I'm just your average, everyday, divorced 38 year old girl -- overweight, tragically unhip,
and trying to make a life for myself. I live with two furry beasts, Dave and Abby, whose
feline mission in life is to choke me with their fur. Nothing special.
Reader Appreciation Day and the end of this horrid week!
Friday (late) afternoon. I, with the absolute power that corrupts absolutely, have decreed that today - Friday, November 5, 2004 - is Reader Appreciation Day here at "Do you have that in my size???" and, accordingly, I'm going to give you a list of reasons why each and every one of you rocks. Tremendously.
1. You take some of your valuable time to read the silly things I write. I spend most of my time toiling away and getting no recognition of any sort except here, where I can count on someone to give me some feedback.
2. You are engaged and intelligent folks who care and give of yourselves to the world. In my humble opinion, the world needs more of our kind of folks, regardless of political ideology because at least we care and are willing to engage in respectful discourse, which is, as I recall from Civics back in the Dark Ages, what is supposed to distinguish us from lower life forms. Like murderous despots. And people who litter.
3. You make me laugh sometimes and cry others and that's the whole point of life, isn't it?
4. I have this mental picture of all of you, sitting in front of your keyboards and monitors, attentively poring over your regular reads just as old fashioned folks used to do with their town newspapers. This - what we all have together - is community at its finest and purest and it's powerful.
5. Even after a truly poopy week like this one, I know that it's "not me, it's just the situation" because I have wonderful people like Michele who tell me so even when I don't believe it myself. I give thanks, every night just before falling asleep, for whatever power drew me to Blogger, because this little site has been my salvation more than once in the 18 months since I started plodding away.
For all of the above reasons, and so many more, I want to recognize you - the wonderful readers of this inane little corner of the blogosphere. You really do rock my world!
Thursday afternoon. Seriously, I will be so happy when this week has come to an end. It's just been insanely stressful and poopy, both personally and professionally. I've not been exercising because, essentially, it's coming down to a battle between sleep and exercise and sleep's been winning out.
A friend/colleague at work is going to start a petition drive to get California to abandon Standard time and move to Daylight Savings year round. When your state decides to copy us, I suggest you vote "yes". Early morning light is useless when no one is really up to doing anything until after 6:30am anyway!
Tuesday morning. It's a familiar routine and it all starts with the shoes. I peruse my collection, both the first round rotation (pumps, mules, sandals, loafers) and the second string (boots, flip-flops, and satin evening shoes) and choose just the right shoe for the day. With that important decision made, I move on to the infinitely easier choice of top and bottom (flippy polka dot skirt with pink tee? short black houndstooth skirt with cream mock neck? one of my suits with the cute white tee with seed pearls?) which easily leads to the foundational decisions (taupe plunge bra with matching bikinis or white lacy plunge with matching lace boy pants?). Then we enter the more difficult phase of the morning, where the accessories come to life and the outfit is won or lost. This earring with that necklace or a brooch and bangle? The final decisions are, of course, which purse to carry (match the shoes, compliment them, or go completely wild and make a statement?) and which lipstick to wear. (We'll leave the "gloss or not" discussion to another time.) Finally, I'm ready to face the world, properly dressed and armed with my laptop case, my purse, and - DUH! - my Voter's Guide.
Well, of course I'm not trying to mark up my Voter's Guide the morning of the election, do you think I'm crazy??? We've got like 20 initiatives between state, county, and city, not to mention 20 different elected offices to consider - not something to be rushed through. The Voter's Guide is always pulled out directly after dinner the night before, along with all of the Secretary of State's literature (I throw everything else out because it's all just hype and propaganda), and every candidate is studied and considered, every ballot measure read and then read again, so that I can confidently stride out the door on my way to the polls, knowing I've made the right choices for me and for my country. I might be wacky with my sartorial duties, but never with something as important as my vote.
Monday morning. I've updated my progress and before and after picture pages for this month and, I must say, I'm reasonably pleased. The pictures look no different (unfortunately), but at least they're no worse. The measurements, however, are finally (thank you, God!) showing signs of bending to my will. I've lost 5.4 pounds, 4.5% body fat, two inches from my waist, and three from my abdomen - yeah for me.
(Oh, and I probably should put up a warning or disclaimer about the pictures - don't view if you've just eaten or if you're faint of heart. Yes, I've made a lot of progress in five months, but I'm still probably the fattest person you've ever seen wearing so little, so view at your own risk and please, no nasty comments. I am, truly, working very hard to make it better, and saying horrible things about me doesn't help. Really. If it did, I'd never have gotten fat in the first place because I've heard them all before.)
