarian but as Dr Bob reminded me both my mother and my father had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It's in my genes.

So...It will be oatmeal every morning for breakfast now because I have read that just eating oatmeal every day can bring those numbers down. Lunch and dinner will have to be filled with fresh and crunchy veggies. Back to salads. Easy on the bread (kill me now) and snacking will be fruits and nuts. Boring but healthy.

I will get back to exercising every day. Yesterday it was Party Off The Pounds (Hi Laura) and today it will be Disco Sweat. Doing videos in my living room seems to work better for my plantar fasciitis. I'm hoping to get back to the track once I get my new $400 (that is not covered by insurance) orthotics. They should be ready on Friday. Every time I don't feel like exercising I will think about my very high cholesterol and do what I have to do. Now, I have no choice.

I don't know who I am but I'm not myself

I haven't been feeling well lately. Like my mom used to say "I don't know who I am but I am not feeling myself". I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with the new medications that I'm on. At least I hope that is what it is.

I finally called my doctor yesterday and gave him all of my complaints. Very tired, muscle aches, jelly legs, zoning out and generally not feeling right. We are changing up my meds to see if we can figure it all out. We are thinking that the muscle weakness and pains are due to the Zocor and the zoning out and general weirdness is from too much Lisinopril.

Starting today I am cutting the Lisinopril in half and I'm off the Zocor completely. I will continue this for two weeks and then reintroduce the Zocor and see how I feel. Hopefully I will feeling like my old self very soon.

I'm also worried about Rigby. He seems to have developed a bit of a limp. It's his driver side rear. It's more pronounced when he is on the bed. He doesn't seem to be in any pain but I see the leg being held up when he gets up to get off the bed. He is much better on the hard floor but of course, he won't stay there. He's a bed dog. My vet retired so I don't even have a good vet to take him to not to mention the money issues. I don't think I could take it again. Not another sick dog so soon. I'm still not over Mac.

Baby It's Cold Outside

34 degrees? What is that? It's not supposed to get that cold here. I just got in from taking Rigby out and even with 4 layers of clothes on I was freezing. I live in South Florida. I'm not meant to hear numbers like 34. I can't deal. Man, it's cold out there.

I did the deadly deed this morning. I turned on the heat. Being a Floridian means that you NEVER turn on the heat. It's sacrilegious. It's just not done. If Pat was here he would flip out and turn it off. He works for the power company and feels it is never cold enough to use electric heat here in South Florida. I wait for him to leave and then turn it on. Screw that no heat stuff.

Kerry is in Gainesville which is even colder than it is here. They were down in the low 20's this morning so I'm sure my phone will ring very soon. I usually get a whining phone call from her when it is cold out. Yeah, Peewee. Tell me how you are going to move to Chicago or Seattle. Yeah, right.

Rigby is the only one who is happy with the weather and that won't last long either. He has an appointment with the groomer today. He will be cut short as usual and if this keeps up even he will be cold. He loves the cold weather though. Mac did too. I call it Lhasa Apso weather. It's weather that only Lhasa Apsos could love. The cold brings them back to their roots of living in the Tibetan mountains hanging out with the monks.

I gotta go take Rigby now, then it's off to yoga and then off to work if I don't freeze to death first. See ya....

My Fantastic Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday. So wonderful, in fact, that it totally blew me away. I heard from everyone in some way and I want to thank you all.

