I'm working at this early hour thinking that I'll journey downstairs to the elliptical trainer because...I'm just so close! I keep seeing that box of shoes. The next goal item, tempting and taunting me. "Wear me! Oh, please wear me!" It would be awesome to show up to meet my newly found, old friend wearing those heels to lunch. Can I do it? Oh, the sheer joy of strutting in with my newly found 160s body in those fabulous heels. Not that I'm trying to get with her, but the last time she saw me, I was quite the chuboid.

So, cold in the coughing stages, but pretty much out of the congestion stage. Should I do it? Should I bite the bullet and just get on that thing and burn through the last four days of non-exercising? I really, really want to. I was checking out my calorie intake versus weight with the journal I keep and I definitely see improvements during the weeks I work out. That's to be expected, I suppose. I just want more improvements...and I want them faster, dammit! Patience, Enchantress. Patience.

Oh, but the shoes. Then, there are the other goals. I've also started thinking a little bit ahead. What if I surpass the first goal and continue to drop? Do I set up more goal items, or consider the added drops just sugar-free icing on the cake? Perhaps those additional drops would mean a new wardrobe? I don't know. I won't count my chickens...especially with the holiday season fast approaching. My mother's cornbread dressing calling my name at 11:30 at night? I hope I can be strong, this year. That's always the hope. I don't dare say I won't indulge, but perhaps I can work in more workout time to compensate. For you see, there is actually a bigger goal at hand. I hesitate to mention it now, but I will soon.

I'm really happy about today's number (173.5) even though it's not as dramatic as I would have liked it to be this week. Still, I can't complain. I've been battling a cold which left me on the couch at home yesterday. I haven't worked out all week! Do I miss it? But of course! I have reached that point very early in my training. I want to try and do something this afternoon, but I have a feeling my hubby will have none of it. I can hear him now;

"You'll just set yourself even further back if you try to work out without healing."

He's probably right, but I know with each ab workout and elliptical training I miss, it's just that much harder to get back into it. I want this 170s behind me once and for all. Figure training will come after I've restablished my initial strength and hubby is too excited. He's ready to whip me into shape (so he says). What kind of whipping he has in mind, only time will tell. I know that I'm already looking and feeling better. The added weight training will be an added bonus. It will be interesting to see how far I can go. Will/Can I look like a figure competitor before it's all said and done? Even if I don't compete, to just look like one of those lovely ladies would be a dream!

For the first time in months, I can change the number on the left. I'm glad about it, but I'm much more eager to change all the digits rather than just one.

A while back, I posted about not being able to drink the generic version of Crystal Light, sold at Wal-Mart. It contains Magnesium Oxide and I determined that it made me break out in horrible hives (the scars of which are still visible). It also made me loose my ability to taste. I guess I'm destined to be rid of the ability to enjoy food no matter what water additive I drink.

I discovered the Lipton Green Tea on the go and really started digging it. It has caffeine, so I paced myself and made sure not to drink it too late. All was going fine until a couple of weeks ago, when I thought I'd acquired a nasty case of food poisoning. Turns out, it's the dang tea! It gives me the runny runs if I drink it now (I know, TMI). What the hell? I'm not talking about a loosening or anything resembling a mild diuretic, I'm talking about straight-up water from the bum. It's not good...not good at all. So, I've made a decision. There are going to be to days when I just suffer through and deal with it. Why? Because for 1., it's hard trying to get just straight, plain, boring old water down the gullet, 2., buying flavored water is way too expensive, unless I catch a sale, then I'll consider it and, 3., everyone needs a thorough cleaning every now and again. It's not nice, but it's tolerable.

Sound crazy? It probably is and I may change my mind about all of it in the coming weeks. I may start dropping peppermints in my water again and call it good. That was decent, but it wasn't Mandarin Orange flavored green tea.

I really haven't looked as hard as I was looking before, but I will. The weekend is nearly here! I felt guilty about overindulging on some honey-roasted cashews I had, once I came home from work. Hubby was eating them like candy, so why couldn't I? You can't because you don't burn 2000 calories a day like he does. Oh yeah!

Well, the guilt was enough to send me downstairs to the elliptical trainer. It was my off day, but I wanted that extra 440 calories gone to compensate for the splurge. It didn't help. This morning I got up and stepped on the scale? Unfortunately the 175 told me that the water is hanging on. Why must you hang on, water? Get thee hence, retched fluid retention!

Well, I won't let it bother me. I'll keep pressing forward as I've been doing. It may be more than TOM, too. I made spaghetti for dinner on Tuesday night with mushrooms, ground turkey and Prego mushroom garden sauce (salt, salt, salt). Then yesterday afternoon, I went to lunch with girlfriends. Where did they want to go? Italian Village. What did I order? Spaghetti with marinara sauce (more salt). Last night, there were the pot stickers and rice. This morning, breakfast ham, scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast with jam. For lunch, szechuan noodles. Perhaps I'll have some food with my salt tonight. Oh, and the water drinking is not where it was. Gotta work on that. Perhaps if I did, the salt would leave. Capital idea, my good woman. Capital!

