So today is the 25th anniversary of the wedding of Charles and Diana. In a way, it's kind of fun to look back. Right now I am watching news coverage from the day. It's fun to see all the hope and celebration that went on that day with the English people.

However, being that we know the story doesn't have a happy ending, why are we still, after all this time, so wrapped up in the story of Princess Di? From all the coverage I've ever read, she wasn't happy at all. She had a husband who never really wanted to marry her in the first place, she was anorexic, she couldn't go anywhere without being photographed, and she died a tragic death. Doesn't sound like the greatest story to me.

Now, I know she was a great humanitarian and supported a lot of causes, but what is the pull with this one woman? She died almost 9 years ago and she's still on the covers of many magazines. Surely there is someone alive who has participated in the same kinds of humanitarian causes that deserves as much attention as Diana has received. Yes, Diana did some great things while she was alive, but after so much time, I think it's time to move on. I'm not sure that will ever happen, though.

Well, enough of my incoherent ramblings. Do you think that's it's time to just let Diana rest in peace? Or do you still mourn her, 9 years later?

Today's topic......Calories or Carbs?

Most of us at work are trying to lose weight and be healthier. Yesterday we got into a discussion about whether the best diets are the ones where you count calories or the ones where you count carbs. I am following the method of counting calories, and 50 lbs lost, I'd say it's working pretty well. Another lady at work is also counting calories. She's lost around 20 lbs.

Another girl at work is also trying to lose weight, and she is counting carbs. She says that she has lost a lot of weight doing this. Personally, I haven't noticed any difference in her weight at all. She says that as long as she doesn't eat too many carbs per day, she can continue to eat junk because it's "low in carbs."

I disagree. Bottom line, if you don't burn off more calories than you take in each day, you will not lose weight. Yeah, you can watch your carbs, but if you are eating 3,000 calories per day, you are not going to lose anything. Plain and simple. Keep in mind, this girl continues to eat fast food and pizza, all the while claiming that she's dieting.

I should mention that while I'm not necessarily watching carbs, I avoid white bread, white potatoes, and white rice. I suppose all those things are carbs, but I do still eat whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, and dairy, which has a few carbs.

My feeling is, the key to losing weight and keeping it off is to eat a balanced diet and exercise regularly.

Faithful readers, what is your opinion? Calories or carbs?

Time for another Crazy Co-Worker post!!!!

So today...another co-worker we'll call Chatty was "answering the call of nature." One of our therapists called for her during this time. Crazy tells the therapist....."She's in the bathroom. Can she call you when she's done?"

She hung up the phone and I said, "Did you just tell her Chatty was in the bathroom?"

Crazy says, "Yeah, what's the big deal?"

Okay, the fact that I even had to explain everything that was wrong with that was unbelievable enough. You just don't tell anyone that someone is going to the bathroom. I don't even want anyone telling Miles I am in the bathroom.

The second unbelievable thing was that she didn't talk to me the rest of the day. Apparently she was mad that I had corrected her for being extremely unprofessional and immature.

What a baby.

We have had a fun couple of days.

Wednesday night Miles's brother Dan came up to stay the night with us. Yesterday Dan, Miles, Emily, and myself headed out for LaCrosse to attend the Packers Tailgate party. The first stop was the City Brewery in LaCrosse. That was a fun tour...except for visting the brewhouse. Before we went in, the tour guide said it was pretty hot in the building. I guess I didn't believe how hot it was. When we went into the building, there was a thermometer that told us the INDOOR temperature was 101 degrees. Yep, that's right, 101. Eeek! Thankfully, we left that building pretty quickly. The rest of the tour was pretty interesting, and at the end we got to sample 6 different kinds of beer. Always a good thing.