Pat, thanks for the balloons, flowers, strawberries, the card and well, you know. :)

Kerry, thanks for the phone calls, for making me laugh and reminding me how much you love me :)

Michele, thanks for the song you sang to me. I saved it on my phone :)

Jon, thanks for the three messages and well wishes. They were great :)

Cousin Stevie, thanks for feeling bad about not knowing. You totally made up for it by putting a reminder into your cell phone so you will know next year.:)

Richard, thanks for the email. It made me feel special as you always do :)

Laura, thanks for the call. You made me feel better about all my medical things :)

Bethy, thanks for the call and sweet birthday wishes:)

Vennie, thanks for the present. I totally loved it. So did Rigby :)

Ang, thanks for announcing my birthday on your blog.The post was wonderful :)

Becky, thanks for the funny birthday email. I had a great laugh :)

Annie, thanks for the email. You are the best :)

Juliana, thanks for the birthday hug and the peaceful vibes you gave me :)

Lisa, thanks for the birthday card and gift. :)

To all of my ladies: Marie, Geri, Joan, Andrea, Janet, Marie, Dina, Wendy, Paula and everyone else, thanks for remembering with lottery tickets, cards, phone calls and birthday wishes. You all make working worth while. :)

All of my clubhouse friends, thanks for the happy birthday thread :)

The Yoga Source, thanks for the free yoga class. It was so peaceful :)

Oh yeah, Paul, thanks for being there for me for all these years. Whatever would I do without my obsession with you? :)

Yep, I'm living up to the name of my blog. Lucky me! I'm lucky to have all of you in my life. I love you all.

Happy Birthday, You've Got High Cholesterol!!!

Yesterday I had an appointment with my favorite doctor, Dr Bob, who has been my primary care doctor for 30 years. I had given blood about a week ago for my annual check up and yesterday was the follow up visit to talk about the results. It really didn't go the way I had hoped.

For the last few years I prided myself on being in my 50's and not being on any meds. I knew my blood pressure was a little high but it had been that way for years and I fought Dr Bob tooth and nail every time he suggested that I start taking blood pressure meds. I thought I was going to be able to keep my pressure down by diet and exercise. Well, that didn't work.

Last month when I went to see Bob about my foot pain his office staff took my blood pressure and it was 155/95. He was none to happy with that and finally put his foot down (so to speak). He basically told me to shut up, cut the crap and take the Lisinopril that he was going to prescribe. I'm aware that I need to be treated like that at times. Richard has treated me like that through the years when I needed it too. Anyway, I gave in and said okay. I would take the pills.

I got to Dr Bob's office yesterday and once again my blood pressure was taken. It had come down but not enough for his liking so he upped my dosage. He said to me "Look Claudia, I don't want to hear it. Your blood pressure is still too high so I'm upping the dosage and you are going to take it". I agreed to comply with his instructions and double up on my meds this morning.

As he was looking at my chart and my test results he noticed that the next day (today) was my birthday. His next remark was "Happy Birthday. You've got high cholesterol". My reading was 256 which is pretty high for a vegetarian. He reminded me that both my parents had high cholesterol and now he wanted to prescribe something for that too. Knowing how he deals with me I figured that there was no point in arguing with him so I agreed.

He had me give blood for one more test and wants to see the results before putting me on the meds but I walked out with a prescription which I will start taking in a week or so. I also was told to get a bone density test.

So, happy birthday to me. I have plantar fasciitis, a heel spur, bursitis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and need a bone density test. Yeah, I'm not getting old (she said with complete sarcasm in her voice). At least my EKG was good.

Here is a little birthday present from my on my birthday to all of you. Was there ever a hotter man on the planet then Paul? I think not!! Happy Birthday to me!!



Here is a birthday laugh from me and Paul. If you have ANY problems with blue humor or dirty jokes DO NOT CLICK ON THIS. Thanks Paul, you made me laugh my ass off today.

