She said "You look like you've lost weight."

Thursday, August 12, 2010
All is right with the world.

I am still covered in sweat and about ten pounds of sawdust from sanding the graffiti off of the "new to me" tables in my classroom. I have a ton of work to do and not enough time to do it. I have a mountain of bills and not enough money to cover them by the due dates since I had to pay $700 to fix the air conditioner and then the $150 electric bill skyrocketed to nearly $400-yes, really, that is not a typo. Oh and my car needs more work (the $2500 wasn't enough I guess) and my son's car needs new tires and the engine just started squealing. My son starts his senior year (he's 18) and hasn't been able to get a job - I don't think there is a business in a 30 mile radius that doesn't have his application. I am sitting on a dining room chair in the living room since I had to trash our sectional sofa set because apparently my dog used it as her personal potty while I was away.

So why am I happy? A friend who hasn't seen me in a couple of weeks said, "You look like you've lost weight." Of course, given my state of cleanliness (remember, I am sweaty and dirty) she also asked if I was feeling okay.

Talk about a pick me up. If she had not said that, I am not sure I would have been able to resist the oooey-goooey cheesy pizza another friend offered to me. If she had not said that, I probably would have been tempted by the paper bags my husband left on the counter tonight that were filled with greasy fried chicken, pulled pork barbecue, cole slaw, hush puppies, bacon-n-green beans, potato salad...all the trimmings.

As it is, I am sitting here feeling less fat (whether or not I am we'll find out Monday) and I am not tempted by the mountain of fatty food overtaking our kitchen. Of course I am counting on my son devouring the majority of it when he comes home. And I am also hoping my daughter and her boyfriend will get rid of the rest when they get off work tonight. Tomorrow I have more work to do and am driving a few hundred miles to pick up my niece from her vacation.

Okay, here I am yapping when what I should be doing is jumping in the pool. Well, maybe the shower first - I am pretty sure the smell in here is me since I threw out the offending sofa. I am crossing my fingers that five hours of heavy lifting and sanding at work today will be worth some serious activity points!