On Sunday, we had a family gathering at St. Rita's Church. They had a healing Mass as a part of their annual St. Rita Novena event (where they have prayer services on the nine days leading up to the Feast Day of St. Rita on the 22nd). My cousin Joe brought Aunt Rita there, my parents went, my cousin Maryann and her husband Vince went, and I went. Mark would've gone, but he had a prior commitment with the Knights of Columbus. If you ever have the opportunity to visit St. Rita of Cascia's church, do so. It's a beautiful, beautiful place. What's more, that Mass was amazing. Their choir is absolutely phenomenal. I was glad to see some of my friends at Mass, as well. JFM, John R., and Elaine were in attendance, and they all got to meet my Aunt, for whom they've all been praying. When Mass was over, we all went to dinner at the restaurant near my home. That was really nice -- we haven't had the opportunity to do that in forever. Tuesday was Mark's and my anniversary, so along with going to the feast day Mass at St. Rita's, we went to dinner at the Chart House. I hadn't eaten there since my 40th birthday, so it's been a while. WOW, is their food excellent. I threw calorie counts to the wind and split the chocolate lava cake with Mark. :-) And speaking of calorie counts... I've got calories on the brain, at the moment. I finally had my doctor's appointment and got my bloodwork results. First, the scale. They have replaced the ancient (and inaccurate by four pounds) scale with a new digital one. So I got my weight measured down to the last 0.1 lbs. I'm not as exasperated by the number as I thought I was going to be. I'm hardly tap-dancing for joy over it, but it could have been worse. The good news: I am NOT diabetic. However, if I have intentions of continuing to say that, then the unwanted pounds have got to go. And go they will. Back to the gym with me for my 30 minutes of cardio per day. I've gotten out of the habit of going, as I started working more. Well, now I'm going to take a chisel and WEDGE those 30 minutes of cardio into my day if I have to. Period. Also, it's back onto the calorie count for me. The combination of exercise/calorie count had me losing 1 lb per week, when I was doing it. It doesn't sound like much, but it adds up if you keep at it. I made progress before, and I'll be making it again. Period. My hard head won't tolerate any other result.