Score: trainers 3, domesticats 0.I'm now in the market for yet another personal trainer. Val emailed me a couple of nights ago to let me know that due to personal time constraints, she would no longer be able to train me.

(This is the part where I scream out loud -- a lot -- in frustration.)

I was standing under the shower, trying (in vain) to drown out the sound of the screaming children around me, when one of them flung my shower curtain open to stare inside. What part of the closed shower curtain and running shower caused her to think my shower stall might be unoccupied, I don't know.

Six months ago, I think I would've cowered a bit. Instead, I stared back at her, soapy scrubbie in one hand and bottle of conditioner in the other, and said, "Obviously, this one's taken."

Embarrassed, she tiptoed back out of the shower stall and closed the curtain behind her, then whispered an apology.

An evil little yarn from artfibers.com:

Sanskrit.

I'd just like to note that I do not need this yarn. That fact does not, however, prevent me from lusting after it.

I quote:

Perhaps the three-thousandth iteration of this lesson will be the one that sticks: "Amy, you have to keep your calorie count up around 1600 or you will not be able to do your workouts." But who are we kidding? Right now I'm terribly repentant; I know I haven't eaten enough in the past couple of days, and I'm currently promising myself that I'll be more careful about what I eat and make sure that I get enough calories to get me through each day.

I knew I'd officially been gone from home too long when this conversation transpired:

Amy: [snip] costume research while chicken cooks. hi.

Brian: hi

Brian: I am also cooking chicken

Amy: the stuff you had in the fridge?

Brian: yep

After a week's worth of missed connections, Val and I were finally able to meet tonight for my second assessment. (The results of the first assessment are still online.)

I can't say I'm terribly surprised: there was progress, but not nearly so much as last time. In the 62 days since May 6, I have: