FIFTY! 50!! FIFTY!

I hit fifty pounds down today, five months and one day after surgery. I'm happy and excited, but also mindful that there is still a long way to go. Fifty pounds less than before, though.

Note: I lost 13 of those pounds before surgery, so I haven't lost 50 in five months. I think it's important to let people know that, particularly if you're considering surgery or just got your band.

I think I may have lost that last pound from sheer stress. I made salmon and scallops provencal last night for my in-laws, which went well despite losing power at 3.45 pm and then having it go on and off intermittently for the next couple of hours. I did what I could on the gas cooktop with the side dishes and we ended up grilling the salmon since the oven was a no-go.

After about 5.30 pm, the power was just off, no flashes back on. So it got hot and then my 7-year-old started throwing up. I spent the rest of the evening doing dishes by candlelight and cleaning puke out of three bathrooms (clorox is my friend), one bedroom rug and a couch by flashlight.

Power came back on sometime after 1 am, so this morning I whipped the Magic Machine into action:

Do you have one of these? They. Are. Awesome. The Bissell Little Green is a lifesaver, particularly with small children who tend to vomit without regard for upholstered furniture or bedroom carpeting.

That's the latest. I'm not sure what kind of curse we've got going on with our utilities, we've lost power a lot lately and had a water main break that shut down the street for 12 hours last Friday. Plus, the boiler went, a water pressurizer blew up in the basement and the upstairs air conditioning went on the fritz a couple weeks ago.

Please send good utility karma to me this week. I'll need it.