That old water stain on the ceiling is showing through the new paint...

Or, to move away from the house renovation analogy, our arch enemy the ED reared its ugly head a little bit this morning with: "I feel awful because I've just binged on top of my usual breakfast" when I reminded Ben that he needs to see his tutor in period 4 at school today to finalise his university application form.

So I responded to the ED voice with: "Let's concentrate on what is important in your life overall, not what isn't. When you're old and grey and on your deathbed, and you look back on your life, what you will remember is what a fantastic time you had at university NOT that on Tuesday 1st November 2011 you had a 'binge'."

To which the ED voice replied: "Not if I'm on my deathbed because I'm obese."

To which I replied, in a manner that implied the conversation was over: "Ben, there's as much chance of you getting obese as there is of me becoming Pope."

Time to get out that stuff you spray over old water stains to stop them seeping through your beautiful new white paint...

Oh, and in case you're wondering, a 'binge' isn't what you or I might call a binge. For me, a binge is ploughing my way through an entire box of Belgian chocolates followed by a couple of slices of chocolate fudge cake. To Ben it's simply eating a little more than he would normally eat. And, anyway, you can bet your back teeth he'll include it in his daily calorie total.

Be warned, ED, I am being extremely vigilant. The house renovation is not complete yet...