So I have begun the whole purposeful exercise thing. I had already been just "moving more" on a daily basis, but now there is actual gym membership involved! My biggest issue is what to do with my kids during exercise time. The two girls are 8 and 11. The 8 year old is very clingy. She is too young to go into the fitness part of the gym. She is actually too young to go into the teen room (where the Wii's are!) but we sort of slide her in there with her older sister. Then they fight and barge into the fitness room, drag me off the treadmill to resolve who is being mean to who. So, today we went over to her elementary school with our two dogs. I started walking the track listening to my music; stopping every few seconds to hear her every comment about bugs, dirt and the dogs. Then she wanted us to leave the track and go over to the playground way over on the other side of the school. Then the dog was pulling too hard. (Its a pekingese, for crying out loud! 12 pounds of hair!) Then she was too tired. So we quit after 20 minutes,came home early and I sent her to her room until bedtime.

I'm extremely frustrated with trying different things to fit some exercise time in. Because my hubby works in the evenings, and the little one can't stay home alone yet, they will always be with me. I feel like that means I will never be able to get anything done other than exactly what she wants to do at that moment.

---sigh!---- find my happy place------

Anyway, 19 pounds more to lose until I meet my next goal. (Morbid obesity class 1-BMI 30-34.) Obviously, that's not happening by tomorrow (the original goal date) but I'm okay with that. The scale is still moving in the right direction, though a bit more slowly these days. I was hoping that regular exercise would speed it back up, but circumstances aren't working with me on this. I cleaned out my closet of all clothes larger than size 24. It was pretty fun, too. Most of the clothes I got for my cruise back in October went away in that sweep, since I was in a 26 then. I will need to do another closet sweep soon since I am in a 20 now. However, if I did it now I would be pant-less by the end of the week. Still need to shop a bit more.

Now, I'm getting ready for my last day as an AP Physics teacher (thank goodness!) but I do need to write their test for tomorrow.

Anyone got any suggestions on how to get the 8 year old to let me do what I need to do - other than velcro-ing her to the wall, of course?