Thank you, Megan. Thank you. I've had a fairly good night's sleep and I can feel my tummy muscles as I walk along which is also good.

Good luck, everyone. Let's focus.

DS12 had Pi day at school too - they were allowed to bring in round snacks. He proudly told me he passed up a Krispy Kreme for a handful of grapes. Which leads to my only clean Pi joke: How many engineers does it take to slice a Pi (pie)? 3.14159.

The inner child's tantrum has passed, the scale is still at 152.5, and I'm going back to logging. Every now and then, compromise gets you further ahead. I did not compromise on getting out of bed and onto the treadmill - I just did it. I might have an opportunity to make another water aerobics class tonight, as I've received a note that DS12's Bball game has been cancelled. That being said, I did have one of my servings of wine for the week last night - DS12 was having an absolute meltdown over studying for today's history test. Mommy drinks because you whine ... So that leaves me only one for the weekend. Guess I will be staying out of the bar car!

Becky, would you like whine with your dinner ?
As for me I am still holding, will running to catch up be considered exercise ?

Certainly, bargoo. Just do it!

bargoo, whine at dinner is my least favorite thing.

silver, I agree - running to catch up is definitely exercise!

Today's my super long day at the bookfair. We are open from 8-4 and then 6-8, but I come in before 7 and leave much later than 8. I'm hoping I can leave for an hour to grab a bite to eat. The kids can come in during recess today and tomorrow which is always chaotic! They have bags of coins and no idea how much they have-- and they always forget about tax! It is rainy still and cold, so they'll all want to come in!

I had mentioned a few weeks ago about my dd's best friend's mom and never followed up. She had surgery to remove a benign but very invasive brain tumor. Her recovery so far has been very challenging, with partial paralysis, vision and hearing problems, etc., but she was finally released from the hospital last night. I am still praying that she gets all of her capacities back.

Cannot wait for tomorrow to be over.....
Going to lunch on Saturday with another librarian in the district so we can complain about our book fairs. Hopefully Bikram Yoga Saturday and Sunday, and my nails on Sunday.... I need some down time.

Michele~I have a former co-worker who had benign brain tumors. In the time I knew her, she had had at least three surgeries. The first one left her deaf. The second one left her unable to walk--she had no sensation in her lower legs and feet. But she was bound and determined to walk again! It took over a year but she made it! The third one didn't seem to have any detrimental effects. I'm hoping your DD's friend overcomes her obstacles and heals completely.

Becky~I was toying with going off plan for a meal or two yesterday. I'm glad I didn't, but I did open a bottle of wine which I didn't intend to do. Thankfully it's not that good, so I didn't drink more than I already had, but my weight is still up. I had weighed in at 152 on Saturday and am still at 153, despite being 152.5 on Monday. I had hoped to be back to 152 today (or yesterday). I'm afraid at this point, I will be lucky to be 152 on Saturday which means no net loss this week.

I did walk the dog yesterday. I think I should try to do it every day instead of saying to myself that 3 days a week is sufficient.

Work is not perfectly horrible anymore with deadlines, just normally busy. So why do I always feel wary and on edge these days, as if I'm always tensed up, expecting a sudden emergency that will require an immediate, all-out response? Something is just not right with me.

At the end of the work-day, I'm to meet with an accountant to start my taxes. I must fill out an additional form this year, on which I'll claim my losses from the flood. This should be a good thing, right? Maybe a bit of a break, as I really don't have enough deductions and can use any that I can find. I mean, It's just list-making. But I'm dreading it. Like, I'd do anything to get out of this appointment tonight. I think it's my protecting myself against the psychological impact of reliving the losses as I remember and list each one.

I'll try to remember the good things in store for me. There are some. This weekend I'm traveling down to the Poconos to look at an antique cherry desk that someone put up on Craigslist a few weeks back. From the photos, it looks quite nice. If there's one piece of furniture that I get a lot of use from, it's the desk on which my laptop sits. It's priced fairly for the quality and this recessionary market. My mother's going with me, since she's got the minivan that could haul it back with us. Also she wants to gamble at the Mt. Airy Lodge. I will read magazines in the hotel room and soak in tub with a Lush bath bomb while she plays the slots. (Casinos bore me.)

Also, maybe I'll schedule a pedicure for myself on a weeknight next week, since I haven't been working too late in the evenings and would have some time free after 6 PM for a change.

This could be an okay day if I would just let myself relax and focus, instead of being so fearful and anxious without any real immediate cause.

I have had an revelation, re: grocery stores, I can handle the candy display since I can't avoid it as they are always located near the check out line.The bakery department, however must be avoided at all costs, I have discovered they contain a deep pit that you fall into and cannot get out.

Bargoo, I go to the grocery store at a ridiculously early hour, like about 7:15 AM, just after I get out of my spin class, because the grocery store is right on my route home from the gym. I have found that the bakery corner is particularly painful to experience at this hour because that's when the day's stuff is coming out of the oven. Usually, I smell sugary vanilla, and I know it's got to be doughnuts or cupcakes or something like that. I can practically feel slightly gritty vanilla butter cream frosting on the roof of my mouth. It's somewhat pornographic. I get my Greek yogurt and flee. I find that I forget about it after just a few minutes. I just have to hold on till the impulse passes.

But yeah, it's like Ulysses ... I lash myself to the mast and writhe and groan till I'm past that tempting aroma.

But as I said, in five minutes, I'm near the deli counter, and then chatting at the checkout, and then out in the parking lot. And the world opens up, and all the ringbilled sea gulls are screaming and hovering over the parking lot, looking for trash to scavenge, and the sky is still a little pink from the sunrise. I smell mud, just a little. I'm rebooted, reset: It's like it never happened and I'm in a different world.

Okay, I nearly fell off the train yesterday. I had a piece of the red velvet cake my coworker brought in.

Later that evening I logged it into my food log using whatever red velvet cake it had in its system as an estimate. 800 calories. OMG. Next time I want to eat junk food, my plan is going to be to LOG IT FIRST because if I had known it was 800 cals I would have been more motivated to not eat it.

On the flipside, my weight is down half a pound today. I feel like one of those rage comics, eat healthy, no change, eat cake, lose weight, WTF.

We are all staying on this train. I have spoken. Make it so.

Dinner last night was fine - I did decide to have wings (really hot ones), but I thought about it all day, went into it reasoned and informed, didn't over order and had a side salad instead of something terrible as a side item. I feel fine about it today. A small bump up from the sodium, but less than a pound so I'm okay with that.

Bargoo - the bakery section kills me. Just kills me.

I am so not going to look up lemon cake, let me be ignorant, as long as I can stay on the train.

Jessica - good grief - 800 calories????? How big was the piece? That's truly frightening! Of course, I did virtually the same thing a while back when DH opened up a tub of roasted garlic hummus - we shared the tub and then I had the joy of discovering that a serving of hummus is 2 TABLESPOONS. Who'da thunk that something that healthy could be that calorie-dense? Right on - the answer is to log it first.

I'm having nasal hallucinations of fresh donuts.

Make it So.

The only tempting thing for me at the bakery is fresh bread. Yeah, donuts and things look nice but I don't really have a problem passing them over.