This is me being succinct. I just like saying succinct.

I have too much to do to be writing a long, luxurious post today (believe me, I already tried). So I will try to be succinct.

1. Operation Cohabitation is going rippingly well. We are reasonably comfortable and still like each other. My nieces are adorable beyond belief and we're enjoying every minute with them (even the two-day diarrhea-fest we had earlier this week)! I am sure this experience is not quite as delightful for Dharma and Vance as they are being forced to live in someone else's home (and no matter how comfortable and homey a place may be, it's not really home unless it's your home), but they seem to be bearing up rather well. We're sharing in the everyday tasks, staying out of each others' way as needed and enjoying the evenings together after the children are asleep.

2. Operation Jane Austen is well underway. I didn't tell you about that, did I? Well, that's because it's quite silly. Daria, Beelix and I were discussing books we have and have not read and I confessed to them that I have never actually read Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, both of which are among my most favoritest movies ever (the A&E P&P, not the wretched Keira Knightly one--nope, not a fan). They, both being rabid Jane Austen fans, were understandably horrified and disgusted. Daria informed me, very sternly I might add, that she has a volume of all of Jane Austen's completed novels that she would cheerfully use to beat me about the head and neck if I didn't promptly read them. So I borrowed it. And I've been reading it through.

I've completed Pride and Prejudice (which is now up there among my most favoritest books of all time--yes I know, duh), Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park and am well into Emma, which I have read before but am enjoying all over again. I read Northanger Abbey a few years ago but will read it again just to be thorough and then it's Persuasion and Lady Susan, neither of which I've ever read and know anything about! That, in itself, is rather exciting, don't you think?

3. Operation Lose Weight has also begun. I can't, for the life of me, think of a better name for it than that. I've been trying for days, it's pathetic. Anyway, I'm not sure why, but I think I've just finally had it with being fat and out of shape and a potential embarrassment to my family. Add to that frustration with my hypoglycemia, and fear of either having to be removed from my house by crane or being shipped off by the government to a concentration camp disguised as a fat farm for breaking the law against obesity that I'm convinced is about to be passed and you've got my motivation!

I've been researching hypoglycemia, with which I was diagnosed about a year or so ago. No wonder it's so crazy out of control! I've been eating all the things a hypoglycemic shouldn't! And no wonder I've just been gaining, gaining, gaining. I need to follow a low carb, low sugar, high protein, high fiber diet. It puts me in mind of that summer, about seven or eight years ago when I did the Atkins diet. I lost 20 lbs, nearly eliminated my hypoglycemia symptoms and felt great! I guess it's no coincidence; I was eating small amounts of complex carbs, virtually no simple carbs and mostly protein and fiber--just what it turns out I need!

So, I'm revamping. I'm cutting out all simple sugars and many carbs. I'm trying to remember to eat 6 small meals, or at least 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. It's hard to constantly be planning ahead (like stopping to buy a small pack of mixed nuts before Redheaded Snippet's lacrosse game yesterday), but that's just what I have to do. When I make something with a heavy load of carbs for my family, I'm refraining from eating it, if possible. For example, last night, Dharma made pepper steak (oh my, it was SO GOOD) over rice and I just had the beef and peppers. Not sure what I'll do about spaghetti and meatballs night...maybe I'll just have to go without carbs all day to leave room for the pasta. I'm getting used to drinking my 2-3 cups of tea each day without sugar. And at bedtime, instead of something sugary (sure to make my blood sugar drop and give me horrible nightmares), I'm snacking on plain yogurt and fresh fruit drizzled with the tiniest drizzle of honey.

I'm also walking. There are three rather large dogs here right now who all enjoy being walked. And I am fortunate to live in a neighborhood and on a street that are rather rural in appearance (though we are mere minutes away from some of the most sprawling, ridiculous, suburban shopping centers in the state). We have woods with a bike path running through it directly in front of our house. And the weather has been spectacular lately. I feel like God is all but screaming, "GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND GO WALK" at me.

So, I've been taking one of the dogs and walking 20 minutes a day. I want to work my way up to 25 and then 30 minutes (read that hypoglycemics shouldn't exercise more than 30 minutes at a time) but the 20 is almost killing me. No, that's not true. Though, without the wonders of Aleve or Advil, it almost is! Redheaded Snippet was kind enough to show me some good stretches so I don't break my decrepit body and the dogs are large and fierce-looking enough (the biggest is nearly 100 lbs) that I feel completely free from harm so I really have no excuse whatsoever. Sure, my sneakers hurt my feet (have never had a pair that didn't) and all bets might be off once the humidity rolls in, but for now, I'm walking. Every day. And not hating it.

I think that's it. The rest involves my usual rhapsodies about my clothes line, the wonders of having a wood stove during the cold, chilly days of early May, the joys of lacrosse season being over in just one week (with NO PLAYOFFS!) and the ecstasy of having less than 30 school days left on the calendar (5 1/2 WEEKS)!

But for now, I must get to the laundry, beds and menu-planning. As you were...