I'd like some podcats. Do they grow well in the shade?

I'm totally leaving that typo. They're Invasion of the Body Snatchers cats.

Some of us recognize that "ugliness", Andi. At least I do.

And I neglected to wish you a Happy Birthday, so let me prolong the celebration a little and wish you Happy Belated Birthday.

I'm back to seriously thinking about a tattoo again. I keep coming back to this: [link]

I'm also looking at script fonts. At some point I probably should get more work done.

Did I remember to thank everyone for their lovely birthday wishes? I may have thought about it so hard I thought I had done it. At any rate, many thanks to all and sundry.

Have to remove purring podcat from lap to go to work. Don't wanna.

Teppy, I mostly white-fonted so people wouldn't have to be exposed to that ugliness if they did not choose to. It's not verboten if you want to talk about it.

There was just one thing that resonated with me:

Also since there is no chance I will get my turn to be young and pretty and skinny, there is also no chance I can treat this body with the care and respect it requires to practice mindful eating.

It's true, you don't get to be young again, and probably not skinny. (I won't try to argue with you on "pretty," except to say that I have seen pictures of you, and you are so, so lovely.)

I feel that way a lot -- shit, I'm 43 and I wasted the chance (and the metabolism) to be young and less fat, so god damn it, what is the point? But I've been trying to shift that viewpoint to, well, I'm 43, and I hope I have a lot of my life left, and while I don't get to be young and skinny (or, let's be realistic here, old and skinny), how do I want the days/years in front of me to be? I won't be skinny (nor do I actually want to be), but I can have more energy and better health, and so I've been trying, most days, to make choices that will lead there.

It's true, we don't get our turn to have/be one thing, but we do get to decide what we do with what we have right now. And that's a relatively new way of thinking for me, because it's generally felt not worth it to me, too.

I don't mean for this to be a rah-rah pep talk. I'm not trying to inspire you to go roast cauliflower. I know all too well what it feels like to not respect my body and not care for it, for...ever, really. And it's a POV that's damn near impossible to shift, and I'm not exhorting you to make that shift, truly. I guess I just wanted to say: I get it, so so much, but I've surprised myself with this shift in my thinking.

Do you all watch TLC at all? There's an ad for a show I haven't seen, but I love the woman just from the ad! She starts off saying "I'm not 'curvy,' I'm a fat ass! But I'm also a bad ass." And ends up with "I love this body!" Granted, I think the show is about her weight-loss journey, so maybe just watch the ad and not the show? But those are some awesome messages in the ad, is all I'm saying.

Oh Mac. Lying to me STILL about school.

I have no desire to work and my boss is gone, so I have spent a few hours going over mac's grades, assignments for the last few weeks, and looking at teacher's websites for assignments. He has flat out lied to me about 1 class ( a class he failed the final in). He just did not go an assignment in another class (I have now spoken to that teacher and requested a call or email if he so much as goes 1 day without doing the work). He will be going to after school tutoring immediately if that happens again. Third class, I get s call from the teacher today and he has not brought I. The required reading ALL WEEK. Losing daily grade point everyday!

I have one more teacher to contact. The other class that he failed the exam for.

It's an easy habit to break and a hard one to pick back up again, for me.

Oh yes, me too. It's so easy to just not, for any reason or no reason. Even though I actually enjoy it when I do it!

Oh, no, Mac. That's no good.

Hummingbird tattoo, otoh, is a world of yes. Kinda want one myself, for a variety of reasons including the reincarnated warrior concept. That's three I am wanting - rat, goat, hummingbird. Possibly not in that order.

Ugh, msbelle, sorry.

I have lost 10 lbs in the past two weeks. Now I have another 40 to go, but still. Like most things in my life I hate doing it, but I like having done it.

That's awesome. I gave up alcohol and sweets for January. Annoyingly, I have saved money and lost about 8-9lbs, even with only managing a serious workout twice.

Also, after the first week, the sugar cravings and mindless eating diminished greatly. I have my cheat food, which is raisins covered in unsweetened chocolate, and the batch I made near the beginning of the month still has about 2/3s of it left.

I went to a non-profit's celebration of things last night, where I knew basically just the people throwing it, and drank no wine. Despite there being wine. Nor did I touch the tasty desserts.

So I think next month, I'll add in one drink of my choosing per week, and probably one serving of dessert as well. It's not that I'm not all for body positivity, but I just really want back into straight sizes (I'm now in a 14 in jeans), and also, for my knees to feel better.

I'd like, ideally, to lose another 40 myself, but even 20 would be pretty sweet.

Weightloss for most people is going to happen much more around what goes into your body than adding in exercise. I know that and still hard to make myself be mindful. I have gotten much much better about just not bringing things into the house, but eating out is a disaster.

Karate will get me some exercise, but not enough to change my body appearance in any way.