I can't find my Tape 4 of the Classic Firm series. Actually, I do have it on DVD now, but I can't find that sucker anywhere! It was something I wanted to add to my rotation this week and it appears to have vanished into thin air. Now, of course I know (logically) that it hasn't, but I can't put my hands on it to save my life. I'd like to use it to get my arms into better shape (as well as the rest of me) but more importantly, my wings. Yes. I have wings.

They haven't started flapping in the wind yet, but they're getting close. I've begun to notice the weight change now and, "Last hired, first fired," the evidence is in my wings. It's the last place I put on weight, so it's the first place (aside from my face) where I see changes. Since I'm not toning very much in that area yet, the result? Wings. Imagine your biceps as tires and the air is slowing being let out. Not pretty.

If I had that tape, I could get in the quality reps. Yes, I could do this without the tape, but the tape is regimented. I'm more likely to follow the instructions laid out in front of me, then to "wing" it and do things on my own. The good news is that I did get my elliptical workout in this morning and used the arm "thingies", which I normally don't (my stamina hasn't built up enough to use them continuously yet). I'm sitting at 174.5 and hope that the decrease continues as nicely as it has been these past few weeks. We'll see.

I went back through my blog posts, which is always an enlightening experience. It's funny to see me getting up in arms about being in the 160s and plateauing there. Man, those were the days. I'm hanging in the mid 170s and the high 160s sounds absolutely dreamy to me.

I'm working out regularly now (I even got in an elliptical training session yesterday). Sunday is my day off, but I'm actually missing the workout/toning sessions. I hope it's all working. I think I'm starting to see and feel a difference in my body. They're aren't mind altering changes yet but, it's better. If I can just make it through the holidays, I'll consider it a huge accomplishment. Haven't weighed this morning yet but, I was 175 yesterday. Oh to be petite again!

Gotta go get ready for church, now. I moved a lot of my winter clothes up last weekend and took my summer and spring duds downstairs. The closet is blocked so, I wasn't able to bring up all my winter dresses. I hope I can find something this morning that's appropriate for 40 degree temps. It's crazy how fast the temperatures changed but I'm certainly not complaining. I'll save my complaining for January and February when I've had above and beyond my share of the inversion and cold temps.

It was a refreshing, albeit difficult change from the treadmill (I talk as if I've been doing the treadmill thing for months instead of just twice). The refreshing part was seeing me click over 200 calories after only 15 minutes. I mean I literally burned twice as many calories in half the time. Imagine when I can stay on for 45 minutes or even an hour again! I was sort of calculating while I was standing on the scale this morning; if I could somehow get in two, elliptical sessions of thirty minutes per day, I would burn around 800 extra calories. The weight would just fall off! Now, I understand why I got so fit so fast the last time. I would do a morning workout (if I could get one in), then 30 minutes on the elliptical at lunch, then (if I was motivated and had time) a half hour or so on the treadmill in the evening. And, if hubby pissed me off in the wee hours, I would burn of my stress at 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning on the treadmill again. Now, we have this elliptical we didn't have back then...I would so be a skinny-Minny!

I couldn't possibly do this now, with the way everything is set up. Well, I guess I could...but do I really want to? Indy is still so young and is so needy and clingy sometimes. Besides, I like that she needs me right now. Later on, she won't want to have anything to do with me. Better enjoy it now. The set up would be to bring both girls downstairs and have them watch Elmo (or whatever) in the spare bedroom next door. I just have this feeling that if Indy knows I'm next door and wants me, she'll cry at the door for me and I couldn't just leave her out there to cry. Big sis can only do so much to keep her happy. However, if she's content to watch Elmo (or whatever) in the bedroom for at least 30 minutes without problem, there's my workout! Maybe I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Worse case scenario is she pulls me off before I've had enough time and I miss an extra workout for the day. Not a big loss I'd say since I already got one in this morning.

From my other blog and its post of the same title, you will learn of my exploits with 10-month pancake batter; however, I will not go into all the gory details on this blog. Instead, I will share my great initiatives in the workout world. Last week, I completed Buns, Hips and Thighs a total of two times and worked in a treadmill walk for 30 minutes. Awesome! Did sickness get me down? Hell, nah! I was back at it this morning (tummy pangs and all) on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I've been inspired and I'm not sure where it came from...but I'm certainly not complaining.

It was quicker to walk today, since I realized that I could play my Golden Girls DVDs on the computer and watch them there while I walked. Actually, I discovered it on my last walk as I listened to my aerobics music and looked up to realize the computer was there. Light bulb! "I can play my DVDs in the computer." I know...I'm so ready for rocket science.

Today's weight of 176 most likely is a result of all the water I lost this weekend from the illness but I'm hoping the exercise helped, too. Gotta look good in my catsuit at the end of the month, right? Can't look like Ms. Piggy in a catsuit...or can I?