Plugging along

212.0

My weight seems to be hovering around the same 212-213 range this week. Given that I have been reintroducing carbs and have scaled back my workouts, I'll take it. I am well-hydrated and getting plenty of rest, and my energy levels remain high on the South Beach-style eating. (Oh, and I had to laugh at Lisa's comments on the last couple of posts. As far as I know, I am not pregnant. LOL)

I did a 30-minute workout on the elliptical trainer last night, but nothing too intense; I kept my heart rate in the 130s. (Usually I aim for mid-to-high 140s with a jump into the 150s during my "speed bursts.") It felt good to get a little exercise.

One benefit of working out less has been that my right piriformis muscle is no longer bothering me. I had gotten to where it was sore most of the time and worse after sitting all day. I had an intense deep-tissue massage last Wednesday, and the therapist--someone I go to regularly--worked that area for 10-15 minutes. At my request, she used so much pressure that it hurt at times and I was faintly bruised and sore the next day. She definitely worked out the tightness, though, and it has not returned.

I think that scaling back my workouts has helped a lot with my piriforimis tightness, too. As much as I like the idea of working out every day (or at least 5-6 days a week) and as much as that helps speed my weight loss, I think that for now I am going to have to settle for 3-4 days a week. Working out at that frequency these past two weeks, my piriformis tightness and pain have not returned post-massage.

Work has been busy, which is an especially good thing because my supervising attorney had a talk with me yesterday about my billable hours. For those reading who are not lawyers in private practice (count your blessings), my entire day must be broken down into tenth-of-an-hour increments and billed to clients. I have no problem doing the work but am not great about tracking my time. I am sure that I often underestimate the time I spend on tasks, and there are several things I do that I (apparently wrongly) understood I could not bill for. My supervisor's solution is to have the most junior partner in the firm--who is a "great biller" and someone with whom I get along well--monitor my timesheets and activities for a month to see if I can improve on capturing all my time.

I can't really complain, though. I know that there are some firms where your pay can be docked if your billables are not where they should be; some firms will even eventually fire an attorney for billing below requirements. Although I don't like billing, I understand that it is a "necessary evil," and I am actually looking forward to improving on it in a way. I've had lots of Catholic guilt over the past months when my billables have been below my target.

Starting at the end of next week, the two partners for whom I do 85% percent of my work will both be on vacation, one for a week and the other for three weeks (he's going to Maui for 10 days, and I'm so envious!). Not sure if having them gone will result in more or less work for me, though.

I am going to Tucson tomorrow to visit my CASA child M. To make a long story short, M was urgently removed from the home where she had been placed with some potential adoptive parents on Tuesday and is currently in a group home. I had been planning to visit her tomorrow in any case, and now that she has been disrupted, it is especially important that I do so. Though I am NOT looking forward to the 5-hour round trip drive! Ugh.

Other than my trip to Tucson, MM and I have plans to see The Proposal on Sunday morning (his suggestion, believe it or not) and to take his parents out to dinner on Sunday evening. Not only is Sunday Fathers Day, it is also my in-laws' 40th wedding anniversary. Pretty impressive.

In between all my commitments, I am hoping to do some laundry and go to the grocery store and do all the usual stuff I need to do to prepare for the week. I have had a real hankering lately to do some organizing and de-cluttering at home; alas, I have not really had the time. By the time we get home from dinner and the gym each evening, it's usually around 8:00 and I don't have time do much besides take the boys to the park and read for a little while. And this week I have also brought work home a few nights. I've also gone to bed before 10:00 twice this week.

Ooh, forgot to mention that MM and I are having the Merry Maids come tomorrow to do a thorough deep-cleaning of our house. We (well, mostly MM) do a good job of keeping the house fairly clean, but we don't scrub baseboards or wash windows or dust the tops of cabinets and that kind of thing. It'll be nice to come home to a spic and span house! We are also looking into getting monthly maid service. (Monthly may sound odd, but it is a compromise: MM thought we should only get a deep-cleaning twice a year, and I wanted to get bi-weekly maid service.) Hooray!