The end of another "clean" day.  I feel pretty good.  I'm dead-on-my-feet tired but content in the knowledge that what I'm doing is right.  It's interesting how once you start doing good things in your life, actually changing your thought processes and habits in one area, it bleeds over into all other areas of you life.  I just finished cleaning my kitchen for the second night in a row.  It's like a dream to wake up to a sparkly kitchen - no dirty dishes, no crumbs sticking to bare feet, and a clean canvas for creating good-for-me-and-my-family meals.

I hit a milestone today...I dropped another pound!!!  I'm down to 207 from about 216.  I was weighed at a doctor's office about a month ago fully clothed with shoes on and I was 216.  It's okay to start there anyway, right?  Can I tell myself that I've lost 9 pounds?  I can't accept it, it feels very dreamlike to me - not reality.  I'll wake up tomorrow and the scale will say 212 again. 

The girls I exercise with in the morning (I'll call them K and S) and I have decided to each take turns being in charge of the morning fitness routine.  K started out this morning.  We meet at a local HS track at 4:30 and bring towels or a mat.  K and I have towels, S has a yoga mat.  I'm getting excited about preparing my routine.  It'll be fun to be trainer for a day or two each week.  I think it'll be good, too, to have the variety that each person will bring.

Energy level today was pretty high considering less than 5 hours of sleep I had last night (tonight isn't looking any better I'm afraid).  I managed to make a pretty detailed plan for today and I think managed to finish almost all of what I set out to do.  We had company for dinner so I made wheat tortillas, cranberry/bacon/chicken salad, watermelon cubes, sliced cucumbers and strawberry lemonade.  I actually managed to have the meal ready on time, quite a feat considering...well, considering me!  I was quite happy with the final product and everybody seemed to enjoy dinner.  I didn't actually eat everything on the table.  I snacked on the chicken salad before I added the cheese (I also tasted a teeny bit after it was added to check if it needed salt) so when I sat down at the dinner table all I ate were cucumbers and watermelon.  The watermelon was a little teeny seedless one and boy was it tasty.  I'm really, really picky about watermelon.  This one was goooood.

So, energy level is definitely improving over last week.  My face is threatening to break out but that could be because I failed to have my shower and wash my face until middle of the afternoon.  I did notice, too, this morning that my stretches are getting deeper (I am, by birth, a totally non-stretchy person so this is a big deal) AND when I kneeled for family prayer this morning I could actually sit on my feet instead of leaning forward because it hurts my ankles so bad.  It still hurt, just not as bad so it was possible where it wasn't possible before. 

I worked my butt off today and I'm pleased with the results of my labor, not just for today but what's happening in general.  I'm on the path and it's clearing out before me so that I can see the end more clearly.  It can be done!!!