Challenges, but not necessarily physical...

It's been an interesting week. Frustrating. Stressful. Heartbreaking. And while all of those things aren't necessarily physical challenges, they can - and have in the past - affect my eating.

But, I'm really happy to report that they have NOT done so this week so far!

My mom - home for only a week after spending 8-1/2 months in skilled nursing due to a nasty broken leg on which she will never walk again - had a med screw-up somehow. Her Lasix prescription wasn't filled and so she went that first week at home without it and she just filled up with fluid. Now she's back in skilled nursing with pneumonia. Not. good. Damn! She just cannot get a break. It's always something with her. And I used to get ticked and roll my eyes when she said that, but it IS always something with her. And, with her lack of mobility and her age and her diabetes, pneumonia could, well, kill her. I'm going to call her right now and see how she's doing since I last talked to her on Thursday...

...okay, she sounds terrible. When I talked to her Thursday, she didn't cough once. Today she was coughing every other word. And she's not coughing up anything, which concerns me. But she still says she's feeling okay otherwise. But I can tell she's not feeling strong. So now, she has to stay in skilled nursing until not only the pneumonia has cleared up, but she will again have to regain enough strength to do the one-person transfer. Oy.

Then there's the whole Dustin and Emily issue. I can't go into the whole thing here, but this week the issue was that Dustin was re-offered a job at the restaurant Martha is chefing at. And Emily didn't want him to take the job. I must add that Dustin has a wretched work record. He's a GREAT guy, but in the work department, he has not been stellar at keeping jobs. And one of Emily's MAIN concerns has been him getting a job - and rightly so. (He's been working for $10.00/hour at Chris's dad's for a few months, getting the house ready to sell, but that's coming to an end.) Anyway, his "resume" sucks, and so the liklihood of him getting the kind of job offer Emily thinks he "should" be able to get - or whatEVER her reasons are - are not good. So, Dustin was offered this job before and Emily decided he shouldn't take it. Even though Dustin wanted to. Almost a month passed and someone at the restaurant has quit and Martha offered him the job again. And, again, Emily said no. *sigh* This just frustrated the end out of Martha AND Chris and I - and Dustin, needless to say. For whatever reason, he has not stood up to Emily. But Chris and I, with the support of Gary and Deborah (her parents) highly encouraged Dustin to go ahead and accept the job and just tell Emily that he made the decision - in their best interest - to take the job. She was gone yesterday and Martha needed an answer by a certain time yesterday (she'd offered a few days ago) because SHE needed to get this position filled. So Dustin made the decision without telling Emily - until she and Deborah were on the way to the very same restaurant -to meet Chris and I and Dustin and Gary as well. As I predicted, she basically dropped off Deborah and Eva and never came in the restaurant. I'm leaving out lots of details here, but... After dinner and the concert we all went to last night, we took Dustin home, dropping him off and leaving. As soon as we got home, there was a message from Dustin that the house was completely locked up and Emily wasn't answering the door. In the end, he got in through a back window and Emily was "asleep". The whole thing just caused endless angst yesterday - and, well, it's just been a continuation of angst that has been going on pretty much since their engagement (to which we advised that they reconsider and put off).

They both had a ton of baggage coming into the marriage. They need counseling. Dustin is actually getting it now, but Emily refuses. And yesterday, when her mom, Deborah (my very good friend, too - I've known Emily most of her life) told her the hard truth about her attitude, that did not go well either. Chris and I are just so frustrated with her and her lack of taking responsibility for the decisions she's making. She's just torturing Dustin. He's been sleeping on the couch for months (before she even became pregnant, which I don't know how that even happened...). He hands all the money over to her and he has to beg her for every cent. She's dependant on pain killers due to her migraines. She sleeps all the time. She dumps everything (including Eva care) on Dustin as soon as he does come home from work. She makes him clock hours like she's his boss - but then she'll make him come home in the middle of the day because she's had a bad dream. She won't let him in "her" bedroom at the same time as Eva. She rags on him about every little thing. I've seen this girl milk the drama and the physical stuff ever since she was little - and it paid off for her, too. She got to skip school, she got to drop out of high school and was sent to live with her aunt in Chicago instead. She's gotten catered to and pandered and - up until yesterday - no one has had the guts to tell her the TRUTH about some of her actions. And it didn't go down well. Dustin says she will not hear anything about her own self - it's always about what HE's doing wrong. So, my heart has just been breaking for him. Yes, he made the decision to get involved with her and to marry her - against our advice and warnings. But he just loves her. I can see that he really does. It's all so sad. And Chris and I have just felt like we've had our hands tied because she's the daughter of our good friends. It's hard. It's heartbreaking.

All this has come to a boil this week. AND YET - I am managing to continue to eat well throughout it all. That is such a victory for me. Because I'm such an emotional eater. I haven't really been tempted to just sit and binge eat for comfort. I'm so thankful for that. I have no idea where that's coming from. I consider it a gift from God. Plus, I'm really liking seeing those numbers on the scale coming down.

I have a big challenge tonight. Chris and I are getting together with some other couples tonight to play games. And there will be snacks. And not healthy ones, either. I mean, I'm not making anything healthy, that's for sure! :) So I will really have to be careful. Especially since we will be playing games and that will be a time to just sit and eat unconsciously.

I have a plan. And that is to eat three healthy meals today. I've already been drinking my water. And then I will allow myself to have ONE plate of stuff (not piled on, either!) that looks really good to me. So I won't feel deprived.

And then we have a church dinner tomorrow. Which will also provide lots of unhealthy options. And then the superbowl is tomorrow night. And the kids are coming. And Chris is getting snacks. Warning: Danger! I must choose wisely! I must stand back and make choices, rather than just grabbing stuff without thinking. That will be key for me.

I SO want to have a good weigh-in on Monday. So, I'll have my work cut out for me this weekend. Let's hope I don't let all my work go down the drain...