Oh, isn’t this just glorious? Picture me standing on that flat rock to the right in the foreground in my EMS shorts and with a walking stick in my hand. Real “Old Lady of the Mountain” stuff, eh? I have to tell you that I am REALLY looking forward to getting up there! I especially love it at night when the stars seem almost close enough to reach up and grab out of the sky - everything is so clear and fresh and clean. I have just one more meeting tomorrow morning - up on the north shore of Massachusetts (up where the rich folks stay) - and then we’ll be free to start packing DH’s SUV and have everything ready for an early morning getaway on Saturday. The weather predictions are all in our favor, and I expect to come home with a little healthy color in my cheeks and a spring to my step that hasn’t been there up til’ now. Well, the truth is that I DO have a little color that came from my gardening on Mother’s day with the offspring, and then some walks and a little more planting since then. I know that we women “of a certain age” are really supposed to avoid exposure to the sun, but I don’t think it’s really possible for me to do that. I love it far too much. And, if the price is a few extra wrinkles, than so be it.

This week has been a tough one to get through - mostly because the last place I want to be is at work. Eating has been fine - no *off-plan* binges, although at this stage, I’m not entirely sure what *off-plan* would be, since I’m mostly just eating what I enjoy, and luckily, I’ve developed a real taste for “live” foods and nutritious ones - I can’t say that I’m not occasionally tempted by the stray thought of a nice hunk of nuts and chocolate (something out of a Godiva box, maybe?) but I don’t crave it, and wouldn’t bother buying it. Tonight I’m making us our beloved flatbread (lavash bread - 100 calories for a HUGE rectangle, and 5 grams of fiber!) pizzas. Taco-style tonight. I’m using Morningstar faux meat (soy) crumbles with taco seasoning, diced onions, red & green peppers, and sliced black olives. I use the Contadina squeeze pizza sauce, put that sparingly over a piece of lavash bread, then cover that with a thin layer of fat-free mozarella cheese. Then the taco “meat” and thin slices of pepper & onion, topped off with some sliced black olives to give it a little curb appeal, so to speak. A quick 10-minutes in a 325 oven, and voila! Yum!

My allergies (?) are still trying to ruin my life, which I have no intentions of allowing them to do. I’m hearing that this is a bad, bad year for pollen, but it seems to me I’ve been hearing that every year, now, for at least the last five or so. I’m taking OTC allergy meds, anything that helps, however briefly. And yes, I should probably give the doctor another shot at figuring it out, but I swear they are so dense; sometimes feels to me like I know more than they do, and you know how dangerous an attitude like that can be, eh? I may (or may not) have mentioned before that my mother, with whom I had an extremely adversarial relationship from the day I exited her womb (honest! It’s true!), was a registered nurse, and her pals were all doctors & nurses, and she entertained them fairly regularly with get-togethers at our house. Now I know for certain that they were not necessarily representative of the entire medical profession, but as the old saying goes, “once bitten, twice shy”, and for me, personally, the farther I can stay from hospitals, doctors and the medical community in general, the happier I am. And it’s entirely possible that there may come a time when I simply don’t have much choice in the matter, but while I still DO have a choice, I choose not to be bothered. Apologies in advance to any who happen to be members of the aforesaid community; I’m sure that YOU are wonderful, upstanding citizens and smart as hell.

I need to stop on my way home tonight to pick up a few pieces of weekend gear.

And, through the magic of internet technology, here I am, sitting in front of my very own computer in my very own house, have picked up the weekend gear referenced in the previous sentence, changed into my “comfy” clothes, and am “unwinding a bit” before getting started on the pizzas, which I shall do fairly soon because I’m beginning to feel pretty hungry.

I was rather miffed at one of the “higher ups” when I left work today. The man is such a pompous idiot, and worse, he is a pompous idiot who has nothing whatsoever to be pompous about because he is so damned inefficient and stupid. Of course this organization doesn’t even get rid of it’s stupidest “higher ups” - they just transfer them someplace else, which is what they’re doing with him in another month. Anyway, he had spoken with a funder on the telephone several weeks back (don’t ask me how she got put through to him) and he transferred her to his admin. asst. who knew to refer her to me. So, she called me, left me a voicemail while I was on vacay hanging out with my DS, and when I got back, I called and left HER a voicemail. Then, she sent me an email indicating that she’d spoken to the “higher up”, been referred to his admin. asst., and finally given my name, and that she would like to work with me on creating an endowment for one of our programs. So, naturally, I told her I’d be happy to help her set it up, and that she should email me what info she needed and I would get it for/to her. So, a couple of things she needed needed to come out of this particular “higher up’s” office, and when I sent HIM and email asking for them FOR this particular funder, he acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about; acted like he’d never heard of her, and didn’t undertand why we should release the information to her. SO, I had to forward the ORIGINAL email to him (copied the CEO and everyone else I could think of) where she said she’d talked to HIM, and he’d turned her over to his admin asst. (which, incidentally, was inappropriate, and everybody knows that). I said (in the forwarded email) that I hoped this would clear things up for him. Then I left, not to return again until next Thursday. Bleeechhh!!!!

I can leave later than usual in the AM, and get home earlier than usual. Not a bad deal, eh? I think DD30 is planning to come over tomorrow evening for a while, and then I’ll have a nice bath, wash my hair, and get myself to bed so we can be up and on the road good and early. Yay!

Okay, Now I’m really hungry.

Love to my beautiful net of jewels…

Hugs,

Z