Progress?

Just one more day of heat to endure before it cools off.  Thank goodness.  It's been a miserable 6 weeks around here and has really screwed with all my grand plans.


Another bonus?  For the longest time I have wanted to join the Shrink Yourself online program.  It was started by a therapist named Roger Gould, who has done a great deal with people who eat emotionally.  A few years back he wrote a book with the same name, which I bought, but I'd never gotten around to doing the online thing.  This morning I joined up.  It's a 12-week program and people have raved about how good it is.  I'm hoping to shed some slop and poundage and maybe learn to deal with my fears a bit better.  One amazing thing I learned this morning is this:  When you're trying to lose weight, overdoing it on treats is not a simple indulgence.  It's nothing more than throwing an obstacle in your own way.  Simple, I know, but I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I'd never thought of it that way before.  Here, I thought I was simply indulging.  I think this little piece of information is going to have a big impact on my attitude towards food/eating.


What else?  I got an opportunity to do a guest post on an amazing blog called Met Another Frog.  This blog deals with relationships, dating, nookie and the like.  I was a little anxious because this month's theme is non-vanilla sex and I am not a femme fatale.  I managed to write something that was quite well-received and I had fun doing it.  It was a fantastic opportunity and made me realize all over again, just how much I enjoy writing. It makes me want to write novel after novel (and hopefully end up with a JK Rowling-esque checking account).  I've already got some pretty good ideas festering in my noodle.  If you want to check out my guest post, go to metanotherfrog.com and take a gander at the article from August 2nd.  It's mine.


Yesterday morning, I got online to Ticketmaster in Milwaukee and ordered myself a ticket to see the writer/actor/humorist Garrison Keillor at the Fox Cities P.A.C. on September 20th.  Those of you who aren't familiar with this guy need to go to prairiehome.publicradio.org and click on Archives and look for the box that says The News From Lake Wobegon.  Subscribe to the free podcasts.  You won't be sorry.  Garrison Keillor talks about his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota.  The monologues are wonderful.  Some are touching, some a little sad, but most are riotously funny, and Keillor has the most soothing speaking voice.  Whenever I was really sick as a kid, I'd put on his tapes and they'd lull me to sleep.  As a grown-up (that's debatable), whenever I feel crappy physically or sick-at-heart or scared, I still put on his CDs and fall asleep to them.  They never fail to comfort me.  Keillor has also written quite a number of books.  If reading is more your speed, hie thee to the local library and check out such novels as Lake Wobegon Days, Wobegon Boy, Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon(my favorite), Life Among the Lutherans, Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, and a plethora of others.  You won't regret that, either.  Having lived in a tiny farm community in rural Minnesota for 3 years, this stuff is right up my alley.


Since the car is still in disrepair my next plan is to hop the city bus and learn the various routes.  I'm tired of never going anywhere.  The first cool day we have, I'm hopping the bus to Oshkosh and going to the Paine Art Center to check out the current exhibition and drink in the majesty of the gardens.


I swear, I get out and do more things in Fall and Winter than I do in the summer.  -50F?  No problem!  85F?  Big problem.  I would make a terrible bear.  I'd be the only one hibernating from June-September.


So, hopefully my schemes will be back on track soon.  I'm really stoked about this whole Shrink Yourself program.  If I can get my emotional eating under control I think I'll be sitting pretty (in smaller jeans) before long.