As of today I am still at 12 pounds.

However, that doesn't mean I am out of it. I need to lose 2.5 pounds this week to get to my goal.

Here is the weekend recap of what went down.

Went to Gatti's and ate 6 pieces of pizza and some desert. That may have had something to do with me not losing weight.

I have been notoriously bad on weekends staying inside of my parameters. I had a Dr. Pepper on Saturday, my first in weeks.

I didn't run Friday or Saturday. But I did run on Thursday. I ran so hard that I forgot which lap I was on and lost count. So I took the smallest number I remembered and ran a total of 9 laps. 9 laps, one more than 8 which is my personal best.

Today, Monday I went to Sharky's for lunch because they are handing out free drinks to those who have the coupon in the newspaper, which I did.

I'm in some sort of a funk right now. Don't know how to explain it, but there is jealousy, pain, anger and uncertainness about everything right now.

Sometimes you get that way and my body wants to blame it on the Dr. Pepper. However, yesterday I tried to run 10 laps. I brought my daughter with me so she could keep count, because I had lost faith in my brain. It started lightening pretty heavily and nothing looks more inviting than a large man running like a sloth on an open track during a lightening storm.

We left shortly after.

I really wanted to run 10 laps for her. She was so supportive. I feel like she needs to see me accomplish goals when I set out to do them so that she will understand what success feels like.

But I think she gets it. On the way to another engagement, we were talking about how excited I was about running in a real race and she said, “Daddy, I understand. You've always wanted to run in a race just like I've always wanted to be a flower girl!" She did get it. In July she will be a flower girl and she is super ready to walk down the aisle and then stand on stage next to her mommy. She will be beautiful.

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HOW TO CHANGE A TIRE by James Mayo
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My oldest and I decided to go fishing on Saturday night at Charlottes’ Cove, on Fort Phantom. Just to let you know, you need to pay to fish there and make sure you do. The owner will visit with you; I may or may not be speaking from experience.

So when we arrived, I opened the car door and heard the HSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS sound escaping from my tire. I am familiar with this sound and thought that it could wait till later, because I wanted to fish. Then realizing that I had a little lady, the light was quickly going away and we had no real time to be home, I began my tire changing ritual.

NOTE: I had never changed a tire on this car before

I found the jack and located the tire, underneath the car. I saw that the tire was secured and tried to loosen it with some pliers, my hands, my feet and my fists. All that dumb tire did was mock me. I could spin it around but it never came loose.

That's when I made the call of shame to my father-in-law

I called my father-in-law because he has been helpful in these situations before. I would have called my dad, cars aren't his strong suit. Blackjack theory, flex capacitors and electrical stuff, I send his way. My stepdad didn't get the call, not because of his lack of expertise but because his knowledge is more centered on 1992 cars and older. If you ever feel like restoring a Mustang or fix-up a 1979 K-5 Blazer, call him and not matter how crazy it sounds, listen to every word.

So he answers the phone in 2 rings (I think he thought I was my wife because of the area code) and I explained to him the wheel is underneath the back of the car and is secured by a wire rope. He says there must be some sort of wench to get the tire down. Seriously? You would think I would be able to tell if there was a wench and be able to get the tire down without having to call. So I look around and decide on my own that he is crazy and I will be sleeping in the car tonight. However, as I crawl out from under the car and notice there is a cap in the back of the van on the floorboard that I lift up. Sure enough if there wasn't a screw that lowered the tire down on to the ground. Being the concerned Pappy my father-in-law was, he called back in 30 min. to check on us. I let him know that he was right and appreciated the help. He’s real good about these newer cars.

After that I went in to my normal routine of taking off the tire and putting it on all the while having my oldest hold the hub cap cover for me so I could put the nuts in them. Not really because it was a big deal or that she really wanted to help (she did). I did this because of The Christmas Story movie. I remember that scene and thought this was a perfect time to reenact it. It went flawlessly.

You know, I should give my oldest more credit. She's so careful and sweet and responds well to direction. Sometimes I take that for granted and fishing trips like this, she seems to understand.

Any way we got the donut on the van and headed down to go fish.
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Fishing with a little girl should be about me catching the minnow, baiting her hook and putting it in the water. Not her, she caught the minnow, wanted to bait her hook (no way I was going to let that happen), and put it in the water.

Then the conversations we had. I'm not going to share those because those are my memories but I did realize early on that my knowledge of dolphins was no where near hers.

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I need to lose 2.5 pounds this week. I plan on running 10 laps today.

Wish me luck.