Hi, Karen - how's the journey going? You haven't been making many journal entries since February, and I have a feeling you would find lots of support in here...of course, if you're on summer vacation, there's more time...

I'm a teacher, too...it does take energy! Even with my middle school kids. And they still get boo-boos and need bandaids, kleenex, and a shoulder to cry on now and then.

Funny, I also sold cosmetics...Mary Kay for a year (had to have back surgery from carrying around those demo cases - true story). Avon while I was back in college getting my ed degree. Even did in-store demos! Talk about teacher training! All those things get you ready to explain, persuade, motivate people. Then I taught adults who had dropped out young or gotten pregnant or into drugs...and finally saw the need for education - now I teach the population who will become those drop outs...and I feel I've gotten an invaluable perspective into their needs.

Sometimes I wish I could get them when they were in preschool!!! I was offered a job as director of a Headstart school...but when I found out the government doesn't allow teaching of reading in Headstart, I bowed out of that quickly! The sooner, the better!

How are your pounds and inches coming along? Have you been able to rebuild the muscle mass you were hoping to do in the past 5 months? Why not post some menus and see if you get any helpful feedback on those? and be sure to visit journals, in case you haven't...it's amazing what kind of help you will find here.

Have a great day, and forgive me for rambling on and on...