Sistah Pat

I just want one perfect day.  That’ll be today.  I’ll worry about tomorrow when it gets here.  For today, I’m going to do everything just the way it should be.  I’m going to eat right and get lots of exercise.  On a perfect day, I would weigh myself in the morning - so I did.  Mr. Scale is standing there with his arms crossed, tapping his foot, and giving me the “I told you so” look.  It’s 175.  Guess the last week is beginning to catch up with me.

I’m frustrated with our very best friends of all time.  We’ve been close for almost 30 years.  We’ve taken vacations together, had periods of time when we got together almost every weekend for months, seen each other’s kids grow up, etc.  We’ve always spread the time pretty evenly between their place and ours.  They moved to a rural area and built their beautiful dream home about five years ago and it’s a 45 minute drive from our house.  I’ve noticed, over the last five years, that they’ve gotten pretty one-sided with the visits.  Everytime we decide to get together, they want us to come to their place.  I’m always the designated driver and the DHs drink too many beers and, next thing you know, it’s 1:00 a.m. and I’m having to face a long drive.  Not terrible, but not fun either.  Even if we don’t stay late and the DHs don’t drink, it’s still a long drive.   We called them on Friday and said, “Why don’t you drive up to Belterra and join us?  They said they had to go to a wedding so they couldn’t but they definitely wanted to get together this weekend.  I told them I’d call them when we got back from Belterra and work out the details.  They said they didn’t have any plans so that would be fine.  DH and I talked about it and decided it was definitely their turn to come to us.  He said we’re always making the drive to their place and it was only fair that they come to us this time.  We decided to have a cookout and invite them over for dinner and swimming.  I called yesterday and said, “Why don’t you guys come over tomorrow for a cookout and swim?”  BF said, “I already invited you guys over here for a cookout.”  I said, “No, you didn’t.  We just said we’d get together this weekend.  We’ve been to your house so many times in the last year, it’s our turn to play hosts.  Come on over and I’ll do all the cooking.”  She said, “No, you all come over here.”  I said, “We’ve been to your house a dozen times over the last year and I figured we’d grill out and relax in the backyard.”  She said, “No, I thought we already decided that you were coming over here.”  I was so put-off I kind of stammered around and told her I’d have to get back with her because we had some things to do today.  I got off the phone and DH was steamed.  He said he doesn’t want to make that long drive and they’re being kind of controlling about it.  We got to thinking about it and came to the conclusion that they haven’t come to our house for almost a year and a half.  I think we should go ahead and go to them today and make it absolutely clear that they’re coming to our place next time.  DH is aggravated and doesn’t want to go at all. (sigh)  I don’t know what to do.  I love them dearly and don’t want to create friction but he has a point.

I can’t get my wedding ring off!  I have labs tomorrow for out patient surgery Tuesday morning to remove a ganglion cyst on the knuckle of my ring finger.  The reason I brought it up with the doctor was because I thought I was getting arthritis and it was making it difficult to get my ring off sometimes.  He took x-rays and said it’s a cyst that needs to be removed.  Now I can’t my ring off at all.  Guess I’ll work on it all day.

I just mentioned to DH again about going to Rick and Pam’s today (not my Sistah Pam, another Pam) and he’s adamant.  “No, I don’t want to drive an hour and a half.  They should be coming to our house.  They’re being self-centered and it’s not right.”   Crap.  I don’t feel good about this.  If I cancel now, they’ll know that we don’t have a good reason.  I told him he could call them and tell them we changed our minds but, of course, he’s not going to do that.  He just sits back and says, “You and Pam cooked this up.  You call and deal with it.”

1:15 - If this was a perfect day, I’d push myself through the notorious 3 more miles workout.  So I did.  If it was a truly, perfect day, I’d push the speed up to 3.2 on the way down and then push it even farther to 3.3.  So I did.  95 minutes, all the way up the inclines at 3.0 mph and all the way back down at 3.2 or 3.3 in 5 minute intervals.  675 calories burned and 4.9 miles.

If this was a perfect day, I wouldn’t be stressing out about hurting Rick and Pam’s feelings.   I’d deal with it.  So I did.  Called and told them we couldn’t make it.  Guess what?  They’re not home.  Their son said they went to the store.  To me, that means they hadn’t made any special dinner plans and could just as easily have come over here.  I told their son we wouldn’t be able to make it.  Blamed it all on DH.  Told him we’ve been on the road for a month and he just wants to stay around home today.  He said he’d have his mom give me a call.

3:00 - Finally got my ring off without losing a finger.  Guess it’ll have to sleep in the jewelry box till my finger heals.  Seems like this is the summer for fingers and toes.  Cut the grass in the front yard.  I’m hot and gross but, if this was a perfect day, I would have dinner planned and make sure I have everything I need to fix it.  So, I will.

5:00 -Went out and vacuumed the pool.  We’re struggling with a bit of algae.  DS didn’t do the chemicals just right and we’ve had to work with it since we got back.  Let the algae settle to the bottom, vacuum real good (which picks up a lot of it but stirs up the rest).  Let it settle another day and vacuum again, etc.  After I vacuumed, it occured to me that, on a perfect day, a perfect athlete would never be content with just walking around the pool and then getting out.  Of course, I’m nowhere near being the perfect athlete but I am having a perfect day so I did it.  I jogged around the pool for 30 minutes. 

Pam called while I was in the pool and DH lied to her and said he has an earache.  She said, “No problem, we’ll do it next weekend.”  So he didn’t solve anything.

I just made myself a perfect lunch (breakfast?, dinner?) of summer rolls stuffed with napa cabbage, sliced red pepper, avocado, cucumber, rice vermicelli, and cilantro.  Good healthy stuff and under 150 calories.

9:00 p.m. - Just finished a nice healthy bowl of Hoppin John soup and took a long, hot soak with Dove Calming Night Rejuvenating body wash so I feel soft and drowsy.  The perfect end to the perfect day.  Think I’ll curl up with a book I’ve been reading and call it a day.

G’night little chicklets!