Another day in nirvana here...

I have a rush proofreading project, so I'll spend a few hours on that this morning. Then I'll go over the the Lots O' Luck Fitness Lounge and walk on the treadmill and use the weights and other machines.

Jerry, the older guy, was there the other day at the same time I was. I moved the barbell out from the wall so I could do some deadlifts. Jerry: "That's a lot of weight." (It's about 30 pounds total.) Me: "Not for deadlifts." Jerry: "You must have strong arms." Me: "Deadlifts are for working the legs."

After that, hot dogs are going to be in play sometime during the day. We like the reduced fat Hebrew National brand. July 4th in Florida is not my idea of a day to spend outdoors.

I may watch my new DVDs from The Great Courses on yoga in various forms. Or, I may do some pencil drawing. I'm liking this retired stuff.

My weight remains unchanged. I weigh once a week these days.

Good to hear that, JayEll. But still doing a little proofreading as well?

Have a great day, Americans, whatever you decide to do.

I am working through a list of things. I've been waiting for responses and now they've arrived.

And our green wheelie bin disappeared on last Friday which is a real nuisance. Sorry, no entry on Wikipedia (note to self to do that one day). It's the bin we use for ordinary household rubbish, put out once every three weeks to be collected. We also have a brown one for garden waste, a small brown one for food (don't use that as have a composting system) and three blue boxes in a tower on wheels for paper, plastic, and bottles and tins. Every local authority has one or more slightly different systems.

Anyway, it's disappeared into thin air. None of our neighbours have it. So we'll have to make do until a new one is delivered in the next (hopeful) few days.

Weight up. Strimmed yesterday and my forearm and wrist are complaining. But I met two toads and a common lizard so that was nice.

Monday morning, weight unchanged from yesterday, so that much is good. We're heading out in a few minutes for a golf scramble where we'll be teamed with other people. That will make me nervous so I hope I golf okay. This afternoon, we'll go to lunch and then go see Tarzan before heading to the in-laws for dinner (BBQ ribs) before fireworks.

Glad it wasn't for your baby! Horrible cancer.

Now I'm very worried about my kitty that was just diagnosed with kidney disease. She is 14 today. I had bought a supplement to try but she wouldn't eat with it on the food, and quickly got dehydrated and looked awful. I stopped trying and she perked up this morning, ate and drank and seems much happier. The vet also put her on meds due to protein in her urine so I'm hoping that helps. I need to contact the pet sitter and make sure she can give her the tiny pills. I'm praying she doesn't go downhill quickly as I don't want to make any decisions before my Tokyo trip.

Hubby leaves for China tomorrow and dd leaves the next day. I'll have two weeks to fully focus on eating and exercise before I leave.

At 148.4, on a rainy, humid day, with the Fourth of July holiday most emphatically done with & put away. Six meetings today. I am in the blackest of moods.

Sorry, saef. Six meetings--yuk! That is not nirvana.

Silverbirch, I have two long-term proofreading clients, and I get about one project (book) per month overall--sometimes two. Proofreading is "easy" for me compared to the developmental work I used to do. And it's a nice addition to my retirement income.

Still at it. Mostly home-related tasks otherwise. Taking a break today from the fitness lounge because I was getting too sore.

I'm not discussing what I saw on the scale this morning. Hoping it was just sodium from the ribs last night.

B-blueberries, strawberries & yogurt
L-salad and yogurt
D-chicken and rice
E-30 minutes on the treadmill

Sad news. A littermate of my oldest cat (he just turned 6) was diagnosed with cancer and they can't do surgery (it's between his eyes and the vet said the location makes surgery useless as they wouldn't be able to get wide enough margins). I don't know the implication this might mean for my cat or his other littermates.

I didn't get on the scale today. I did on Saturday, and decided to let it ride until Friday. I know I had salt and carbs this weekend, so it wouldn't be pleasant.

Birchie - you have been in my mind a lot this last week.

Thanks, Shannon. It's all a bit odd here. (British understatement.) Luckily, I'm partly a political scientist by training so, from that point of view, it's fascinating. The domestic political convulsions (and they are extensive) have to happen before anything wider can occur with the EU or anyone else. Heaven knows how the wider negotiations are going to play out, or the enormous repercussions.

Tomorrow brings the publication of the Chilcot Report into Britain's part in the Iraq War. There will be yet more ructions, I'm pretty certain.

In fact, politics has become almost compulsive in recent days. It's my democratic duty to keep up, as I think I've said before, but it also has a hypnotically comic angle to it, and a soap opera one too. You keep thinking, well, what on earth can happen next? I am hoping against hope that the Queen doesn't die very soon. It would just be too much for the country to cope with, probably.

Sorry if I've said some of this before. How are your friends doing? They're American, I think?

I made some beigels today to get the DB to eat a bit more. They're very good, aren't they? Not a good thing for me to be eating. But I'm eating a proper amount of vegetables again. Proper amount = a lot.

I'm at 147.7, and have too much to do and too few days in which to do it, and vaguely angry over that.

I'm at the office, looking at a smudged spot on my window and a few stray bits of fluff where a bird performed a kamikazi act yesterday and "its head exploded" as one of my former direct reports informed me. He said it was lying on the window sill yesterday. Something must've gotten a free dinner overnight.

I'm not talking about my weight this morning. No change and it's higher than it should be.

Work is good and I'm happy that this is a short week. I'm probably going to run errands today. Tomorrow, DD comes to retrieve her pets. And then, next week, the in-laws go on vacation so DS will be staying at their house to take care of their cats. He'll come home for dinners...

S-odd night, couldn't fall asleep, woke totally refreshed at 3 AM and then slept through my 5:00 alarm. Weird.
E-30 minutes on the treadmill. I didn't want to do it yesterday, but I did, and I'm happy for at least that
B-blueberries, strawberries, Greek yogurt and some granola
L-salad and yogurrt
D-empanadas (I think)

Down below "summer" red line. Very frustrating week but I bought myself a big tray of pre-prepped fruit and am sulk-eating that in the evenings, instead of more caloric things.

Too much work and no enjoyment of summer so far. Feeling rather pitiful.

Dagmar

Allison... How are your kitties faring? They do ok with dd's pets there?

I'm bringing dd to airport this morning then hopefully will start focusing on myself by going to the gym. I have a teacher friend coming by this afternoon to meet the pets as she said she will petsit when we go to Napa overnight for our anniversary in a few weeks. I'm always anxious when Ellie meets someone new, and my friend is bringing the 11 year old she nannies, so wish us luck! Ellie wasn't feeling well last night. Not sure why but we have apples from a tree in the yard and she sometimes eats them? She seems ok so far today.

We only sat DD's little dog. My in-laws took her cats. But that didn't go well, either. Her cats hated DD's cats, so they spent their time sequestered in the spare bedroom. We went to dinner there Monday night and MIL locked her cats in the office and let DD's cats out to explore. They're really good cats (for the most part). I think it's just too hard on cats to have to go to other people's houses. We're going to tell her it'd be better for everyone if they get a pet sitter (at least for the cats) next time.

saef... office noir...