Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts
By Alyce Wilson
December 3, 2004 - Return Journey
Una doesn't want to go home
Sunday of Thanksgiving vacation the party was over and it was time for everybody to head home again, some earlier than others.
My brother and his wife were the first to leave, on their way back to Vermont. I got up when others started bustling around and had breakfast with them and the mandatory coffee. Then I helped my brother and his wife load their car and wished them well. They were anticipating some rain along the way but were hoping for the best.
Next to go were my sister and her fiance. They had a lot more to pack up, and I helped them with that.
Then after we saw them off, The Gryphon and I got our showers, packed
up our stuff and left. We were on the road by about quarter after noon.
On the way out of town, we passed the junkyard where we'd sold my old truck, Red Arrow, for $50 a few weeks previously. Rather than sitting on a piece of grass, rusting to pieces, the rusting panels had been replaced and it was sitting in the front lot, looking shiny. Although I feel chagrined at having received only $50 for a truck which could still be usable, I'm happy to imagine her tooling down the country roads again, probably back to the country music her radio was set on before I took over with a steady diet of rock 'n' roll.
One of the nice things Mom gave me when I visited her Saturday was information on the Weight Watchers diet. Both Mom and my sister have been on this diet since about May and have each lost about 30 pounds. By contrast, I was still three pounds away from my overall annual goal of 25 pounds. So I thought it was worth checking out.
I thought a good time to start would be Sunday, so I wrote down what I'd eaten so far: breakfast of cereal and milk with some coffee was fine, but brunch nearly did me in. I had leftover cheese tortellini from the dinner the night before, not realizing until I consulted the book that it was worth a lot of points.
So I only wanted a light dinner, and I suggested that The Gryphon and I go through the cookbook Mom had previously given me of Weight Watchers meals for two and pick something light.
When we got back, he looked through the book and chose one, and then we went to the grocery store to get ingredients as well as stock me up for the week, keeping in mind the sorts of low-fat, healthy foods recommended by Weight Watchers.
I'm happy so far with the variety the diet offers, and I'm eating healthier than I'd been when I was just counting calories. The Gryphon reminds me that I'd lost 57 pounds by myself, so I hadn't been doing too shabby. But I'll tell you what: when I stepped on the scale on Wednesday and saw I was down to 161, just one point from my goal for the year, I became a Weight Watchers believer!
We had just enough time to make and eat the dinner before I had to run The Gryphon to the train station for him to make his gaming group on time. While he was gone, I did a little work and had some time to relax. I had the misfortune to watch NBC's musical version of The Christmas Carol, starring Kelsey Grammar. It was neither musical nor a carol. The songs were weak; the choreography worse. It made "Cats" look like it has a plot. Let's just say it was no Oliver.
When The
Gryphon returned and I finished my evening assignment, we tried to get
through the pilot episode of Firefly, which is another series by
Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy. But I just couldn't keep my eyes open.
It had been a long, long day.
More from
Thanksgiving weekend:
November 29, 2004 - Meet the Wilsons
Moral:
Even good times have to end.
Copyright
2004 by Alyce Wilson
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