It seems the swine flu and Miss California are still hot topics. I’m kinda torn on Miss Cali. She has a right to her opinion the same as anyone else. However, I personally wouldn’t want someone representing the country who has no problem with excluding certain groups from marriage or anything else. That’s as wrong as saying blacks and whites shouldn’t marry or that Jews shouldn’t be allowed to wear certain clothes. It’s amazing how a country that has come so far and that has changed so much is still so stuck in the dark ages at the same time. We don’t take kids away from single moms, yet we don’t always let singles adopt? What kind of logic is that???

As for the swine flu – people tend to panic and overreact, and it seems to be fizzling out anyway from the reports I’ve heard. So until I see people dying all around me, I’m not going to freak.

Slept well today. Got up after dark. The only dream I remember is sitting in a room listening to a few heavyset women bitch about their weight. They went on about being tired of the ridicule they’d get from family and “friends,” and how they were sick of the disapproving and disgusted stares they’d get in public.

After listening to this for a while I said, “You like tea?” They nodded and I said, “Well, then you’ve got it made. Let me tell you about my invention. I was heavy for years till I figured it out. I’m even going to try to sell my idea at some point or ask for donations. Once upon a time, I was 147 pounds. I’ve since lost nearly 50 pounds…”

Then I woke up thinking, Wow! If that’s any kind of a dream premonition that’d mean getting down around 100 pounds, the lower end of normal for my height! That’d mean losing a third of my body weight!

I’d settle for 110 pounds, but speaking of weight, I jumped up a pound. That happens sometimes, but I’ve learned not to worry about it. As Tom and a few of you here said, you really can’t judge it on a day-to-day basis. For now, I’m 3 pounds away from the upper end of a healthy weight range. I lose it so slowly that I sometimes think I’ve stopped losing, but as Tom reminded me, I’m not eating enough calories for it to stop. At least not on most days (the week before my period I need 4-5 hundred more calories a day). After so many months of this diet regimen I’ve discovered and created for myself, it has become a way of life. Here’s a problem I hope to have someday: Well, when I do stop losing or hit my goal weight, whenever and wherever that may be, I’ll have to figure out how to maintain it cuz I really don’t have a clue! It maintained itself when I was younger, but it wouldn’t do that now so I’ll have to learn how to do it as a middle-ager.

Let’s see, both my teeth and ear are doing ok today, now yesterday.

It has been cold and rainy and personally, I’m really sick of it. It doesn’t usually rain this late into the spring. It’s like it’s making up for getting a late start last fall. I just hope that when summer returns yet again, it’s for more than a week! I want it hot. I miss being able to wear just sports bras and not having to wear socks and robes. I miss the cooler pumping in fresh air. The only time I don’t like the heat is when I’m sleeping, so I make sure to sleep with the fan on.

Those creepy caterpillars with a million needle-like legs are back. That’s another problem with the rain; it washes away the poison Tom sprays on the outside of the place.

We prepared and packed Paula’s package and will ship it Wednesday. We don’t like to go out every day so we can save on gas. She’s getting 3 CDs with the 6 artists she requested, some incense, Barbies, jewelry, mascara, and a few roll-on perfumes I don’t care for. I’m excited for her. I know what fun it is to get goodies in the mail!