Oh, man….what a weekend! Friday evening we went to our golf club for a “Putting Contest”. They had set up a putt-putt mini-golf course inside the clubhouse. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I got hungry and succumbed to the taquitos that were being passed around. Corn is not my friend at all. And I knew what would happen to me as a consequence. Anyway, afterward went to a restaurant and had a wonderful marlin with pureed baby carrots. Way yummy!

Then, Saturday was the big one. We went to the annual fundraiser gala for our local performing arts center. It’s a black tie thing. Went to the beauty salon for an up-do. Gold glitter sprayed in my hair. Wore a shiny gold tunic and jacket with flowing black pants. Sensible lady shoes. Not too high. I tend to stumble a lot. We had Tony Bennett as the performer. The man still has it. It was a wonderful concert. He sang all his old hits. There was a dinner afterward catered by the best Italian restaurant in town. And you know what Italian food is…..pasta, pasta, pasta and some more pasta. Oh yeah, there was some shrimp with that pasta, too. And then the dancing! A wonderful rock and roll band and dancing, dancing, dancing! And probably a bit more alcohol than I usually drink.

So, anyway, I woke up this morning with what I call “pizza eyes”. I get those puffy red eyes after pasta and shrimp and more alcohol than I should. Had a four-hour rehearsal to grind through this afternoon. I was in no mood for it. But we have a barbershop show coming up in three weeks. Lots of extra rehearsals in my future.

Now, it is time to take stock. It is time to quit misbehaving. On February 17 we are leaving for a vacation. I want to get control of my diet and exercise for the next three weeks. Tomorrow is Monday…….another chance to get it right!

I have been good about my food choices the past few days. I have overdone it quite a bit on the portion category, though. Had a root vegetable au gratin with a hunk of lingcod for dinner last night. I’m sure I would have been satisfied with half of what I ate. But it tasted so good I couldn’t help sticking more of the vegetable dish in my mouth as I cleaned the kitchen. The cream and gruyere cheese made it taste sinful. And I probably could have done without the second glass of wine. Hmmm, come to think of it, I had that second glass of wine while I was cleaning the kitchen. There may be some cause and effect here. Maybe I shouldn’t be cleaning the kitchen! Yeah, that’s it! The secret to my diet success will be to not clean the kitchen!

I don’t think I can get away with that one. He cooks, I clean – that’s the deal here. He doesn’t like my cooking, so it’s not like we can share the duties. If I cooked more often, he would have to eat my ‘weird’ BTD food. I wouldn’t be cooking him pork and chicken, that’s for sure. So, I have to work on that one half hour in the kitchen after dinner while I'm cleaning up. An isolated period of time in which to set some resolve. I think I’ll try it. Not tonight, though. We’re going out for a little fun. But the food choices will be easy. I can order what I want – and not worry about hurting anyone’s feelings.

Okay…. It’s Wednesday and I’m still puffy from those two naughty days on the weekend. Hopefully by tomorrow all will be gone.

I received my first can of protein powder from the NAP store. This morning I spun it up in the blender with cranberry juice, just like the instructions said. It seemed a bit grainy to me. Don’t know if I didn’t blend it long enough. Or maybe I need to put some flax oil in it or something.

I had to attend a “function” for one of the community boards I’m involved with this evening. Had to take my Nike’s off and put lady shoes on. There was a real nice spread of appetizers and other lovely things to eat. I was s-o-o-o-o-o good!! I just walked around sipping a glass of red wine and didn’t even once touch a thing on that table. My Atkins Husband Buddy didn’t touch the stuff on the food table either. That really helps when you have some support in these things. So, it will be a safe meal of steak and broccoli tonight.

And tomorrow ALL the puffiness will be gone!!

Oh my goodness!! Sunday eating didn’t turn out nearly as compliant as I had planned. My dear, lovely husband the cook – who hardly EVER brings carbohydrates into the house – bought one of those wonderful, handcrafted specialty loafs of bread to eat along with the cioppino he made. Of course, the cioppino also had clams and prawns in it, which are also avoids for me. Even with the double dose of Deflect after that meal, I still was quite drugged by the wheat. I didn’t even wake up till 10:00am this morning. Had to make a mad dash to make it in time for my Pilates mat class. And my muscles were in no mood to exercise after all that wheat. Glad I made myself do it, though. I do feel better now.

This being a holiday, we didn’t open our stores today. So, it has been odd. We did putter about the stores and did some work on the computers that can’t be done when we are open. It is difficult to take a day off when there is something always hanging over your head that needs to be done.

Okay – today I promise myself to not eat any avoids. And to not eat too much. I must be good to myself in this way, or I’ll end up sick.

Whew!! I just go finished answering people’s comments and communications that I wasn’t aware of. There was a week’s worth. Sometimes I forget to hit the refresh button on my browser, and think nothing is happening. All of a sudden all these comments appeared this morning!!!

Anyway, the big German avoid dinner last night was everything I was hoping for. She actually served a beef entrée called Roulladen (sp?). It was all so very, very delicious. Ended with an Apple Strudel to die for!! The friendship was wonderful. A couple of the folks there got into their cups a little and had a delightfully loud and animated argument.

So, I am suffering a bit from bloating this morning. But, I knew what to expect. I have dutifully done my aerobics and strength training for the day, so I am jumping right back on the BTD wagon. I expect the puffiness to be gone by Tuesday morning. Of course, then I have to prepare myself for next weekend’s debauchery. More about that later in the week.