When my in-laws visit, as they did over the weekend, my life becomes a blur of cooking and doing dishes, with seldom an hour to rest after one meal before it’s time to start preparing the next. Sure, I could make life easier by ordering in pizza, but since they both have numerous health issues I’m a bit hesitant to feed them foods which could only exacerbate their problems and — worse yet — might prolong their stay.

Besides, all of that time spent cooking and cleaning spares me from having to endure hours of chit chat about memories they share with my husband but which I’m no part of.

My goal for the weekend (in addition to making it through without losing my temper in a psychotic rampage) was to simply maintain my weight loss from last week. Not to lose more, mind you: just to keep from packing back on the two pounds I’d recently lost.

I’d read somewhere that blue plates diminish one’s appetite, but since I don’t have any of those I opted for using a blue tablecloth instead. I’m not sure it did much to prevent overeating, but it disguised stains nicely.

I stuck with healthy meals, too, starting each meal with courses of soup and salad in the hope of having filled up on lower-calorie foods before getting to the main entree and side dishes. It worked quite well.

A little too well, as a matter of fact: I now have a refrigerator full of leftovers, but with two fewer people here to eat them. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I’d rather eat leftovers for the rest of the week than continue to have house guests.

As for the weight loss? I lost close to 300 pounds once my mother-in-law got off my back this morning and left en route to her own house.

What a great way to start a Monday!