mandybee wrote:Buns, I wanted to thank you so much for the love and encouragement you have been sending my way.
I am going to start logging my food like you do so that I can see the trends of the weeks I do better than others. That's a great idea, thank you.
I wanted to tell you I'm sorry you were feeling melancholy today. I wanted to tell you I am thinking of you. We are living in such strange times and find myself blue for no real reason at all.
I had a similar blue moment today. My husband and I were driving on our way to take our dog to the vet and there was a lovely pumpkin patch and families running about....and they had masks on and I have to say I thought it was just...sad. You knew the kids were smiling and happy and excited but you couldn't see their little smiling mouths...thank goodness for their lit up eyes. But still. I wish things were different for them and all of us.
I'm so grateful and feel so blessed for so much so I try to focus on everything I have because it's an awful lot. I just miss the way it was like last year at this time. Thinking of you and sending you positive thoughts.
Hi Mandybee
Thanks for dropping by! It's wonderful to remember that we're not alone. Everyone goes through these things...like being hit by a water balloon and you're suddenly in a different place emotionally. Remember in the spring, when everyone was quarantining...no one was so much as going out of their homes, no traffic anywhere, the geese and swans were walking the streets of London, there were wild boars grazing in highway medians in Belgium. So strange. Dolphins in the canals of Venice. The wonder of that, alongside the strangeness of staying home, and seeing grocery store shelves stripped of TP and dried beans and rice. SMH. What a year it's been.
Our family started talking about Thanksgiving, having it at my sister's. Because we've kept in contact with my brother and his wife, and my two daughters have been around once in a while, we all were feeling okay about getting together. There are a few family members who we haven't been around much, but we were thinking it would be fun and possibly worth the risk. Then, mid-morning, the governor comes out with a press conference/update on our situation here.
There is no statewide mask mandate in Utah, as the governor is leaving it up to county and city mayors, if they deem it appropriate for their area, and SLC has had a mask mandate since ??? mid summer I guess... Anyway, there they were, the governor, and the head of medical such-and-such, telling us that our Covid numbers are up, ICU's are at 95% capacity, and if we go out please wear a mask, and with the upcoming holidays, please rethink your plans to gather with people if you haven't been around them. Made me cry. Because it addressed almost seamlessly our family plans for Thanksgiving, and I don't want to NOT get together for yet another holiday.
We missed St Paddy's, and Easter. We didn't have our big family bday party over the summer, and now we're being told that gatherings are discouraged for the holidays, and I know that my son's wife isn't gonna want to do it, and I haven't seen my son or his wife and son in just ages. Family gatherings are one of the greatest joys in my life, and I miss everyone. In fact, Thanksgiving last year, everyone went to spouses' family gatherings, so my family wasn't together. We did something for Christmas and that was the last time we gathered.
And you're right about focusing on the blessings. It is my strongest weapon against depression/self-pity. Thinking about the multitudinous graces that abound in my life is powerful to bring my attitude around, that's for sure. It's a matter of time, and Covid is going to be less volatile, or possibly not max out our healthcare systems so much as more of us become exposed. I recently did the math, and the mortality rate for this illness is .03% a VERY low number. It's out there, but it isn't as dangerous as we think. We just need to hold on for a little bit longer.
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B: two slices banana bread (this is no-added-fat, but made with white not wheat flour); grape nuts and oatmilk
L: Rice and chili; spinach
D: nuked potatoes, sugar snap peas, baby carrots
Out to Olive Garden for my bro's bday last night. I had the bottomless soup and salad. Had one small portion of salad (Oil dressing) and two bowls of minestrone (low fat but HIIIIIIGHGHHHHHH sodium) and two bites of the dessert he ordered: Chocolate lasagne, which is brownie layered w cream cheese frosting. Yes, I have gas today.
![Neutral :|](./images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif)
Not worth the calories. AND we paid $52.00 for the privilege
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
So I have some serious thinking to do about dining out/ordering in. Can I decide, as a life choice, to fill up with on-plan dinner BEFORE going out to eat, then enjoying the company while sipping ice water and not eating the food? Even thinking about this on a purely monetary level, the food we ate last night was most decidedly NOT worth what we paid for it. And none of it was "worth the calories/fat and salt content" As for ambience hello? Olive Garden? Possibly going out for meals *might* be worth it, if we saved up and went to a really fancy place once a year and make it a genuinely special event. But I wouldn't want to miss my brother's bday dinner out. His wife surprised him with us being there when they arrived and it was fun, but I would have done better to fill up, then just sip a cocktail and have a tiny nibble of some sort to nurse while we visit. *shrug*
Got some thinking/deciding to do.