C'mon Blogger, work with me!

Is it me, or is Blogger a trifle effed up...again?  I just tried to comment on 2 different people's blogs, and Blogger put me through the wringer with having to sign in with email, password and then attributing my comment to "anonymous"!  I'm totally offended, Blogger - I've been around these parts close to 3 years, and have never been dubbed anonymous until now.  Was it something I said?  To be fair, Blogger did "accept" my comment with my actual nom de plume on the next 2 blogs I tried.

It's been a good week, and hump day is almost a wrap, at least as far as work goes.  Actually, tomorrow (Thursday) is my Friday this week, because I'm taking real Friday off because to spend a few precious hours with our daughter Jean, who's flying in Thursday night about 11 p.m. from the Dominican Republic to spend a month in the states!  Woohoo - it's been entirely too long since we've seen her - 17+ plus months, in fact. 

In my epic-ly long dog post on Sunday, I mentioned that she signed on to do an extra 13 months of service in the Peace Corps; and because of that, the PC pays for the volunteers to fly home, and gives them a full month off for Special Leave between the previous and new gig.  So her time begins tomorrow, but we won't have her at home (other than about 18 hours from Thursday night to Friday afternoon) until about 2 weeks from now.  She is turning around and flying to Miami for a college friend's wedding Friday, then from Miami (I think early next week) she'll fly to Lexington Kentucky for her cousin's wedding, in which she'll be a bridesmaid.  Our whole family will be going to the KY wedding on June 4th.  From there, Jean will head to Atlanta to see her elderly (93 and 86) grandparents who opted out of the wedding because, as my mother-in-law stated eloquently, "We're old!"  After a few days in Atlanta, Jean will do a road trip home with the friend from the Peace Corps who brought Wally (the dog) home while we were in Atlanta a couple weeks ago.

All very exciting, but the best part will be when Jean is actually at home with us for almost 2 full weeks.  We always have so much fun just hanging out, cooking, shopping, laughing...you know.  Jean is also THRILLED to see Wally...I think she may notice that he's... ahem...filled out a bit.  He looked pretty darn lean when he arrived and wasn't a great eater in the DR.  Now that he's settled in with us, his appetite is pretty good.  American doggie cuisine est tres formidable!  Interesting that living in my house has fattened him up a bit.  Like "grandma", like granddog, siiigh.

I've definitely been struggling with wanting to eat when I'm not hungry this week.  Damn!  Why?  When does this sh*t stop?  Monday was a dismal day where by mid morning at work I decided I was going to have a free day.  Don't ask...it wasn't pretty, but didn't yield too much scale damage.  However, it DID yield emotional strife, with a smattering of shame and self disgust.  Yesterday was much better, and I got a walk in, which helps.  I'm on track so far today.

While I was in Atlanta, I ate a lot, didn't restrict or "diet" at all, and managed to lose a few.  It was because even though I ate what I wanted with meals, I didn't graze in between, and didn't really want to.  On the brief occasions where I did want to, there were people around and so I didn't make countless and mindless trips to the kitchen for...whatever.  Now that I'm back home it's been harder, and I'm aware of being unwilling to just say no to myself when the urge to eat something hits, and I know full well I'm not hungry.  But I keep working at it and trying to keep my mind occupied with other things.

I just finished a fantastic salad for lunch that I photo'd, just for the hell of it.  I'd finished about 1/2 of it before I thought to take it's pic!  Contents: butter lettuce, spring mix, radishes, red pepper, celery, carrots, Vidalia onion, 2 oz Trader Joe's lean turkey breast, and 1 oz of Cabot's 50% reduced fat cheddar cheese - dressed with olive oil, lime juice and a touch of balsamic.  The Cabot's cheese has been a great find for me - it has a good flavor, and good texture, and feels decadent.  A great addition to my work lunches.  If you haven't tried it, it's worth it.  I'm a reduced fat cheese hater and this is the only one that cuts the mustard!

Well - that's it for me today.  I'm determined to get a 3 mile walk in this afternoon before watching the last Oprah show!  I'm going to miss the show, but at least I won't have any reason to truncate after work exercising now. 

So far today, my inner binge-er is at bay.  Send out some positive vibes that she stays at bay.  Tonight I have my meditation group, which is always good, so I'm looking forward to that, and I certainly can't eat while I'm meditation in a room with 12-15 other people!  Happy Wednesday, all.