Thank you, Dr. A

Thirty pounds as of today!

And in other TV news

I decided over the summer that I would try to watch The Biggest Loser this year. People keep mentioning how inspiring it is, how it led them to change their lives, and so on, so I thought I'd better find out what it's all about.

I have given it two weeks, and I hate it. I think it's dangerous and irresponsible (morbidly obese people running a mile down the beach on their very first day on the program? I could have told them ahead of time that AT LEAST two people would end up transported to the hospital.) I think the trainers are abusive and the exercise regimes are outrageously unreasonable. Four, six hours a day for people who weigh over 300 pounds? I hate the humiliation of the shirtless men and crop-topped women at the weigh-in. And I hate the manufactured interpersonal dramas and the overdramatic background music. But most of all, I hate that the ignorant people watching may believe that this is what you must do to lose weight--a process so heinous that few would even want to try it.

Two Words

HOUSE TONIGHT!

Life is good.

Date Night

So. H has a date tonight with someone who, for once, is NOT ten years older than her (what kind of 30-something wants to date a 23 year old?), is degreed and employed (the last guy lived on a boat), and offered to come pick her up instead of commanding her to drive to his house--which seems to be what dudes do nowadays, at least around here. I feel a strange light-heartedness about this. Cross your fingers it works out nicely and she has fun.

hot mofo

It is 107 degrees in Yorba Linda at this moment. We were going to go to Knotts Berry Farm this evening in honor of Hallie's birthday, but sheesh....maybe an air-conditioned movie would be better.

Grandma and the possum

So my mother just called me to make sure I made it home alive from Mexico, and told me this event in her week.

They had a front blow through Tulsa recently and it brought some much needed rain and really greened everything up. Mom loves animals of all varieties, and spends hours sitting on the patio watching butterflies and bunnies and hummingbirds frolicking amongst the trees, but this week she had a wild animal encounter of a new variety.

One morning just after all the rain came, she took a bag of trash out to the outdoor cans stored at the side of her house. When she lifted the can lid, she saw what was, in her words, "the ugliest, most bedraggled, pathetic-looking animal I've ever seen." Sitting at the bottom of the can, in two inches of garbage and rainwater, was a large possum. It was soaking wet, and so motionless that she thought it was probably dead. It didn't react at all to the lid being removed. She tipped the can and let the water run out, and then rattled the can to try to roust it out, but it just lay there, limp as a noodle. Her heart was broken, and naturally, she became determined to save the poor possum.

She went inside and got a big plate of cat food and set it outside the tipped can. She read on the internet about what possums eat (anything and everything) so she also put a pile of fruits and vegetables out near the cat food. She was heartbroken when the possum didn't move a hair, and showed no interest at all in the banquet she'd laid out. She decided it must be sick or dying, but she went back to her computer to read up more on the world of possums.

As soon as she began to read in depth, she had one of those "DUH!" moments! As we all learned as little kids, when possums are threatened, what do they do? Well of course, THEY PLAY POSSUM!! As soon as she made the connection, she ran back outside, and you can guess it: the cat food was gone, the "possum salad" was gone, and most of all, the possum was gone!

On that day, in that place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it was a good day to be a possum.

We're leaving tomorrow morning for a week in Mazatlan. (I'm including a photo of the resort, Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay. It's our third time there--it's gorgeous.) My main focus will be trying to stay on Atkins the whole time we're there. I've actually bought foil packets of tuna, a summer sausage and a bag of nuts to pack in my suitcase. If TSA opens my luggage, they'll think the nut is ME!

See y'all in a week!