Necessary Mutilation

Weight: 217.7 lbs.

I awoke feeling better today, despite my marathon day yesterday. I could not believe how busy and stressful work was yesterday, and I literally hit the road running. I ended up late for all of my morning clients as my meeting with the psychiatrist was 35 minutes late due to him keeping doctors hours, and this made all my morning sessions smush right into my afternoon sessions, with not one minute to pee or eat or anything, It was 2:00 before I could scratch my nose, and by then I was starving and ate the banana and half a cheese sandwich I had brought with me, while frantically writing my notes before my onslaught of later clients. Then, my boss arrived early for our evening staff meeting, and said that he needed to talk to me. This not only took unanticipitaded time, but led to the discovery that I had some extra work to do to fix some old treatment plans etc. that I was unaware of. I raced against the clock, saw more clients, answered and made several calls, and arrived only 10 minutes late for our 5:00 staff meeting that was 3 doors down. My colleagues who came in from other jobs and various places off site all beat me to it and I was just feet away the whole day!

In any event, the meeting generated more work for me, and was a somber reminder that I must be grateful to be working here altogether, given the state of the NY budget and yesterday’s billion plus dollar cuts that we are only now hearing about and that will directly effect the population we serve and our ability to provide services to them. Kevin explained that this is only the first wave of serious cuts, and that more are due in both January and then April when the real fiscal year begins. This makes me wonder if I should have taken the other job after all and at least had my eggs in more baskets. I hope I won’t have to grovel to them in the future and beg to work there for probably even less than their original offer! My colleagues/friends were joking with me about this in the meeting, and although funny, can take this more lightly than I because each of them at least is also employed either full or part time elsewhere, and consults at Aspire on a far more part time basis than I do. Scary and sad stuff!

Just the same, it didn’t dampen my appetite for the dinner the “girls” and I went out to at a nearby Greek restaurant. I was understandably starving, and ordered a whole beef souvlaki dinner. Although I took lots home, I did do some damage to both the salad and beef, and some greek potatoes and a few bites of pita. Somehow given my day, I felt entitled and was not plagued by guilt in the least!

I plan to get back into the exercise swing today, now that I feel better, and may even ramp it up. It is early and I haven’t begun my actual day yet, but I am soooo glad to be off. On the other hand, I have a million things to do in and out of the house, including to take my car in to have the snow tires put on. Tom was supposed to do this for me and originally scheduled the appointment according to his availability. Even when I first got home late last night, I reminded him and asked him one last time if he was on board with doing this. He reassured me that he would. About an hour later and shortly before bed, he casually mentioned that he had “early out” today for his elementary students. I casually asked him what this meant, and then freaked when he said that it entailed picking them back up not at 2:00, but at 11:00…the exact time that he had scheduled for my tires. When I pointed this out to him there was a long pause, then an “oh”, then an oops. Oops indeed! This led to a tirade about “MEN!” etc. - you know, what woman say when our spouses forget, screw up, , draw a blank or otherwise don’t think past the moment they are in and rely on us to be the keepers of the calendar and the universe. I must say, although originally upset as I then had to factor this into my preexisting schedule and plans, I am rather enjoying tormenting Tom over it and plan to get some mileage out of it before I let it go. This qualified me for a back rub before his work this morning, and we’ll see what else I can think of before he is done being contrite. Hee Hee!

Well, now that I have exposed myself as a wicked wench (with a big appetitie and a propensity towards gambling), I had better move along if I hope to keep the pace and get everything done. Tonight we are heading to the casino for a “free” radio promotion, and may stay and play a little. I must be sure that I am fresh and accomplished before this so I can enjoy the R&R…so it’s off to other stuff now! And maybe, hopefully, even the hectic pace of my personal life will burn some good calories and keep me limber, and the scale will continue to reflect this!