When you're slidin' into first, and you're feelin' something burst ...

Sigh - yeah, that's right, folks - like the sensitive-yet-bratty kid in the classic 1989 movie "Parenthood", I'm suffering from a bout of ... DIARRHEA!

Happy New Year! (toot toot!)

If you're of a sensitive nature, you may not want to read any farther ... consider yourself warned! (Of course, if you were really that sensitive, you wouldn't be reading MY blog - nyuk nyuk!)

I had taken the whole week off work and was looking forward to a happy vacation at home, puttering around doing "housewife"-type things (well - everything except cleaning!). I had bought some new yarn and printed out a couple of interesting patterns and planned to spend some quality time knitting, alternated with brisk walks in the park and daily exercise on my Rebounder.

But at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, December 31, 2008, all those plans came to an abrupt halt. I woke up with that unmistakeable feeling that something, somewhere deep inside, was very, very unhappy and wanted to "Get out. NOW!"

I went in the bathroom and spent a very miserable 45 minutes or so alternately spewing from both ends.

And from then on, just got worse - because not only was *I* sick as that poor proverbial dog - my husband woke up and discovered he was coming down with a really bad cold. Sneezing, sore throat, coughing, the works.

So instead of a romantic New Year's Eve toasting each other with champagne, we spent the next 48 hours in our respective illness-induced stupors, kept from total paralysis only by the insistence of our cat, Princess, that we continue to feed and/or pay attention to her. At about 7:30 p.m. we toasted each other with Mucinex and Pepto-Bismol, and tottered off to our respective sickbeds.

Still - as I told my husband at one point during the Twilight Zone Marathon on the SciFi Channel (the only thing that kept our minds from totally atrophying during the ordeal), if I had to be sick on New Year's Eve, I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather be sick with.

Oh, and the weight loss? Well, for a couple of days there I was down to 185 - which didn't cheer me up as much as you might think, since I knew full well it was all water and would come back as soon as I recovered. I did feel well enough to go to the WW meeting on Saturday morning. However, I kept my shoes on as sort of a "handicap". I weighed in at 188.6, which did get me that much-desired 7th 5-pound star (actually, Flora gave me 9 loose ones, since my WW bookmark is sadly decrepit from being carried around in my purse all the time).

I was glad to get it, but to be honest, I felt a little bit like the Mark McGwire of weight loss! But I'm sure I'll feel better next week when I regain all of it plus an extra five pounds for insurance.

KIDDING!!! (I hope!) But seriously, this did give me a much-needed reminder that just "losing weight" isn't the be-all and end-all of life. Sometimes losing weight is a BAD thing. Focus on staying healthy. Focus on eating good things that are good for you. Focus on exercising every day. And let the weight take care of itself - it always will, anyway.

So how about you? Hope your New Year's was better than mine! Leave a comment and let me know!