Day 73

I cant believe it has been so long since my last blog - I have missed writing so much and am very glad to be 'back in the saddle'! (You know what I mean).

I have been without any domestic help for two weeks now which can be a bit of a disaster if you are not used to doing everything yourself! (I am not used to it at all!). I was at  a farewell dinner last night, bemoaning my situation, when one of my girlfriends announced that she was training herself and her family to do all the housework themselves in the unlikely event they can no-longer afford any help. I found this most peculiar on several levels ( I know this is going to come out  all wrong and make me look like a lazy, spoiled elitist but its really not like that - I'm just being honest!).  Firstly, I told her I thought we were all working harder and longer hours to improve our lifestyles, not make them worse.  Secondly, at near fifty years old we are all trying desperately to maintain the illusion of youthful hands which is only achievable with well manicured nails and lashings of hand cream (household detergents are just no good for manicures) - not to mention the face which can be run ragged and sprout wrinkles at the mere thought of the stress of  changing bed linen (my worst), hoovering and constantly picking up thousands of tiny pieces of Lego! No thank you - I have worked long and hard to be able to pay someone for that kind of help and I'm not about to give it up!

Maybe I'm feeling so emotional about this because my dear Patience has now taken six weeks holiday since the beginning of the year! She just has absolutely no grasp on how many days make a week or, more to the point, how many days there are in three weeks which is her annual leave time! About a month ago she told me she would like to go to Zimbabwe for a wedding, and since it was being held on a Saturday, would be gone for the weekend. I was curious as to how she intended on getting to and from Zimbabwe in three days?, her reply was that she would be leaving a week before the wedding and arriving home a week after the event but would still only be at the wedding for two days!  I must say, the look of amazement and bewilderment on her face when I told her, that in reality, she would be away for two weeks as apposed to a long weekend was priceless!

I have to say one thing for slogging up and down stairs doing housework - its a fabulous workout! I have been doing manual labour from morning to night and the results are showing, its now quite noticeable that Ive shrunk YAY! Maybe I should be thanking Patience instead of cursing her! (I really do love her!)

I have three weeks to go before we leave for NY and I'm getting so excited. A lot can still be done weight wise in three weeks and I'm not slowing down now! x