Palmetto bugs--isn't that just a euphemism for American cockroach? We have them here and they do fly (a bit). I remember finding one in my old house, trying to swat it dead and I missed and it flew into DD's hair (she was five). Gross.

I'm on vacation. Not dieting this week.

"Palmetto bug" has become a generic term for large roaches, especially the American cockroach, but the true "palmetto bug" is the Florida woods cockroach, a different species. They generally prefer the outdoors, and they don't fly.

No idea what I weigh, on the first morning of my visit to my mother, and I'm moving slowly today though I'm inexorably headed for the gym that I go to whenever I'm visiting here, an enormous, equipment-filled space with a lot of free weights. It inhabits a former discount department store space in a mall that's doing better here than most. The square footage would be prohibitively expensive down where I live. Here, in what's pretty much the rust belt, there's a lot of choice for commercial space.

I'm staring speculatively at the closets in my former bedroom. There are three hat boxes on the topmost shelf. I know what's in them: My grandmother's blonde mink hat, a white cowboy hat and a black velvet-encased riding helmet. I believe they've sat on that shelf for 25 years or more. Got to get rid of them finally. And what else can I divest while I'm here?

Saef-- I think a really bad joke exists there with the hats.

I left my wedding dress at my mother in law's house. Heirloomed but I doubt either of my girls will wear it. Left it when we moved to S. Africa and they haven't mentioned it so neither have I.

Cleaning my office this summer I found two fur coats. One I know is a mink that was my mom's. The other I'm not sure about but I have a vague recollection of my MIL giving it to me years ago as it was too small for her. I'd love to get rid of both as I'd never wear them and I think there is a market for selling but I need to research. However, my sentimental husband balked when I talked about getting rid of them. WHY?!

Michele, he has a fantasy of you wearing nothing but the mink...?

After dinner last night, I went into Park City to buy something while DH and my brother went over details of the car (my brother bought our old Porsche). Being a tourist city, I had to park several blocks from my destination, but it was still light out and the weather was ver nice. A lot of people were coming and going...and one guy--decked out in his Teva sandals, a bedazzled cowboy hat, and a bright purple, off the shoulder toga. I can only imagine where he was going. (I wish my hands weren't full as I picture would have been great! Instead we smiled at each other.)

My mum has just given me a pair of Teva sandals as an early birthday present. I hadn't realised they were a thing; just bought them in a camping shop. Now I'm wondering if I should 'get the look'!

I'm still eating on plan. Shovelling in lots of veg so it's lucky that the runner and French beans have gone into over-production. For all that, making a plan longer than a day is eluding me at the moment. Work is taking up too much brain space. I will hack out a space for a food plan.

Maybe a kilt instead of a purple toga to go with your Tevas? Apparently you can RENT the whole kilt attire, similar to a tuxedo rental here. Ain't the interweeb grand?

I am going to be severely tired for the next 10 days. Excuse any gibberish in my posts.

Dagmar :tired: :faint:

Slept two hours later than planned. Again, no weigh in and again, off to the gym.

Once I get back, I'll pack up my suitcase again and we'll be heading off to the tiny town. All week it's occupied by what amounts to a standing army of antique dealers with vans and camper vans and pickup trucks. Many of them camp out in the fields. I'm looking forward to it, but it's also an endurance test.

As for us, we'll be staying at a huge hotel attached to a casino run by the Oneida Indian tribe, which is about 15 miles away. I'll dine at a casino buffet. My mother will play the slot machines while I hang out in our room.

Birchie, I think planning your food one day at a time is just fine. Unless I cook large batches of veggies or other healthy fare to store in the fridge or freezer, I rarely look ahead to the following day or days. It is a worthy goal but you can stay on track one day at a time for now.

Saef, hanging out in the room while your mother plays the slots does not sound like the most exciting of pastimes. Are there any nearby walking paths? Good luck at the buffet!

Dagmar, are the animals not allowing you to sleep?

