I have been eating high on the hog the last couple of days--and my Weight Watchers points reflect it. Yesterday Betty and I drove to Dallas--by a most circuitous route because we ran into a closed highway with little notice and no choice but to turn around. We finally found the retirement community that Mary Lu has moved into, off Northwest Highway. It's like having an apartment in the fanciest hotel--I guess, in Dallas it would be like living in the Adolphus. A grandly appointed lobby, with fresh flowers, overstuffed furniture, all lavishly decorated. The apartments--seven buildings of them, all connected--are off long hallways. Mary Lu's apartment has a living room, bedroom, small balcony overlooking beautifully landscaped grounds, including a pond with fountains, kitchen with granite countertops and all the trimmings, and two baths--her own off her bedroom and a powder room for guests. Again, all elegant. Were I there it would soon be a mess, with books piled everywhere and a computer desk in the middle of everything but her computer is discreetly hidden. We ate in the formal dining room and even though I had a club sandwich it seemed high on the hog. Splurged on a chocolate chip cookie (why did I do that?). When I got home and entered the meal in Weight Watchers, I had 2.5 points left for dinner--that's one glass of wine. After lunch, we toured the facility--exercise room, indoor pool, library, snack bar, etc. A permanet hotel for about 500 people. Most impressive, but I'm not ready to go--and doubt I could afford such a place if I wanted to!
Today I went to the annual luncheon for past presidents of the Friends of the Library--for years I have been liaison between the library and the press and so far I retain that position. Lunch was at Colonial Country Club and consisted of one of the best Caesar salads I've had in forever, a nice piece of chicken on wild rice with some kind of sauce, and fresh asparagus--the gentleman next to me wanted to count how many plates went back to the kitchen with asparagus intact, because he doesn't care for it. But I almost grabbed his off his plate. I passed on bread and butter, and he said I was substituting a glass of wine, so I must know my priorities. And I can't believe I ate it all--well, almost all of an irresistible slice of apple pie. I did avoid the ice cream. Tonight, with Jacob here, I had a spartan dinner, and came in under points but I don't have a lot of hope for losing weight this week. I've been going to these lunches for years and seeing the same faces over and over again, some that I rarely see any other time, so it's fun.
I'm having a polite war with VW. For a long time now I've complained about my convertible top not operating properly. In July I took it in twice, they thought they had it fixed but would keep an open ticket. July is too hot for top-down in Texas, and I didn't take it back until a couple of weeks ago. Then they told me they don't keep open tickets that long and meantime, my car had gone out of warranty. Two more unsuccessful trips back, but I kept having to go get the car because I needed to get around. Yesterday I took it in on the way to Dallas, and today they said it needs a truly expensive part. I argued that the condition existed when it was under warranty; the service advisor quoted his manager withs ome reason it wasn't covered, that I didn't understand (I think they couldn't prove this was the problem before--but, hey, if it didn't get fixed. . . seems obvious to me!). The advisor did tell me I could appeal to Volkswagen of America, so I called this afternoon, got a most helpful lady who said they would get back to me by tomorrow night to tell me what they could offer me. I'm hoping they'll meet me at least halfway, even if they don't cover it all.
Meanwhile, in spite of all that, I actually got some work done today--almost finishing the chapter for the history of the osteopathic college. I went up to the office where they had tons of mail for me, which I was able to consolidate into one large book bag. Conferred with Susan next door about the art for a project she's working on, got my desk and emails under control, and felt pretty accomplished. All of which went out the door when Jacob arrived in high spirits and energy. He wants my attention every minute and is not hesitant--nor soft-voiced--about demanding it. We looked at a catalog of Halloween costumes, and we read Pinocchio (his first discovery of that story), he got very excited because I fixed him chicken nuggets with ketchup for dinner (yuck!) and told me my chicken loaf and pea salad looked nasty. All in all, it was fun, and now I'm back to polishing off that history. Tomorrow, the office to catch up on a book bag full of odds and ends I've been accumulating.
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