The next stop was, of course, the Packer Tailgate party. Only in Wisconsin would people stand out in 100 degree weather to meet a couple of football players. But it was a pretty good time. We got to meet Rob Davis, Bubba Franks, Donald Driver, and Bob Harlan, the Packers president. Bubba stopped to pose for a couple of pictures with Miles and Dan. There was also a great question and answer session with the players where we got to know them a little. All three of them seemed to be pretty good guys. Emily actually got on TV. A local news crew was there filming and asked her to say "GO PACKERS!!" for the camera. We watched the late news last night and lo and behold, there she was! A TV star in the making!

After the party, we went back to the hotel and went swimming. The hotel we stayed at had an indoor waterpark which Emily LOVED. She went down the giant water slide several times with both Miles and Dan, giggling all the way. It was extremely difficult getting her away from the pool. We all enjoyed it immensely.

It was defintely a fun getaway. I think Miles and I both agreed we need to do more things like that. It's hard when real life gets in the way. Work, working out, paying bills, all that stuff can take over, and family life gets pushed to the back burner. From now on, we are going to make it a point to spend more time with each other and with Emily.

Well, it's late and I'm tired. See you all soon!

Right now I'm watching my favorite show on HGTV......House Hunters.

Why do I love this show so much? I'm not sure. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, the premise is that people are looking for houses and their realtors take them around to different houses for sale. On the surface, it doesn't sound that exciting. But for some reason, it is truly entertaining. I think it's the voyeuristic nature of the human being. We want to see how other people live, and since society frowns upon us just walking into others' homes, this show gives your the next best option. I also like watching the show to get an idea of what type of home I like.

Really, I can "blame" my parents for a lot of this house hunting trait. Their favorite thing to do is go look at houses. I always remember when I was little, going to the yearly Parade of Homes. Back then, I never understood the attraction. Now, I know what they were talking about.

I actually have a funny story about my parents' love of looking at houses. It's not just the finished ones they like looking at, it is also the unfinished ones. One time, they pulled up to an unfinished home. My grandma and I stayed in the car while they poked around. While they were inside looking around, the owner of the house pulled up!!! My grandma and I didn't know what to do. Thankfully, the owners of the house were cool about it and actually showed my parents around. What could have been a sticky situation turned out okay.

Well, I'm going to get back to my voyeuristic show now. Do any of my faithful readers share my weird hobby?

So I was perusing the Wisconsin Sex Offender website today. I didn't find a lot of sex offenders in my immediate neighborhood, but there were definitely a few in Eau Claire. I also found a former co-worker on the site. Some of you may not know the whole story behind that, so here goes:

I had just started working where I work now. One of our therapists there always seemed a little strange. He was always gone to "check on customers" and when he was there, he reeked of cologne and mouthwash, usually a sure sign he'd been at the tavern.

One day, his wife called right away. She spoke to the boss who told us that he would be gone for a couple of weeks to "take care of some family problems." We didn't really think anything of it. This was Monday. On Friday morning I'm getting ready for work when the news comes on the radio. There was a story on the news about my co-worker, saying he had been arrested and accused of attacking a woman! When I got to work, nobody else had heard the story, so we got on the internet, and lo and behold, the story was on a local news site.

When we opened that day, 3 hospitals called right away. Apparently, they told the boss that they didn't want this coworker servicing their patients right away. So, the coworker was fired. He also had use of a company van that was the scene of the crime. The van was impounded for evidence for a time. It was returned, but with attractive bright orange "IMPOUNDED" stickers on it. The coworker eventually plea bargained and received a sentence of 5 years with 15 years probation.

We joke about it at work now, but at the time, it was pretty unbelievable. Yeah, we all thought the guy was a little strange, but we never thought he would do anything like that. When this happened, we got on the Wisconsin Circuit Courts website and found he had been convicted of something similar before. For those of you who don't know, Wisconsin has a website where you can enter anyone's name and if they have had any brushes with the law, the case is available for you to review.

So the moral of the story is, can we ever really know everything about those around us? If something seems strange about someone, trust your instincts. Don't brush it off as nothing. It might be something.