Still haven't heard about the job I applied for. Today I'm going to call a couple of temp agencies that I'm registered with and let them know that I'm available for work. I need to be doing SOMETHING. This staying up late and sleeping late is nice, but I don't think it's doing much for my mental health, let alone my physical health. Couldn't fall asleep last night, and was up until about 5am. And then was up again by 10:45 because the phone rang. I have GOT to start getting to bed earlier.

I did manage to get about a 2 mile walk in yesterday, which was great. My ankle is a little tweaked, but I seem to have only pulled a muscle on the lateral side of it, so unless I step funny while I'm walking, it isn't an issue.

I must be having one of those days - nothing in my fridge is appealing to me, and not much in general is appealing to me. Lack of sleep is probably the reason, and some good food would probably help me deal with it. I've finished the cherries (breakfast today) and I'm considering an egg scramble with a bunch of veggies in it - spinach, tomato, carrot, onion, etc. Still doesn't sound good, but I need to eat something.

Gotta check on my best friend and see if she's getting over her flu.

Yesterday afternoon as my neighbor and I were moving the futon down to his place, I twisted my ankle. I was reaching for my stereo to turn the volume down, inadvertently stepped on wheel support to my office chair, and I went down. My poor neighbor tried to catch me, and I knew I'd twisted my ankle, but didn't know how bad it might be. This is the ankle that I have broken twice, three places each time, and sometimes when I'm walking it just gives out on me (not often, fortunately!). So I sat on the floor and took off my shoe and did a mini-examination. There were definitely some tender spots, but nothing seemed seriously injured. We even finished moving the futon, and then I iced it and babied it the rest of the night. I did NOT go to yoga - figured that would be pushing my luck

Today it seems mostly okay - minimal swelling, if any, and only a couple of sore muscles (and not just in my ankle!) I may even take a short walk today and see how it does. If it continues to ache then I may have to take it easy for a few days, but since it's taken me nearly six years of being on the BTD to finally get a great exercise routine in place (and be consistent about it!) I do NOT want to stop now!

I did notice that as soon as I twisted it my first response was that I wanted chocolate, and plenty of it. I had to go to Whole Foods last night to get a few things for my best friend (also an O+) who has the flu. I got what she wanted, and since I was stressed and (slightly) injured I felt like I deserved to eat what I wanted, so I bought a small flourless chocolate cake. I really wanted chocolate chip cookies (major comfort food!) but I did at least stick to my agreement to myself to NOT eat wheat. Now that the Christmas cookies are gone, I want to clean up my diet again and lose the rest of this weight I gained from breaking my leg last year. There WAS dairy and lots of sugar in the cake, and it was VERY rich. I didn't eat all of it last night, but have finished it today, and the good thing is that it was SO rich that I don't think I'll want ANY junk for a while.

The next step in cleaning up my diet will be to make sure that I am getting enough servings of everything I should be getting. I'm pretty good about eating enough fruit - I often do a fruit smoothie for breakfast and use only HB fruits, protein powder (and/or almond butter) and a dash of flaxseed oil, as well as throwing in my ARA-6 and B vitamins, etc. I also generally eat enough protein, which given my activity level and probably lower absorption rates due to my allergies adds up to quite a bit of protein. I don't eat enough FISH, but I eat tons of meat and eggs, and that shouldn't be hard to rebalance a little bit. Vegetables is another thing. I am good about making sure that I throw them into eggs (spinach, tomato, and feta omellettes ROCK), and I eat salads several times a week, but I could live on lamb and eggs and would only occasionally miss veggies. So I really should put most of my effort into getting veggies into me two meals a day and maybe even for snacks, too.

I did get out for my walk yesterday, ran my errands, and bought some vegetables. They didn't have any reasonably priced artichokes, so I passed on them, and bough spinach and replaced the sad looking parsnips and carrots that I'd had in the fridge. They also had cherries - gorgeous, fat cherries, and I bought a package of them in spite of the price. Cherries are my FAVORITE, and to find such nice ones this time of year was heaven. So those are in a bowl on the counter now, and every time I pass by it I grab a couple to much on.

I still haven't heard anything about the job I interviewed for. I did leave a message for the recruiter yesterday reiterating my interest in the position, and then she left me a message saying that she'd let me know as soon as they know, but that they have to recruit for some other positions, too, and can't let anyone know what the results are until all the positions have been recruited. So I am trying to be patient and keep applying for other positions. I REALLY do want this one, though - it would be PERFECT for me to be able to keep working on my acting career and have a full-time income as well.

Time to head out and see if I can manage a short walk with this ankle.

