Today...

I knew it might rain, but I thought if it only sprinkles, we'll be okay. So I took Abby and Luke to the library and then to Sam's. No rain as we were leaving...no keys either. At Sam's with a cart full of stuff and no keys, just a wallet. So I bought Abby a cookie and a water to get some change for the pay phone and to keep her occupied. (Did you know the phones are $.50 now?!) My only option was to call Jason at work because he has the spare keys. Does anybody know the number for Quantum? I don't and neither did the phone book. So I called Jenny...then her cell phone...I don't have many phone numbers memorized so I called Beth. She kindly relayed a message to rescue me. Fifteen minutes later, Jason showed up, as did a giant rain storm. Jason, being a gentleman, pulled the car up near the door. We still got soaked loading the kids and the groceries. I've never been so rain-soaked in such a short time. I noticed in the rear-view mirror that I resembled Tammy Faye. I cleaned up and drove home without touching the back of the seat. Then I got soaked again just getting the perishable stuff into the house. I felt miserable just locking the keys in the car (even on a sunny day) so I felt 10 times as bad makng Jason and the kids be out in this rain. But Jason made us some lunch (he had to come home and change) so I felt a lot better.

I need some more goals for the year.

Well, 3 weeks of Atkins down. I have to put so much thought into what I can eat and what to feed Abby and what to buy at the grocery store that it's become a bad hobby (obsession). I have dreams where I count carbs. Thinking about the food makes me want to eat. I assume when it becomes more of a natural lifestyle, I won't have to think about it. I haven't lost any weight since the first week though. They say it's harder for a woman, especially when she doesn't have much to lose. I only want to lose about 7 more pounds. I'm still eating just about 20 grams of carbs a day. I eat about 100g of fat a day. That sounds high, but I think I was eating in the 70's or so before, so it's not that big of a difference. I ate more cheese before and it has a ton of fat for such a litle amount. I also ate a lot of meat and olive oil before too. Now I eat more mayonnaise, bacon, and ham than I did before. But I'm eating lots of salads now. I average about 1600 calories a day. So you'd think I'd be dropping the pounds anyway. I have lost an inch each on my waist, hips, and thighs. The grocery bills have gone up though.

We finally started on the third and final part of the entertainment center. That is all.

Abby's birthday has come and gone. The Kids' Kingdom was huge. They just need some picnic tables. I didn't know there weren't any before we showed up. Fortunately there were some torn up old folding tables. We used one of those and Jason went home to get some chairs. The kids seemed to have a great time in the park. I recommend it, but bring some chairs. They have benches all over the place, but they are all in the sun.

Then there was Mother's Day. We went to my mom and dad's house. The men were supposed to do all the work, but women can't help but take over sometimes. We had fun playing frisbee golf and supper was good. I preached about Atkins a lot. It would change my dad's life, more specifically, prolong his life.

I guess I should summarize my first week on Atkins. We started Saturday, May 1st. It went well. But Sunday sucked. I felt awful. Monday was pretty bad too. Each day was better than the last, but I still felt weak and tired until Friday. That's relatively normal. It's your body running out of carb energy and then making the switch over to fat energy (the stored energy on my butt and thighs). I'm now using that fat for energy because we eat less than 20 grams of carbs a day. To put that in perspective, one glazed doughnut has 26 grams. Jason and I have been averaging between 10 and 15 grams a day. I've lost 8 pounds, but more importantly, I've controlled my blood sugar. It would fly up and then crash several times a day, which is the starting phase of diabetes. If you don't control your blood sugar, you become insulin resistant, then your blood sugar stays high all the time, then you get type II diabetes by the average age of 37. I'm loving Atkins. It has great bars and shakes. They have all kinds of products from bread mix, to pizzas, to ice cream bars. And lots of restaurants and food manufacturers have low carb products. I'm going to keep track of all the carbs, fat, and calories I eat for several days to get a feel for a typical day. I'll report the findings later.

As for the entertainment center, we still have one book shelf left to make. We will build that Saturday (I hope). Then I will finish it through the week. Then I can mark that off my goals.