Two kind of tests...VPN and ECLNP

I learned a new term today... VPN...Virtual Private Network. I’m sure some of you techies out there knew what that meant. I, on the other hand, had no clue. The term has been tossed around at work for the last month, but I never bothered to figure out what the letters meant until I got ready to write this post.

VPN meant I got to work from home today and it was just like being at work! They did a City-wide test today and had about 20 of us stay home to test the system. If there is an emergency (like a pandemic or a snowstorm) and people can't get to work or have to stay away because they're sick, they can work at home. (This was one more reason I needed a new computer…they couldn’t install the software on my old Mac.)

Anyway, the test went well and the system worked great. I was able to sleep late because all I had to do was get out of bed and walk into the living room to start work. I sat at my laptop with my morning coffee, and my desktop on my laptop looked just like my desktop on my office PC. I didn’t even have to get out of my sweats all day. And I got to be home with B, and over my “lunchtime” we went to the park. Since I was home, we had to go. B didn’t understand that mom was working… then I also took some time to do my ab workout on TV.

Yep, this is my kind of job, except I think you have to be really dedicated to be able to work from home every day. And I did kind of miss the interaction with co-workers and customers.

Food and exercise has been pretty good this week. Again, I’ve been doing 5 days a week, and it’s really making a difference in both my body and my attitude. But the second test came on Sunday.

We had some friends over for a brunch, and hub fixed a lovely meal. That wasn't the test...this was: Our friends brought a gift…not flowers, not wine…no, they brought a huge white chocolate jack-o-lantern from Costco. (I wish I had taken a picture, it was quite beautiful.)

I don’t eat regular chocolate but I love white chocolate, and this was really GOOD white chocolate. I couldn’t resist…I broke that sucker up and ate a couple of pieces the minute they left . Then hub took it and melted it into almond bark. YUM! Then I broke it up into small pieces and I've been allowing myself 2 small pieces each night after dinner. Not so much "allow" in the sense that I can only have 2 small pieces or I’ll go berserk. But because I’m trying to lose weight, I do need to limit what I’m eating. And 2 small pieces seems like a normal serving and fits into my food plan.

I’m really surprised I’m being so disciplined. Even being home all day, I didn’t think about it (much) until after dinner.

I keep asking myself lately…Who is this person??? Someone who can eat white chocolate in a normal way. Someone not obsessing on it or eating it all until it’s gone. I want to keep this calm, happy person around.

So that was the second test...ECLNP (Eating Chocolate Like a Normal Person)! lol (As JC would say, I crack myself up.)

The fearful, angry, critical voices in my head seem to be further away and quieter each day. It seems as if I don’t need to quiet them with food anymore. It feels really good. Yes, normal feels good.