Journal - 3 September 2009

Tess and I went out to dinner last night, to Applebee's. I know Applebee's is a franchise and every Applebee's is similar to every other Applebee's but that's ok; you walk in, you know what you're getting, which is just exactly how a franchise is supposed to work (it turns out there are regional differences in the menu, though; NYC Applebee's still has my favorite salad, but the one up here does not, which is a bummer). I had this wonderful salad with roasted shrimp (about 12-14 of them) and roasted peppers and almonds on a bed of baby spinach leaves with this amazing balsamic vinaigrette and something else salad dressing. It was really, really good. Diet Pepsi to drink. Tess had chicken fingers and fries with root beer; she didn't eat the fries because she said they were too salty for her, but she said the chicken fingers were good.

We went early; we'd finished our dinner before 5:30, which left the rest of the night free for whatever (we went to WalMart). I was still hungry after dinner, but ignored it until about 9 when I caved in and ate the last cooked-up chicken thigh from two nights ago. That satisfied. No ice cream last night. No dessert at the restaurant, either. And yes, I went for a walk yesterday with my mom, down by the river, but I didn't wear the pedometer so can't tell you how many steps we walked.

Today, getting out of bed was not something I wanted in my future. I hit the snooze for an hour (the alarm went off at 8; I got up at 9), then performed my morning ablutions, threw the sheets in the washing machine (Jim's coming today; I always wash sheets on the morning of the day he comes) and had a bowl of FiberOne and oatmeal with Lactaid and Splenda for breakfast. It's lunchtime now; I think I'll have an Activia and my ever-present peanut-butter sandwich with two pats of butter with diet ginger ale to drink.

I'm tired today, but it's been a good day business-wise so far; I have appointments every day next week except Friday (and, of course, Labor Day) with either a new client or a networking contact, so next week should give the biz a much-needed shot in the arm.

I haven't yet been for a walk today; I'd better go soon, too, since Jim should be here around 2.