Mostly with things to do, but I’ve been gifted with a few lovelies from the universe as well.

1. The first to do today was to search online for the article starring me in the L.A. Times. I seem to have a knack for drawing attention to myself. For free, but hoping it leads to a paying gig. To read the whole article, you have to close the seductive Halle Berry movie ad about a million times. Small price to pay, n’est-ce pas? Actually, I do not star but rather close. And they mention the broad website! Cool. Gee, I wish my book was ready…

Cover_bleed 2. Putting the finishing touches on Hal’s book, Democracy: The Painted Whore. Provocative, si? Our Spanish teacher, Jorge, was shocked by the title. He was thinking puta, when it’s actually akin to prostituta: selling oneself for money or gain. If things go as planned (you know, like they usually do), this will be online as an ebook by Tuesday. Getting it ready for the print edition will take probably till the end of the week. Because…

3. Learning Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 ain’t simple. Fantastic program for writing ebooks, but this is more than a day’s learning curve. Far more. Both of us are learning this, as well as…

4. Learning the ins and outs of Smart Digital Dispatch which is the software we’ll use to actually sell the ebooks: it securely collects the price ($9.97) via PayPal and delivers the book.

If you don’t have a PayPal account, it is simple and free and, so far, incredibly secure. Better than online banking.  We’ve had accounts for years. You store credit cards and at least one bank account there, then you can pay for tons of stuff online with a click. You get an email confirmation from PayPal, they back the purchases. If something bad happened, they cover you and investigate. We’ve never had to use the safety features. Plus, you can get a PayPal debit card. I love debit cards. Unfortunately, Hal keeps finding them.

5. Working on my book Advice From A Broad: The First 100 Things You Need To Know About Coming To Costa Rica. Brevity has never been my long suit. This will be a couple more weeks in coming, but, hang tight, it’s almost ready. I know you’re anxious… Lots from the blog, of course, but lots new. I’m cracking myself up writing it. Trying to be serious but having a little difficulty. Things are serious enough if you ask me.

6. Rehearsals and memorizing the words for my song in the upcoming LTG Halloween Extravaganza next Saturday night. We all took showtunes (I’m using My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music) and re-wrote the words to go with a zombie theme. Like Thank Heaven For Little Ghouls and If I Were A Zombie, yadadadadadadadadadada. There will be a video… perhaps I’ll post it IF I look thin enough.

7. Trying to stay on my diet. I cannot drop this extra 10 pounds. Well, 20. OK, 30. But I’d be happy losing 10. OK, 15. But no matter what I do, it refuses to budge. And no matter where I look, I see it. It’s really getting in my way here. I can still see my toes, but if this continues, it won’t be long before those disappear and I’ll only be able to see bosom. Plus, I need to lose weight for the book tour.

Clearly the recommended 20 minutes of aerobics three times a week which used to work just fine needs to be upped to an hour everyday of vigorous walking. But you see that to do list evolving here? This is only half of it. Who has an hour a day to walk?

So I’m on a modified Atkins diet. And, no, "modified" does not mean it includes ice cream. Unless you think that would work. It’s like an Atkins/diabetic/low insulin response foods/Perricone mix. Mostly protein and complex carbs, low-glycemic fruits, no white flour, no white rice, no grains that I can think of except maybe oatmeal. Trying to stay low saturated fat so lots of fish and chicken.

Sadly, I am built for carbs. Especially now. And, after a week of this, I am jonzin’ for carbs. Yesterday I was in PriceSmart, looking at sheets, no where near the bakery isle. And I thought, "You know, I could get one of those 6-packs of cinnamon rolls and eat the whole thing and no one would know." At least no one would know right away… I did not, of course, I swear. I don’t even eat cinnamon rolls. As a rule. It was worrisome to have that thought cross my mind, as if I’m a sugar junkie or something.

So on a diet and NOT happy. Although I do have more energy and am sleeping better sin carbs. I’ll focus on that.

There’s a ton of other stuff on the Master to do list. Showering. Making more coffee. Learning about my new affiliate website: www.FiftyToLife.com (nothing there yet) about life for women over 50 and how this is actually the time to celebrate. And how to use my new software affiliate package SiteBuildIt.com with which I am TOTALLY unimpressed so far… All sales and no support. $300 down the drain. We’ll see.

At this very second, more coffee is at the top of the list.

I have much to be grateful for this Sunday morning, too. Like the fact that Costa Rican coffee is GOOD and CHEAP. And that my LTG friend Lisa who is going through chemo for breast cancer is doing great. Four treatments down, two to go, excellent prognosis. And, OK, I may be fat, but I’m otherwise in excellent health as are all my boys, all my dogs and my only mother.

Plus – and this is really personally very exciting – I stumbled into a GREAT place for meditation and spiritual hoo-ha. I found it a couple of weeks ago with my friend Candy. Being at this place is like walking into the movie What The Bleep! Absolutely fantastic and, seriously, just what I’ve been looking for in the Personal Growth Arena. And, no, "personal growth" is not a euphemism for getting fatter. Look for more on Sat Yoga, for sure.

Hope your Sunday is as good as mine. Pura vida! Love, Saratica

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