Ha! Maggie is singing Electric Light Orchestra’s “Oh Oh It’s Magic” while she cooks. I think that song is on one of the latest F00s (if you don’t know what our F00 CDs are, check Colin’s website on the topic here).  Maggie is a singer, no doubt about it.  She composes songs whenever and where ever she is, and about whatever she wants.  And she likes to ask us to sing along, and gets upset if we don’t sing the right lyrics (even when she’s making them up as we go along).  Oh, to be two and have everyone tolerate your whims!  Now Degen’s in on the singing action, debating with Maggie about whether “Row Row Row Your Boat” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is the song to sing at the moment, as they drop the red cord of my previous post down the back of the couch in true preschooler fishing style.

Each chapter has a few practical writing assignments at the end for you to do to help you make plans and deal with your issues. An interesting thing about this book is that, unlike any other "diet books" I've read, they work on the premise that you need to figure out why you don't take care of your body (why you put the weight on) in the first place in order to make long-lasting changes. They discuss reasons like abuse, stress, and rebellion. There's an entire chapter on forgiveness and how you have to be forgiving in order to be healthy.

Another point they make in this book and throughout Flylady's writings is that many of us are so perfectionistic that we decide if we can't do it perfectly, then we won't do it at all. We procrastinate until it's too late, then say "why bother?" That's why they advocate babysteps–because it's too easy to make a huge goal, then make one mistake and give up on everything altogether. For people like me who have this attitude, it's better to focus on improving just a little bit at a time, being just a bit better today than I was yesterday, than to focus on how much ground I still have to cover. That way, if I make a mistake today, instead of giving up tomorrow I'll keep working at it. I haven't actually done the exercises in the book yet, and I'm not resolved yet to make any changes, but it's rolling around in my head and I think I'm already making some better choices about what I eat since I read it. Thanks for sending me a happy education, Sonja!