Food thoughts

I've been listening to this book..."In defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. I have to say. I really like the main premise of the book.. Basically... and with much simplification, our bodies are not anthropologically ready for all of our Western, processed food. Maybe, someday we will have super insulin ability that will process all that extra glucose without the fiber we need now.. but we're not there yet. Looking around my house I see nothing but processed food.

Oddly enough, I was raised in a very traditional household. (pre 1950's even... my mom grew up on a cattle ranch in Eastern Oregon.. very Eastern.. she did not have running water or electricity until she was 10 years old. Very pioneer upbringing...) Traditional upbringing in the cooking/crafting department that is.. (Mom is a very modern woman.. boys better clean toilets too darn it!)

Apple Pie was still considered breakfast, thank you.. Along with corrizos, eggs, bacon, toast; the normal fare. Everything.. nearly everything was made from scratch.. Store bought cookies? Whatever for? You cannot buy oatmeal date cookies anyway (my favorite, by the way)

I have found my health declining these last several years.. slowly, Thyroid is low, blood sugar up, weight on. Frankly.. I'm tired of it. I have a great sense of humor damn it.. But my vanity has only allowed me so much leeway on this. So this year, I'm trying something new. No diet.

This is the thing.. It is all about what goes in has to be less than what goes out. I know this. If I measure every calorie, I will lose weight very quickly. But I have no time to breathe lately, and no energy to expend on measuring every single morsel. I, instead, purpose to try to be sure that what enters my body follow a whole foods approach. What if I only eat food as we used too? My own whole wheat bread (not slabs of it with loads of butter...but a piece with an egg in the morning for breakfast) -- This, in itself, is an experiment, I've been avoiding wheat (processed) because it's been making me sick for months. What if I have some cheese and a piece of fruit for a snack.. not pudding in a plastic cup? Wrap up some tuna salad in some lettuce leaves.. not bread.

To my foodie friends out there, this may seem an obvious thing. But I am really coming to the realization that I am not able to continue to eat all of this processed crap and still maintain a healthy body... but I am tired of trying to analyze every single morsel that I chew.

I just want to eat without the freak out.

I'm going to bake some bread now.

slightly mad..

I have 5 children in my house right now.. from 9 to 15.. watching Disney channel. I spent all afternoon grocery shopping (Costco, then groceries) then putting away the groceries.. cleaning the fridge (kinda) and then doing the resulting dishes. Then making dinner (it was late). There are now dishes to do again.. I need to get up to go to work at 4:00 am (yeah, I work every other Sat.) and right now, while I write a very short post this day.. this day in which I have not touched either yarn or violin.. the kitchen sink is drip, drip,drip,drip,dripping because the last child that but his dish in the sink from dinner did not turn it all the way off..... I'm off to save the earth by finishing the dishes and stopping a drip. My sanity will be a bit harder to save I think...

Can I get a witness??

Silent Crafting.

You may know that I work in a call center.. I like my job, even given all the jokes out there about customer service.. I've had horrible service too... But I've been doing this work for 20 years, and frankly I'm very good at it. It's an acting job really. Improv. One call there is a woman on the phone whose son just died, the next call a young woman is calling to change her name because she just got married.. you need to keep up with the emotions of the caller. Not everyone is made for this job, and many, many reps are there for 6 months to a year before they just walk out. True story.

Today however, I am not at work because I have a bad chest cold that caused me to have laryngitis. The only way to treat this is to shut up. Do not speak, do not yell at the children (nasty looks and a coach's whistle are what I resort to for scolding...) Lots of hot beverages to soothe your voice box, and with any luck.. peace and quiet. Once your voice box has been damaged, it will react quickly and swell up to protect itself from more damage.. one of the most reactive muscles of your body. This is why, when I get a chest cold.. I always end up silent.. It almost kills me, every time.

Today however I am going to be working on crafting. I have this huge list of things that need my attention. Some big projects, some small.. The list is on my dry wipe wall.. see?

I may try to get some of the little things done.. like "fix Monica's slipper", that wouldn't take long. I am, however in a race to finish a baby blanket for the neighbor lady, who is expecting a baby girl after 3 boys... here it is so far.. And yes, there is a cat underneath it, who can find a surface in my house not used by a cat?

Here is a bit of a close up on the pattern.. If you want it Joan let me know.. I'll mail you a copy. Wait until you see it done.. It has a fancy lacy edge too.. I have 3 little girls to make gifts for, so I may do another of these too.. frankly I started this yesterday morning. It goes quickly.


And then, last but not least, and as comedic relief.. I finished a dog coat for a friend of mine. I'd never done such a thing before, and wanted to make sure that it would work.. So I grabbed someone close to size and tried it on him..

I know that it was not kind.. and he was not amused.. in the royal sense of the word. But the family got a really big laugh out of this. And hey.. it fit, so another success.