Day two of diet. Send chocolate. Otherwise, will have to cut a bitch.

Have already eaten pronouns.

Is it possible to work in a small amount of very good, very dark chocolate into your diet plan? In conjunction with your doctor's orders, of course... but sometimes having a small bit of what is killing you to give up can forestall a total breakdown or binge or just plain feeling deprived and miserable.

I'm at work and I can't figure out where that damned beeping is coming from. No coffee to be had... maybe after some rootbeer I can track it down.

I thought dark chocolate is supposed to be good for you. Something about antioxidants.

Somebody's cell phone is probably dying.

Or a copier needs toner.

Nora, right now I'm doing a six-week plan that's through my gym. This is the kick-start-your-metabolism week, so lots of protein and fresh fruits and veggies, and very little grains and sugars. The program expands as you go, so in later weeks I'm sure I'll be doing better.

I'm actually not doing too bad with the cravings. Today's issues are mostly that I feel like I have no energy, and I got a polite chewing-out this morning about "why aren't we spending money on this federal program?!?" To which the answer is, no one returns my damn phone calls and I'm not all-powerful to make invoices suddenly appear.

Oh, and also Christmas prep is going to eat me starting with my bottom. Which is kinda alright by me, as it would mean less dieting.

t /whine, bitch, complain

Good luck Allieann! Hopefully soon you'll be able to work in foods that make it more livable (therefore more doable in the long run).

I'm freezing, so I made a whole vat of tea. I have a collection of teapots, some of which don't get used, and thus should be tossed, but--pretty! Then there are ones that are pretty and get used, and some I use but The Menfolk wouldn't be caught dead using. All I do is make the tea in the pot anyway, and then decant it into the pump pot. Yesterday I used the white English Pristine pot, today I used a gorgeous potbellied fucshia-colored perfect pot--except for the fact that the spout is ferschimmlt, and the first third of the pot wound up on the counter and not in the pump pot. Or my mug.

So I surrendered to destiny and climbed up to the top shelf and got down the Brown Bettys. One isn't really a Betty, it's a Japan-made spiffied-up version, with dark brown glaze that lightens in stria toward a pale buff color at the bottom. Still, brown. Manly. And utilitarian. The other is a real Betty, plain, brown, self-effacing, homely, with "ENG" and a lighthouse scratched in the glaze on the bottom. It has a makeshift lid, since the inch-deep one was lost before I got the pot, but the makeshift works well enough, as long as you remember to keep a finger on it while you pour. The best thing about it, though? The spout points down, so there's none of this ooOOps! Splash! Gotcha! mess. Homely, utilitarian, completely civilized.

Too bad about the pretty pots.

It's great that Suzi's headache and Deena's pain have eased up. I vote for more of that. Sumi's knee and Hil's joints, I'm looking at you.

Thanks, Nora. It's just rough, and I think I may be PMSing too, and it's all very "let's crawl in a hole and die, ta ever so."

But I come and read the Buffistas, and you all make me happy, and I had a pretty poinsettia on my desk this morning, so not all is lost!

Heavens, Ailleann, however did you wind up starting a diet mere weeks before Christmas? Brave woman! Best luck with it, stick to your guns.