Well, here it is again – the almost end to yet another day. For me, it was a pretty quiet sort of day – himself was out most of the day, once again ferrying my favourite eldest daughter around. She’s managed to hurt her back, and is finding getting around extremely painful and exhausting. Welcome to the club, dear! (mind you, hers will hopefully get better…) It was a pretty miserable and dismal morning for me – a good friend and I managed to get our wires slightly crossed, resulting in a bit of a disagreement, but we sorted it all out after lunch, and I hope that everything is good between us again. I also had a good long Rifting session, finishing off in Gloamwood – and I just know I’ve missed heaps of quests, but I couldn’t find them… However, having said that, I quickly logged on to check in my “Achievements” log! I can go back and kill another 107 Goblins to get the “Wanton Destruction” Achievement (kill 200 Goblins), and I need to explore five more caves. There’s also a puzzle to complete (something about putting shields in the correct order – I might need a bit of help with that one!) so I think I might go back and see if I can get them done – and add to my “Achievement” count! 🙂 (the trouble is, I’ve moved on two zones and almost ten levels since then, and the Goblins will probably all just fall over dead as soon as I look at them – which may negate the “kill” objective!) Yes, Persha is now level 36 and questing in Scarwood Reach, a “shared” zone, with the Defiants operating in the Southern half of the zone, and us Guardians (this time around – next time it’ll be vice versa!) in the Northern half. More or less. A lot of it is sort-of shared area, but not shared quests. So only four more levels to level 40 🙂 and then it’ll be on to Satai, the little Defiant that triggered off this whole shift over to Hailol, simply because I wanted to use the name, and it wasn’t available on any of the other shards! *sigh* the things I’ll do, simply because I like a name, and there’s no other way of spelling it so that it still looks “proper”. (I’m just having a drink of my tea – a different one tonight, it’s called “Berries and Orange”, another of the flavoured black teas from Tea Leaves – it’s really delicious!)

Once again today I didn’t get a chance to do my nails – with himself out most of the day I just sat in here and Rifted – I couldn’t do my nails because I wouldn’t be able to answer the phone if my nails weren’t dry without smudging the polish, or getting nail polish in my hair! Duzza matta though, it means they get (yet another) night of hand cream and cuticle oil – and I have to admit, my nails aren’t looking as dry and cracked as they were. Tomorrow though, himself wants to stay home and do nothing, which means that he can answer the phone, and I’ll be able to (finally!) do my nails… unless I get too wrapped up in finishing off Persha, and starting in on Satai… which is quite possible (and even probable!) No, I must make the effort! The nail polish is sitting forlornly in the bathroom, staring accusingly at me with no eyes… I’d better do it, I guess. I’m also starting to plot and plan my eating strategies for when I finish this diet. My goal weight is 75kg, but, quite obviously, when I start eating “proper food” again, I’m going to put on weight (maybe I should re-think my goal weight to 70kg – then I can afford to put on up to five kilos…) However, the main cause of my previous weight will be gone, and won’t be allowed in the house again. I will be a lot more careful this time around, and I’ll still be eating pretty much the same as I am at the moment, with the exception of dinner at night. For instance, I’ll still have the same breakfast – mainly because I really do like it, but if I can work out the right kilojoule amounts, I might alternate it with porridge during the winter months (except porridge with half a banana sliced on it? It doesn’t really sound terribly “tasty” – I might have to eat the half banana separately… and porridge without brown sugar or golden syrup on it is actually quite nice, I’ve discovered (to my great surprise!)) Lunch will probably be something like crispbread with low fat cottage cheese and a bit of sliced tomato, or cayenne pepper, or celery… and I’ll still keep getting the Optifast bars, because once again, I really like them, and I get my chocolate “fix” with them, too! 🙂 Or I could even have one of the Optifast soups for lunch, if it’s cold and wet and typical “soup” weather. Dinner at night will probably be a “normal” meal, only quite small. If we go out for a meal, I’ll simply switch lunch for dinner, or dinner for lunch. I’ll stay with my diet jellies, too, coz they’re really nice, and they’re easy to make (alright! they’re easy for Julian to make, OK?!) So all in all, I should be able to cope with the end of diet maintenance, “should” being the keyword there! Unfortunately that old, old adage keeps running through my brain… “The best laid plans of mice and men… often go awry” (originally “gang aft a-gley”) but, I shall prevail!

Weigh-in this morning. Quite pleasing, actually… down to 97.8kg. Hopefully it’ll be down a bit more tomorrow – it’s starting to get close to the end of the month, and the dreaded “fluid retaining” pills 😦 If I could get down to… uhhh… 96.8kg by then, I’d be happy – I’d probably still creep back into the 97kg zone, but hopefully not too far…

(Damn! for no apparent reason, I’ve just developed an ear ache… I’ve taken some Panadol, and I hope it goes away soon! 😦 ) So anyway, that’s about all from me for tonight – drop back again this time tomorrow night to find out all the latest! Did I paint my nails, or are they still wallowing in cuticle oil at night? Have I thought of any new strategies to help me cope with maintenance, when I finally finish this diet? Did I get Persha up to level 40, and have I started working with Satai? Has my weight dropped some more, or is it sulkily and moodily sitting on the same 97.8kg that it was on this morning – or, heaven forbid! has it gone up!? Will my ear ache have subsided, or will I be groaning in agony on a hospital gurney somewhere, waiting to have my ear amputated at the neck? (the mind positively boggles!) All these questions, and many, many more, will be answered right here, at the same time tomorrow night! So until then, bee good, don’t forget to brush your teeth before you go to bed, and above all…. stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