Food Sheet Day One

I did it! I actually did it. I filled out my first food sheet and I was totally truthful. It wasn't as bad as I thought. As a matter of fact I actually ate better yesterday than I had in ages. I guess it's the food sheet. I made believe that I was sending it to Richard so I was really very good for the first time in a long time. I even went back to weighing and measuring my food. Wow! The power of the food sheet (and the power of Richard Simmons). Let's see how long this lasts. :)

The podiatrist appointment was not the most pleasant thing in the world but at least now I know whats going on. Not only do I have Plantar Faciitis but I also have a heel spur and bursitis not to mention a fungus on my big toe. I had an X-ray and an ultrasound. Dr Tanner was a very nice guy until he attacked the side of my heel with a needle filled with cortisone. It didn't hurt at the time but it's hurting now. He says I should be feeling better soon but not to expect to be better today so I'm aiming for tomorrow. I am still having pain this morning. I have to go back next Monday to do it again. Oh yay! If this doesn't help then we will talk about custom orthodox and if that doesn't help then we talk about surgery. Not a discussion I want to have. Nope. Not at all.

I am going to finish up my coffee, start today's food sheet and hop on the rowing machine and see how bad it is. If I have time before work I will do some strength training and off to work to start my two weeks of working hell.

It pisses me off that I'm going to miss the Australian Open tennis match. I hear Andy Roddick beat Novak Djokowic. I have to see how Kerry's husband to be, Roger Federer did. I hope he won. LOL

The Podiatrist And Food Sheets

I have the podiatrist appointment at 9:00 this morning. I hope something can be done for my heel pain so that I can exercise again. My weight is skyrocketing. Not good.

I got the rowing machine from my brother the other day. I haven't been on it yet. My plan is to try it out today after my doctor's appointment. I hope I don't hate it as much as I remember hating it the last time I did it. I plan on setting it up in front of the TV which I'm hoping will help pass the time. Maybe I'll put some Paul videos on. It's always nice to watch young Paul singing My Love or Silly Love Songs. Yeah, that should help.

On another note, I was reading my fellow Fabbie Laura's blog and once again she mentioned that she fills out Richard's food sheets which mimics a food diary. She has always said that it helps her look at what and how she is eating. I have never been one for food diaries. Maybe it's because I don't really want to see what I am eating in writing or maybe I'm just lazy but either one of these two reasons is not good enough. I have to do something to stop the upward trend in my weight. I've made a momentous decision. OK, maybe not momentous but a decision none the less. I am going to download some of the food sheets from Richard's website and fill them out for a week and see how it goes. I probably should have picked a different week because my work schedule is going to be crazy for the next two weeks. One of my co-workers is going away and I have to fill in. Crazy week or not I am going to fill out some food sheets and really look at what I am eating. Maybe I really don't want to know.

Foot Trouble

My heel pain is back big time. I can't do any real exercise without feeling really bad pain either later that day or the next day. I finally decided to go to a podiatrist for help. I got some suggestions of good doctors from my Curves ladies and I looked them up on my insurance plan. I found one that is pretty close to home and on my insurance too. The only problem is that I won't be able to get in to see him until a week from Thursday. Consequently, that is my birthday. Happy birthday to me. I hope this guy can help me because if this doesn't stop not only will I weigh 900 pounds I'll be out of work. I am finding it increasingly difficult to stand on my feet for hours at Curves even when I am only working three days a week. Next week one of co-workers will be leaving for 10 days and I will have to work at least one shift each day. I am not looking forward to this.

I'm actually surprised how much I miss my daily exercise. I miss going to the track to walk each day especially during this beautiful weather. I miss doing a Richard Simmons video in my living room. At this point the only thing I can do is weight training which I am going to do today. I think I will work on my legs, chest and back. I did my biceps and triceps the other day. I'm hoping that I can keep my weight stable by working with weights even though I can't do any cardio.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

More On The Blood Pressure

115/65 this morning. What a difference! Just changing the time when I take my blood pressure meds made a huge difference in my morning reading. This is the lowest reading I've ever gotten after just rolling out of bed. That is usually when I am at my highest. I sure hope it lasts. I feel better. No feeling of pressure in my head or headaches. I feel much calmer too. When I started taking the Lisinopril my readings were good and then all of a sudden they started going up, up, up so I hope that doesn't happen again. I like this feeling of calm.

