So I suppose I'll say here now, officially speaking if you want to put it that way, that I'm postponing indefinitely the gastric bypass surgery. I'm not saying I'll never have it - who knows, maybe I'll get down to having just 100 pounds to lose and be so tired of the whole business that I go ahead and have it (because to qualify for the surgery, you have to be at least 100 pounds overweight). On the other hand, if I get to that point and I don't have the giblets to go the distance on my own, it would be pretty pathetic.

I'm just keeping all my options open.

The mother-in-law asked about the surgery a few weeks ago, and I related all this to her. I'm just really jazzed that I'm having so much success with all this... I mean (not to toot my own horn) I know it's my hard work that's doing it... but I'm still really excited about it. So I was telling the m-i-l this, and that I just couldn't see the point of having the surgery as long as I'm having such HUGE success on my own, and she actually seemed disappointed that I wasn't going to have the surgery. Seriously, what the hell is that about? I really just wanted to tell her to go screw herself, but didn't.

You would think that, after 12 years, I'd have given up by now on trying to figure them out. Knowing my luck, I'll probably get more vibrating slippers for Christmas.

I'm just all over the place right now.

I've apparently developed tendonitis in the Achilles tendon of my left leg, and let me tell you, it hurts like a bastard. My exercising for the last week and a half has been not-quite-up-to-par, which resulted in me gaining a few pounds this week. I'm pissed about that, but I categorically REFUSE to change that number over to the left, there... Derek showed me a few stretches that have helped tremendously over the past few days. And while he was showing me how to do them, he rubbed my ankle for a minute, so that was the highlight of last week.

There's been some jerking around by the in-laws of late, particularly the father-in-law. Not really worth going into here. I'm sure it will come as NO surprise that my father-in-law is one of those people that is absolutely impossible to argue with, as he will never admit that he's wrong. Also last weekend I learned that the mother-in-law is a huge ABBA fan, when she took me to see 'Mama Mia'... cute, but I hope to never have to listen to Pierce Brosnan sing again. And it was very unsettling to sit next to my mother-in-law in a dark theater and listen to her sing along to the songs.

And life is about to change, ie. get more stressful, as the husband prepares to go back to work. He finished up his classes in June, and now has his certificate as a Medical Office Coding Specialist from the local community college. This Friday, he goes to take some kind of national certification test, and after that will start looking for a job. Which means we have to find childcare for the boy.

Now, he's heading into his second year, and we do feel he's perhaps a bit behind in learning the fine motor skills. I'm happy to say, though, that he was rockin & rollin with his alphabet, numbers, colors and shapes before he started his first year of preschool. Yesterday, we visited a Montessori school close to us that goes from preschool to grade 6, and it looked just wonderful. They offer a full-day preschool program, with options for childcare both before and after the school hours - one-stop shopping for both our learning and daycare needs. We've enrolled him, and are now plowing through the thick stack of paperwork handed to us. The next hurdle will be figuring out the logistics of dropping him off and picking him up... heaven help me.