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February 17, 2004

Last Wednesday I weighed in at WW and I lost an amazing 3.6 pounds in a week. How that happened, I have no idea. But, I’m not complaining. That puts my total at 9.6 in 5 weeks. I’m amazed at how well I’m doing. Of course, I think I’m starving all the time.

However, I totally blew my diet this weekend. Ron told me to save up my points for my birthday and although I didn't use all of my flex points, I used an awful lot. I am supposed to eat 22 points per day and I have 35 flex points to use or not to use during the week. I used 47 on Saturday. So, I didn't eat breakfast on Saturday. He said we had to be out the door by 11. I wanted to go to Value City to look at some stuff so we left around 9:30. So, he pulled into the airport at noon and I soon realized we were going on a trip. We waited for my stepdaughters to arrive (late as usual). They took the van with the kids and headed back home. They were watching the boys. I figured it would be good birth control for them, but it made me nervous to leave them. Ron reassured me and told me they came down for a babysitting class so, not to worry. I still worried.

We went into the airport but he still wouldn't tell me where we were going. He kept asking "Aren't you excited?" and I'd say "It's hard to get excited about something I don't know what to get excited about." I still had a fear that he was only pulling my leg and we really weren't going anywhere. We had a leisurely lunch (too many points – the meal wasn’t worth it) at the airport. And I had a glass of wine (worth it). We were actually really early for our flight. It didn't leave until 2:40. He went and got the tickets without me so it wasn't until we went through security that I looked at the boarding pass, St. Louis.

Then, I kept thinking, I didn't pack enough stuff. I was worried I didn't have what I needed. When I asked him about clothes for dinner, he said no, don't worry about it. When I asked him about makeup, he said "don't bring the full products and all" I was so flustered, I forgot dental floss, deodorant, lip stick, my hairbrush, toothpaste (he brought some), hairspray, blush - but, I brought my toothbrush, lotion and foundation. Needless to say, I felt really gross most of the weekend. Ron forgot his deodorant too. So, we arrived after a 45 minute flight and took the metro, that was cool, to Union Station. We checked into the Hyatt hotel and he then said "Now, we can go shopping for a new outfit for dinner, shoes included." I was really excited to get a new outfit, just for dinner. So, we went down to the shops and they had 2 clothing stores, both were for teens. You know the pants with 2 inch zippers, low hips and the large pants couldn't fit over my upper thigh. Not that I didn't try! I wanted new clothes. Fortunately, I was wearing a decent sweater but I had blue jeans on. The only other thing I had packed were sweat pants. We were desperate. We asked concierge where the closest mall was and she said there really weren't any. So, we went to every store (including Disney) to try to find anything. We ended up buying red pajama bottoms at the Budweiser store. Union station has tons of shops geared for the sports fan, as most event goers go there to drink before and afterwards. They had a Hardrock cafe, Hooters, Houlihans, and a dozen other restaurants/ bars.

So, once again, I felt kind of gross and fat wearing pajama bottoms. I went to the bathroom and started to put on makeup when I realized I didn't bring everything. It was all sitting on the bathroom counter at home. I don't know how I could have forgotten it. We had one drink before dinner, then got a cab at 6. We went to a super nice restaurant called Giovanni’s on the Hill. It was really expensive and probably hard to get into. Ron said he called 3 weeks ago. We had a great table and a great waiter. The food was awesome. We split the seafood ravioli for the appetizer. 6 of the 7 appetizers had seafood in them. I don't really like seafood. But, I decided to dare it all. It was OK. Then I got a salad and the Oprah dish. On her last visit, they made this dish special for her and it was really good. Good choice. We split a bottle of wine, skipped the dessert. Then we called our cabbie and he took us back to the hotel. We went to Hard Rock for another drink, glass of wine. Then went back to the room. The flight left at 9:20, so we got up early (we were already awake) and waited for the metro in the cold morning air. I liked the metro. We again, got there early and had a relaxing breakfast in the airport. He said if he could do it over, he'd leave earlier on Saturday and leave later on Sunday. I don't know what he was thinking. We got home at 11:30am and I told him I wanted to go to the mall and get an outfit like he wanted to buy me.