DH has Teva sandals. I am so not into brands that I don't even know what kind my sandals are. I only remember brands if the item is more functional or fits much better than other brands. And if I really like a specific thing, it will soon be discontinued.

I have a pair of Teva sandals, MIL got them for me for Christmas a couple of years ago to replace a pair I had worn since college that finally died after 20+ years.

Alice, I'd be walking the paths if I hadn't just been walking the fields at the antique shows for about five hours previously. I put my feet up and read the Internet a little, then went to bed early.

I found some nice things yesterday among the dealers, and though it was humid outside, there was a bit of a breeze. This hotel has a great gym, including a squat rack, so I'm headed out there this morning before we go out again.

And no idea what I weigh. I had three plates at the buffet yesterday -- salad, then mostly vegetables and fish, then a couple pieces of fruit. For some reason the abundance and the greed didn't affect me -- it was not contagious. I was just observing and trying to sort out what I wanted.

Waving hello as I check in. Saef, I can't believe you still have things of yours in your childhood bedroom. Were any of the hats ever yours?
My parents sold the house I remember best- the one we moved to when I was 12- and moved back to their condo in Cliffside Park NJ, which they bought when I was 8, and never sold during the years we lived on Long Island. That means nothing of mine is left in their possession, and when I go to visit them, I have only the memories of the apartment itself to kindle nostalgia. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Sorry you are finding the house-sit so stressful Dagmar. Do you hate it so much simply because you're not at home? Or is there actually more work than you can handle?

Allison, where is Park City? And, was the guy in the purple toga young or middle-aged? Seems like a 20 year old could 'get away" with an outfit like that more easily than a 40 year old.

Still hovering over 130. Had 3 days "on plan" and then today was a bit high from an unplanned slice of pizza after dinner. D*mn. I was just still hungry. I don't do well anymore with that 1 hour post-meal mild hunger. I even tried going out for a walk, and got a manicure, and it didn't matter. I ate it as soon as I walked back in the house.

Andrea, I wore both the cowboy hat and the velvet-covered riding helmet back when I was showing horses. They were part of my horse show gear. I was leasing a pinto mare. I rode her as a hunter, but I also showed her in halter classes, and the proper attire for that was really Western, as she had the build of an old-fashioned quarter horse, blocky and muscular. A few years later, I was showing a Thoroughbred hunter in junior classes while his owner rode him in the senior classes.

The fur hat was my grandmother's and probably dates from the 1960s.

Andrea, there are still families in this village (though mostly out on country roads in the surrounding farm lands) that live in the same houses that their great-grandparents lived in, or back even further in the late 1800s. I can name three of them right now off the top of my head. In these houses, the junk drawer in the kitchen offers fascinating viewing. I remember visiting once and a friend's mother was on the phone, rummaging for a scrap of paper and a pencil, to write down a phone number -- the stuff in that drawer that she had to brush aside included a calendar from 1881, a couple tintypes in paper from around the time of the Civil War, a pair of Art Nouveau silverplated grape shears, about six thimbles and a lot of other stuff that I couldn't even identify. That is what ends up a in house where the people don't move for a long, long time, generally because they have a lot invested locally in the economy and everyone who goes away to college (often ag school, and if so, sometimes at Cornell) comes right back to the family business, which could be farming, milling, real estate, etc. I think this is probably alien to the 21st century, though.

It's just past 9 AM on a Sunday and I still haven't headed for the gym. This is the accumulated tiredness of three days of walking in heat and humidity and looking, looking, looking at so much stuff.

My childhood home now belongs to my brother who bought my share and my sister's share when my Dad died last year. He and his wife have fixed it up and their daughters live in it now.

The toga guy was under 30. I'm not a great judge of age.

My team came in 3rd in the tournament, DH's 2nd. And the group that won, I placed a bet on to win so I made some money both on the 3rd place for my team and for my bet!

Today we're going to visit DH's little sister before heading home tomorrow.