Corporate toady?

Huh? Sorry, I just heard that on TV in a context that was really weird. Kind of like saying Sponge Bob and Fidel Castro in the same sentence. Just weird. Anyway!

The gals did not take a single picture in Vegas (uh huh sure) - not even somebody sleeping with their mouth open or coming out of the bathroom wearing a towel and brushing their teeth. Hmmm. They were all very tired and apparently the magic date of 7/7/07 didn't bring any of them that intangible special something that would have allowed them to win big and race home to retire. Sigh-h-h. Maybe next time.

One thing came out of it though - and I'm not saying it was a positive thing. Joan discovered gambling. Joan has lived in a few different countries, has had several different jobs and been all over this country - but had never touched a slot machine. It is my understanding that when she did - she immediately became hyp-mo-tized. Ysabel and Linda could barely pull her away. Somehow her germ phobia slipped away as she pushed those dirty buttons touched by scads of people before her - some whom I'm sure didn't wash their hands after going to the bathroom - and she remained seated - fixated on the blinking lights and spinning symbols in front of her.

Me thinks it's good she doesn't live close to any major gambling territory - or she would quickly become a regular at the local pawn shop! :) Almost scary. Joan - step away from the machine. Don't. drink. the. kool-aid!

So. Nutrisystem. I am having a lot of trouble facing all those salads. I am not doing bad on the fruit, and thank God I am allowed to have V-8 instead of a vegetable serving, but that salad twice a day is killing me. The idea is to keep eating all day, small portions of healthy foods. I get that. But a salad at lunch and a salad at dinner for someone who doesn't really like salad that much is pretty hard.

There have been days lately where I have been getting my lunch ready for the next day and just cannot bear making another salad. So I skip it. But it is a filling part of my lunch and without it I am not satisfied. I didn't realize how much you need to contribute yourself in terms of fresh fruit and salads and the like. Call me lazy but I thought it was - pre-packaged foods - take it out of my hands for a while - eat what we tell you and you will lose weight.

Well. I am going to do it for a second month - only because now that I have sampled a lot of the different meals - I have a much greater idea of what meals I will choose which will make things a heck of a lot easier. I cannot keep looking into that box and seeing split pea soup which I hate and did not want - thinking that I am going to have to eat it. Because I won't. It's that simple.

I do want to tell anyone who is thinking of doing this diet plan, DO NOT TRY THE CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!! That was the dessert I chose the most of and it is simply awful. Awful. Tonight I thought I would try to make it a bit palatable by sinking a nice Hershey's kiss in the middle of the batter before sticking it in the microwave. Not even that helped. I was expecting a nice melted bit of real chocolate gooey goodness in the center to be the redeeming quality but somehow the cake ruined the kiss. Amazing. Don't bother.

I will say though that even if the food is not great for the most part, I am getting into the habit of eating meals on a more regular basis as well as trying to get the rest of the food groups in there. I have always been bad about the fruit and veggies - carbs are my lifeblood. But I am learning better habits so if I get some lasting changes out of this it will have been worth it. I was in a bad habit spiral, and it was getting worse. I needed something extreme to snap me out of it. Along with starting to walk again - I think I will continue the process on my own when this is done. This has been a slo-o-o-w-w process for me, I haven't lost tons of weight but I just need to keep at it. Especially the walking.

And I need to go here. Bermuda. I just need to go where the sun shines and the clear water laps at my toes and where I don't have to think beyond SPF 30 for a while. Ah-h-h-h - the sand is as fine as sugar and almost as white .....