Last night I got the usual Sunday night raft of stuff from those of my clients that do their planning for the week on Sunday night, and I was struck again by how lucky I am to have work that I love. I’m excited about the various projects, and looking forward to my class.

There are so many people who dislike or tolerate their work, and mine is a continual adventure. I’ve been able to keep music and a social life, do volunteer work of various kinds, and continue learning and spending time with my family, while also building a successful freelance career doing something I love to do. While I still need to work out the bugs in the system, overall I’m very lucky, and grateful for that.

The bugs in the system include fine-tuning my workflow, getting systems for administration in place, and fitting in what needs to be done about my physical health and well-being, as well as housekeeping.

I talked with #1 daughter about this yesterday. She has just been promoted to Regional Trainer for Jenny Craig.

I told her I’d joined the online Weight Watchers, but that last week, between Easter and the daughters’ visit, I’d completely ignored it.

“We all have our excuses,” she said firmly.

“I’m not making excuses,” said I. “I’m recognizing the reality of my situation and coming up with solutions.” I explained that I thought the online program would help me eat right and exercise, in spite of my mad schedule.

“Will they call you and tell you to turn off the computer and go to the gym?” she asked.

I admitted that they hadn’t been doing that for me.

“You need to get your meals planned and ready on Sundays,” she told me. “You should have salads ready to go on the plate. Don’t give up any one particular kind of food, or you’ll crave it and overindulge. Plan your work around your gym visits. With the kind of schedule you have, it’s inevitable that you’ll let someone down: is it going to be yourself?”

At this point, readers are probably evenly divided between wishing they had #1 daughter for a personal coach and being thankful that their daughters aren’t as scary as mine.

Braced by this talking-to, I prepared a nice healthy dinner for the family: Provencal chicken, brown rice, lettuce from our garden.

“Are there mushrooms in this?” #2 son demanded accusingly. “Olives?”

“There are going to be vegetables in the food sometimes,” said I.

“90% of people don’t like mushrooms and olives in their food,” he assured me. “You can cook without mushrooms and olives. That’s all I ask.”

After a moment’s thought, he added, “And strange beans. And any fruit with meat, ’cause that’s weird.”

“What about broccoli? Snow peas?”

He had to admit that broccoli and snow peas, and indeed any vegetables aside from onions, peppers, tomatoes, and corn would be unwelcome. He stood by his claim that 90% of all 17 year old males would agree with him. Why he felt this was relevant I don’t know.

I graded papers and then I continued with Salt Peanuts while watching Fortysomething on the computer. The sons were moving out of the family house.

“Someday they’ll all be gone,” the husband said. “How will we handle that?”

“The same way we handle everything else,” said his wife. “Badly.”

I don’t feel that I’m handling things badly.

I do feel that I need to figure out how to take care of myself, with time and attention for eating right, exercising, sleeping, and relaxing. Also for dressing properly and getting haircuts and getting the laundry done. This has always been challenging for me, I guess, and my current work situation, lovely though it is in most ways, makes that negative tendency worse.

I’ve eaten a proper breakfast and logged it on my WW page. I’m going to pack my gym bag, in spite of how much work I have to do, and stop by the gym on my way home from class. I don’t skip teaching my class in order to get on with my computer work. I just say, “I teach a class in the morning, but after that I’ll get on with the ERP” or whatever it might be.  There’s no reason I can’t take the same attitude toward my gym visits.