I know you're sick of hearing it. I know J is sick of hearing it and I am sick of saying it. That I am starting a healthy way of eating. But today, I really am. There was a small kink in the plan this morning. We went to the mall. It was our outing. Sad, isn't it? But I figured W would enjoy playing in the fountain and I could get a wedding gift for someone who got married almost 6 months ago. He loved it. I had him run "really, really fast" around the fountain a few times to make sure he got good and tuckered out. S and her baby girl met us and we fed the babies then walked over to Cafe du Monde to get coffee. There are no other coffee shops in the mall-ANYONE WANT TO MAKE FORTUNE OPEN A PJ'S IN THE MALL-so I had to settle for a $4.00 iced cafe latte with whole milk. It was delicious-anything with whole milk would be-but I think $4.00 was a bit steep. This ain't the French Quarter. This is Veterans blvd. but I guess they figure they have a captive audience. So that was my slip. Otherwise I have been really good all day.

Yesterday, I made Dr. Ann's homemade granola minus a lot of the nuts she calls for because I didn't feel like buying pine nuts and the like for $17/lb. It was really easy. I took slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts and oatmeal. Then I mixed it up with about a quarter of a cup of honey and a tsp. of vanilla extract. Then I baked it in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring about every five. Deeeelicious. I had it this morning with a fresh peach and skim milk. J didn't enjoy it as much as I did. But I am sure it will grow on him.

I've also decided not to take a free day for two weeks which is going to be hard. Free days are a carryover from my long ago Body for Life but they make such much sense. They kind of get you through, keep you going, make you feel like you are not totally depriving yourself of anything good. But lately they have been getting me off track (I've been taking free weekends) so I am going to forgo it for awhile.

I know my fans are really excited about my diet dilemmas but I am sick and tired of it and think about nothing else so I wouldn't be true to you if I didn't post about. I will be a hot mama once again some day. I'll spare you the details for 4 weeks. By then I will be able to give you a good update. Doesn't mean I won't share my healthy dishes and recipes with you. I might even take a photo of my shrimp fricasee tonight. Stay tuned.

Hard Body

I'm fat. I haven't gained that much weight and my belly isn't super big but I'm definitely fatter than I was when I was pregnant with W. I can not only see cellulite in my milky white fat thighs (isn't that a pretty visual?) but I can feel my arms wiggling all the time. It's my own fault. I haven't been as neurotic about lifting weights or excercising this time. I excercised pretty much until my 7th month with W, all the while continuing to weight train. But not so this time-because I never got back into it, really, after I had W. My workouts are sporadic at best and if I lift it's only once per weekend. Anyway, as you can see I'm obssessed with the fatness. I was talking to a friend on the phone the other day. She's pregnant too and her husband works with J. So we see each other at work functions too. We were talking about being fit and skinny for next summer and CLICK , I remembered this dream that I had. We were at one of J's firm's work parties and this is what I was wearing. A tight orange ribbed tank top with white trim. It was a half shirt and super low rise pants. I was tan-ha! for anyone who knows me I'm the farthest you can get from Coppertone-and my stomach was ripped-I mean ripped to China and back. Yeah, it was such a cheesy outfit but what made it a dream instead of a nightmare was that I looked so damn hot. People, you just wait. I may have to get a cut off tight orange tank top. I'll buy it and save it just to make my dream of being hot and ripped come true-then I'll take a picture and post it proudly. It will probably look like this!