At least two good things will come of this--you can perhaps find a new (old) something or other AND you get some cat time! Don't let the anniversary get you down.

:crazy: :stress: :tired: :faint:

My week from h*ll is this week. I will sooooo appreciate my vacation.

Dagmar :p

Allison, thanks. Yes, you would not believe how much I look forward to reuniting with Fritz, though I'm reminding myself that a cat is not demonstrative, like a dog. If I'm lucky, Fritz will rub against my leg. But I know he'll jump up on my bed tonight and curl up with me, and we will cuddle, and I look forward to that immensely. It's very calming, to be half-asleep, in bed, petting a purring cat. That vision can get me through a busy half-day at work and full of errands before the long drive Upstate.

Now I need a good long shower after spin class.

Michele~it's probably too late now, but a friend on another board just told me of a really neat program that Bed, Bath & Beyond has. You go to their store and sign up (for free) and then select (using a scanner) all the things you want or need for your dorm, then they send the list to the store nearest the school you (or your kids) will be attending. Then all you have to do is pick it up there. The other friend was panicking because her son is moving from CA to NY and she didn't know how on earth they'd get everything there.

Allison, any news on the rescue dog ?

No. He's still available according to the website. My coordinator is away right now--hiking the Grand Canyon. I don't know how long she'll be away. They're having another adoption event this weekend in Encinitas, and I could go alone (DH is away then) but what with all the fires here it'd require me to detour to all interstate travel which would add another hour each way to the already two hour long trip. I think I'll stay home.

Meanwhile, things at work have calmed down a bit!!!! I felt a huge relief yesterday when our insurance broker emailed me a calculator to help determine how much to refund our employees from what we were refunded from Blue Cross. I had to write a check to our previous partner, but was VERY relieved that it was only $340. He's been bullying us about this for days and it really raised DH's and my blood pressure. Currently we're shopping for a new office/warehouse and there are two really close by that would be perfect (one for sale one for lease). We're waiting for calls back on those.

I hope you will be able to get out from under that previous partner and can find a new building a way from the stress.

Allison - I know that the ex-partner has been making you crazy for awhile with the lawsuits and the other nonsense. I hope you find another building to rent or buy and can get away from him.

Allison,
We did this! I knew about it from older dd. We picked up everything today, picked up dd's new iPad from the university, and did a target run. She gets to start moving in tomorrow morning. I ate way off plan today and didn't exercise. I'm hoping to be more focused tomorrow. Dh is flying in from Brazil tomorrow too. Poor guy was flying from Brazil to Houston to San Francisco originally. When he realized he needed to be in Tucson, he tried to change the flight to go from Houston to Tucson. It was going to cost an extra $600! So he is still flying to San Francisco, picking up his bags and then flying to Tucson. I'm sure he will be cranky and jet lagged!

Back to maintenance... two events, three pounds! One was a party with gourmet catering (abundant passed hors d'ouevres). The other was an extremely elegant new restaurant (wealthy friends treated us and insisted on a $100 bottle of wine to start). Both events were incredible fun, rare treats for me, so I'm trying to be a sport about it. But three pounds! Sheesh it took me two weeks to lose those three pounds and two days to pack them back on!
As they say, when you fall off the horse get right back on.

Chris, it happens ! With your determination you will drop that 3 pounds soon.

Drive-by -:wave: to all! Things are a little busy with DH gone, and there's a lot going on at work. Hoping to get a bit of a breather by Friday night where I can catch up on everybody's doings and post more thoroughly. :)

Chris - those three pounds could be water retention from richer food, too. You'll get them back off in short order I'm sure. :)

Saef - you've been on my mind the last few days, from the discussion about our regiment and order on the Labor Day thread and from your upcoming anniversary weekend. I hope that you are able to enjoy the antique festival this weekend, the time with your mom and your reunion with Fritz and come home more at peace.

My grandmother was put into ICU last night and DH's uncle (who stood in as father when DH's own father left when he was 3) has been moved into the hospice stage of his cancer. My grandmother I believe will be okay, with DH's uncle it is just a matter of time now. I don't think this was the right week for me to start trying to change patterns and get back on track. :eek:

Shannon., sorry to hear about the illnesses in your family. I am sure that you , especially, want to be there as support for your DH. You have concerns about your Grandmother, too. Sometimes we just have to face what is and other things such as diet and exercise may have to take a back seat for awhie.

Shannon, thanks. I was thinking that I need to **use** this board more actively and that means writing about painful truths. If I don't talk about them, it does not help me. And there's always very good odds that what I think of as my own private problem is actually something shared by other people.

It's hard to resolve to fix one's life and jump right into a wholesale renovations. There are always going to be immediate issues and distractions. We just do what we can, when we can, and hope we get better at it. It's the whole baby steps lesson that losing weight taught me, only applied to other things. Like, what little thing can I do today to get a little better? Just one thing. Not a big reformation, just one thing. You did your thing. You can wait to do another thing.