Whew! After two straight weeks of weight gain, I am back on track...and in a really good way. After last week's weigh-in (which I couldn't even bring myself to write about), when I gained 0.4 pounds (and yes, I know, that's not very much) I was so discouraged. You see, I'd felt so positive about my week. Right up until Friday evening I had been rocking the Weight Watchers program: eating at least five servings of fruits and veggies daily, exercising at least 30 minutes daily (some days 90 minutes), drinking loads of water, and watching my fat and calorie... More »

It all started with show-and-tell. My daughter (in grade three at the time) was learning about wind instruments in music class, in preparation for the class getting their own recorders. The students were encouraged to bring in any wind instruments they had at home - some brought toy recorders, whistles, kazoos and one kid even brought in a set of decorative pan pipes from South America (they didn't work, though). My daughter asked for permission to show my flute to her class.Why not? I dug it out of its perch up on the highest shelf in the closet (the only... More »