I'm trying to calm down and be patient as I wait for my phone to ring, hopefully telling me that I have the job I interviewed for yesterday. It's already rung three times today, meaning that I leap over furniture and cats and try not to spill breakfast or my water glass trying to get to it in time. No luck. Twice it was my new neighbor needing to talk about stuff related to the futon or other 'just moved in' kinds of things.

The other call was my singing coach asking me if I'd like to take part in a workshop and showcase that will start in late February. Assuming that I can come up with the money for it, I'd like to do it. But aack, that means that I'll have to sing in public, too, the thought of which just terrifies me. However, if I've learned anything in this life, I've learned that when it comes to being afraid of things like this, the more afraid I am of it, the more I should do it. Since I was filled with panic at the thought of doing it, I told my singing coach that if I get this job, I'll do it.

So now I am waiting for the phone to ring, and trying not to stuff my face with all the dark chocolate I have in my apartment. I'm usually pretty good about managing my stress in ways other than eating, but today the chocolate urge is rearing its ugly side.

I do need to get out of the apartment and go run some errands, and since it is a gorgeous SoCal kind of day out there (70s and sunny) I think I'll walk. I realized a few weeks ago that I haven't been eating enough vegetables, so I'm trying to get more into my diet, so I need to get some today because all I have in the fridge right now is two very sad looking carrots, a couple of parsnips, one onion, and a handful of salad greens. I want artichokes, spinach, kale, okra, green beans - SOMETHING GREEN! I also have a Christmas gift to exchange at the mall, and walking these two errands is only about 2 miles round trip, so that's a good start on some exercise today.

Never did exercise yesterday - by the time I got done with my interview and talking with my neighbor for the futon, it was 12:30 am, and then I had stuff to do around here, so it was about 3am when I finally got to sleep.

By the way, my interview yesterday was VERY informal, and nearly three hours. We just chatted about darn near everything - adoption, her dog, my cats, her brothers, her parents, my brother, losing weight, my broken leg, working out at the gym we both go to, and a little bit about the job. It was the oddest interview I'd ever had, but also the most enjoyable.

Woke up when my cell phone rang this morning and I leaped over a cat and out of bed to get it before it went to voice mail. It was a jarring way to wake up, but I was VERY glad I did. It was the woman from HR at the company I interviewed with on Friday confirming my second interview for later today. So now I'm up and dressed and getting ready to run errands before I come home to get ready for this interview. I REALLY want this position! It's perfect for me to be able to work on my acting career AND have a full-time job that pays the bills, too. What will be a challenge, but that I also consider an asset to the position is that the hours are from midnight to 8:30 in the morning. I do think it will be a challenge to get enough sleep and continue my workout routine and manage to eat right while working these hours, but if it means that I have time to audition during the day, I'm up for it!

I'm also a bit puffy today, probably from the cookies I ate yesterday. My best friend's 91 year old grandmother gave me some of her fabulous cookies for Christmas, and of course I'm eating them! They are almost gone now, and soon my kitchen will be compliant once again. In general, I'm working my way back to being as close to 100% compliant as possible because things got pretty lax around here over the holidays. I did manage not to gain any weight because I was (and still am) working out really heavily. I didn't LOSE any weight, though, and I still have about 15 pounds to lose from when I broke my leg last year and wasn't allowed to do any weight bearing exercise for about 9 months. I was eating everything in sight during that time, and it sure wasn't BTD compliant! I gained about 25 pounds in total, and I've lost 10, but I still have a ways to go.

Today's going to be a busy day - I've got to get to my PO Box to pick up my mail and to (FINALLY!) mail my mother's Christmas presents, run a few more errands, get back home by 4pm to de-fur my futon to sell it to my new neighbor and then help him move it down the hall to his place, then get ready for my interview and get over there by 8pm. I think the new neighbor wants to go out with me. Not sure how I feel about that - we'll see what happens!

Shoot. I just realized I won't be able to go to yoga class tonight at 8:30 because I'll be in my interview. I'll just have to do a DVD at home tonight. And I think I can squeeze in a long walk before dark and between getting the futon down the hall and dressing for my interview.

It's time for food now - I'm thinking a buffalo burger and a salad for lunch.

Just got back from the PO and a friend of mine (who I only met last month when I was visiting my uncle in Texas) is a big fat sweetie and sent me an initial purse 'just 'cuz' and enclosed the nicest note about enjoying the time we spent together and wanting to get to know me better. She knew I'd been thinking about getting one of those purses, and she happened to find one, so she sent it to me! Very thoughtful.