Planets aligning

or worlds colliding or something like that.

Planet 1: I told myself this morning as I was walking the dog, that now that the NCAA men's basketball tournament is over, I need to get re-committed to diet and exercise. No more sweet chili cha-cha chicken wings. No blue frosted cupcakes. No more Reese's peanut butter cups (which don't have anything to do with the tournament, except that my general disregard for good nutrition made it easier to eat those too).

Planet 2: Tonight while driving Robbie to soccer practice (a whole other story by itself), I had to unbutton my jeans while I was driving. Oh. Yes. I. Did. Now, they did just come straight out of the dryer and we all know that jeans shrink a lot in the dryer and need some wearing to stretch them out. But I was afraid if I didn't unbutton them, the button would pop right off, ricochet off the steering wheel, hit me in the eye and blind me right there.

Planet 3: Tonight on the Biggest Loser, Courtney was eliminated. I really thought she'd win it all. I don't get star struck very often. But ever since this season began, I have wanted to meet Courtney. She lost 100 pounds on her own before she ever made it on to the show. Now she's lost 215 pounds total!

What I want to know is how has she maintained motivation? I've lost and gained again the same 30-40 pounds at least three times in the last 10 years. Why can't I lose it all, which would be about 70 pounds, and not find it again?

Finding Courtney wouldn't be hard. Her family owns a Dairy Queen in Valparaiso, Indiana. But it seems kind of stalkerish to go up there and order a Dilly Bar with a side of heart-to-heart chat with Courtney. Actually, I'd like to meet her mom, too. She lost about as much as I need to and she's a mom with kids. So yeah, either one of them. Or both of them. We could chat over salads and Diet Coke.

So maybe the end of a celebration plus the frustration of not being able to breathe in a pair of jeans plus inspiration from an unlikely source are just enough planetary alignment to get me back on track.

It's 3am. Do you know where your chicken is?

Ok, actually right now it's 3:29am and I've been awake for 2 hours. This used to be pretty much the norm for me. (Search the word "sleep" on my blog and you'll get a surprising amount of posts that talk about how I need more sleep or how I am awake in the middle of the night.) But lately, I've been doing much better going to bed at a decent hour and actually sleeping all night.

Tonight, however, I went to bed at 9:30pm and woke up at 1:30am. I laid there for about 15 minutes and felt my leg muscles tightening up -- should have stretched before and after the treadmill last night. When I reached down to try to massage some of the aching muscles, I realized it's been a while since I'd shaved my legs. And I have to be at the gym to meet Fr. Kyle at 7am.

So I did what any insomniac would do. I got up, took a hot bath, and shaved my legs. When I was in the bathtub, I remembered that the kids have to pack their lunch for school today. And since I'm leaving for the gym before they leave for school, I got out of the tub, got dressed and went downstairs to make lunches.

Only when I got downstairs, I remembered our cupboards are pretty bare right now. But I did have some chicken drumsticks thawed it the fridge. So I decided to cook those to pack in lunch boxes. Fifty minutes at 400 degrees brings us once again to:

It's 3am. Do you know where your chicken is?