Do you ever have those days were you get depressed when you try stuff on? Well, I did buy some boots, but was so tired and depressed from trying clothes on the day before, knowing my stomach grew from all the food we ate, I couldn't even bear the thought of trying on more clothes. Besides, it was more fun knowing I had to find something for dinner. But, now that dinner was over, the thrill was gone. We had the kids with us and G was a monster. So, we left the mall and went home. I went to the grocery store and ate soup and an apple for dinner and Ron had soup and a sandwich. I had used up my points at breakfast so I was eating light.

That was my weekend. Little does he know that I'm taking him to Chicago in 4 weeks!

Today, Ron paid for me to have my hair re-highlighted pink. It looked so great for New Years. And it wasn’t too bad at $65 and that included the tip. I like it a lot. We have the Armor Ball this weekend and the dress matches my hair. I’m in the process of hemming it. It was so long for New Years but the shoes I had were high – too high. I had to get another pair of shoes because these hurt my feet and my back. So, I bought some shoes at Value City and now I’m taking off about 5 inches. I never got to dance at the other ball because the dress was so long. I really want to dance this time because I was such a party pooper.

Mom comes back this weekend for a few days from Florida. G will be so glad to see her. He misses her. Owen has found his "goochy." Mom gave him this frog blankey thing and he just loves it. I'm having a woman I found on Ebay make me some more and a matching blanket. I looked all over for this frog and couldn't find it and mom couldn't remember where she got it.

Tyler has called a couple of times and is currently in Kuwait, preparing to leave for Iraq in a few days. He says there is nothing to do right now and it’s like a vacation. The weather is hot and dry. He seems a bit excited and of course, we are proud.

My cleaning lady quit the last Thursday. I called my cleaning lady on Tuesday and had a talk with her. She's Mexican and lives with my neighbors. I was talking with my neighbors and they say she has the same problem at their house. She uses a lot of product to clean my house. Example, I bought furniture polish 2 weeks ago - and the entire can is gone. I bought a container of Swiffer wets for her. She used all but 2 sheets in one day. She uses 3/4 bottle of Windex each week and a whole roll of paper towels (I've asked her to use rags). So, I called her and had to talk plain English (no beating around the bush words) and tell her she's using too much stuff, or not the right stuff for the right thing. I said "I wanted to let you know that maybe you are using too much product. With the furniture polish, you don't need to spray the wood every week because it creates a film if it has too much polish, maybe once a month, but dust every week." Most of my furniture has glass on them to protect them. I really don't know how she could use so much. Then I said "I just bought a new can a few weeks ago and I know you aren't drinking it. Also Windex is for Windows." (She writes down every week that she needs more glass cleaner and I have gallons of it in there so I pour it into the new container each week because she hasn't figured out that blue liquid is glass cleaner. Besides, Windex doesn't have disinfectant in it. And I said, “it's fine how many paper towels you use but the Swiffer are expensive and you know you can turn them over when one side gets dirty." (I have tile in the kitchen but not that much)

So, she comes over at 7:30 Thursday morning and she obviously didn't like what or how I said to her about using too much stuff. Then she said "You house is so dirty I have to use it." Initially, she came in and said she couldn't come. And I said, "Fine, we can do it another day." And she said "No, I can't come. I don't like. I don't drink furniture polish. And I know WINdex is for WINdows." I told her I didn't mean to yell at her if that's what she thought I was doing and that I was happy with her cleaning. I couldn't talk her into it. I was a little pissed when I think that she took it so personally, especially after I've been so good to her.
We gave her BAGS of clothes for her whole family including winter coats for all of them and even a Christmas present for her and her daughter. I even gave her extra money at Christmas. You'd think an (almost) illegal alien couldn't afford to quit this. Also, she's working for cash and not paying taxes. It probably pisses me off that we were so nice to her and her family. I emailed my neighbor about it who was really pissed at her. She had a talk with her and she called me Thursday night. She was like, "in my culture it was considered an insult. I am sorry. We can be good friends." I said "Right now I'm busy folding clothes and cleaning the house. (which I was)." and she says "Anne, it OK, we can be good friends. I am learning." I’m locking my house up next Thursday just in case she thinks she has her job back. She never asked to come back. My friend is so frustrated with them too.

Anne, G, and Owen