I'm not thrilled about the a few of the side effects of this drug. Actually, there is only one that I don't like. It's the swelling or rapid weight gain. Just what I need! Swelling or rapid weight gain. Kill me now. I will try and counteract these effects with healthy food choices and exercise(a la Fucking Agreement). I know Richard would tell me to ignore these things and keep working hard so that's what I'm going to do.

I'm off from work today (Yay!) and I am going to Joy's early yoga class so I need to eat a little something now so that I won't crash after class and eat everything in sight when I get out. I do need to stop and get some groceries when class is done and I've noticed that when I don't eat breakfast I have absolutely no will power to say no to things in the market so I'm off to grab a small bowl of oatmeal. That should hold me until I make it home with fresh fruits and veggies for lunch.

I also need to get in a cardio workout today so I'm thinking that a little Disco Sweat or Party Off The Pounds (Hi Laura) is in my future. I'm outta here....

High Blood Pressure

It's still dark as I post this blog entry. It won't be light for another half an hour or so yet and I don't go to the track in the dark. Too scary. Once it gets light out there will be people out there to keep me company.

High blood pressure this morning. 145/90. This is the highest it has been since I started taking my blood pressure meds. I don't know why but my pressure is always highest in the morning. I wake up and roll out of bed with the highest blood pressure of the day. You would think that sleeping wouldn't be stressful enough to raise my pressure but it does. I've been on Lisinopryl for about a month now and when I started taking it it worked really well and my pressure was low even in the morning. Little by little it has been rising but only in the morning. I've noticed that my pressure is high after a night of vivid dreams which I had last night. I dreamed about my dad who has been gone almost 25 years and I never dream about him. I'm not sure what that is all about.

I'm going to call my doctor today and ask him if maybe I should be taking the meds at night instead of first thing in the morning. Maybe that will work better. I'm sure my extra weight is not helping my blood pressure. That's always in the back of my mind too but I can't seem to do anything about it yet. As I posted in on our Fucking Agreement blog my food starts out great with healthy choices in the morning and degenerates into junk food and crap as the day goes on. I also need to exercise one or two more times a week. It's what I need to do for my health so why do I have so much trouble doing it?

Kerry's UT infection is back again and that worries the crap out of me. Bob(our doctor) told her to call him as soon as she feel any kind of symptoms and it started again yesterday. It seems that she is allergic to many of the meds that are prescribed for this so that's a problem along with the fact that she seems to be prone to these infections.I will be speaking to Bob about this too as she is in Gainesville and has classes all day.

Pat and Rigby are fine and that's really good. At least one half of the family has no issues.

Yes Laura, We Won

Yes Laura, The Gators won. The first half was especially ugly with Timmy Tebow throwing two, count them, two interceptions. That's as many as he had thrown all season. He did pick it up in the second half and our defense played great the whole game. They stopped the Sooners at first and goal twice with The Gators taking over on downs. Tim Tebow was named Most Valuable Player and Gainesville went crazy. Both of these events were expected. Kerry tells me that University Drive was filled with thousands of kid both celebrating and drunk. Life is good in the Gator Nation. See below.





On another note, I am feeling like crap. I've got a full blown head cold and I'm spending the day in bed. I was feeling alright until the end of my shift at Curves last night. I started stuffing up and not being able to hear that well. Lisa asked me to work tonight but being sick I said no. I hope I am feeling better tomorrow. I hate to waste a three day weekend in bed.

I'm going to crawl into bed now. See ya. GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Gators Again

Tonight is college football's national championship game between the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners. The hype around here has been huge. South Florida is a hotbed of rabid Gator fans. Either we went to UF or our kids do. To top it all off the game itself is being played in what used to be called Joe Robbie Stadium and is now Dolphin Stadium in Miami. Everyone is going wild. The newspapers are filled with stats and stories about the coaches and players as is the TV coverage but when it comes down to it it's all about one thing. One player. Tim Tebow.

