Marshmallow + chocolate = bliss

Change from beginning of program: -2.6
Goal: 41 to go
Activity: making bracelets
Temptation: chocolate
Fruit and veg: 2
Bracelets made: 5.5

Finished the bracelet that I hosed last night and got 5 more done.

I do have a problem with going overboard on new hobbies...I have hundreds of dollars worth of paper and stickers for scrapbooks, and I haven't gotten any out it out to work on in months.

Breakfast: pistachios (yes, I really need to go to the grocery store)

Lunch: Jason's Deli spinach veggie wrap, Baked Lays, two gingerbread mini muffins

Afternoon snack: three Rolos, two lemon Girl Scout cookies

Dinner: shrimp gumbo over rice (and garlic bread) at our favorite seafood restaurant

Evening snack: two Cellas (the last ones for the year, unless by some miracle I find more), pistachios, Russell Stover dark chocolate marshmallow Easter egg

That damn Easter egg was so good that I almost passed out. I remembered why I look forward to the Easter candy all year.

Happy hour

Change from beginning of program: -2.6
Goal: 41 to go
Activity: drinking
Temptation: beer
Fruit and veg: 4
Bracelets made: 3.5

How do you make 3.5 bracelets? Make three. Make a fourth one, but don't finish it because your man is talking to you and you can't concentrate. Take your T-shirt off because you feel like you are going to burn through your skin. Somehow catch the end of the almost-finished bracelet and pull the string out but leave the beads intact, in order, on the beading board.

It was a good day. I managed to piss off two annoying people at work.

Breakfast: pistachios and a pear

Lunch: seafood salad: shrimp, crab, and tilapia over a bed of greens, with cheese and corn salsa

Afternoon snack: two Thin Mints

Dinner: happy hour with coworkers (not the ones I pissed off). Three Newcastle Brown Ales.

Evening snack: spaghetti and marinara with parmesan plus four Miller Lites. One Cella.

It's almost the weekend. Praise cheeses.

Hand-did creations

Change from beginning of program: -2.6
Goal: 41 to go
Activity: drinking
Temptation: wine
Fruit and veg: 1-2
Bracelets made: 5

Breakfast: leftover mashed potatoes, fried up and topped with cheese. 3 Cellas. Great start to the day.

Lunch: Taco Bell - bean burrito and bean tostada.

Dinner: whole wheat tortellini with marinara and parmesan cheese. Most of a bottle of red wine.

My new hobby is making beaded jewelry. I'm making bracelets because they are easy. And I can do it while watching TV or talking on the phone or doing both at the same time.

If you have requests for a certain color of beaded bracelet, let me know.

And how does this sound for the name of my new enterprise (where I'll be showcasing beaded jewelry and notecards): Princess Paisley

I'm considering a subtitle using "hand-did" because it sounds so damn hick.

The story behind "Hand-Did": several years ago, some friends and I saw a sign at a street festival advertising "Hand-Did Jewelry."

Let me know what you think.

Rude people drive me nuts

True story...

One of my coworkers who has been making my life a living hell for months has a birthday next week. She has dropped about a million hints that she wants a tres leches cake (my specialty).

As she drives me freaking crazy, I decided that I would not be baking her a cake.

Today, I took a tres leches in for someone else's birthday. I gave a piece to the woman who has been driving me crazy and said, "Happy birthday, a week early."

Her response - "I don't get a whole cake?

Dead tired

Change from beginning of program: -.2
Goal: 44 to go
Activity: 45 minutes gardening (digging and hoeing)
Temptation: none
Fruit and veg: 5

Breakfast: leftover mac & cheese, pear, Cella

Morning snack: two Girl Scout lemon cookies

Lunch: Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, biscuit

Afternoon snack: small piece of tres leches cake, 3 Musketeers mini

Dinner: whole wheat tortellini with marinara and parmesan cheese, 2 glasses Chianti, Cella

I'm bored to tears with my job. The people there are driving me nuts. Coming home and beating the hell out of banana tree roots felt pretty good. I dug several banana trees up, but more will grow back. My compost pile is huge, and I keep turning it - hoping for some nice soil for the upcoming vegetable garden.

It's February, and I'm already getting tired of yardwork. At least I should sleep soundly tonight.

No wonder I can't lose weight

By age 2, I was on the path to chunkiness. Now the science proves it.

There's a reason I drink

Change from beginning of program: 2.2
Goal: 42 to go
Activity: drinking
Temptation: prosecco
Fruit and veg: 4

There's a reason I drink. It's called WORK.

More specifically, it's attributable to a few people I work with.

Today, they were in full force.

I don't mind work. I don't mind working a lot.

I do mind doing busy work when I could be doing something productive. I do mind doing "exceptional" work and having funding for my projects being given to someone who "didn't follow the rules." (Quotes are attributable.)

Tonight, I planned on doing something creative like my first beading project. Instead, I killed a bottle of wine and watched TV. Don't hate me.

Lost...with prosecco

Change from beginning of program: -3.4
Goal: 41 to go
Activity: watching "Lost"
Temptation: prosecco
Fruit and veg: 5+

Ate a lot today. Most of it was healthy, but it was a lot.

My main drinking motivator was out of the office today, but others were more than willing to step in and take her place.

A bottle of prosecco later, I feel much better.

But if they say that all of those years of "Lost" were some kind of dream, I'm gonna be pissed. Really mad. This is the kind of thing that could get me off network TV forever.

When they canceled "St. Elsewhere," I gave up TV drama. Until "Twin Peaks." When that ended, I gave it up again. Until "Homicide."

Let's face it: I love TV. But those network execs are out of touch with me.

Unlisted

Change from beginning of program: -3.2
Goal: 41 to go
Activity: feeling antsy
Temptation: junk food
Fruit and veg: 2

I have felt sluggish and antsy all day.

I have eaten nothing but crap since Friday.

Coincidence? Perhaps.

Or perhaps it's just Monday, and I'm tired of doing what I do, and I worked from home this afternoon with the plumber, and I just feel like whining.

Yesterday, during my sacred Sunday nap, I got a call from the Bill White for Governor campaign. I like Bill White. I will vote for Bill White for Governor. But I will not tolerate campaign calls on Sunday afternoon.

During our recent mayoral runoff, I got 12 calls in one day telling me to vote for candidate x, y, and z. I said at the time that I would change my phone number before the next election. I just didn't realize that the next election would come so quickly.

The friggin' election is in November. I got this call in January!

Enough is enough, already.

I'm fed up enough to pay to have the number changed AND pay a monthly fee to keep it unlisted.

Now that my rant is over, here is my junk food diary for today. It's no wonder I feel like a slug.

Breakfast: Wheaties Fuel, string cheese, 3 chocolates

Lunch: Bean burrito and bean tostada from Taco Bell. 2 chocolates.

Dinner: Large avocado made into guacamole. Tostitos. Pistachios. Key lime pie. Chocolate chip cookie.

Exercise? Are you kidding? I did have a nice bath before watching "24."

Let's hope that tomorrow will bring a healthier diet. And fewer unsolicited phone calls.