All is well with me, and maybe that's why I haven't written lately. When my life is going great I just like to sit back and enjoy it all, and somehow blogging doesn't fit into the whole scheme of things. Sorry.


This week I have been a very good girl, exercise-wise. I worked out Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I fully plan to sneak out during lunch and work out for my requisite 40 minutes today. I won't be getting on the elliptical trainer, however. I've ellipticalled myself out over the past two days, and my thigh muscles are starting to whine. So it's back to the old treadmill-and-bike routine. I really wish I could go to yoga tonight, but we're planning a grocery shopping trip to HEB and that leaves no time for downward dogging.


I'm way into this mystery shopping thing. I've had, oh, four assignments so far and made almost $30. Not bad for 2 1/2 hours of work. The bad news? Most of them have been at McDonald's, which as we all know is like Satan for dieters. According to the assignment, I'm supposed to get food at both the drive-thru and the dine-in part, and sample both meals. Well, when you love fries like I do you don't just "sample." You consume. In mass quantities. Actually, I've been pretty good about just taking a few bites and then tossing the food. But the other day I visited at breakfast, and I'm ashamed to admit that I ate a McGriddle sandwich and hash browns, not to mention a few bites of a sausage biscuit and another hash brown. Woe is me.


However, this weekend I'm doing an assignment at a computer store, so that should be relatively calorie-free.


Last night I had a conversation with my mom that got me thinking. She called while driving home because she was rattled about a situation her friend is going through. She's been friends with this woman since I was about 12, and she's a very nice lady, with three kids. However, a few years ago her husband injured himself, and the doc prescribed Vicodin for the pain. Well, you know how it goes - he got addicted, and made her life a living hell. It was bad. He'd get someone else to pee in a cup for him when his work gave him drug tests. Eventually, he got fired from his job for showing up high. Their marriage deterioriated to the point where she kicked him out of the house. He started living with his brother.


Things for this woman - we'll call her Lucy - continued to worsen. She lost her job as an office manager. Her oldest child got pregnant, and the father refused to take any responsibility, so she let the daughter and her grandchild move in. Eventually her estranged husband got in a fight with his brother, so Lucy let him move back in (not sleeping in the same bed, however). She doesn't want to get back together with him, but he keeps trying to manipulate her, leaving her notes trying to make her feel guilty and saying he's going to kill himself if she doesn't take him back. Fun stuff.


Meanwhile, Lucy is working two jobs, hostessing at a restaurant and cleaning offices after hours. She doesn't even have time to look for a better job. She has three children and a grandchild to support, and there's virtually no money. They can barely pay their bills, and she has the added expense of paying for her daughter's wedding (she's marrying her baby's father; I personally think it's pretty selfish of the daughter for not working and making her mom foot the wedding bill - she should just go to the JP - but whatever). None of her kids work. When the eldest daughter gets married she and her baby will still be living with Lucy because the husband is going to boot camp, so it's not like she won't be responsible for them anymore. In short, they're destitute.


My mother gave her $250 last night. She felt really guilty because she and my dad are doing quite well - they're buying a new house, they both have good steady jobs, and life is good. But anyway, if you've made it this far, the point of the story is that we should be thankful for what we have. I bitch and moan sometimes, but at least I know my power won't be cut off, and I'll still have a roof over my head next month. At least I'm in a relationship that's (pretty) healthy and happy. Lucy's situation also reminds me to be frugal, because you never know when you could lose your source of income.


Wow, that was a really long entry. Toodles for now...

Jen from nowhere @ 10:19 AM