Timmy Tebow is the kind of kid you would want for your son. He is a nice, sweet and down home kind of kid. He is also fiercely competitive and that's what this game is all about. When UF lost to Ole Miss (which never in a million years should have happened) Tim got on TV and promised that "no player in the entire country will play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. And you'll never see someone push the rest of the team as much as I will push everybody the rest of this season. And you'll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season. God Bless." He said all this with a tear in his eye and we all felt for him. We knew that he was telling the truth as he knew it. So far he has lived up to this statement.

Kerry tells me that she has seen Timmy around the campus. She says that he is absolutely huge. She also says that he is a nice and sweet guy who is not in any way full of himself as one might expect of a famous football player. He is friendly and open to everyone. She says it's obvious that he wants to win this game. He doesn't care about another Heisman Trophy. He only cares about winning this game and having the Gators become the national champs. We all wish him luck.

I have to work tonight and I will be wearing a University of Florida shirt to Curves. I will be sure to dress Rigby in his orange and blue bandanas for luck. At kickoff time I will be in front of my big screen HDTV hoping for the best for Timmy and the rest of the Gator players. So GO GATORS AND GO TIM TEBOW. We are all rooting for you.

Back To Real Life

Kerry's gone and life sucks again. I was saying to Pat this morning that it's like I have a hangover for a few days after she has been home for a long time and then leaves again. I have weird dreams like last night when I was dreaming about shopping in Neiman Marcus with the kid and getting into a fight with some lady over jeans (this actually almost happened) with Rigby being there. Just strange thoughts and dreams. When I look at them closely I can see that it's all about missing her and wishing we were geographically closer. The story of my life. Wishing I was geographically closer to people that I love.

I am about to get ready to go to the track and power walk. I'm going to try to increase my 3 miles to 4 but I'll see how I am feeling after 3. I have to work tonight and it being the first of the year I'm sure I will be very busy. I'm also sure I will be standing on my feet most of the night so I don't want to overdo. My foot is feeling better and I don't want to ruin that.

When I get back from the track I will have breakfast and then do some laundry. I am also going to work on my nonfood related goal for an hour of so. This will help me keep my head out of the fridge. By that time it will be off to work. I won't get home until after 8:00 tonight. It's a long day. Yep, back to real life.

The Last Hurrah

OK. Here we go again. Today is the last day that I get to spend with the kid before she goes skippingly back to UF. This time she is thrilled to be going back because her boyfriend Zac will be there waiting for her. I, on the other hand, will be standing in the driveway crying when she leaves. It's always hard for me when she goes back after a long visit like this winter break has been. She's my bud. My other half. I miss the crap out of her when she is gone.

Kerry sitting on the gator on the UF campus

Today I will wake her up and we will go back to the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton. We will shop the sale racks at Bloomindale's, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Apple, Coach, Henri Bendel, Dana Buchman and Sephora among other stores. I'm actually hoping that these stores are totally shopped out because Kerry doesn't need any more clothes but I just can't say no once we are in the dressing room. It's kind of like I am with food. I just can't say no to either one. Kerry or Food. Hmmm.....

We will walk for hours and when we get hungry we will go to Salad Creations and get what we refer to as "a big salad". I usually get a "chopped veggie" salad with no croûtons and just a little cheese. My dressing of choice will be, gasp, full fat ranch dressing. Yep, full fat. A friend of mine taught me that a little full fat is better than lots of crappy tasting fat free. I plan on keeping The F*ing Agreement in mind while in the mall. No Ben and Jerry's. No gourmet pastries.

We will shop and shop and talk and laugh. Later on in the afternoon we will stop off at the Nordstrom's coffee shop where I will have a small regular coffee with skim milk and Splenda and Kerry will have an iced latte with lots of raw sugar. We will sit there, drink coffee and people watch. We will laugh at some of the rich ladies with their little dogs in strollers and their cosmetic surgery. I'll complain about money and Kerry will tell me how I shouldn't worry because someday she will be a doctor. I'll tell her that I don't want to spend her money and only want to spend my own. We will laugh about that.

