I had a bacon and cheese omelette for breakfast this morning. Before you gasp in horror know this: I've never, ever had high cholesterol. Never. That's not to say I seek out vast quantities of cholesterol-laden goodies, nope, but I do eat bacon or something like that once in a while. Won't do it again anytime soon, however. The bacon gave me indigestion.
However, I did get enough protein to carry me right through lunch. I spent most of the lunch hour at Home Depot. I was delighted to walk into the Garden Dept. and find an associate who was quite friendly and went out of her way to be helpful. We are trying to get more such associates into the stores and improve customer service. I found 4 beautiful begonias for .99 each. Yep, the plants are about 6' tall, too, and appear hearty. So that's a good deal, I think. I got some other stuff, too, of course.
We have a semicircular flower bed out front which, despite the best efforts of Lesleigh, my master gardener cousin, is only doing half well. That is to say, half the bed is thriving, and the other half isn't. I've fertilized, soaked it down [during the times I'm allowed to water with the hose], added mulch, and done everything I know to do, but the bed continues to look lopsided. Hopefully the hearty begonias will remedy at least how it looks. Part of the bareness issue is that I got mad and jerked a lantana out of the soil a couple of months ago, thinking it was dead. Then some of the other "dead" lantanas suddenly and amazingly got green and grew the beautiful little flower clusters I so love, and lordy did I feel stupid.
Of course, 10 years ago I could not have told you the name of a single thing in my gardens, except perhaps geraniums and marigolds. I did know what was fashionable to wear, and all the top 10 songs on the radio. Times change.
Mother and I both noticed yesterday that Alesia's demeanor was more sunny and she was more calm in her interactions with us. She even spontaneously gave me a hug last night after dinner, a hitherto unknown occurrence. I will never, ever, underestimate the power of a good therapist again. This lady is an answer to prayers.
The good thing about the big breakfast is that I am eating a light lunch. I've got a salad with romaine, lots of shredded carrots, cucumber slices, and a hard boiled egg. For "dessert" I'm having a small container of cranberry grape juice. It's a vast improvement over how I usually eat. If I get hungry later I have some South Beach protein bars to tide me over.
Of course, it helps that outside it's 90 degrees. Just shopping in the garden dept. at Home Depot had me sweating like a whore in church. I don't know how else to explain it colorfully. That's a saying from Dad - although he didn't say it when I was a kid, only after I grew up.
He also used to say "I've got to pee like a racehorse." I grew up wondering what exactly was so special about how a racehorse pees. Dad was never around racehorses. I used to watch the Kentucky Derby coverage every year in hopes the TV cameras would show a peeing racehorse but they never did...
Dad never just said anything mundane - he was the original Drama King.
He also used to say "That's harder than Chinese arithmetic." I didn't realize until I grew up that that made no sense, since numbers are the same everywhere.
He also liked to say "You spend money like it's going out of style!" Yep, the better to tick you off, Mr. Banker.
Not eating chocolate is, as Dad would say, harder than Chinese arithmetic. I crave it every day.
Years ago, I tried Overeaters Anonymous. I went to meetings faithfully for several weeks. I stopped after two particularly horrifying meetings. In one, an anorexic woman talked about being a food addict. I wanted to throw her in the car and get her to the emergency room. I couldn't look at her, she was so bony and emaciated. In the next meeting, a hugely fat man sat and ranted during the entire hour about how he KNEW his wife was cheating on him, and how he wanted to get revenge. I thought to myself buddy, I don't blame your wife, but just kick her out of the doublewide and hush up already. So I didn't return to that. If I want to listen to a bunch of other people sit around complaining all the time I'll just tune in to Survivor.
I am feeling a lot better. I am not sticking to the diet perfectly. Last night I had 4 Pirouline cookies. However, I was pretty good all day. The positives are already apparent. I am moving better, I have more energy, and my feet don't hurt constantly. That's progress in my world. However, I still have a long way to go. I'm trying.
Another saying of Dad's pops into my head a lot these days: People who don't make mistakes don't learn anything.
I try to learn something every day - either about how to grow a better garden, how to be a better Mom or daughter, how to cook better, how to eat better, etc. This helps me to not despair. I highly recommend lifelong learning, or as Dad liked to say when he heard something surprising, "Well, you learn something new every day!"
