All morning one of the neighbor's dogs was barking at their door. Apparently, no one was home, because if the barking was driving me batshit from two houses away, I don't see how anyone actually in the house at the time could do anything but open the door. Also, even though these neighbors have several dogs, there is rarely barking to be heard. Especially now that the dogs have gotten used to us and no longer stand at the fence and bark at us just for being on the deck. Now that its people are finally home, there is no longer dog barking noise, but there is a rather obnoxious Blue Jay being quite pissy in our trees. I'm kind of hoping a nice Harrier swoops down and makes it an entree.

I played hookie today. It was required. I am not the least bit sick - unless you count the onset of my girl time - but I just had to have a day. I have not had a day, alone, in the house, with nothing I was required to do for someone else, in so very long. The only guilt I suffered was over the fact that I have two Monday appointments this month and it will be difficult for me to take those days off as well and still maintain budget control. (More like a delicate balance than control, actually.) I suffered a little remorse, as well, over my friend at work having to cover for me when she is so obviously overwhelmed, but...sorry. Couldn't do it. It's not that I wanted to laze around, so much as I just needed to get some damned things done. Sure, I could have done them on the weekend, but then the Boy and the Man are all around asking questions and wanting me to do other things (and in the case of the latter, telling me how I can do it better) and just generally being LOUD BOYS! I needed to regroup my poop, so to speak, and there are two requirements for this recharging: quiet (or atleast control of the level of non-quiet) and time. Today I had both so I accomplished quite a bit. Nothing huge, just all the little things that go undone when the day to day gets a bit shifty.

Plus, the reason I've been non-communicado recently is I've just been pooring myself into the day job. I'd realized I was feeling quite crappy about the less than stellar performance I'd been making and didn't want to be that girl. After phoning it in for several months, the last few weeks have found me actually putting in my 6.25 average work hours like the rest of corporate America. (Although, I have to admit, I kind of miss the blogoshpere and will be glad when the three new trainees are up to code and I can let there be some slack again.)

The diet is going well. I think I'm at that point, though, where the rubber meets the road. The point where I can either suck it up and decide to give it my all, or slowly dwindle to the point where I waste my money and time by having the yo-yo weeks from now until I decide to quit. Again. I haven't gained any weight and I'm actually quite pleased with the 2/10 of a pound loss this week, considering how many time's I've sated my cravings instead of taking the high road. (And also the impending girl time.) I think I'm just seriously waiting for a nice big gain so I can just give up already. I find it rather interesting that it hasn't come around yet. (This, btw, is another reason for my day at home. I didn't want to be tempted and the office has way, way too many temptations for me when I'm feeling weak.) So, yeah, I'm getting back on track with the food and I'm slowly starting to realize that exercise needs to become part of the regular mix before this downward poundage hits a snag. 'Cause we all know it takes both.

Happy Thursday!