Kerry and I having coffee at Nordstrom

We will shop until Pat calls and tells us that he is finished playing golf and is ready to go to Tijuana Flats for dinner. With the F*ing Agreement in mind I will order a small Black Bean Powerlight Burrito which comes in at about 280 calories. Not too bad. The trouble comes with the chips and guacamole on the side. I can give most of the chips to the kid but will I? I'll report in on our new blog called F*ing Agreement or here if I'm not able to get into the blog to post. (Laura and I have been having some technical difficulties).

We will all come home, pile into bed and watch football until Pat and I fall asleep and Kerry goes into her room to call Zac.

Kerry and Zac

It will be a totally glorious time for me spent with my incredible, beautiful, smart, gorgeous daughter who I love so much.

Then I will wake up and it will be tomorrow and Kerry will be leaving. OK, now I absolutely not lose control when she leaves. Remember the agreement...

Happy New Year-I can't believe that I have been blogging for a whole year

Happy New Year to everyone.

I logged into my weight tracker in the clubhouse this morning. I knew as I was doing it that it wasn't going to be pretty but I decided to do it anyway. You see, the last time I posted my weight into my profile on Richard's website was January 1, 2008. I knew I had lost focus regarding my weight and I guess there was also an element of living in the dream world that you didn't gain much weight this year. Well, not! I am totally upset, embarrassed, humiliated, horrified and sickened to say that I gained 7.5 this year. Not only that but over the last two years I have allowed 12.5 to creep back onto my body and once again have weight to lose on New Years Day.

The only good thing that I can think of is that at least I faced the dreaded numbers on the scale. The credit for my facing my numbers goes to my friend who in a email made me realize that I really didn't know where I stood with my weight. Exactly. I knew my boobs were growing bigger and bigger every day. I knew that I was bringing food into the house that was destined to end up on my growing silhouette but I didn't know what the numbers were going to say. It was hard to look at it. For me this is a troublesome eventuality. I can't help but wonder what this says about my life and my mental state.

Yes, I could give a litany of excuses for why I gained weight. I could blame it on the plantar fasciitis that has stopped me from exercising and that would true. I could blame it on the fact that I work until 8:00PM and by the time I get home to make dinner I end up eating and then going to bed which is perfect way to pack on the pounds and that would be true too. Whatever and whoever is to blame I need to get over it and start back on a healthy lifestyle.

I guess I have to remember that my weight is within my control. I am very happy to say that I went to the track this morning and power walked 3 miles. When it was over I stretched out my foot and it's actually feeling pretty good. I'm hoping that my foot is beginning to heal and maybe I can get back to consistent exercise. Not only will that help my weight it will also help my self image and self esteem which has been in the toilet lately.

I have promised myself that I would make no grand proclamations on New Years and call them resolutions. In reviewing those proclamations from years past I realize that I don't usually attain them and that makes me feel like crap but I also know that goals need to be set so that a person has something to work towards. So here I go....

I want to get this extra weight off of me. My first "mini goal" will be to get back into the 140's. I know that it is going to take hard work and perseverance. I know that it would be easy to just give up but I can't. I just can't. I am going to live a healthier lifestyle this coming year. I am going to eat better foods and not quite as often. I am going to start regular exercise again and hope that my body responds well. I am going to do the very best that I can to get that old mindset back and lose this weight. You know "I can do it."

I also am going for a non weight related goal this year. I'm not really ready to write it down for all the world to see but I privately know what it is. I am going to work hard to achieve it.

I hope y'all enjoyed my blog this past year. I found it very interesting to go back and see what was going on in my head and my life last year. I hope this year you will be reading a fun and happy blog.

I want to wish all of you a happy and healthy new year.