8:57 a.m. - 2007-07-31
Betty Needs to Detox
Another whirlwind weekend has left me exhausted and I didn't even get accomplished everything that needed to be done. Here it is Tuesday and I still have three bags of tomatoes to turn into spaghetti sauce before they go bad. I finally used all of the zucchini (four dozen spice muffins at only 120 calories a piece...yum! bagged and in the freezer) but two patty-pan squash and a handful of okra were in the bottom of the vegetable basket last week and are still in my refrigerator. I tried a new farmer's market on Saturday and came home with a beautiful eggplant, a bag of tiny, new potatoes and 6 of the biggest sweet onions I have ever seen. I think I'll shred the eggplant and stir it into the spaghetti sauce and make a casserole with the patty-pans. The okra is another mystery vegetable for me. My mother used to coat it in cornmeal and fry it until it was a slimy mess. I refused to put it in my mouth. Mr. Farmer told me to half it, sprinkle with olive oil and broil it. I'm trying to work up my nerve.
So, still thinking about food, last week was a fiveple disaster for me. Wednesday was #2's birthday and we had take-out Mexican which turned out to be not only dinner but lunch for the next two days as well. Friday I had lunch and some ice cream then moved on to a traditional Irish wake for a recently departed faculty member where I ate smoked salmon, rare roast beef on toast points and artichoke dip. Did I stop there? Oh no. Friday is our date/dancing night. Ed and I went to a swanky Italian restaurant where I ordered the cream and butter laden fettuccini Alfredo and shared a piece of Italian cream cake. The pasta felt like a lead ball in my stomach and Ed's chicken parmesan had made him sleepy, so we decided to go home and go to bed instead of dancing. Is that all? Not quite. Saturday supper was French fries then Sunday was a family day at the river which included lemon bars, shrimp with grits and chips with dip. Oiy. I was finished. I felt like I had a half ton of ballast sitting in my gut and was wondering why I did this to myself. Beginning yesterday I put myself on a food detox program: liquid protein shakes and a tub of sugar-free yogurt for breakfast and lunch then a sensible dinner. No snacks, none, not a bite of anything in-between. I've been drinking plenty of water and chewing gum to stave off the belly rumblings. That along with 60 minutes of workout in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening for two weeks and hopefully I'll be back on a healthy track. Discipline, discipline, discipline.
In other news, I appreciate the lack of diary discussion about Harry Potter. I was fourth in the BigHead family line to start reading and with all of the other activity last weekend; I have read only 200 pages or so. I really would love to sit down and read all night long but I am an old woman who needs her sleep more than finishing the Potter tale. My work friends have all finished the book already and are getting impatient with my slowness of reading. Maybe if I can get the spaghetti sauce cooked and in the freezer tonight I will have time this weekend. Hope springs eternal.
In another bit of non sequitur musing, I had to run an errand across campus today. There was an undergrad in the hall buying a snack from the vending machine and she had on some sweat pants that had "Sample This" written in marker across the ass. Why would she wear something like that? Makes you wonder what her major is...a BA in Skankiness maybe or perhaps I just don't have a sense of humor. Here's something else I don't understand. My place of employment is constantly whining that our budget is tight. If that is so, how come it's freaking freezing in all of the classroom buildings? It's 93 degrees outside and my building is so cold the little tiny hairs on my arms are standing on end. I've been walking mail over to the mail room a piece at a time just to get warm. Gah! Let's save some energy already!
Lastly, I am throwing myself on the mercy of anyone who may be reading this post. I mentioned before that I will be riding in a 3 day, 125 mile bicycle trek to raise money for the American Lung Society. I have to raise $600 to qualify and so far I have a total of ZERO. I'm getting seriously depressed. Everyone I have appealed to so far has ignored the e-mails. Come on, doesn't anyone out there want to cure lung disease? So, if anyone out there wants to give me some Diaryland love, click on the link below and pledge some money. It is completely tax deductible of course and I will send you a receipt along with my eternal gratitude.
Much love and thanks from Betty.
