April 1, 2000 -- 11:50 AM EST

I just had a new cereal for breakfast -- very Chex-like.

Yesterday, I saw my sister and her roomie and my folks for lunch, then Karen and Frances took off for the airport. My dad helped me reglue my mirror -- which means he went to get the glue before I got there and when I arrived he watched me glue my thing back and told me the whole time how wrong I was doing it.

He also insulted me. Paul couldn't come so there was an extra chair and my sister removed the desk chair from the computer desk. My Dad made her bring it back because "It's got a sturdier seat, these are too dainty" -- he pointed to the regular dining room chairs.

"Dad, are you telling me my butt is too big?"

He laughed and hugged me. Is it normal to feel like kneeing your Dad in the groin?

In my head, I thought "Still an asshole. Jeez."

I will NEVER live down that chair thing. (As a kid I sat in one he did not screw the legs on right and I pitched over, and as a preteen I kneeled in one and kicked out the back of the chair with my feet.)

No matter how old I get, no matter how I look, he's still going to go on forever about he chair thing. When I was a kid he made me feel like some kind of clumsy ox, and while I no longer think that, and I privately think my Dad is whacked, every time I go over there he brings something up.

Yesterday it was the chair thing. Some other visit it will be my job, and some other visit it will be my marriage and how I'm not a traditional, dutiful wife. ANother time it will be how I don't know how to do anything and I'm just like a woman.

Whatever.

He's just whacked, we all ignore him. Rather than bothering me, I think it's kind of sad. I wonder if he will make my kids neurotic? Probably.

Speaking of neurosis, I was hunting about amazon.com for a fashion history book. I was looking at several when I re-encountered this one form Vogue and the cover girl has always driven me bananas. I put the cover on the April index, but here she is bigger and with the text sort of erased.

The first thing I think of for some reason is Ziggy Stardust.

The next thing I think is -- egads, this woman looks frail.

The next thing I think after that is reverse lookism or some sort.

I shouldn't look at people and judge them. And I don't look at this picture and judge the woman. I do think critically about the cover though. And I don't think this is one of the best images they could have used on it!

Fashion. Ok, rags that threaten to expose my boobs. Where in my ordinary life am I going to wear something like that?!

I got my issue of Real Simple -- it's a new magazine and basically it's like Family Circle or Good Housekeeping but geared toward my age group. Less tacky, better design, pretty much the usual articles in that kind of magazine -- a little bit of menus, a little house decor, a little beauty stuff, some minor life planning stuff. I thought it was pretty refreshing. Tidbits. Easy reasing.

But their fashion piece was like any other fashion piece. Hello. Excuse me? Do you think I make enough money to be dropping $300 on a pair of pants? Or $200 on a tank top? Why don't you people even run a fashion spread where you tell me where to buy stuff in a more reasonable price range? Because you know we will all be running to buy the knockoffs rather than the pricey stuff you show. So save me the legwork and tell me where to find it and how much it costs!

It had an ad I liked for another newish magazine -- Sports Illustrated for Women. I'll have to scan it -- I really liked that one!

Overall though, it was a nice little magazine. I hope it does well.

Paul is better but still achy from his tooth thing. I went to Wal-mart to fill his prescription for more painkillers and while waiting I stuck my arm in the cuff to get a blood pressure thing.

The first time I got 106/66 and 81 beats. Then I got excited because I couldn't believe I got that low a reading and I took it again and I got 112/73/80. The excitement made me a jump a few points.

I'm improving! Yay!

Normal is 100/60 -- 140/90 with pulse 60-81.

High risk is under 100/60 or over 160/100 and the pulse less than 50 or greater than 100.

Exercise is making my heart stronger. And those efforts to reduce my sodium intake are starting to show.

Measures of progress aren't always scale or tape measure oriented.

~Astrophe